Heron on Mill Gate lawn comes to admire our work.

If i am honest it took me a good two days to get over the Highland Bike ride. 20 years ago i would have been out working the same evening.and probably boiled the kettle half a dozen times before i got my cuppa.
It was a fab trip though and well worth the effort.
The week went well with the Coniston plot now with half the bridge  complete.Both abutments are  in place and back filled with the concrete left to harden off ready for the steel UBs and concrete deck.
The end of the week saw us having a good tidy round ready for excavations of the New house late next week.
Mill Gate saw landscaping reach a point where the fruits of our labour could be seen quite clearly.
Recycled green stone edgings where put in place with dressed edgings defining a neat curved path area from the newly seeded lawn.
Large stones found in our excavations where add to the borders to give the planted areas definition
and harmonise with the greenery .
The great thing about Mill gate is the fact i can be as creative as i like as pretty much everything is an open canvas.
Creativity is paramount to our work. features and little things out of the ordinary can unconsciously
add a quality to your life, its a little like looking at a nice view on a sunny day, features can raise a smile  even on a wet miserable day on your way out to work for another stressful day ,or on your return home.
Our sculpture at the entrance to Mill Gate was added this week in a flash of inspiration.
We are currently working with a local blacksmith incorporating Ancient tree roots , wrought iron work and stone to create unique sculptures ( showing at Holker hall garden festival on 8th -10th of June)
We can be comissioned to create your unique sculpture from our extensive stock of raw material just ether drop us a line or phone for a viewing and friendly chat ( you never know you may even get a fresh cup of coffee and some home baking). or pick up a bag of our home grown Snowie lump wood Charcoal.
We will bring you more next week on the ever changing landscape of Mill Gate ,progress at the Coniston plot and much more.
Have a great week and stay safe.

A great week for biking and building.

Last week went well. the weather held for us and we managed to get the main stream wall foundations and steel in for the bridge at Coniston with a concrete pour on Friday.
With relief as the rest of the country wallowing in floods  we are now out of the water with both bridge abutments in place .
Another couple of days should see us ready for the galvanised Ubeams to span the gap with steel reinforcement and concrete over.
Work at home has also gone well too ,seeing the water tank complete and Tanked internally with Hedi k11.
Landscaping to the kids play area is now almost complete too, some large boulders from the pond excavations have been put to good use as a seat with room for planting ether side.
Thursday evening saw me pack the bike and head off for northern Scotland for 4 days.
Again whilst the rest of the country including Cumbria got heavy rain  we Faired well with sunshine for much of the time making very very pleasant riding indeed
We covered 1200 miles in 4 days. walked scrambled Stac polly standing at 700m a sand stone volcano looking mountain with its pillars and precarious looking rocks perched high above looking as though one slight push and they would be tumbling to the abyss below. carved from the ice age and millions of years of weather there's some pretty impressive shapes.
Wild camping much of the time its a very friendly easy going and beautiful place, Applecross with its 1500' pass and great food at the Applecross Inn,Ullapool to Durness with its long easy roads and a picture to be had around every corner,Durness to John o Groats with its beautiful white sandy (empty)beaches and quiet roads made for a fantastic break and makes you just want to go back and do some more some time soon.

More next week . bye for now.

New Site with Sam the Pup.

The weather has held out for us this week and allowed us to get the first part of the bridge build in place on the Coniston site. the house construction can commence following the bridge build to allow access to the plot.

Its not easy working in a water coarse this time of year or any time of year in the lakes for that matter.
Its a challenging site regarding access and size of plot but once the bridge construction and excavations are out of the way in the next few months things should get a little easier.

The rewards are good though,mainly the drive to work along the lake shore.

Monday morning the first day on site was incredible. the pictures of the mist hovering just above the lake and swirling like a giant magic carpet was mesmerising and i just had to stop and take these pictures. We also have a new member on the team, one of the 4 legged type. Mike my brother has just taken on a Labradoodle pup call Sam.
Hes only 20 weeks old and already a real character.He will be with us on site on a regular basis,Hes a one with the ladies(Sam that is) .Mind he is a good looking fella ( Sam that is).

I hope you enjoy. and with any luck i will bring you more of the same next week. ( weather permitting)
 BFN

I spoke to soon.

Oh my word. I think i spoke to soon. the temperature has dropped and the shorts have gone back in storage.

As hail showers and colder winds are upon us again its been a good opportunity to push on with a few inside jobs. although i took the opportunity over the Easter holidays to get on with a few jobs around the house.

The Garage and boiler foundations are near complete but still require the removal of the existing 15000 litre concrete water tank.

The New tank is being constructed higher up on the perimeter of the woodland with a 17000 litre capacity and will serve us much better in the dry months for our drinking water ( with an in line pre filter and UV unit) added on completion of the system.

A secondary rainwater harvesting tank to take the demand off the drinking water tank will be built under the patio at the front of the house . this will serve the toilets,automated garden watering and pond top ups in the dry spell.

Areas of garden have been made even with the spoil from the excavations and re turfed so none of the excavation spoil has gone off site thus reducing our carbon foot print.

A new play area for the kids has also gone in with a soft area and an Elevated play house set into the bank. a ladder will provide access and slide for a quick exit.

The picures show:- Concrete arriving on site. The new pond foot print with 4m rock waterfall . Fernando placing the concrete for the water tank.

More pictures will follow as areas get completed and picures of 2 exciting new house builds in Coniston.and Grange.

In the mean time take care and most of all Have Fun.

Spring is here.

Its been a while since we posted a blog. so i thought i would bring you up to speed with whats been Happening.

We moved house and office back in November 2010. lots more scope and room to work.

we recently got plans passed for a garage with a 1st floor office area and purpose built Biomass

plant room and wood store to serve the house. a 4kwp photo voltaic array will also be integrated into the roof.

work has already started and i will bring you pictures as they come.

we completed some nice projects throughout 2011 and these will be featured on our website revamp along with the blog update.

Captured Elements ,our renewable business has also seen a good turn in work in 2011,

with the installation of photo voltaic systems throughout the Northwest.

more of which will follow.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers past and present for there continued support over the past 25 yrs

DAMSON TREE BARN, Little Langdale

We are hoping to get some pictures of Damson Tree to you in a few weeks time as the internal work is complete but we are just awaiting the arrival of the flamed kirkstone green slate for the patio areas which are all but complete apart from the patio covering and wall tops.

The barn is looking fantastic in the spring sunshine with views to die for. The barn already has a good few bookings and should prove very popular with holidaymakers.

We look forward to bringing you some pictures.

MOUNTAIN FACTOR, Ambleside

We managed to get all our works completed on time for the Easter opening with brisk trading I believe.

The extension to the shop looks great and should prove popular with the walkers and climbers offering fantastic quality outdoor clothing and specialist equipment for the outdoor person.

With both my sisters Joy and Kathy working there part time throught the summer months you should get a warm welcome and (maybe even a cuppa if you're lucky:)

With an official opening this Saturday I should be able to get some pictures of the completed project for you. For now, here are some of the old pictures from the refurbishing work.

CAPTURED ELEMENTS Ltd

is the formation of a new exciting sister company formed by myself and Ben Fife electrical.

The aim of the company is to provide a professional design and installation service of Photo Voltanic units, Solar panel and Air source heat pumps either retro fitted to your house or incorporated into a new built house or extension.

Moving with the times and living in a more sustainable environment I think has a lot of benefits. With a system installed correctly and care taken as to its visual impact to its surroundings is a good sound investment and can add value to your home and become a great asset to the property should you decide to sell.

If you would like more information on the above, please don't hesitate to contact me.

VIOLET BANK, Hawkshead

Since our last blog on Violet bank things are moving along nicely.

The new oak trusses have been constructed on the floor and erected with the oak purlins, which now form the roof. John Martin, our local joiner/craftsman, I think you will agree, has done a fine job.

The roof spars are now also in place with a procters breathable felt covering. Much of the stonework immediately around the new timbers had to be rebuilt, as it was unsound and all carefully put back to match what was there. All the roof areas are now ready to take the carefully sorted and re-dress original slates, as much of the slate will be reused and a quantity of new slate to match the existing will be used to make up for short fall.

The stone facing work on the kitchen/bedroom is taking shape and this will also receive a new chimney stack as near to the original as possible, with a lead tray at roof level, slate tabling between the lead and stonework forming a drip and break.

The out house has now also been stripped of its slate and roof timbers, a new concrete floor was laid, in readiness for the hot water tanks and a bio mass boiler, all have to go in before the roof is installed.

In the mean time internal floors in the barn will be replaced with new timbers and steel floor beams, areas of walls will be rendered prior to tanking.

A new purpose built timber building will also be erected in the next few weeks to give us a little onsite storage and long term timber storage for the bio mass heating system.

RAVENSBARROW LODGE, Cartmel Fell

It is all but finished for us internally where all second fix work is now well underway.

Externally the underground oil tank has been installed behind the garage retaining wall, the boiler and plant room now has a soil roof covering which can now be grassed over to bring the woodland back to the building line.

A higher level walkway has also been constructed next to the old barn to provide access to the lower lean-to building and a small stone arch has also been constructed over the stream to form a feature, the stream water will then flow into an old limestone trough salvaged from the original demoliton works.

The front lawn is also being transformed with a new covering of top soil and stone retaining wall to the driveway and steps down onto the front lawn.

The garage has also been plastered out on the first floor to give the owner a nice studio area for painting and office work. And with a good size garage at ground level lots of room for cars etc.

The next job is building of the stone steps to the rear garden area and lots of nice feature seats built into the stone walls and dotted around the garden with reclaimed oak incorporated onto the seats to soft the stonework.