Learning Curves

We are in a prime location here there is no doubt, but the doctor who owns this house has not done much to help it move into the twenty first century.  The kitchen was recently redone with new appliances and counter tops but it has no top cabinets and it is tiny there is no counter space to be had.  You have to go to the dining room to get dishes.  It is weird remembering when you want a drink that the glasses are not in the kitchen...but the one and only toilet in this house is...in the kitchen...wowser!  It was listed as a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house when it actually has one toilet or WC (water closet they call it here) downstairs and another room upstairs that has only a shower...and all the bedrooms are upstairs which means that we need to come down a curved, uneven and short ceilinged stairway in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  We get up to try to shower yesterday and have to get out a book to see how to operate the power hot water supply...Kay says she has used these before in Europe but we can't make it come on using the instruction book!  We tried to get it on by the directions which specifically state not to pull hard on the string, but in the end we had to call him to find out how to get it to come on.  Well you had to pull it out way harder that we would call "gently" in our minds above our heads.   Once we actually did get it to come on, we couldn't adjust the hot water...turning the knob brought either scalding water or freezing cold....so there is definitely a learning curve for this.

Kay said it was an adventure into seeing how people lived hundreds of years ago and it is charming.  We have obvious differing opinions  on what is considered charming.  The upstairs leans toward the left if you are looking at the front of the house...the shower besides all the other factors making showering a new challenge every day, you must also try to keep your balance.  No handle to get into/out of the tub which is quite a bit higher than ours are off the floor.  The house was also described as having three double bedrooms.  There is one and the other two have two twin beds in each room and a sink...really?  No closet but a sink...again ok then.  We decide the only room with a  double bed was used by King Arthur himself  the mattress was that bad and both of us pass on the biggest bedroom and we each pick one of the two twin rooms.  I put some things on the dresser and quickly realize that they are sliding off because of the floor tilt in my room. There are small steps  going from one room to another because this house started out as one room apparently.  Kay has to duck to keep from hitting her head in places but hey, it's all about location right? 

We met the girl and her daughter that are living in Fern Cottage (which is the one next to us that is used as the Doc's Surgery for filming) this week and couldn't believe it when they said they were from Greenville, SC.  They live about 10 miles from Kay.  You go halfway around the world to meet someone you live that close to at home.  Small world.  We walked around the village a bit had lunch and bought some things for dinner.  We wanted to get ready for the big day of filming that is to happen in our carpark and at Fern Cottage next door beginning at 7:30 AM.  We had to move the car and the  location manager brought her back from the carpark at the top of the hill and gave of 50 pounds for our trouble.  He also said he would see that we got to meet Martin Clunes so we are excited.

We are happy we are here and it is just as beautiful as the photos and TV series show it to be.  Well done us....and Proper Job is a beer served in the pubs here so we had one with our Sunday Roast at the Golden Lion!

The road up to our house

 

Notice the wet suits