The waiting is over and special visitors come to stay
There’s nothing like the start of the year to give you fresh energy and perspective. After our return from the UK on New Year’s Eve, we had even more reason to feel energised with the news that the start of building work was to be January 9th. The excitement was up there with the best of childhood Christmases, and the drive back to our farmhouse after a couple of weeks away made us realise just how much we loved it and missed it while we were away. The week or so wait to start work seemed endless, but would arrive in no time we told ourselves. But then, as much as we willed it to happen, the news of yet another delay hit us. We told ourselves it wouldn’t be long, maybe a few days? Distracting us in the meantime, in the most pleasant way, we had two very special visitors coming to see us in mid January - our niece Jenna and her fiance Justin.
Not long after we moved in in the winter of 2021, we had the idea that the farmhouse and its spectacular view would make the most lovely venue for a wedding celebration - and we had those guys front of mind. Jenna and Justin had to cancel their wedding not once, but three times during the course of the pandemic and its various lockdowns. Jenna works as trainee nurse, working while studying for her degree part-time as they parent their two beautiful little girls. During the start of the pandemic, she was recruited to work in the intensive care unit of the hospital she worked in, caring for Covid patients. This was just as she returned to work after maternity leave and the conditions were very difficult and sometimes very upsetting- at a time when there was still no vaccine and personal protective equipment was lacking. She really saw some very difficult things, but dealt with it all bravely and without concern for herself, like so many of our frontline workers. We all looked at her commitment to her work with so much admiration and pride. And so, much to theirs and our excitement, they decided it was a great idea to have their wedding at our place. The plan was that they would marry in the UK shortly before and have their wedding celebration in Italy, making it a holiday for their family and friends, and honeymoon destination all-in-one.
Back then in Dec 2021, we thought our building work would be long finished by the time the wedding was planned (June 2023), but the delays (which were no one’s fault, but that of an extremely busy time for builders), made us anxious about what could be completed in the time now available. We knew we could still host the wedding, even if the worst happened and no work had started - the outside space, olive groves and views make a lovely setting. However, with our family also staying we felt we needed to have comfortable bedrooms, a good kitchen and bathroom in place (where more than one person could take a shower at a time!) As family and friends also had to book their accommodation and flights well in advance too, there was no going back - this wedding celebration (with or without the renovation work) was happening!
To see everything for themselves and for Justin to see Italy for the first time, they made their trip across to us for a chilly, but fun long weekend in mid-January. We had a great time showing them the farmhouse, the surrounding villages, towns and coastline, and packed in a lot in the few days. Justin, who is very handy and a great DIY-er made plans for making the tables and seating himself, also planning the lighting, the music - and all importantly the food and drink! They both loved their time in Italy and left feeling super excited for the big day to come.
Together on the Ponte di Mezzo bridge, crossing the River Arno in Pisa
After we said our goodbyes, our attention returned to getting the building work underway. As much as we pushed and pleaded for a start date, we simply had to wait patiently until all the pieces were in place. During that time, our car broke down and had to be towed away for a long repair. Then, just as building work was planned to start in the last week of February, a bad storm brought down a tree and cut off our electricity. Sometimes the best laid plans can be jeopardised by mother nature. Finally, just when we thought there might be another delay, our building team arrived at the beginning of March. As they started the first of the excavation works in the old stables area, the sound of the drilling sounded like a chorus of angels singing to us - we were finally underway.
The first tranche of work would be to excavate the old stables / ground floor area, creating a new void underneath the floor to cure the damp and efflorescence issue we had, and to make the ground floor compliant for ceiling height. In the first week, the team worked incredibly hard and excavated what must have been at least half a metre deep of tiles, brick and soil, creating the void that would give us the floor to our new kitchen / diner area. With 14 weeks of building work available to us until the wedding celebration, it is all systems go to achieve as much as possible.
As the spoil from the excavations piled up outside the house, we saw that it was the perfect soil to supplement the lavender patch we had planted back in October. So, whilst the builders rested over the weekend, we transported some 30 wheelbarrows of soil that hadn’t seen the light of day for 200 years over to the patch. It was back breaking work and our muscles were screaming the next day, but the work ended up as we envisaged, and the lavender patch looked perfect in its new sandy earth. We have everything crossed for its development and first year’s flowering later this spring. We hope it will also be a lovely backdrop for a very special wedding photo, too.
