Stone Fireplace, Stone Staircase, Limestone Fireplaces

When I was on my mini skiing trip this last weekend (for a friend’s 50th)  His pal that had organised it was telling us that his ancestors were the family that used to ‘run’ the Bastille.  When it was famously stormed in 1789 in the revolution, his family fled to England and never returned, not surprisingly when you imagine how many ex-prisoners would be after them!  Anyway, we were teasing him, and suggesting that now he worked in a ski resort in France, he should be careful that word didn’t get round that the De Launays were back in the country!

We’re all busy here in the stone yard this morning:  It’s a still and dry day, and it’s the first really back to normal day that we’ve had. We’ve just had a truck load of stone blocks delivered, and some new stone from a different quarry for a stone staircase that we’re starting today.  All the masons are now back, and the fun of Christmas and New Year seems to be fading!  The farmer is also very busy next door, and the chickens were on the roof of our van when I went to fetch it a moment ago. Chickens, although pretty stupid, are great characters, and I love their little community goings on in our yard every morning. They seem to love it round here, but I realised it’s more to do with crumbs left by masons than it is chickens’ interest in limestone fireplaces!

I’ve just had 2 days in the alps to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday.  They’d had the most snow (a couple of days before we went) that they’d had for about 30 years, and there certainly was plenty!  At one point we were wondering whether we’d be able to get to resort, but in the event it was no problem, as they’re just so efficent with snow clearing out there.

We stayed in a lovely little village ‘down’ the mountain from the main resort. Lovely stone houses and old farms, and quite untouristy, but it had a lift directly to the centre of the main resort. The lift had been put in for the 1992 Winter Olympics at Albertville.

Not that it was in the least bit a ‘work’ trip, but I can’t help spotting nice bits of stone masonry, and we went to one particular restaurant on the birthday night, and it had an amazing stone fireplace.  I had a good look at it, which the owners were puzzled by, but once I explained in my schoolboy french they got the idea. They said the story was that it came from an old castle (now demolished) that protected the head of the valley, and that various houses and churches in the small villages around, had odd bits that came from the castle. It may be a fairytale, but it’s a nice story!

Came back this morning, and had very early start. Easy journey though as no traffic jams, and flight was on time.  Just need an early night to catch up a  bit!

Trees down everywhere here in Leicestershire! roads blocked and lots of water… Lovely!  Nowhere near as bad as ‘87 but quite scary with doors blowing off and rain leaking in. I was in Somerset yesterday looking at some jobs, and it was very windy there too.  Horrible on the motorway on the way home.

It’s too rough to be out in the stone yard, so we’re all in the workshop. We’ve got a guy here servicing the stone saw too, so it’s a bit cramped.  The farmer’s sheep are all stuck in one corner of the field, pressed up against the fence, and I think they’ve been blown there, and they can’t get away again because the wind is so strong. Bet they’re warm though in their little huddle! They look like those packs on penguins that you see huddled together in the Arctic.

We just had a customer bring us a fantastic old stone fireplace to restore. He found it half buried in the field behind the farmhouse he’s bought in Wales.  He said it had been used to prop up a water trough. Apparently there used to be a big house on the land nearby, but it was demolished in the 50s. He suspects some previous owner probably salvaged the fireplace from the rubble, with the intention of putting it into the house that he’s now bought, (but it seems they never got round to it) Anyway, it’s in remarkably good condition, given that it’s been out in the weather for maybe 50 years. We’re going to clean it up, and replace the few missing sections: one leg block is missing, and a section of the mantle shelf, but it is a stone that we can match fairly well, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. He heard about us from his neighbour for whom we’d done some work a few years ago, so that was a nice recommendation.

Happy new year to everyone!

We’re all back here but it’s blowing an absolute gale! It sounds like the roof is coming of the stone shed, and it’s far too windy and wet to work out in the stone yard. We’ve got a few nice enquiries that have come in over the holiday, so we’re busy updating our work schedule but we’re all still a bit groggy.  The masons have all had great holidays, and are recounting their tales of partying and derring-do! Only one is still away, but he’s flying back from Germany today, and will be back with us tomorrow.

We’ve got a very nice enquiry from an old customer in Northants. He lives on a lovely old estate, and is renovating one of the farmhouses. It’s a whopper, and he says he needs three fireplaces. The trouble is, he’s cut things a bit tight, and needs them by end of this month, and I’m not sure we can manage that, but we’ll do our best! We’ve got another returning customer who is also doing another big renovation. This is in the South West, below Bristol. The project sounds lovely, and the customer wants, stone mullion, some stone stairs for the garden, and some stone gate pillars, so it’s a very nice contract. He’s always used us, as he says we always helped him in the early days when he started out in business. That was about 25 years ago, and we’re quite moved that he is so loyal to us, as that doesn’t happen so much these days.

Hopefully you’ve all finished off the turkey by now!  We hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas, and that they have a good new year in prospect. (both the eve of, and the whole year)  We’re closed until tuesday, but one of the masons asked if I’d meet him here today, as he’d made a little sculpture for his mother for a new year’s present, and wanted a hand to lift it into his van.  He’s gone now, but I thought I’d just have a look in the office and see if there was any interesting mail… which there isn’t!

I’m going to a friend’s mother’s 70th party this evening. Wouldn’t normally expect to be invited, but my pal wants some help taking the photos, so I said I’d be happy to assist. Hopefully it shouldn’t be too late, as I’m sure tomorrow night will be!

We’re back to work on tuesday, and already have a long work list ready. Two of the masons are not back until a week later, so that’ll put a bit more workload onto those that will be here. We’ve got some stone due to arrive in the middle of the week, and some people coming on wednesday, that want us to make 6 small stone fireplaces for the bedrooms of their newly renovated little country hotel.

All seems busy on the farm next door. Horses everywhere, and the sheep being a bit noisy. The cat has popped in to see me, no doubt to check that I haven’t got a snack for him. As soon as he realised I hadn’t, he legged it again… typical cat!

Anyway. Happy New Year to all our customers, friends, and workmates old and new.

I’ve just had some terrible news: The brother of a dear friend has just been diagnosed with incurable cancer: It’s in his kidneys and spine and is too advanced to defeat. He only felt a little ill a few weeks ago, and up until then was fit and healthy and active, looking nothing like his 68 years. It is very sad.  Only a few days ago, the young son of another friend posted this on facebook, and it is so true. It’s not the re-posting bit, but the way it points out how everything else becomes so irrelavent. Despite the doctors’ diagnosis, we can only hope he beats the odds, defies the science. and wins that battle.

Stupid cancer . . . Some of us want a new house . . . A new car . . . A new mobile phone . . . To lose weight . . Botox, less wrinkles… But someone battling cancer wants just one thing, to win the battle. 97% of my friends won’t re-post this, but 3% will. Let’s see who does. Please re-post this in… honor of someone who lost their battle, or for someone fighting it now. there you go..I’m in the 3% ~♥~

Have you heard of it? If the answer’s no, then you’re probably showing your age (like me) Anyway, one the masons has a son who is learning to play the drums, and his teacher is a young bloke who is really talented musician, but is in to production.  We happened to meet him in the pub after he’d given the mason’s lad a lesson, and I have to say it was absolutely fascinating. It’s basically electronic but using new technology, macnines and computers, so that the sound produced would not have been possible a few years ago (apparently)  Anyway, this lad and his mates have got a little band called Micro Jupiter, and I listened to some of the their stuff on Youtube when I got home, and I have to say, it’s pretty good. The lad himself had gone to university to study maths, but just couldn’t get his mind off music production, so with his parents’ backing, he dropped out, and is pursuing his music producing dream. In fact his maths talent is very useful, as so much of the stuff he does is maths related believe it or not.

It’s really grey, damp and horrible here this morning:  We’re out in the stone yard, but it’s not very pleasant. The little haulage company we use has just turned up with some bottles for us, and we’re going to have a little drink when we finish later.  We’ve just set up another stone fireplace in the office, and it does look very good. It’s a standard small ‘original’ and has some lovely reclaimed bricks in the recess, and it sort of represents what we do best.

I’ve got to go and look at a site in a minute. We’ve done a lot of stonework there, and it’s a lovely property, but the client has said he’s had a great idea that deviates somewhat from the original plan, and he wants our views and opinions. He’s normally got great ideas, so I’m expecting his new ‘direction’ to be something good, and he says it involves some more stone work for us, so it can’t be bad can it!

We’ve supplied a lot of stone work to a house in Gloucestershire recently: It’s a big old place that’s something of a cross between a barn and a farmhouse. It’s in a pretty little village, and will be a lovely home when it’s done. The only downside perhaps, is that it doesn’t have much external space. and so the garden planning is very important to maximise what little space there is. The other good/bad point is that there is a big horse chestnut tree in the middle of the garden space, and because this gives a lot of shade then of course it will stop a lot of things growing. With all those potential problems, it clearly needed a professional, and we helped the client by recommending one that comes from our area.

I think garden design is a very underrated skill. It’s easy to think it’s just a matter of planting stuff round the edge of a lawn, plonking a pond in somewhere, and a bench, and then you’re done. But you just end up with a very ordinary garden, whereas with the right advice you can create something that becomes a real feature, and asset to your property. Well, our gardener (www.joannacrane.co.uk) has come up with some brilliant ideas for our client’s barn, and he is very excited about what it’s going to look like. She’s taken into account all the limitations and the advantages that the site has, and has gone away to do the plans.

We’re in the stone yard this morning. Very cold, but sunny at least.  No more deliveries now until the new year, but we’ve still got plenty of stuff to work on that will be needed in January. We’ve just had a very interesting commission for an external stone staircase. It’s for a house on a steep hill, where the rear of the lower floors are built into hillside. These are being turned into bedrooms and the living room, with an amazing view, will be on the first floor. This room will have a large terrace/balcony for summer dining, and our stone stairs will lead down from this terrace into the landscaped garden. It will be amazing, and we’re looking forward to starting work on it in the spring!

Just had to unload a truck of granite setts for a job on which we’re working. The whole episode has been a disaster! The ‘groundworker’ was due to lay these setts on saturday, but the decorator who was first to site on Saturday, locked himself in the site, as he just made an assumption that no one else was working that day. He didn’t have a phone, and the sett layer couldn’t make him hear, so had to return home with no work done, and now the job won’t get done till the new year. Damn!  Needless to say, the decorator is a bit sheepish this morning.

I’ve got to go that site in about half an hour. A few bits of finishing to do to some stonework, and some siliconing to do to the glass panels that we’ve put inthe stone arches. Hope I’ve remembered to put my woolly hat in my car! The stone stock is looking very tidy in the yard, as one of the masons has just restacked it all, and he’s a dab-hand on the forklift and the stone blocks are all lined up perfectly like those in Maccu-picchu… well maybe not quite as precise as them!  The farm cat is hiding under my desk. He may well be looking for a poor little mouse to kill, but more likely he’s under here because the heater is on!  I must remember to shoo him out when we leave, althought I suspect he’d be perfectly happy curled up for the night on one of our office chairs!

Just (under) a week to go till Christmas day. Still got some shopping to do, yuk, and still got quite a bit of work to do. Very frosty here this morning, and we’re out in the stone yard being harrassed by the farmer’s chickens!  We’re doing a little bit of rearrangement in the office. Putting another stone fireplace on display to replace one that we sold to a customer last week. He urgently needed a fireplace, and there was no way we could make him one this week, so we agreed to sell him our display one. He went off very happily, and will be installing it today!

Everywhere is very festive looking in our village now: Several houses are practically covered in lights, with Santas and sleighs on the rood and snowmen glowing in the front gardens. Although I think some households do all that a bit early, I do admit to thinking it really looks great, and makes everywhere look very Christmassy. Needless to say, I don’t have the time or inclination to do it to my house

All the masons are ready for a little time off. I think we’ll probably finish work on Thursday, and then come back on the 3rd of January, so a nice break.  One mason is going back to Germany where currently in his home area, it is about minus 15 with about 3 feet of snow. He always laughs when we get our little bit of snow and cold, as he says we seem to make such a fuss about it, and I think he’s probably right!