All hands to strip 6000 roof tiles ... (working round the wildlife!)

It's been an exhausting week, with all hands on deck (or should I say 'on the roof') as we raced against the clock to get the roof tiles off. Blessed by glorious weather we got stuck in and despite sore hands, aching backs and sunburn it's been a great fun week!

This roof job was time critical because we had our Ecologist booked in to come this week and oversee the removal of each roof tile, checking the crevices for bats and nesting birds. Our planning conditions ensured that none of this could be done without this supervision, so we needed to be ready and needed to get it done within the week.

Our builders have been preparing and planning for this momentous week for some time. Last week gave us a bit of a panic as we were let down by the booked scaffolders, but thankfully after many phone calls Super-Trouble-Shooter-Steve, managed to find a firm who were prepared to work over the weekend to get some scaffolding in place ready for Monday. As it went up Andrew, Tom and I spent Saturday and Sunday starting to clean moss and lichen off the tiles while in situ, trying to save some time.

Monday came and the Ecologist arrived bright and early to oversee each tile being removed. By close of play on Monday she had safely relocated one long eared brown bat into the new bat box in the oak tree, but slightly more concerning than bats, had found two nests with eggs - this is what we really didn't want. No rare birds involved but even the humble wood pigeon and robin require that nests with eggs be left undisturbed for the incubation of said eggs and then also until the chicks have all fledged. In all between about 4-8 weeks! Of course both nests were located on quite crucial bits of roof that need to be worked on imminently to move the project forward.

By Thursday it was clear that the pigeons had actually abandoned their nest and gone to find a safer spot, hopefully in the tree with the bats! The robin's eggs however were still warm, despite no sign of visits or of mum sitting on the eggs (possibly the heat of the sun). The nest will be monitored and if it appears over the next few days that she's not coming back, then work can resume a little sooner. The robin pair of course decided to build their nursery on an old rotten lintel that needs to come down fairly soon to be replaced by a steel. Quite a critical job, so despite my true love of robins I am, I'm afraid, hoping this first early clutch of eggs has actual been abandoned. I'm sure they'd be much happier in the extensive blackthorn hedgerows that surround us and should have plenty of time for two more clutches this summer.

So what was the back breaking work? Well, as each heavy clay tile was removed they were stacked on the scaffolding, then moved to be stacked again into crates at the loading bay, each crate holding about 200 tiles. The crates were then lowered off the scaffolding by the tele-handler to our 'cleaning station', where over the next few weeks we need to remove the moss and lichen so they can be put back on to the new roof timbers when ready. This will hopefully happen around June. How long to clean 6000 roof tiles I hear you ask? No idea, but I guess that will be the bulk of our days' work for the next few weeks!

It was quite a shock when I saw the first area without roof timbers. Suddenly the building that was starting to resemble a living space looked like a ruined castle! I know it's definitely progress and really great to be moving forward, but I can't wait to see the roof go back on. I feel our lovely barns look vulnerable, but I'm assured all the new foundations and flooring is holding it all together well and the weight of that roof being off now actually makes the walls much safer for the next phase which includes knocking out holes for windows and doorways.

We have of course been enjoying the glorious weather this week which required a scurry to find sunscreen for all the workers! We also had some very welcome RNR with a lovely family evening spent eating and drinking al fresco, provided by visiting Charlotte and Ben - our first camping visitors...

Life is really pretty good here in Somerset!