It’s felt like a physical weekend, with lots of lifting and bending, but we’ve seen a good amount of progress to make it worthwhile.

I finished off the last few slabs on the side patio, before we reach the section covered in piles of stone that need to be moved first. Chris then cut a gap for our wisteria plant and dug it into the ground with some compost.

We then moved to the front patio. Originally we thought we could do the same as the side and put the slabs straight down, but the ground was too soft. Chris spent a morning wheelbarrowing up gravel and tamping it down.

We’ve had an old concrete lintle hanging around our garden for ages, Chris keeping it to use as a step. He finally put it in to try and even out the slope.

Connecting the two patios we want to lay a path. Currently we have piles of stone blocking it, so we thought we’d build a raised bed along the front of the house. Chris was very keen to do this drystone wall, as I’ve done all the others. I admit it’s neater than mine.

I headed to B&Q with a sample of our cupboard colour, and got a paint match to paint the coat rack. I then added hooks and Chris cut and routered a worktop piece for the bench. Chris also managed to pick up a second-hand radiator that’s the right size, so we’re good to go on moving the radiator so the coat rack can shift across.

Chris showed me how to use the router so I was able to shape the edge of the windowsills and the worktop for the understairs cupboard.

I then spent a long day cutting and fiddling with the cupboard shelves so they fit. With wonky walls and wonky stairs it was a real pain to get it all to match up. But it’s finally all in and just needs painting so we can stack the books that have sat in boxes for two years.

In the garden the tulips are appearing, and a large number of self-seeded primroses. We’ll split and move the primroses once done flowering, and they should multiply and spread.

One thing that did make me sad was visiting my old house to collect some post, and seeing the meadow we made paved over for parking (despite the fact there’s space for two cars on the drive). The meadow had so many wildflowers including oxeye daisies, black knapweed, meadow vetchling and Dartford pink. It supported so much wildlife and was gone in an instant – for a car. It makes me more determined to create meadows wherever I can, including my new garden

On a brighter note we took the campervan out for its first test run. The bed was nice and comfortable and I was pleased with my magnetic curtains. It gave us a good idea what remains to be done.