Basketball

What do you do when your grandson’s basketball stand breaks during lockdown? Well you put out a plea on Facebook for someone to fix it and we responded. It was dropped off, welded and repaired, and collected again all within the day. Result – one happy grandson and one relived granny! If you’ve got something…

BBQ Time – Sink or Swim?!

By now I’m sure you’ve seen all the fantastic BBQ equipment Chris has made. Well just to complete everything we needed somewhere to wash up. Having got hold of a Belfast sink, Chris built a wooden stand for it and connected it to the outdoor hose. Then we used the outdoor gas ring and the…

Pots and Pans

A friend recently dropped off 2 nice saucepans and asked if Chris could mend them. Their handles had come off! After checking up on stainless steel, the handles were duly welded back on neatly and even a hole mended – one happy customer/friend. Don’t despair or be tempted to throw away when something is broken;…

BBQ Season

if you’re like us you’ll be fed up with this rain and dreaming of the summer and barbecues. Having built a new BBQ and a smoker over the last 2 years, I thought I’d tackle a gas griddle. Having seen one in action at New Wine last year, I thought ‘I can do that’. So…

Repairs and Little Doors

I don’t know about you but there always seems to be something that needs repairing. Maybe you keep putting it off but it gets to a point where you just have to do it! Well my son’s windscreen wiper was like that. And with all the rain it couldn’t wait! After a quick look I…

Wind Direction

Both my granddad and dad made weather vanes and Chris has decided to keep up the tradition. His first one is entitled Calvary. It’s made from stainless steel and is just about finished apart from the final polish. I’m told the secret is in the ‘ball bearing and some grease’ – this is what keeps…

The Good Life

I mentioned the Good Life on the last blog post. Well we were given an old rotavator a while ago which hadn’t worked for a long time. Chris took it apart, cleaned the fuel system and made a lovely new fuel tap from some old brass fittings. Hey presto, with the help of some clean…

Chicken Run

  One of the things we were keen on doing once we moved was growing some veg and keeping chickens. The rest of the family are now calling us Tom and Barbara (the Good Life for those too young to get that straight away!  Well we had some success with the veg this year but…

A re-purposed van?

We couldn’t have moved without the van bought cheaply for that purpose. We’re also on very good terms with the staff at Longue Hougue recycling – what a great place it is! Talking of vans brings us to an old Luton van bought a few years ago to move one of our boys back to…