We made it – Tarkwa Cottage all finished and our first guests arrived at 3 p.m. on Saturday 2 April. I was still hanging curtains an hour before and I just had time to hang mirrors in all the bedrooms and a very few pictures.

On Friday we had 15 different tradesmen in the house and the atmosphere was great – all were on ‘finishing’ their areas of work and it  was a cold bright and sunny day so breaks were taken sitting in the yard watching the sea action. We only got the use of the kitchen sink on Friday and put the dishwasher on for the first time on Friday night only to discover that it didn’t work. Thank goodness for Google and the emergency repair people from Torpoint who were with us by Saturday lunchtime.

My daughters and granddaughters who came for Easter week were extremely helpful and the cleaning team – Amber and Vicky did a fabulous job not just cleaning all the dust but also heaving mattresses around and sorting all the linen ready for the season.

On one awful morning  mid March one of the Corian kitchen worktops arrived wrong ( even after several phone conversations with the supplier) some of the plumbing was wrong and new beds delivered wouldn’t go up the stairs. It all got resolved in time but that had to be a low point. I retreated to the the Boathouse Cafe for a very necessary bowl of home made soup and a good cry.

Duane the foremen builder asked me on one of the last days  if, given the choice,  I would repeat the exercise  – my answer was YES. The kitchen/ dining space we have created by opening up and extending the basement floor is AMAZING. The spacious sitting room is superb, the new water, heating and lighting systems are wonderful and the house feels so much better constructed .

New photos will be done this week and on the website soon

A job well worth doing and a great sabbatical living in the village for most of the first three months of 2016.

Do come and enjoy it