I have just found out that The Wood Awards have short listed us with Apethorpe paneled room and Shaw House Newbury. This means we will be Judged and find out the outcome in October in London.

Well I am in the throes of cleaning all of the shards of pottery, glass and other artefacts found in and around the house whilst working here. It would seem that hopefully a group will arrive later next month and identify the majority for us. At a quick glance it would appear the oldest item is contemporary with the building so i am guessing it was a virgin site at that time although I shall await the outcome of the visit.

We also have many snack wrappers left from the original builders bones and oyster shells.

We did find some shoes down the well and a pitchfork.

This is one of the final episodes to undertake identifying these items.

I do hope to soon get to the archives to learn more about the history of the building too.

We have at least two local groups now coming to examine our spoils and identify them.

It would seem that there is no archaeology older than the building, however I believe that the site was stripped clear of all soil, quarried to create cellars and culverts which would then provide well over half the building stone for the project. The net result of this was it would have removed all earlier evidence.

I made myself a promise some 16 years ago to save the building. I also had two other objectives, to create my family home and showcase what is possible to achieve on such a building to encourage others and also for me to maybe make a living at something I am good at. Well I have achieved all three, as reinforced by the several awards received in the last year and I still cant believe we are of to the RICS national finals in October against multi million pound projects.