There follow, for those of you who haven't made it up here yet, a few pictures of our new home, Doctor Hill. It is the highest house in the village (seen in the bottom picture, taken from by the river) and most dates back to 1700 with a later 1930 addition. We have the deeds in our possession at the moment, and they are truly amazing pieces of crisp parchment, almost like animal skin, with ribbons sewn in to hold the sealing wax, and covered in line after line of meticulously curling legal script detailing 'who did what with the where now' since 1708. It doesn't enlighten us as to how the house came by its name. It is a really lovely spot, no doubt completely unreachable in the snow, but in normal weather about 35 mins drive to work for Ant, and about 15 mins into the rather nice town of Barnard Castle. We are about 1/2 hour from Scotch Egg Corner, as Arabella knows it. We don't need to mention my rather silly commuting time.

So, lots of work to do up here, on a predictably flimsy budget, but it will all happen eventually - not much change until the Spring now so just lots of planning and a steady stream of builders, electricians etc to offer their invaluable advice. Or just grunt a bit and suck their teeth.