Glenbrook House: the frames (No.8)

There have been times when I have wondered why we are doing this, but just now I can see all the reasons.  Sometimes it has seemed like an enormous indulgence, to buy a serviceable house, knock it down, and build another house of a very similar size.  Of course it is also a hugely expensive exercise, and some would regard it as a colossal waste of money.  Last weekend we all had a look around the building site, and no lingering doubts can remain: it is going to be a magnificent building, and worth every cent to us!

Small 47 Park Street May 14 View from the gate 24mmThis is the view from the front gate (or where the front gate was, to the old house, ours will be at the other end of the front boundary).

The outline of the house is now easier to see.

 

Small 47 Park Street May 005Nick, Andrew and I were able to climb up a builders’ ladder and walk about on the upper level (safe because the floors are there already), and all the framework makes it look like an enormous angular bird’s nest (the nest is angular, not the bird ….).

 

Small 47 Park Street May 8th Sandstone wallAs well as the frames, the stone-layer has been putting up some of the sandstone walls.

Here the quoins are visible – the corner pieces have flatter surfaces as you can see.

 

 

Here is the front yard.Small 47 Park Street May 14th Front Yard

The whole thing is much easier to visualise now, with a lovely front entrance coming into shape, the “utility room” over the garage, the large master bedroom and huge living area, the lovely bedrooms with their views over th road to the park.

It has become quite exciting now, a more concrete project (literally and metaphorically) developing in front of our eyes.  Suddenly it doesn’t seem such a mad idea after all.

 

 

 

 

The Margan Winery

We have been away for the weekend to the Hunter Valley.

This represents some of the dichotomy I find in my life in Australia (is that the right word, Mark?): I love the Australian way of life, the culture, the society, the opportunities.  Yet I miss some of my memories of the atmosphere of events in England – string quartets playing Schubert in stately homes, elegant gourmet occasions in beautiful surroundings, like our wonderful meal the first time we went to l’Enclume restaurant in Carmel,a few years ago – see my entry dated 24th August 2013).

Perhaps such occasions/opportunities are to be found in Australia, it is just that they are fewer and further between.

Margan Winery is a Hunter Valley business producing absolutely world-class Chardonnay and other varieties.  Even that sentence alone shows some of the difference between “New World” wines and the traditional producers from France (and to a lesser extent Italy, Spain, etc.).  Here in the New World of wines, they are known by the grape varieties,rather than the “terroir” – the area where they are grown.  It is much more straightforward and easy to understand.  Anyway once a year the winery has a “launch” of their premier wines, with a lunchtime event to celebrate the latest “vintage” – vintage being the time when the grapes are harvested.

The Hunter Valley is a lovely area of NSW.  It was the first area away from Botany Bay to be occupied by the white settlers, and they named the settlement after a coal producing area of England – Newcastle.  Even to this day the coal mines compete with the local farmers and vine-growers for influence over planning decisions.

Margan Weekend 05

The southern and eastern area of the valley (where we were) is very much wine country, though.

We stayed with some friends at a local rented property.

It had a truly lovely outlook, as seen here.

 

Margan Weekend 01

From this house it was short drive to the winery, where we met with a crowd (150?) of like-minded people.

 

 

 

Margan Weekend 04Margan grow their own market-gardening produce as well as the grapes.  How on earth do they stop the local wildlife from eating it all, I wonder?

The food was excellent, and wines a good match….

 

Margan Weekend 02

 

Sue and I had a very good weekend away from our work, and were forced to buy lots of bottles of fine wine from Margan