The hot tub at Foxes Reach was magic. A clear silent starry night, just the sound of the bubbles.

Wordsworth's Lines written above Tintern Abbey came to mind this morning but so did his Lake District lines as I planted 200 daffodil bulbs -which I hope will be duly fluttering and dancing in the breeze for the spring break visitors. Although it was a wonderfully sunny golden autumn morning this is a back aching task. No guests at Foxes Reach today or tomorrow as we are doing routine maintenance -so guess who will soothe the aches in the hot tub!

Kitchen cleaned out and equipped and pic uploaded to the website. Hurrah it all works and we even have hot water!

Single handedly helping to end the recession as car loads of shopping are delivered to the cottage. Everything from egg cups to cushions, carpets to quilts has to be in place.At least with our policy of buying Welsh made, or at the very least sold by a Welsh shop to protect jobs, we are not driving too far to arrange it -but now we are dreaming of opening a parcel which is not excessively wrapped and does not need assembling. Trips to the recycling dumps are also numerous as the packaging is ridiculous.

The kitchen was finished last night and now we are cleaning the new equipment and installing all the crockey and so on. it looks super. pics follow asap!

The outdoor gang of workmen (who did such a sterling job with the drains and heavy landscaping, the beams and the endless stone and cement hauling) are back for the last time to tidy up and spread tons of slate pebbles on the terraces. Thank you so much Chris, Ben, Dylan, Damian and Sam from Chris Jenkins Builders in Abergavenny. We will miss your cheerful company and we are happy to recommend your work to all who read this.

We now have 5 bookings and the workmen are appalled they have deadlines. Steam coming off the paintbrushes and saws!

The beautiful new leather sofas are delivered from a Welsh maker- but I have ordered the wrong size and we have to ask them to remove two and deliver something of a different size .Blush. Generally we dont do flat pack stuff but we have succumbed to an Ikea TV stand and after some time wrestling with an idiot allan key( allen key?) breaking several nails and a vow not to cuss - I remember why we dont generally do flat pack to go.

The upstairs bathroom is completed and cleaned after the workmen. Just waiting for the window shutters and scented soaps!. Take a look on the gallery!

The tiler is back, this time fitting clotted cream tiles in the kitchen which we just love with the soft retro teal of the units and the steel appliances. We wait for grout .