Winter is here.....

The winter is beginning to bite here at Betley Court, not helped by the fact we no longer have a roof, or indeed windows and doors anymore, since the fire destroyed them! The big fire place in the drawing room has gone – oh and the chimney above it. Santa’s going to have a few issues!

More cheery news is that we do, however, have people living on site again. The northerly wing of Betley Court has had a deep clean, and repairs made following water damage from the fire (water was doused on this part of the house by the fire brigade, to prevent it catching alight). Its been heartening to put up decorations and nice to see lights in the windows again.

We have a large family contingent over this Christmas, all booked long before the fire. Alternative accommodation has been found, thankfully. This morning’s conversation came around to belongings stored at Betley Court, subsequently lost to the flames. Previously, my brother-in-laws’ families left warm sweaters and winter clothing stored upstairs for when they visited. Very useful, given your average Georgian country house is a drafty and difficult place to heat. Betley Court is no exception. My sister-in-law certainly mourned the demise of her wooly jumpers when she stepped off the plane in Manchester, having left Australia during one of its hottest spells just twenty-four hours before.

Nigel’s hoping to press-gang various family into a salvage operation over the Christmas period (I’m not sure he’s mentioned it to them yet, so let’s keep that between ourselves!). He’s thoughtfully bought gifts of PPE – Personal Protective Equipment - for all of us. Can’t say safety boots, a hi-viz jacket, riggers’ gloves and hard hat were the top of my Christmas list, but that’s Nigel for you. Always practical! Our aim is to salvage some of the Georgian bricks from demolished walls for reuse when we rebuild. We’ve got a couple of skips coming, so we can remove some of the other debris as we go along. Nigel’s even brought a huge orange wheelbarrow to assist us!

Huge orange wheelbarrow - a grown man could bath in it!! Phot: Su Hurrell

That should keep us busy over the holiday period. It’ll make a change from the epically long games of Monopoly (or ‘Court-opoly’ – we had a custom version, featuring all the flats of Betley Court instead of London Streets) that younger generation played for days in previous years!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Ladybird Su