After moving in, progress was much slower. Summer visitors came and went. Dozens of small jobs like shelving etc had to be done....

...furniture moved around, and we just wanted to relax and enjoy the fruits of four years of hard work...

...then in autumn, we found a buyer for our much larger old house, and had to clear it out, and find space for things...

...that for ecological reasons we could not throw away, but had to find a second life for (giving away or recycling).

My studio had to be put into working order to make some prints for an exhibition, and to run a printmaking course.

In autumn I hired a small digger and driver to move a lot of gravel on the terrace and dig a hole for a wildlife pond.

Hole were dug for foundations pads for the pergola posts and deck.

At the same time I put in the shuttering for steps up to the garage from the future greenhouse floor, and cast the concrete.

I shuttered and cast the pergola foundations...

... and encased the rainwater drain in concrete.

The 8 steres of chestnut logs that had been delivered a year before had not been used up during the last winter while the house was being finished and 3 steres were left. An additional 3 steres of oak from the site was cut up and burnt.

Winter came very early and in the evenings we lit the fire/boiler and had the first chance to test the complete system. Burning only chestnut logs we averaged about 35 kg per day for most days. Over the whole winter (which was particularly severe) the energy consumption for heating was 40 kWh/sqm of habitable space. (see details)

The whole house was comfortably warm and the mezzanine radiators were never turned on for the whole winter, being heated from warmth rising from the living area below and a duct conducting rising hot air from around the chimney of the fire below in the living room.

The mezzanine bedroom, (which became very warm during very hot summer days - outside temperatures over 35 degrees) in winter was warmed by convected warmth from below.

Christmas came and the house filled up with guests and a little more heating was needed. The fire was lit in the mornings. and kept going until bedtime.

The lower ground floor guest bedroom was naturally cooler than upstairs but when it was occupied in winter, a little extra backup heating was needed in the mornings....

..and the same applied to the adjoining shower/wc/laundry room. The heated towel rail was all that was needed, heated by the hot water accumulated in the 1000 litre tank.

The cellar workshop was unheated and was 15 degrees until January and gradually went down to 13 degrees by March. It benefitted a little from the living room underfloor heating over it.

The wine cellar was slightly warmer overall than the workshop because of the rainwater pump and a few heating pipes going through it.

The winter sun is lower and as the deciduous trees lose their leaves the sun penetrates deeply into the south east and south west facing rooms.

Looking towards the dining area in January at about midday.

The same time of day ...

In January I tiled the floor in the landing downstairs, using the liles that were left over from various other tiling jobs.

The finished tiling with stair on the left and door to the workshop of the right.