I’ve been busy here, have lots of recipes to put up starting tomorrow morning when I wake up early and the house is quiet and peaceful. I’ve harvested apples and elderberries and have enough for some pies and preserves. Not many but it’s a start.
Today I had help clearing the overgrown back end of the garden so I can start preparing the ground for a ‘Victory Garden’ in 2014. Alas the ground is filled with old bricks and debris and now I have hundreds of angry wasps hovering over their disturbed homes but now I have a base to work on and see what I can do.
Another interesting but scary find today was the discovery of a room underneath the house that I found by thrusting my arm down a dark hole and taking a photo. My house dates back to 1780 so inevitably there are going to be strange workings but a room 10ft underground? I am thinking it must have been some sort of an old cellar originally which has had different uses over the years. At some stage the entrance was built over and now there is no way to get to it except by dangling down a dark hole in the floor in my mud room and dropping to the debris covered old stone steps.
Curiosity is getting the better of me and if there is some way to get down there, maybe a ladder or a rope, enough courage has to be found to investigate with a torch and an axe (just incase)… I need to know!
Finally- as if all the excitement above wasn’t enough, today I received this rather wonderful gift from the 1940s UK Radio Station. I’ll explain more soon but I am looking forward to being very creative over the coming weeks to create an extension of my blog for radio. I have a lot to learn using some open source software called ‘Audacity’ but am at a perfect time in my life now to take this on…. I can’t wait!!!
C xxxxxxx
Hiya just to say great article as usual! I could not click on the like as it took me to a log in to Word…. and when I tried to register they thought I wanted to do a blog!
Ooohh a lost cellar-shades of “Watch the wall, my darling, when the gentlemen ride by…..” The Woolton pie has been a sucess with my friends, but I put the cheese inside. Thanks!
ooh…how exciting Carolyn…I strangely like the smell of damp cellars…it used to be a treat to go into Grandads cellar to say hallo to a beetle we called Bagley!!…I somehow don’t think todays children would be impressed!… now I am intrigued with the microphone that looks as if it has a mirror attached.. but Im sure all will be revealed in due course!
The secret room sounds exciting,I bet there is ghost with storys down there.Enjoy and post often
How exciting to find a secret room! I look forward to updates about the garden – I am hoping to get a plot at my Dad’s for a Victory garden next year, since we don’t have a garden of our own and there is a limit to what a couple of grow bags can produce!
Bright lighting and a ladder..you might find some hidden treasure ! or something antique 🙂
Maybe it’s an air raid shelter or perhaps a priest hole. Better yet, a smugglers hide out…how cool would that be?
So exciting!!! I can’t wait until you venture under the house 🙂 Wouldn’t it be awesome if you found some war time artifacts! Looks like people have been down their recently with the plastic buckets and tins, but I’m sure, by the mess they left behind, they probably didn’t clean up what was there before.
So excited to hear you’ll be doing something with 1940’s radio! Have that station playing on my laptop when ever i’m on it 🙂
Fascinating! Take care down there 🙂
and thanks for the link to the UK 1940s Radio Station.
Best wishes.
This all very exciting! The garden, the cellar and especially the radio blog spot! Wow, you’re in the right place at the right time alright. I can’t wait to hear the first broadcast. Take going down those stairs – or rather, getting back up.
How exciting! Probably a coal cellar but the temperature will be great for storing preserves/your stout and apples too!
Have a little look around the outside of the house, there may be a coal shute.
I love 1940’s radio, so pleased you are doing this. It just goes to show you moved at the right time …
I hope the hobbits are happy too? Xx
If you decide to explore the hidden room, you may find a well.
I don’t know how closely architecture in the UK resembles architecture in the States, but I do know in the 1700s and 1800s, quite a few homes on the East Coast had their wells built right in the house. They designed it that way to avoid having to put up with the biting cold during the wintertime.
I agree with Louise, there may be a concealed entrance outside. My grandfather had a cellar with the entrance from the outside in his cottage. The cellar or undercroft was for storing food such as meat hanging and game but it kept things cool too. Yours could be an 18thC fridge. The best person to ask would be an architectural historian.
If the room is a decent size, maybe the hatch can be renewed and have something like foldaway ladders connected to it. How intriguing!
I can’t wait either, Carolyn. What a great opportunity to grow your blog, by bringing in the spoken word. I’m so looking forward to hearing more about this. All the very best,
Bonnie
http://themetapicture.com/amazing-secret-dungeon-discovered-under-my-new-apartment/?fb_comment_id=fbc_704948099535238_113446204_706252219404826#f25e4751676e1f2
It’s breaking out all over.
I love this!!!!!!! I’ve gotta get down the hole and investigate ours more- I know its definitely been used prior to the modern extension which was added but it actually looks a similar shape and size to that one for sure!!! Maybe I can change it into a dungeon! Thanks for this xxxx
oooh…maybe you could have a fantastic Secret Supper Dungeon Party down there Carolyn!