Restoration Man Drops By Again

Mid afternoon on a Sunday and the front door goes bing-bong.  Two bedraggled and muddy booted blokes stood on the outside landing.  One, Restoration Man George Clarke and the other his cameraman Chris on a walking tour around the Dales with an hour to kill before catching the northbound train.

What a delightful surprise.   They had walked from Skipton, via Malham and were in need of a cuppa and a warm - and to see the new extension of course.

George gave his blessing to the extension too.  When our first planning application was about to bite the dust George had studied the plans to see if  they could be made more likely to be accepted, pointing to then wasted space towards the north of the site and between the then proposed layout and the tower.  He was therefore interested in how things had worked out and was kind enough to pronounce that it was indeed an Amazing Space.

He was very concerned though to see and hear fans blowing warm air into the space between the rafters and the now completed roof because of the wetness above.  He agreed that it must be remedied, but by the roofing contractors not us,  Watch this / that space!

Cameraman Chris insisted on taking the picture - up on the roof but all of us squinting into strong autumn sunshine.

On entering, GC told Chris the cameraman 'hey look, those are the George Stairs'.  On cue, I explained to Chris (new to this project) "They're useless but very lovely".

It really is most reassuring that George is so obviously proud of this project.   He follows this Blog so be assured George you and yours are very welcome to stay in the new extension when (quite soon) it is finished.  The Yorkshire Dales and the Leeds-Settle-Carlisle line beckon.

Two more pictures taken by cameraman Chris.  The one below is especially well composed.  The Settle Down bench with the Settle sign above it is a favourite for visitor photographs:

 Just look at those boots.

George was giving the old Twitter some welly during his train ride to Carlisle too:

The Tweets prompted some wonderful and heartening responses about the Water Tower - and about Yorkshire.   One I particularly liked was that God made Lancashire then decided he* could do even better and made Yorkshire.

* perhaps that should be she?