March 2023 had us back at the cottage for a week with Simon, the carpenter responsible for the kitchen and then the conservatory at Bramley Cottage. It was time to save the porch! True it ended up as a bigger job than we had anticipated, these things usually are. It did involve several trips into Chichester for wood and glass. Fortunately the requirements were written on scraps of paper and the tradesmen knew exactly what was needed.

Simon always has a new saw or something electrical he wants to try out. Somehow he found most of the things that he needed in his van so all of the holes in the porch have been filled. The weather was not good, but somehow the rain did hold off just long enough for us to get it finished and stained before it rained too much.

Sadly when we were in Sussex the 400 year old ex coaching Inn, The Angel Hotel in North Street Midhurst was burnt down. The fire started during the night in a nearby building and rapidly spread. Fortunately nobody was injured, but it has caused added problems for the Ukrainian Refugees that were staying there at the time. It is going to take a long time for Midhurst to get back to anything like normal.