We moved into Hunters Farm at the end of October.

Currently our only source of electricity is our diesel generator.  We run this all day, turning it off last thing at night.  My first job in the morning is to go out and turn it on.  It would come on automatically by turning the power on in the house, but it has a problem at the moment – there is a slight leak in the radiator.  So I have to tramp through the dark and cold every morning and top up its anti-freeze before I can turn the electricity on.

There is a coal-fired range in the kitchen which heats the hot water (small baths only, please), and we have installed a wood-burning stove in the small sitting room at the other end of the house.  Apart from that the house is COLD.  The worst thing is getting into a freezing cold bed at night.  We have rediscovered hot water bottles.