Forty Years On

If you walk into the study on the ground floor at Barmeath there is a black Bakelite switch inside the door.

It was installed by my grandfather and his elder brother, probably just after the end of the war; no, not the Boer War. It was apparent it was upside down and they decided to rectify this after lunch. It remains upside down. Earlier this week, over lunch with a relation, he confided he hadn’t quite got back to work yet after Christmas. I am no better.

Forty years ago the fireplace was boarded up and the decorative tiles painted over. I uncovered the tiles and discovered the front of the grate had been thrown away. A blacksmith put that right. I tried to strip the paint off the mantelpiece. It is made of slate but it didn’t look right so I painted it again. Then, after a few years, I replaced the ugly mid 20th century tiles on the hearth with  a slab of slate. My sister gave me the elegant fender and I bought the mirror in Bath. All I had to do was buy a fire screen. It’s taken me forty years but I finally got round to it this week.

Now I think I could get the mantelpiece stripped and polished – a task for the future.