You never know what's around the corner!

Following the delays due to poor weather last week, Dean and his team have made really good progress this week. Not only have the inner block work walls been built up to a height of about 5 feet, but the outer brick walls were started on Friday and we can begin to visualise the effect of the cream bricks.

Roy, our project manager, has been as organised as ever and has now placed orders for the special roof trusses which are scheduled for positioning in the first week of September. Roy has also arranged for the a company to visit to quote for the scaffolding for the upper courses of bricks, and for the roof. Quotes are back too for the windows and doors - all oak - as we wanted something that would look the part and be long lasting. However, we now understand that only companies that belong to FENSA (Fenestration Association) can supply windows as they can certify that the windows meet current building regulations standards. I've emailed FENSA and asked them to let me know of a window manufacturer near us that has the approporiate accreditation.

As ever our planning team at Central Beds has been on the ball (you don't believe that, do you?) and at long last given approval for the foul waste. This was a condition of planning approval being granted, which, due to a bit of a mix up between planners and building regs people (never I hear you say!) was initially refused because the building regs lot said they didn't know how it was being handled so the planners refused to accept it. Mouth - open - question - answer - simples! Not really difficult is it. Anyway, our building surveyors submitted detailed plans in early May this year, chased the planners in June and again in July, after which I chased too. Guess what, the approval was posted on the Central Beds web site last week, but of course letting us know is not a priority. Still, its only taken 3 months to look at a simple plan and say "accepted".

I've been on a weeks leave this week so have busied myself being Mrs Mop and clearing up the site (builders being less than tidy people). I've cleared Mr Hyde's access drive to the field beyond our plot too - doubt that I will get a thank you for that though, but there was a reason. And so to the intrigue................

I received a telephone call last week - from a chap called Peter Phillips who used to be in partnership with our old "friend" Stuart Rataj (pronounced Ratay) apparently - that's with a silent "ay" on the end. He said he was acting for Mr Hyde, the owner of the driveway to Brookvale and that he wanted to meet up to see if we could reach a compromise over access.

We duly met on Monday and I was asked if I wanted to purchase the driveway and the land at the end of our plot that provides access to the field. "Yes" I said. However, there was a snag. Mr Hyde wanted to retain the right of access to the field and wanted a minimum of 6 metres width so he could get a combine harvester down the drive. This was an odd request as he's not used the drive for farm vehicles for at least 17 years, so why now. Peter Phillips didn't know. When pushed on what value Mr Hyde put on this, Peter Phillips said £20,000. As my valuation of this land, without giving Mr Hyde access, was in low single figures, we had an impasse, but Peter said he would go to see Mr Hyde and explain my position.

As you might imagine Jan was less than enthusiastic about losing some of our land (as was I). It was also rather ironic that this was the man who had signed letters to the then Mid Beds District Council insisting our planning applications should go to committee so that the parish council could vent their spleen about the "inappropriate" design of our house, and this was the reason we reverted to the existing planning permission. Had we continued with our application we would have moved the house nearer to the garage and had more garden. If that had happened we would have perhaps been more amenable to a compromise with Mr Hyde about the width of access he wanted.

Peter Phillips then suggested that we should measure out the plot and agree where the boundaries were. As I had no problem with that (in fact if Mr Hyde had been a little more positive much earlier in proceedings, we could have done this some time ago. On meeting Peter at Brookvale he told me he had been to Land Registry at Stevenage to check all the deeds and titles which showed the various measurements. I knew that we should have 36 metres along the hedgerow between us and My Hyde's field, and that in theory Mr Hyde had a 14 foot access track beyond that. Trouble was, when we measured out 36 metres, Mr Hyde didn't have 14 feet left between our boundary and the hedge which delineated the next boundary.

Knowing that Mr Hyde's deed for the "cart track", dating back to the 1870s was the primary document I suggested that we should then give Mr Hyde his 14 feet access width - I didn't want to end up with a costly boundary dispute, and if making this gesture to Mr Hyde was likely to help reach a compromise, then it seemed sensible. Subsequent research has shown that a combine harvester requires 4.2 metres of road and as 14 feet is 4.3 metres, perhaps we have a solution... lets wait and see.

Given that Mr Hyde wishes to have access across to the land behind our plot I've said I'm not interested in buying it as it cannot be included as part of our garden if the occasional farm vehicle has to drive across it. I have said I will buy the driveway from him though - for a nominal sum. This would remove his current responsibility to repair the road and recover costs from the owners of 1 to 6 Brookvale. As I pointed out - its nothing but a liability. (Mind you , if I own it there can be no dispute over whether or not we can use it!)

Do we actually believe what we're being told - well, not really. We suspect that there's more too it than we've been told. We'll have to wait and see!

More news next week.

Jan & Rog