LAMBRIGGAN COURT CORNWALL

Ist July 2007 and we were in! Lambriggan Court was ours. It had been 5 weeks of hard work and negotiation between all the parties involved - the vendors ,their solicitor,our solicitor,the estate agents etc.etc. And here we were ,once again standing in the courtyard not quite believing we were now the new owners. Everything had happened so fast. None of our relatives would believe that we had moved yet again but also that we had moved into a home that was actually habitable. One that not only had walls and a roof but had running water and electricity as well. For the first time we did not have to live in the caravan , the woodshed (yes honestly - ask all our friends at Gorran Haven), the tent (we spent two years renovating a property in France) or even the garage when building a house on the edge of Dartmoor .
The property consisted of the main house , 2 cottages which had been let as holiday cottages by the previous owners, a stone tractor shed (at this moment being converted into The Lemon Suite) and another long stone barn - all within a quadrangle forming the courtyard. The centre-piece of the courtyard is the beautiful Italian horse fountain which in Summer is full of the most gorgeous pure-white lillies. I have been told by Betty Miners - a wonderful octagenarian and Chairman of Mithian WI that when she was a young girl the children would collect the cows from the field on the way home from school at Bolingy and would chase them around the dung heap in the middle of the yard. That dung heap is now where the fountain stands.The previous owner had travelled Italy as a buyer of leather for the Clarkes shoe company and had gathered ideas and statues etc. which gives Lambriggan Court it's distinctive Tuscan feel. The shutters or 'les volets' as thay are called in France gives the main house it's French farmhouse look. All the shutters and paintwork are painted in a wonderful shade of blue - now known as Lambriggan Blue . Our new neighbours in the lane , Ade and Sal have painted their woodwork this colour as well so we all blend in delightfully.
We have 7 and a half acres of land with the property including 2 small lakes. Everything was very overgrown when we first moved here but in between renovating barns and bedrooms and with the help of our two very good friends Cath and Ronnie a programme of thinning out has taken place so that all the plants can now 'breathe' again . The upper lake flows down in to the lower lake with a little waterfall (we have ambitious energy plans for this at a later date) and is surrounded by exotic plants and Gunnera (like giant rhubarb). Perching on the edge of the lower lake is The Jungle House. We had this re-thatched in June last year and celebrated with a BBQ one evening with neighbours and friends . The lanterns were lit and it really did feel like we were in the middle of the jungle. Of couse we have the birds and animals here that make it very authentic. Ah but I haven't mentioned those yet have I?!!!