Furlong

Here's Furlong, the lovely home we're renting. It's a medieval building that was converted into a barn a century ago and turned into a dwelling more recently. Jill and Rob have done most of the work of turning it into a luxury dwelling themselves. Robin loves all the open space, but especially his play area in the front hall (picture 1) -- in the medieval tradition, we're now calling it the "solar." It's perfect for lining up his Playmobil animals and practicing somersaults. There are four bedrooms (pictures 2 & 3), 2-3/4 baths upstairs, and a 1/2 bath downstairs. We mostly hang out in the farmhouse-style kitchen (picture 4), where the AGA stove cheerily warms the whole house (it's been mostly cool and rainy since we arrived). The back garden is completely landscaped by Jill and Rob -- it was all concrete and outbuildings before -- and provides a view of the hills and Castle Drogo (picture 5 -- not ancient but 19th century -- in fact, I think it's the last real castle built in England). We couldn't be more delighted with the house. As Robin says, "I want to stay here FOR-EVER!"

I've added a few more pix of the exterior of the house, courtesy of Jim, who visited us this week en route from London to Wales.