Here, we describe factors that you may wish to take into account in terms of accessing our home, and accessing the terrace, meadow and orchards.
Please note that our descriptions of the meadow, orchards and terrace areas in this section are made for your safety and well-being.
We have used millimetres and metres in the descriptions below. There are 25.4mm in one inch, and one metre is the equivalent of roughly 3 feet 3 inches.
The parking area in front of the house is made of resin-bound gravel which is solid and free-draining. There is a kerb of some 15mm high from this onto the paved area surrounding the house.
Both guest bedrooms are on the ground floor. The front door of the house has a maximum width of 895mm and the back door 810mm. Each guest bedroom also has a lift-and-slide door (openable only from the inside when locked) opening on to the paved area at the front of the house which has a maximum width of 1450mm. The thresholds of the front door, back door and the lift-and-slide doors are about 170mm high.
The hinged doors leading from the hall into the two guest bedrooms each have a maximum width of 790mm, and the pocket (sliding) doors into the guest en-suite bathrooms have a maximum opening of 750mm.
The narrowest space adjacent to the bed (on the lift-and-slide door side) is just over 1m, with substantially more space on the other side and at the foot of the bed.
The top lip of the handbasin in each guest en-suite is 900mm from the floor and the top of the toilet seat is 475mm from the floor.
In the guest en-suite with a bath, there is 195mm between the toilet seat and the edge of the bath and 390mm space on the other side.
In the guest en-suite with a shower, there is 280mm between the toilet seat and the edge of the shower enclosure and 580mm space on the other side.
The edge of the bath is 565mm from the floor.
The threshold of the shower enclosure is 36mm above the floor and the shower tray is very slightly sunken below floor level. The door of the shower enclosure has a maximum opening width of 610mm and the internal dimensions of the shower are 1.46m x 0.85m.
The controls in the shower enclosure are 1.1m from the floor and the hand shower is some 1.6m from the floor.
The door between the hall and the boot room has a maximum opening of 790mm.
The staircase from the hall to the dining area upstairs consists of five steps to a half-landing and then nine steps to the top. There is a bannister rail on the right side (viewed when ascending).
Outside, the terrace is paved and accessed by both steps from the paved area surrounding the house and from the meadow. On the house side of the terrace there is a retaining wall slightly above the terrace level some 0.6m wide and topped with irregular-shaped stones in a traditional ‘cock and hen’ pattern level. There is a drop of some 1.6m on the other side of this wall to the paved area around the house.
The meadow and orchards are accessed from the resin-bound gravel parking area and from the terrace, itself accessed by seven steps from the paving surrounding the house, or from the meadow. The meadow slopes moderately from the house to the orchards. The meadow surface is not even and there are holes in places, where small animals have made their homes, as well as molehills. Depending on the time of the year and when it has been cut, the meadow will either be covered in relatively short grass or grass and wild flowers, including thistles, up to about 1m high. We keep the orchard grass cut shorter but there are occasional brambles and tree stumps of various sizes there as well as holes made by animals and more mole hills.
In the far south west corner of our land (top right-hand corner as viewed from the house), just beyond both the plum and the pear tree orchards, is an area, surrounded by trees and developing hedging, set aside for bee hives. Depending on the time of year and the ambient temperature bees are likely to be busy here and we strongly advise you not to enter it. The bees may also be busy elsewhere collecting nectar and pollen but, in our experience, if you leave them alone they will leave you alone.