The garden, seen through the hydroswing — the same view as the finished house, years on

Thorne · still here

Now… 13 years later

We love our house in Thorne. Kate made the garden beautiful. The boys grew up. The seasons keep turning. What an adventure.

We love our house in Thorne.

Personally, I've loved watching Kate make our garden beautiful, and all the birthdays and Christmas celebrations. Watching our two boys grow up and get their own home from home in York as they go to university. Watching the seasons go by and our home grow with us.

I can't think of a better place to live and grow old. I'm so proud of our younger selves having the madness and creativity and courage to do what we did.

What an adventure!!

The house from the hydropool — patio, garden, a cat asleep on the deck — A view from our pool.

Kate’s garden in summer: lawn, sofas, festoon lights, the copper beech — Kate’s garden. This is what the back of the cinema became.

The garden in snow, festoon lights still up

Snow falling on the walled garden

The courtyard: roses on the old brick, the tuxedo cat on the sofa

Kate’s greenhouse and the pots

Watching Kate make our garden beautiful.

The family

Birthdays, Christmas, the boys growing up.

Gwyn, Kate, Jac and Dylan at Christmas, against the board-marked concrete — Christmas. The wall we poured is behind us.

Gwyn, Jac, Dylan and a friend on the patio

A sixteenth birthday in the house: balloons, the garden through the glass

Kate, Jac and Dylan with a Battenberg birthday cake

A birthday in the kitchen — cake, the cat, the lot

A birthday at the table, the garden through the doors, the dog on his bed

Blowing out candles on a football cake

The house as a home

Ordinary Tuesdays. And a few that weren’t.

Kate putting the star on the Christmas tree

Kate on Christmas morning with a giant unicorn

The fireplace at night, candles on the mantel, the tuxedo cat on the sofa — The board-marked wall. The fire. The cat who owns the sofa.

Wine and a laptop on the terrace, the dog at our feet

A glass of wine on the terrace, looking into the trees

In the hammock in the garden

Gwyn in a pizza hat, making pizza, the garden through the glass

Spring in the garden, a dog looking out

Breakfast on the deck in the sun, croissants and the dog

And the rest of it

The seasons, the parties, the animals who live here too.

Christmas lights on the stairs

Kate in the sun on the patio

Gwyn and Kate with a glass of fizz

Friends at the picnic table at dusk, the kitchen lit behind them

Happy birthday banners in the copper beech

A night around the fire pit

A toast on the patio, pizza oven going

The fire pit at Christmas, the dog asleep on the sofa

The old dog on the step

Gwyn on the sofa

A tabby kitten asleep on the bed

The living room at night

The tuxedo cat on his back on the wooden floor

The lawn, the stepping stones, the old brick wall

Dan’s photographs of the house when the work was done · The diary that got us here