Deciding on a Site for the Garage
Posted: 31 December 2019
It was always our plan to have a garage built at Ruston House. The first picture shows the house on the day we completed our purchase.
Having it beside the house on the site where the previous owner had a shipping container (just beyond the parked car) was briefly considered but there was not space there for the double garage that we wanted.
Besides, immediately in front of the fence, which we were expecting to take down, was some of the plant that controlled the sewage treatment system for the house and neighbouring cottages, including a frail domed plastic cover over various pumps.
With that idea dismissed the conclusion was that any garage would have to be where the skip is pictured and face sideways across the front of the house and use the existing site entrance in front of the office.
The garden shed that was both close to the road and close to collapse was always scheduled for demolition and creating a new entrance near where it stood would have required a ramp, as the road rises by a couple of feet by the time it reaches that side of the plot.
What hadn't been done before we moved in was measuring the plot precisely. With the decision that the garage would have to face sideways one thought was to place it as close to the road as possible to enable easy manoeuvring to turn a car so it could face the road as we left home. However, that would have required one of the large birch trees to be cut down so was rejected.
After a few manoeuvring tests it was decided that a good sized garage would would fit in the space between two of the larger birch trees. It was also decided that we would have a "cart shed" rather than garage, something we felt that was in keeping with Norfolk vernacular architecture. It would be a garage without doors - a glorified car port, if you prefer!
We also considered combining the garage with a shed, but there was an urgent need to provide some dry storage space when we moved in and the garage was going to have to wait to be built. So, with temporary storage in mind, a large shed was purchased through eBay that could be used for a year or two until it was decided on a more permanent replacement, whether that be part of the garage or an independent building.
December 2013
With lots to do the question of the garage was set aside for a while and by the end of the year not much had changed. At that point even Just 17 was still on her mooring outside the Pleasure Boat Inn so only her trailer was at home.
