Oops

Empty rooms look so big. Even so, it only took me a morning to paint myself into this corner. This is the hardest, least yielding wood I have ever encountered. The coverage achieved by the oil is more than double what the tin says - because almost none of it is absorbed; it disdains any attempt to 'brush it in'. After ten years of sofa wheels, chair legs, dog claws and stones in shoes, I was expecting grooves, scratches and scuffs, but there is scarce a mark. Whatever it is, I would much rather it was standing in the rainforest it most likely came from, but wishing will not make it so, and the least we can do is cherish and honour it, so I think it was worthy work

I wish we knew its story. We guess it was installed when the place was recovered from deleliction sixty years ago, but we do not know for sure. That is just one of the room's secrets. When the plaster was off, it was obvious that the window on the left is a blocked up door. Also part of the 1960s rescue, we assume - supported by the evidence of the utilitarian Crittall Crittall window, which were so common then

The window on the right is much older, some of the glass panes are so old they they don't have flat surfaces, and bend the light that comes through them, distorting the view. I doubt if this is because the glass has 'flowed' in the way that ancient glass can - it is more likely that it was cheap glass of imperfect manufacture. We don't even know the date on which these thick stone walls were built; we always guess that they formed brewery workmen's cottages, so we assume they are contemporary, more-or-less, with the founding of the brewery 170 years ago. Might some of the glass be that old? Like all the rooms in the house, this one is trapezoidal rather than rectangular - labourers' accommodation did not attract the most able builders, I assume 

The stone hearth on the right - sourced from a local quarry - was installed by us ten years ago, as was the oak-ledged door and the school radiator. The wall on the left is still drying out - painfully slow because part of it is below outside ground level (and you may have heard the weather has been damp). The skirting board will be fitted when it can be set against dry plaster

The final secret in this scene: there is an external door behind me!