More retaining walls...

Before the guys go ahead and start with the ground floor, we all realised that the retention walls around the back of the house and to the left of the house should be finished first.

As well as being handy to keep the earth back, it'll also let air circulate round the back of the house.

The idea is that they'll be no higher than the windowsills, and in that way we should look out to see greenery rather than brick wall.

There's also a ramp from the front door up to the steep bit of the garden behind the house. At this point only the ditches for the foundations of the wall at the side have been dug; this will also be where some drainage pipes will be put in.

The first 'roof'!

It's already been a month since we last posted, and true to our word here's a shot of the water tanks, with a roof! That'll be the first 'finished' part of the house then.

There's a shot taken from just in front of what will hopefully be one of the nicest parts of the house - the alcove with two-storey-high windows pointing pretty much south east for maximum sun-intake!

The other shot shows how the place is looking from the other side - the earth is packed in nicely in each room, ready for a layer of sand and its plastic damp-proof covering. The big earth wall you can see is the next problem on our hands: we've got to figure out how to contain the earth while allowing for a view of greenery from the windows as well as a path which will hopefully lead up the hill from the front door.