Here we back on Freedom bobbing around the Mediterranean again. We arrived in a heat-wave and spent the first 2 days doing jobs to make the boat seaworthy and then craned into the water on day 3. We were so relieved to be on the water - it’s just so much cooler. We bought all our heavy supplies whilst we had the hire car for 3 days and filled up with wine, water, milk, beer and the essential gin and tonic!! Most of our early excitement was over the new dinghy and recently over-hauled outboard - goes like a rocket, new water tank and solar panel that both came over in out luggage and now fitted, and the new timber shelves cut to size in B&Q and also squeezed into the luggage. The weather has been ... read more

Every single morning we glory in just being here. Yes we have spent too much time indoors working, but when we sit down for lunch on the deck - or stand with a cocktail in he evening or drive along the coast road or so many things - we just look around us and love what we see. Kate keeps saying she can’t believe we own this beautiful house. It is all just too wonderful. The table The table with hardly any carbon footprint. The wood came from a tree in the garden which was chain sawed into planks and legs. Andy designed it - Kurt and Casso cut it and put it together and Kate stained and varnished it. We think it looks fantastic, and it will probably outlive us all! Saturday night with the ... read more

This last week has been full-on. We have worked really long hours getting the house ready for a visit from Carol from Ross Medical University on Thursday. We are considering letting the house to parents of students who visit the island, so we are trying to finish all the ongoing jobs. It is really exciting that all the design ideas we had are now coming together and look even better than we thought. Tonight we have almost finished all the woodwork. Just about 2 days work left. The bathroom now has a stunning shower all tiled by Andy who has become on site Plumber, Electrician, Foreman, Designer, Tiler and Carpenter. I on the other hand have had more man hours with a paint brush in my hand than I care to remember. It is great though ... read more

Our neighbour, Son, grows his own coffee and one day he brought us some beans...... read more

This last 3 weeks have just flown by, and one of the best things is that we just keep finding more and more lovely things about living here. The whole village seems to have taken us under their wing. Everyone is genuinely friendly and very proud that we love Dominica. Toucarie is a quiet spot and being on the Caribbean side of the island we avoid all the wild weather of the Atlantic side. The bay is just perfect even though the sand seems to have been replaced with pebbles during hurricane Omar. There are no nasty sea urchins - just lots of lovely colourful fish and coral so it’s really easy to swim in the bay. The week of tiling was a bit stressful - but all finished and looks great. The best bit was ... read more