The 'Oh look, it's a whole new masterplan Masterplan'

I think we might be on v3. Or maybe even v3.1

Never be afraid to upgrade, enhance or completely change your masterplan.

In our case I think we may be doing a little bit of all of the above. The current Masterplan is a cob house build in 2015. We're starting small - permaculture principles suggest small steps make for small mistakes, cob house builds suggest small houses make for smaller amounts of cob mix required. But we hope to have something suitable for next winter built by next winter. If that works we can progress more in the following year for the following winter.

So we are finalising designs for something with a living / cooking / eating space, a place for a bath, three separate rooms for a bedroom each for us, Davies and Scarlett and an indoor loo. We have worked a lot on the design plotting the shape of our days, working out best use of space, deciding what we do and don't need room for and looking at seasonal changes, sunrise and sunset, views, weather and the general knowledge of our land which two and a half years of living it has afforded us.

We have decided on a plot and marked out the rough size. The next stage is clearing that plot of grass and starting to dig out the footprint. Over the winter Ady and I will aim to dig it out, put in drainage and build the low wall that a cob building sits on. That is the practical side.

The planning side is rather more complex - we will get planning permission for a structure on the croft of the relevant size and shape. We will organise a large volunteer project to come and assist at the key points we will need help for, sort out the logistics of the materials we will need to buy in and work out the finer details.

I have been spending time on a Masterplan master plan brainstroming all the required things to organise and sort out, listing them, prioritising them and creating a timeline. This has then broken down into monthly targets and will then fit into weekly lists of things to do. Divided into indoor and outdoor, practical and planning sections. It's all quite complicated! It reminds me of the 9 months of planning that went into our WWOOFing adventure and how we went about organising that.

Everyone is feeling quite enthused and excited about this and it's great to be heading into winter feeling empowered and in control as we face the most unknown and out of our hands season of life here on Rum. I can't control the weather, the fate of the caravan or many of the other variables of our lives here. We can seize the reins of at least knowing which direction we'd like to be headed in and doing all we can to be moving in the right way.