Mears family - DIY project to renovate cottage and landscape garden

	Arthur, having just done an excellent job of fitting the stair banisters
	The electricians Phil and Ralph They have been part of the project from day one and came in and did there work over the 6 months, fitting in with the building works. They amiably coped with many plan changes! Thanks for everything gents.
2nd April 2002	Harry Miles helping with the earth moving!
5th March 2002	Mother/Pam helping us move out of her house and into the cottage with a bit to much enthusiasm for our liking!
5th March 2002	The super stars Sue and Peter They have been simple wonderful. At the start of the project way back in August 2001 they help gut the cottage, ripping down lathe and plaster ceilings and stripping the old plaster off the wall, surrounded by dust and rubble. This is them helping with the move in. Thank you Sue and Peter.
20th February 2002	The kitchen fitters! Haigh and Martin on the 1st day of fitting the kitchen. With no straight walls or square corners, this was a real challenge. We are delighted with the result, a very big thank you to you both for you excellent work.
10th February	The Painters! Jo and Hannah having a lunch break during a decorating session.
2nd February 2002	The Carpenter David Francis David installed our 3 sets of stairs. This was a fairly fiddly process made harder by the house not being square. Thank you David for the great work.
31st January 2002 Roger Nigel	The Plasterers Roger and Nigel They have done a fantastic job over the past 2 weeks. They have not just rendered and plastered the house but have managed to truly enhance and bring out the the character of the old place with their expertise. Thank you gentlemen.
31st January 2002	Stick and Frank. Stick has been with us on and off since the start of the project. He has done all the ground work and some of the bricklaying. He has been a great help through some tricky moments when things weren't going to plan.
20th January	The cooker arrived and needed moving from the lounge into the kitchen. Frank and son Paul along with John Thurston and John Mears were all required for the move.
	This is Hannah with Grandma Mears. We have been living with Pam since Late August while renovating the cottage. The original plan was to be with Pam for 8 weeks, we are now into week 21! Mother also looks after Hannah at weekends while we are working on the cottage.
	Here are Jean and Arthur Dudley, Jo's ma and pa. They have been looking after our dogs, Monty and Grouse, since we bought the house in September.
	29th December 2001 From left to rights - John Thurston (brother-in-law), Arthur Dudley (father-in-law) Joanna, Frank (neighbour) This was an impressive turnout particularly as we had spent the previous evening at a dinner party.
	9th December 2001 Jo from Wickes in Bletchley who did a really great job in designing our kitchen and has been really helpful throughout our project.
	12th Nov. 2001 Frank our next door neighbour & Jo after a hard days work mixing concrete for the dining room floor.
	Howard the mixer mixed the concrete for the kitchen floor on Sunday 18th November 2001. Thanks Howard.
	Pete Bishop - who single handed renovated our roof and did a brilliant job. Many thanks. If anyone needs an excellent roofer then Pete can be contacted on 07949 363047 (this is a UK number)
	Pete Brookfield - Pete has done a large amount of the brick laying we have required and is a real expert at his trade thank you Pete. This is him working on the fireplace in the lounge.

Quick links

Family photos - One or two snaps of us......

People who helped - Picture of people who have helped over the years with our project......

Mears family tree - Download of our family tree as created by Rex Mears......

Favourite links

The Tuffnell Family - Web site of Mark and Jenny Tuffnell and family.

Aspley Guise Riding Club - Web site of the Aspley Gusie Riding Club.

The Dutch Family site - Web site of Charlotte and Steve Dutch

Merlin Information Systems - IT services company

Bow Brickhill web site

This site, mears.biz, belongs to the Mears family and is aimed at communicating with DIY enthusiasts as well as friends and family around the world. We are currently renovating our 200 year old cottage near Milton Keynes. As DIY enthusiasts we are doing a great amount of the cottage renovation and refurbishment work ourselves! You can follow the progress of our current DIY project, the renovation of our 200 year old cottage, by following the link to "home renovation"