Let's see... how does the old saying go? A journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step.
In January, work began on our driveway. Probably trivial to most, but very exciting for us. I mean, this is the beginning, the first step that we have been waiting for. The first step with hundreds to go! Ten years in the making...
Visiting Cedar Ridge for the first time after this work had been done was a little surreal. Are we really doing this? It's so hard to believe that the dream is now becoming a reality. (someone pinch me!) All the work with the driveway is still a bit rough around the edges, but it gives us a good idea of how things will be coming together.
This is the base of the driveway near the old barn. I love how the path winds through the trees. So peaceful, so beautiful.
The driveway is about 1,400 ft long (a few hundred feet longer than we originally intended), so it's a bit of hike. It does, after all, take you all the way up to the ridge where the house will be built. Shortly after passing the barn the hill gets quite steep. I love how thickly wooded the property is on either side here. We've never owned a single full-size tree and now we have acres of them. It's almost overwhelming and awe-inspiring all at the same time.
Here's David at the top of the hill looking down the driveway and you can see how the road takes a turn to his left to continue up towards the house. I love the view that peeks out between the trees when looking in this direction.
This is continuing to look to the left from David, up towards the actual house lot. Some of the cedar trees were cleared in the fencerow to allow the driveway to pass through.
This is the same view towards the left, just a slightly different orientation.
This is looking down towards where David was, where there is a sharp bend in the road. See the large tree straight ahead? It is one of my favorites here and I am looking forward to creating a flower garden around it's base. Perhaps a small bench for sitting & pondering will be necessary as well.
This is standing at the fencerow where I refered to some cedars being cleared, looking to the right of where David was earlier. This pasture will be partially fenced for a few animals we are planning on getting as well as holding a small orchard. I'm already beginning to plan which varieties of fruits I would like to grow and what orientation the orchard will have. We've always, always wanted to have an orchard. There's nothing more gratifying than being able to pick your own fruit from your very own property. You know that they've only been sun-kissed and haven't been exposed to anything else but nature. It's small thoughts like this that make me so happy...so excited to move up here and make it our own.
This is what you would see from the opening in the cedars if you turned around to face the actual house lot. This, my friends, is exactly where the house will be going. This is THE ridge, freshly cleared so we now have a better idea of how everything is going to come together. The driveway doesn't continue all the way to the ridge as of yet because we don't know EXACTLY what angle the house will be turned or how we want the driveway to approach it. So until we have the foundation marked and flagged, we'll wait a bit on making that decision.
Here we are, right on the cleared ridge. There used to be dozens of cedars here that formed a fencerow, but they've been cleared to allow space for the house to be built. This will be the view from the back of our house. It's so hard to tell in winter, but there are rolling hills for miles. Truly a breathtaking sight. I like to close my eyes and imagine what it will be like to get up each morning and take in this view. To sip my morning tea at the window and allow myself to absorb the beauty and the peace that can be found here. Did I mention that I can hardly wait? :)
If you turn directly around, this shows you the view from the front of our house, our second pasture area. This area will eventually contain our barn and a little bit of fencing for animals, but not much else. We want to keep it pristine so we can enjoy mother nature, just as she intended!
It was cold the day we went up for a visit, but all of the kids had a wonderful time poking around and exploring the freshly cleared areas of the ridge (here's Hannah, all giggles & smiles!). All of the work that has been done so far has been such an amazing experience. It just makes us so excited to get to the next steps of breaking ground and actually getting started on the house.
We met with a possible builder a few weeks ago. They are currently working on modifying the floor plan that we hope to use. Once all of that is finalized, I will be sure to share with you what we have decided on for the actual house. It looks like everything is going according to plan an we'll be able to break ground in a few months, then I'll have something a bit more interesting to post as we document this journey!
Thank you for sharing in our joy!