In a week where the UK has been soundly lashed not once, not twice but thrice by a series of violent and devastating storms, we here at Blessham Hall have come through it in stoical fashion. As the twigs and branches flew past our windows and the rain made leaving the Hall a damn near impossibility due to flooding of Noah-esque proportions we made the best of it and hunkered down in our humble abode and saw it out. Not only that but we also transformed the Hall into a place of both beauty and practicality.

How?

We decorated the living room for one thing and turned one of the west wing bedrooms into an office that’s how.

And I have to say it is a rare joy to be able to work in the new office. Not only have be bought new office furniture (well, when I say new I mean antique!!!) but we also benefited from a free (yes, gratis) office chair from the good people at Second Time Around in the goodly nearby town of Settle. Ok, ok, they where going to scrap it and had it in the back of their van when they delivered the new (second hand but mint) couch to us. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I seized upon said office chair and am merrily swivelling on it as I write this very blog post.

Having a proper office to work from has many benefits, not least of which is the absence of distractions. When I worked from the dining table I was constantly up and down throwing monkey nuts to the squirrels or being tempted by yet another cup of rooibos and maybe a quick snack or heeding the call of the couch for a quick ten minutes; which would then turn into half an hour. Being office based has removed all that and made me focus more on what I’m doing. Yes, the chair is in the latter stages of it’s life but it’s comfortable for now and being in front of a north facing window means that I’m not blinded by the Sun and closing curtains which I always feel is a depressing thing to do on blue-sky days.

And, of course, now that all the work has been done on the Hall and that we have a designated work area I can plough headlong into that next novel that has been itching away at me. Sorry, it’s taken so long but with our enforced exile in January and all the restructuring work I just haven’t had time. But now… now that my portly arse is balanced nicely on an office chair and I have trees to stare at in front of fluffy clouds and swooping birds the inspiration should flow like a well-poured pint of Guinness (there’s a clue for you) and I’m planning completion of it by some time in June. Then it’s all about promotional activity again but I’m getting increasingly less concerned about that these days, especially now I have an office to work from.

Loving the office? You bet!