When we moved here getting on for forty years ago, one of the first things we built was a Tea House. It filled a space that was left when a portion of the house was demolished in the 1950s.

The project started as six brick pillars upon which a pergola was built. My mother had an interest in Chinoiserie and wanted to make something from the view from atop the pillars. Some salvaged Georgian windows from the skips of Edinburgh’s New Town got us started. We also found some salvaged timber from a factory building at the harbour in Kirkcaldy.

The building was a haven to escape to. It had a bed a table and chairs. On summer nights we’d take turns sleeping up there.

We planted some Russian vine and some Clematis. It clambered over the structure when our backs were turned and it soon vanished in a cloud of green foliage. Many regular visitors had no idea it was there.

This summer we decided to reclaim it. This summer has been a bit of a wash out as I’m recovering from a hairline fracture in my elbow from a field stone lassoing accident, then I staved/dislocated my thumb in a log splitting accident. I thought some light pruning might make for some productive rehabilitation.

I underestimated just how dense the vine was. Twelve trailer loads later we revealed the majority of the structure. Only the highest point that I couldn’t reach from the top step of the ladder is left.

I’ve ordered some wrinkly tin for the roof and some scaffolding to lay it from. I should be able to reach the highest points from the scaffold too.

We’ve replaced some rotten joists and floor boards. Hopefully the tin should be here later in the week so we can crack on.

My wifi is playing up so I’m going to add a link to my Instagram feed for pics.

https://www.instagram.com/mcmoonter/

When I get my wifi back I’ll post up some more pics and a progress report.

Am speechless..

Am speechless

He does this to us a lot, just rubs it in and in and in! and makes our log pile/wood burner/shed envy burn!
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Stunning. It will be amazing to see it restored to its former glory.

Am speechless..

Indeed, we are not all created equal !

As aside I wouldn’t climb up steps that high with a perfect elbow / thumb to do any pruning !

I am going to come up and visit one day soon. I have got to see an estate where one can “lose” a structure of that size in the undergrowth and not miss it 🙂

As ever, P, your tales are inspiring.

What exactly is a

field stone lassoing accident

?

. I have got to see an estate where one can “lose” a structure of that size

Likewise. And burn that much wood

So, are you (1) crack on type person or a (2) get man in type person

Or (3), the man we should call in 🙂

Intriguing photos.
What’s the story McMoonter? How & why did you/your family chose that place forty years ago?
I realise this is very nosey, but you opened the box! 🙂

Cap doffed

Nice green tie

What exactly is a

field stone lassoing accident
?
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Seconded!! This needs an explanation

Incredible. Looks beautiful.

Currently sat in the garden looking at the wooden gazebo that needs to TLC. But like Shifter says I just want to know more this ‘Tea House’ now.

mcm, getting the wrong side of a rock
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/hairline-fracture-of-the-radius-bone-at-the-elbow-end-recovery-times

you seem posh as hell

you seem posh as hell

lolz

Ooh, another McMoonter project. Bookmarked to see how this one turns out.

Very nice.
I saw it on my friends Facebook feed and didn’t realise it was yours.

😀

Brilliant.

That is so cool

Everyone loves a McMoonter thread.

Brilliant as ever but is that a miniature Kew Gardens in the background?

Need some photos of that, please.

“What’s the story McMoonter? How & why did you/your family chose that place forty years ago?”

We moved here mainly because of the potential the garden offered. Although we maintained what here we didn’t really start to change much until about twelve years ago when we had more time.

I’m not remotely posh. My folks moved from a two roomed house which housed three children and three adults to a council estate in Hawick in the forties. They went to art college too and got lucky living an unconventional life.

I think what we have collectively created here is probably our best art work. We do something new most days so it never feels like a chore.

Thanks for the enthusiasm for the Tea House. I feel more energised to crack on with it now.

lovely.

how does this sort of thing get past building control 🙂

I’d love a little hidey hole like that!

Looks awesome. 🙂

Love these threads! Needs more photos.
I’m dying to have an opportunity like this.

Edit: And following on Instagram. Surprised you’ve not got more followers!

and here my wife and I think our garden is too much to handle…

enjoyed the pics McM…great eye and skills

After another challenging morning in corporate life, this is exactly the antidote I needed.

Thanks mcmoonter

Thanks for feeding back McM, curiosity sated. Well, apart from the cars that is.

That’s ace – though also a bit like that bit in Greystoke: Legend of Tarzan where the apes find the treehouse with the bodies in it 😉

Brilliant as ever but is that a miniature Kew Gardens in the background?

Need some photos of that, please.

Pigface, the greenhouses were built by MacKenzie & Moncur around the turn of nineteenth century. The house was then owned by a minister called Jardine, who was one of the Jardines behind the Jardine Mathieson banking corporation who made their fortunes on the back of the Opium Wars.

It was Jardines who commissioned the greenhouses and also the big wing at the back of the house which was demolished in the fifties by an architect who then had the house. Eleven rooms vanished from the bell board.

We’ve done what we can to preserve the green houses but its an uphill struggle. The best surviving examples have been subject to lottery funded restorations. Liverpool has one and the RBGs in Edinburgh is another.

The greenhouses were heated via a basement boiler which pumped hot water to grow exotic fruits.

Back to work on the Tea House today. I uplifted the scaffolding tower this morning and set to repairing some of the sarking to enable us reach the top of the roof.

The roofing felt had provided the perfect conditions to promote a living roof. A mat of roots three or four inches thick was an effort to cut through.

With the sarking renewed we could nail a step to the peak where we managed to recover the old weather vane which had collapsed under the weight of the vine. Hopefully I can salvage something from it. The second tier of the roof was rotten so it needs replacing.

Good luck fella – I know how much work maintaining those places can be! Are you based near Hawick?

I was up that way (Ewes Valley) for just over a year but the remoteness got to me so me and my fair lady parted ways. Her family own an estate there and part of the saddest parts was 1 of the properties had a large heated walled garden and the largest heated greenhouses I have seen. I wonder if they were fairly popular in these parts of a time?

It’d be interesting to know if you had any thoughts on restoration via funding means and I’ll pass that onto her.

This is going to be a woodstore yes? Or an excuse for another woodburner 😉

Does look a lovely building though 🙂

Historic Scotland listed our greenhouse but weren’t at all forthcoming in offering any financial assistance in its conservation. Their argument was that it wasn’t at risk enough. Its a very thin line between being at risk and being in smithereens.

There’s a very good example of a MacKenzie and Moncur greenhouse at Logie House just west of Dunfermline. It was Carneigie’s old house. The current owners apparently spent a fortune on its conservation. Not everyone is that flush.

This is another M&M greenhouse up near Kirriemuir

I’m in Fife.

one of the first things we built was a Tea House

as you generally do….

Thanks for the information – that’s what we had found already really – happy to list it but not happy to help fund any repairs.. The greenhouse in question is about 3x bigger than the one above and inside the garden there is another greenhouse the same size as the one above… I wont be surprised if they have disappeared entirely in 10 years.