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I've just been watching a programme on French TV showing parts of England from the air. Some of it featured the steam locomotive 45110 which ran on the Severn Valley, Google tells me. I did catch a glimpse of a road sign pointing towards Worcester.

Ideally you would have a run that rats can't get into, but that may be a lot of work for you. You certainly can't use poison and they wouldn't eat it in preference to chicken feed anyway. First thing is to remove the feed at night and make sure they haven't access to water. They will eat the...

In the attempt to save as much fuel oil as possible we have reduced the boiler temperature to 45C. We had a sharp frost last night and the house maintained its temperature. We have the boiler outside in the garage and the main heating pipes are in the loft, all fully insulated now (there were...

That looks so much like villages in Northwest Derbyshire Hen-Gen.

My recipe book says "for perfect function of your septic tank add 200 mice". Believe me it worked wonders for our stinky pit. I was reminded of the fireplace in the rental. It had a wood burner with an insulated flue, but the hole in the plasterboard ceiling was too big so there was a gap...

We had cats that couldn't kill the mice, they just brought them into the house where they lived quite happily in the tumble dryer. When we moved to this infested house (and the previous rental was possibly far worse, despite the cat) we trapped 200 mice in the first year with 13 traps on the...

We've found that, for a given temperature, a dry room feels warmer than a damp one. We have several dehumidifiers which are used in Winter above 60 %. Whilst they do use electricity it's one of those cases when it gets used twice, so once to run the appliance and it then heats the room. In the...

Lovely to see her fight back to a normal life. A very special chicken.

We don't have bins here, so no rubbish collection. The communal bins are on the way to town so you take your rubbish to them when you go to town. Unlike England glass doesn't go into the recycling bin but into specific bins for that in town or the dechetterie (tip). There were so many Brits in...

As the clocks go back tonight the TV has featured 'The clocks go to Winter- an endless debate!' Whilst the whole of Europe agrees it is a real pain and would like to keep the same time all year and have also agreed that they must all use the same one (Summer time or Winter Time), they can't...

They have Ex-Bat rehoming here as well Shadrach. We bought broiler hens instead and gave them a full life. One of them is very different to the others- about half the size and lays really well. According to the official figures only 100,000 Brits have been issued with residency permits in...

Lovely photos Shadrach. Henry is a very hansom chap. Does he have girls? I notice your green feeders are falling apart as ours are. I think they are not made for clear skies and hot temperatures- poor UV resistance. We have scrapped most of ours and bought local which are not as well suited to...

You were there the same time we were Icemaiden- when we arrived they were re-lining 'the pond' and hadn't started on the buildings. The pub at the lock was renamed the Barton Turns, but everyone used the original name of The Vine. Used to be a very busy place from 1840 to 1960 with four pubs...

I've remembered- the cleaning agent was Caustic Soda (Sodium Hydroxide). It's used as a drain cleaner, so it may be possible to buy it?

People used to clean their motorbike engine parts in something, and I can't remember what. But if left too long the Aluminium just dissolved to nothing. I can't remember because I didn't ever use it.

We used to live alongside the Trent and Mersey canal Icemaiden. Apart from the rats, mosquitoes, the smell of the rancid water and the diesel fumes from the boats, we used to be woken at dawn in Summer by boats moving through the lock to avoid the hour long queues during the day- not a nice...

I can recommend a small stove @LadyA - a Jotul 3. We had one in our rental and I was sceptical about it because it didn't have an ash pan, so I thought it would clog up. But it turned out to be so efficient the ash burned to a fine white powder which rarely needed removing. Looking at your photo...

We also have a wireless thermostat Margaid. It is 'intelligent', so learns when the boiler needs to be fired before the thermostat says the temperature is too low and therefore maintains a very even temperature. Ours runs at 55C because our heat 'emitters' are convectors, not radiators...

We've spent a lot of time thinking about energy savings- prices are going crazy here as well with another 15% going on gas and electricity in January. Wood pellet prices have doubled and are difficult to find. Oil rose 70% but has dropped back a little now. First thing to establish with...

Acsites is also known as 'water belly'. So she will have a swollen abdomen like egg peritonitis. We've had one who emptied her abdomen over two days flooding the coop and then went on to lay for years. Your chicken looks like she has a tumour. We've had a chicken with an internal tumour that...