The stove is mine! Ernie came round this afternoon, just as I was starting to rip off the wallpaper to see what I could find...we found the sandstone lintel. It's the full width of the chimney (6ft) and about 8 inches thick. The opening will be 5 feet wide. He's left me a stone dressing hammer to get the plaster and pitch off it. Not hard, but slow work, especially as I am doing it a little bit at a time because of my shoulder. The builder I want to open the fireplace up is in Ibiza till Thursday. Ali, the builder who is doing the extension, came round too. If we can get all the paperwork sorted, he'd like to start work in a couple of weeks.

So tomorrow will probably be spent chipping away at the lintel.

Andrea