Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Caer David

 
 
Caer
(Pronounced care)  Old Welsh:  Caer is a placename element in Welsh meaning "stronghold", "fortress", or "citadel".
 
David
(Pronounced da-veed) Hebrew:  Pertaining to the house of David, meaning beloved.

Caer David is our refuge, our mountain escape, our getaway.  It is our home away from home.  

For years, Sir Knight and I have longed for a sanctuary in the mountainous meadows of my childhood.  A place to go if the world fell apart.  A place to go when we needed to relax and recharge.  A place where we would be surrounded by solitude and kinship, seclusion and fellowship.  Caer David is the fulfillment of that long-held desire.

The sign is over the front door

Wood cookstove - Cabin Tender

Food storage bin (divided into five sections)

An 8 foot kitchen table with benches!
The Caer is beautiful in it's simplicity.  It is rustic and refined - practical and romantic.  The boards are from our early 1900's barn, many cribbed on by the horses I rode as a child.  Most of the metal roofing (repurposed as interior siding) also came from a nearby barn.  The beams separating the kitchen from the adjoining rooms were salvaged from a homesteaders dairy barn by Sir Knight, the kids and I.  The kitchen cupboards were built by a dear family friend.  In fact, every square inch of the Caer was built with loving hands by faith-filled people.

The living room




The field phone
My parents live in a cottage, called The Refuge, to the north of the Caer.  Although there is no phone at the Caer, we are connected to The Refuge via Gulf War era field phones.  We pick up the handset in our cottage and the field phone in my parent's cottage rings - and vise versa!  The Caer is heated by a wood cookstove in the kitchen, and has all the basic necessities - even a washer and dryer!  There is a bedroom downstairs for Sir knight and I and a bunk room (not yet finished) upstairs for the children - and an occasional cousin!

Barn board wall

Looking from the living room into the kitchen

A Procom heater provides back-up heat

The bathroom

Look in the mirror!

Our bedroom

One of the salvaged beams
Metal (from the old barn) on the wall of the stairway

The bunk room
There are still so many things to do at Caer David - but we'll take it one step at a time.  At some point we would like to add a solar array, as well as re-develop an existing spring.  We'd like to clear some trees to enhance the gorgeous views and put in a gun range.  For now, we will delight ourselves with the cozy atmosphere of the Caer, the sound of the creek gurgling down the hill and the fellowship of our favorite people in the world.

This is Caer David - the house that God built.

12 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing Caer David with us. It is warm, welcoming, and oh, so beautiful. A true refuge. I'm glad to see you posting more frequently again. Thank you.

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  2. That looks wonderful! I too am glad that you have resumed posting, I guess we now know where all your time has been going. Thanks for the window into your life.

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  3. I'm so happy for you and just sent up a praise to our Lord for your lovely retreat. So glad to see you back. Ramona

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  4. Fantastic! What a refuge. You're truly blessed.

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  5. Wow, it looks fancier that the shouse. Are you hoping to move there at some point, or is it a place to visit and retreat to as needed?

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  6. We love it. So cozy! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...
    Montana Guy

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    1. I meant to add that I love the COMMs. That seems to be the frequent weak link with most folks. Like the saying goes, 'If you don't have COMMS, you don't have anything'.

      And as you have mentioned before, your family is into ham radio. Montana Gal and I started out with MURS (no license required) and joined AmRRON patriots. Eventually we got our ham radio licenses.

      It is comforting to know you will have 24/7 communications with friends and family when the AM/FM radio, ALL phones and the grid stop working. Plus you will know what is happening in real time both locally and nationally.

      Montana Guy

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  7. Awesome place. I like the AR in the mirror. Don

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  8. Caer David is so gorgeous! It's relaxing just looking at the pictures!

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  9. You're living my dream of a quiet retreat to a place of secure solitude. I'm glad you have such a place.

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  10. Stunning! I'm so happy for you! I did have to giggle, You now have Doors! I remember a story you told about the strangeness of doors on rooms and the Shouse didn't have them. Your Caer is beautiful!

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