Fireplace done.

I wish I was getting paid by the hour for this.  By a er, be about 30 quid richer.  Still, that's 120 bottles of home brew.

Voila.  One massive fireplace in a wee room.  Very, very hard to do - as I got to the top it was getting nigh on impossible to back-fill and get the side of the flue straight, and tie in everything.  Got there in the end.

The back was black with soot so after a bit of research, cow poo came to the rescue.  There are lots of different ratios, but basically, cow poo has a mucus in it that reacts with lime to form a gel that keeps soot and tar from leaching through plaster, staining it.  Also flexible and fire-proof, so good for chimneys.  My French wasn't up to explaining that to our neighbour, so  they are ...bemused, thinking I'm spraying my house with cow shit.  Which I am.  Sand, lime, poo and hair mixed to a slurry and harled on the back.  Got some in my mouth.  Tastes like shit.

Next on the list - a bloody concrete slab.  Rather have lime-crete, but we're not made of money.  Better plant more trees this winter to offset it.