There was always a large room at one end of the house but it was enclosed.
I think my Mum (CS) and Dad (DAS) decided that it would be a good idea to open the front and have a veranda there that led down steps to the front lawn and garden. They also wanted to have a fire there , as it could get very cold and damp there in the big rains (Kerempt). But initially, the whole house had a thatched roof which made it unsafe to have a fire there.
So big alterations took place. The thatch was removed and replaced with a tinned roof. A wood-burning stove stood at one end of the house and the chimney went up through the tin roof. We already had a tin roof over the kitchen as we needed a stove there and had an old-fashioned oven there where we had some charcoal burning to heat it up. We. Baked loaves of bread in it.
I can remember the excitement of having a stove in the kitchen on which we could cook all sorts of things. We had actually entered the 20th century. I love cooking and this was the time I started my own cookery book, which I use when I cook in Sweet Pea House, Hemyock along with the Kenya Wives cookery book. Both dating back many years.