Last Post of 2010

Due to compatibility issues between the camera and the MAC (new download lost the library!) we have struggled to upload the pictures from our visit in September.  Finally, we have sorted the problem and managed to find the time to up load them!

The next stage in the adventure began on 6th September.  We left Portsmouth on the Normandy Vitesse heading for Cherbourg.  We had George with us and we had no idea whether he was a sailor or not.  The Vitesse has a reputation for challenging the best sea legs.  Armed with passports, including George's, we went through check-in with no problems.  George was scanned and we were given a sticker to indicate an animal in the car.  The crossing was quite lumpy and when we returned to the car, 2 1/2 hours later, we were not sure what we were going to find.  No need to worry though - our stoic little dog was just sitting in his bed, wondering where we had been!

We then hot footed through the Normandy countryside down to Le Mans and joined the road which I had already travelled 4 times this year.  Passing through Tours and then heading for Vierzon and Bourge.  We knew that once we had cleared Bourge, it would not take long.  Arriving in Ebreuil around 5 pm, we stopped at the Spar to pick up some provisions.  Finally arriving at the house around 6pm.  Unpacking and setting up camp in the snug, we cooked a quick meal and soon settled down to sleep.  Having slept in the car the night before and then driven for 8 hours between us, we were glad to lie down and relax.

Next morning we woke to the sound of rain.......But I felt happy, as the roof was doing its job.  No water in the house.  Yeay!  You might think it strange that I felt like this, but after the events of May/June, it was a huge relief.  After a quick visit to Bellenaves for some essential business, we began work.  This time we were here to take up the floor.  As mentioned in the previous post, the quote we had received to take this up was far too high and Simon and I decided we could do this ourselves.   So, we set to work with what tools we had.  Simon being the major element in this, he's like a human bulldozer.  By lunch time, we had all the chipboard up and we could now see the extent of the challenge.  We knew that previous owners had knocked down and internal wall and spread all the rubble over the floor; they then just covered this with a framework and the chipboard.

Simon having ripped up the chipboard flooring -
note the level of the floor to the door.

After clearing all the woodwork out of the way - much of which, we can re-use for stub work walls, we then had to clear away the masses of rubble.  Along with hugh pieces of stone which created to large pile, Simon and Michel moved 150 barrow loads of rubble between them.    Without the help and support of some of the villagers, I think we would be totally daunted.  As you will see as this story unfolds.  There are some wonderful people in the world.

In the afternoon, Michel, frère de Bernard arrived.  (There are many Bernard's and Michel's in this story - not to be confused!)

Michel, frère de Bernard was the person who rebuilt the front of our house, which fell down, thanks to the antics of James.  We had engaged Michel to re-build the beam on the barn which was dropping.  He told us that he had put an RSJ in between the wood, for support and that it was strong now.  However, when he had put the needles through, to support the wall above where he needed to work,  he removed the first stone and the whole lot fell on top of him.  Thank God he hadn't been injured.  He did say that you could see where rats had been using the branches of the fig tree to climb up and make nests in the wall.  Another good reason to get it all sorted out and the tree removed.  

See where my head is, against the 'window' to my left.
 We are already several inches below the height of the floor
on which I had pitched the tent, in May.

Cracking on the next morning, we removed all the rest of the woodwork and Michel who lives in the village and subsequently became nicknamed Michel the Pick came to see us.  This Michel helped me when I was alone, earlier in the year and now he had heard that we were back and came to offer his help once again.  He, Simon and I set to work clearing the rubble and we took down the silly wall which had been built up in what used to be the entrance to the animal shed.  This now allowed us to take all the rubble and stones out of the room.  You can just see the stones still filling the lower part of the wall, below the "window" in this picture.  We were now able to make some serious inroads and after a few hours , the three of us had made quite a difference.

New level,
before Simon and Michel got to work with the pick

I think it took the best part of the first week to clear this room and it was hard work, as the sun had come out and the temperature outside was 25º so being inside was quite refreshing!

During this first week Bernard de Paris arrived and was to discuss the disposal of our scaffolding.  He invited us to his house one evening for a drink.  Little did we know how hospitable he is and 6 bottles of wine later, we were all much the worse for wear.  Infact, it took me all morning to look up some telephone numbers and write a letter to M. Coulon the next morning!  Simon said I could be site foreman for the day.  :-)  

Two piles of stone either side of the door,
which is almost 5' high.  These came out of the floor,
when Michel and Simon set to work with a pick!

Finally, the room was cleared and Simon and Michel got to work with the picks.  I did help, but was very girlie and not much use really.  By the time the men had finished, this is what we ended up with.  Huge piles of stone, which is difficult to give an idea of the size. 

These are the foundations of the original house,
now partially exposed.

You can see the foundations below the door in this picture.  See above picture, where Simon was standing by this door.

Once again, enter Bernard de Paris.  He knew that we had had a difficult time with the roof and he also had known our house as a child.  During our evening of wine, wine and more wine, we had spoken with Bernard at length about our hopes for the future.  Bernard grew up in Naves and now lives in Paris, running and international business.  He promised that when he had lunch with his Architect, he would ask for names of reputable builders, as putting in the floor will be a very important component in the structure of the house.  Enter, M. Mazeau - M. Mazeau lives and works in Charroux, a medieval village just 6 km away.  Building in Charroux is controlled by strict planning controls and therefore we thought that he might be a good choice.  Of all the names which Bernard gave us, the only one to respond to us was M. Mazeau.  Instantly Simon and I met him, we liked him.  He exuded something that I can only call trust.  We showed him around and he was quietly confident.  Asking questions which made complete sense to me and he even was able to understand my French.   He did say that the wrong tiles have been put onto the roof of the snug and that these should have been canal tiles.  We told him of the problems we've had and how much it has cost us so far.  He was astounded.  He took our plans away to copy and promised to return them the next day.  Having both felt the same trust towards him, we allowed him to take the plans.  However, I did afterwards kick myself, as that is a cardinal no-no.  Do not let your signed plans out of your sight.  We were due to leave on Thursday lunch time and this was Tuesday night.  If M. Mazeau was not  good for his word, then we had just cocked up, again.  However, trying to be philosophical about the situation, I decided that it would test whether he would do what he said he would do.  And he did.  We were out when he returned the plans, but He left them on the door step, with a Devis to put in the floors to all the rooms, put in a tie bar on the barn (which Thierry had told me we needed months before, but no one else had mentioned) and also to build in the large opening of the barn, putting in a window and the pipe work in the interior for the plumbing to meet up with the Fosse.  The total price including TVA was now lower than the original quote for the floors.  Simon and I had done what we set out to do, which was save ourselves money.  But so much more had come out of it.  Some of which is yet to come to fruition and so, I can only hint at it here.  Other things were that people whom I had met in the 6 weeks i had been out there, were pleased to see us.  Henri, our neighbour, said that my French was improving and that he could now understand me (big compliment, I can tell you.)  We had made more friends and the best of all, we felt that were are at home in that house.  At no time, despite all of the difficulties so for, have we looked at it as anything other than our home.  We have even bought furniture for a house, which we cannot put the furniture in.  You might think that crazy, but to my, its all about manifesting your dreams.  Think negatively, and that is what will happen.  Think positively and you will over come the hurdles that are sure to be placed in your way.  Nothing worth having in this life, comes easily.  If it does, we dont value it and often over look its importance.  

If things transpire the way we believed they will when we left France on the 17th, then we will be very happy.  

Moving On!......

We have now received a Devis for the down stairs floor to the house and barn.........Sharp intake of breath -  Simon and I had already done our homework on the materials, costs and quantities and so we knew what to expect these to come in at.  Let's just say, we are now doing further research into ready made concrete, delivered to site.

We have also emailed the Mairie's office to find out who in the locality, has a lorry we could hire to take away all the rubbish that will be dug out of the house.

Then, we just need to be organised with materials etc., on site, so that we can crack on.  Dont think we'll be accepting this Devis!!

We have a ROOF!!

After a year to trying (looking back on this blog, work started 15th June 2009) - we now have a roof.
The original person who was contracted to do the work for us, has jumped ship, having not completed the job, but having been paid to complete it.  Suffice to say, it's not the end of that saga.


Let this be a lesson to all of you who think about making a move to France and buying a ruin to renovate - or any property which requires work.  To find your tradesmen, go to your Mairie.  They will have a list of people who are reputable.  Then, go to the bar and get talking to the locals and find out who they would recommend.  Where ever possible, make sure that you spend the money within the community you are going to live in.  


I think that despite being ripped off for half the money for the roof - we have actually been very fortunate - within the community where we are going to live, there is every trade we need.  I say we've been fortunate, because if the work had all been carried out by a contractor who was not from the village, it may have made our integration much more difficult.  As it is, and because of the problems we have experienced, we have found ourselves becoming much more integrated.  This is the continuing story.


Whilst in France in April, we had had a meeting with the person who had been employed to undertake the work and he had told us that he would have to do the remaining work (fundamentally, half of the work) as and when he could, because he did not have enough money left in the budget to buy the tiles or put them on.  It had left us both wondering how we were ever going to get this roof on.  The house had endured one winter with only a waterproof membrane and in February, there had been 3 feet of snow overnight on one occasion.  It was not going to do the house any good.  Simon and I thought  quite deeply, but not for long.  We discussed my coming back to France as soon as possible and on returning to work, I resigned immediately. As things had been deteriorating for me at work for several months, Simon felt it would be good for me personally but also, good for our future.  As I had holiday owed and also several weeks of lieu time, I was able to leave on the 18th May, with the knowledge that we would be financially OK until July.  On the morning of the 18th May, I booked a ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff for the evening of the 20th May.  I've always had a hankering to just put a few clean clothes into a back pack and go.  This felt much like that.


I arrived in France on the morning of the 21st May and due to where I had been parked on the Ferry,. I had to wait until ALL the other cars/traffic was off the ferry.  I was then allowed to reverse around and disembark.  I was the last off!  This felt OK though, because I had to go into Roscoff to get some euros before I set out on the auto routes.  Finally, I found myself on the dual carriage way heading to Rennes.  Brittany is very busy in comparison and it was not until I had passed Rennes and was on the Peage that the traffic began to thin out.  One thing that is beautiful about driving in France - the route is very well sign posted - you just have to trust the signs.  Also, I like driving on the peage when travelling a distance, because the traffic is lighter and you can maintain a good speed.  This brings me to the first 'fun'.  As I was driving an English car, when I came to the peage's, obviously, the machines and staff were all on the left hand side.  OK when you have a passenger, but as I was on my own, this was not so easy.  I drew up to the peage and put the handbrake on, then jumping out of the car, and waiving my apologies to the french car and occupants behind, I grabbed the ticket - but I wasn't quick enough and the barrier must have lowered again.  I looked in dismay - now what!  I saw that there was a button to press for help and in my best (really bad) French, I tried to explain that I had taken a ticket, but the barrier would not let me through.  I thought I was being told to take another ticket, but could not see how to make this happen.  I got back in the car and tried driving up to the barrier, hoping that something would happen to help the situation.  Nothing did!  So I sat there and then in the rear view mirror, I saw the lady from the car behind had jumped out of her car and take a ticket.  She came up to my window and gave it to me - phew!  I could go........and stop making a complete arse of myself!!


Passing Laval, I headed for Le Mans and remembered that the turnings here were a little tricky and I had to be alert.  I had a big lorry behind me as I turned off and was about to take a road that would have been completely wrong, when at the last minute, I saw the sign for Le Mans.  Luckily, as I'd been driving relatively slowly at this point, I was able to make a quick alteration, without getting honked at by the lorry.  So far, so good and I was on my way to Le Mans.  





ph and also having passed that way only a few weeks before, I knew to keep in the middle lane.  I had a huge lorry to my right (the inside lane) and in-front of the lorry, was a van, which was indicating, but did not maneuver.  The lorry blew his horn and I jumped out of my skin.  I hadn't done anything wrong, but it still made me feel like I had, but the van stopped indicating!!


At last, through Tours and heading for Vierzon, then Bourges, the centre of France.  After that, it was going to be a breeze.  As I passed into the Allier, the music in the car was K T Tunstall - Feels like Home.  It could not be more apt - that's exactly how it felt.  The scenery was becoming more mountainous and dramatic.  Finally, I turned off the peage and turned for Ebruille (pronounced Ebroy).  Stopping in Ebruille for some groceries, I was amazed how the Spar shop had changed in just a few weeks.  It was having a refit and when I walked in, I thought that I was in the wrong place.  However, they were still open and I then remembered that when we were there in April, they were starting to refurbish the back section of the shop.  


Finally, at about 5pm, I arrived at the house in Naves.  I set up my tent and camp kitchen and then headed for the bar to see Pepita and Bernard.  


The next morning I headed to the local building supplier - Chez.   I have to recommend them to anyone and everyone.  They totally put up with this woman, who did not speak the language very well, placing an order for a whole roof, but then telling them that I needed it on account, as our payment facilities had not arrived.!!  They were amazing - to help with their security for the order, I went to our bank in Gannat and explained that I needed them to tell Chez that I was good for the money, but didnt have the payment facilities yet.  


The driver for Chez, who was going to deliver the tiles, came to check that he could deliver, as I'd explained that I thought it may be tricky for them, due to the narrowness of the Impasse.  He confirmed that it was all OK - the tiles arrived in due course, after I'd been there about 3 weeks.


In the meantime, I desperately tried to make good use of my time, cutting down trees that were growing close to the building, pulling out ivy and clearing the gully to the rear of the house.  The gully took me a whole week to clear of the rubble, rubbish and weeds.  I also found several oak beams which had been dropped into it.  These were so heavy, that I could only manage to move them out of the ditch onto the bank.  I'd need help to move them to the area at the front of the house, where we had put a pile of wood in April.  I then decided to dig the gully out, so that I could put some drainage in for the rainwater and to take it away from the bottom of the walls.  I found that there is a supporting wall retaining the ground behind the house.  I look forward to when we can devote time to rebuilding this wall properly.


After clearing the gully and starting to dig it out, one of the people from the village, Michel came and asked if I would like help.  As I was using hand tools and he was offering to bring a pick, I accepted his help, gratefully.  Michel speaks English and enjoys speaking English, which I found helpful, as I would try to speak French and he would correct me.  We carried on digging this trench for several days, which was a concern to my neighbour Dominique.  There was a little difficulty over this, as I had planned to let the rain water go into what looked like a communal drain, on my property.  Apparently though, it's actually part of the fosse system for Dominique's house.  This problem rumbled on for a few weeks, culminating in the Mairie coming to see me (by this time, I had moved into another house).  The fact that they Mairie had come to find me, worried me that there was trouble, but in actual fact, he was apologetic that having told me that it was OK to put the rain water into this disputed drain, it was now not OK.  I just said "d'accord - pas problem", as really, this was the least of my worries.  I agreed that we would direct the rain water (pluvial) around to either the 'puit' or the fosse.


I had also started pointing the wall on the far end of the barn.  This wall had fallen down at some point in the past, and been rebuilt, but not fantastically.  There were very large gaps, with no mortar.  My thoughts were that if I pointed this area up, it would at least stabilize the corner.  At first, one of the chaps who worked on the roof, Thierry, said he thought that I was doing a good job.  However, I think that was just politeness.  As he got to know me better, he told me to stick to cooking, as my pointing was catastrophic. !!  It became a point of jest and made me feel that I was making in roads.  One day, during this ribaldry, I said 'pas catastroph, peut-être un travesti.'  Realising as I said it, that in French, that means a transvestite!  There are many words in English that don't translate well into French when you say them, hoping that the person knows the French version.  We had many a laugh over several words, over such words as 'busy' and 'pay day'.


One evening, there was a Cous-Cous evening at a nearby village, called St Bonnet de Rochfort.  I was actually quite scared, as everyone one was French and there was only 3 people there who could speak English and I couldn't just stick to them all night.  Je besoin apprend - I need to learn, so, in for a penny. I was sitting opposite Pepita and Bernard and to my right was a couple who were very refined. When the main course arrived, he took my plate and madam put various spoon fulls of food on my plate. When they passed it back, I said 'Merci Monsieur-dames' he replied 'pas Monsieur, Jean-Yves et Patricia' which was very nice and I tried to speak to them a couple of times more, but it was early in the 6 weeks and I was still struggling greatly. The next day, I discovered that he was the local Police chief!!

Another occurrence which helped, was that I had a rat! One night, as I hadn't slept much the night before, due to a massive thunderstorm, I decided o go to bed early. Looking up at the roof, I saw this little face, watching me. I couldn't get into the tent quickly enough, zipping myself in. But I didn't sleep much again, thinking that the rat was going to come and eat my toes.

The next morning, I went to Chez and bought rat poison. Then went to the bar and told Pepita and Thierry what had happened. Thierry said he'd come and help me put the poison down. About 3 or 4 days later, Dominique found a dead rat in her garden. At least the poison had worked. Pepita soon found a little mouse picture holder, and says she wants a picture of me to put into it.


After about 3 weeks and a break in the beautiful weather, when on one particular day, I had had to go out in the car to use the heater to warm up, Gareth and his wife (an English couple who have bought a house in the village this year.) Asked if I would like to stay at their house after they returned to England. This would be like moving into a castle for me, after living in a ruin of a house, with no water, toilet or electricity! A big thank you to Gareth and Ruth - especially as the week later, the weather was very nasty.

At last, the tiling began and try as I might, I couldn't catch the roofers throwing the tiles to each other.

When they started putting the tiles on the front, due to the water ingress - thanks to the joker of a builder we'd employed last year - we had a partial collapse of the front wall. The local mason was drafted in tout suite and he had to take all of the front wall down, for a depth of 2 ft, the length of the whole of the front!!!

Simon and my parents arrived on Wednesday 23rd June and this was the appearance of the roof to greet him. It was a very hot day and the roofers were trying to get shade in the lea of the barn roof, whilst they put on the last tiles to the middle roof. Although the front wall on the snug had been rebuilt, the mason had been due to go on holiday, so through all of the terrible rain the second week of June, the wall at the front was vulnerable.

On the Sunday whilst Simon and my parents were in Naves, there was a Brocante, which is like a car boot sale, but better. I had booked for us to have lunch at Pepita's and as it was such beautiful weather, everyone was sitting on the terrace. As we went in, Jean-Yves and Patricia were just finishing their main course. The said hello and said that they could see that the roof was progressing. Everyone in the village is interested I think, in our progress, but to know that the Police chief is watching...... makes you wonder, is that a good thing or not?? I'm sure that it's out of general interest.

When we were due to leave, the Mason had returned from his hols and he said that all of the house would be fine - that after they had put in the floor and pointed the walls, it would be OK. The next job he would be tackling was the lintel that was dropping on the barn. Again, he said it's not a problem.

This was the state of the roof on the day we left. Looking good! There were still some things to finish, but the main thing was that the roof was now water tight and we had guttering too.

Next step is the floor! We're due to go out again in September and hopefully, in the meantime, we can organise the steps necessary, so that the floor will be done.

Then it will be moving on to the fosse.....

Life in France

I dont have any new pictures at the mo, but when I get back to the UK , my blog will be soooooo long with the epic story!!

The latest from the home front

Well - what an epic adventure....... We left Plymouth on the 22:00 sailing for Roscoff on the 19th April.  Arrived early Tuesday morning and then hot-footed our way across France (See the maps link above for the route).  It was sooooo easy.  All motorway and fantastically well sign posted.  We reached the house about 4pm Tuesday evening.  We pitched a 4 man tent in the house (thanks to the kindness of Jo & Drew who trusted us with one of theirs.)  Blew up the air beds, rolled out the sleeping bags, light the 1 ring stove, cooked a chilli with rice and cracked open the wine! Aaahh tres bon!!  It felt good.  As we had been travelling down France, the outside temperature reading on the dash had been climbing 0.5º degrees every 10 minutes.  Naves was in a balmy 22º C and stayed around that temperature every day, but climbing steadily.  We had a little rain over night on Thursday night.  When it first started, the pat;pat;pat on the waterproof membrane woke me up, because it was a new noise.  As I realised what was happening and the rain began to fall steadily, it lulled me back to sleep, feeling snug in 'my new home'.  By lunch time the next day, we were back to the sunny weather and that was the way it stayed, temperature steadily climbing.  We left on Sunday afternoon, and slept over night at LAVAL in a B & B (which is a chain of low cost good quality over night stop facilities.)  By Friday 30th April, the temperature had risen to 27º!!!  We were very lucky that the weather was so beautiful at such an early time of the year.  The locals had tomatoes and lettuce in the ground already and by the looks of it had been in for a couple of weeks.

Everyone was so friendly towards us.  When they found out our lack of basic amenities (we had to go the the next village, 4.5 km away for a WC), they insisted that we use their bathrooms for showers etc., and held a BBQ to introduce us to other locals, when they found out it had been both Simon and my birthdays' whilst we were there.

The external may be slow, but in our mind - we're nearly there!

Well - as the weather in the Allier is not as temperate as Cornwall, building works are going to by delayed until the spring.

It doesn't stop us planning the next stages.

We have investigated this fantastic woodfired range cooker made by ESSE.  It will act as a room heater and also run rads.

It certainly helps to be visualising the end product, both with the budget and the works schedule!