What a difference a year makes!

I can't believe that it's a year since this blog was last updated - so much has happened.

In April, Josh and Georgia came out - that was absolutely lovely for me, as it was the first time Josh has visited.  It as a real pleasure for me, topped by the fact that they got engaged whilst they were there :-)

Both Josh and Georgia have left their marks on the house, Josh helping to build walls, renovate the well and finish off the closing of the roof to the barn wall... That was a whole story on its own.  But suffice to say that it gave us a really good spring board for work that we did last September.  This is the finished product for the courtyard - the patio which you can see in front of the door is 5m x 3m and we moved 2 tonnes of gravel in a day.  By that evening, we were sitting on the patio, with a bottle of very nice Sencerre and a pizza, cos I was too tired to cook!  It was lovely watching the moon come up :-)

This is showing that the hole in the dependance has been re-built (thanks to Simon's hard work in April) and we re-pointed it and started planting :-)

This is the view from my sitting room window.  In the corner of the flowerbed is now a lovely honeysuckle as well as several other plants.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks this summer

There's been progress on the inside too.  Whilst we were there, Simon and Pierre 'sorted out' our monster beam, which has now become two posts, supporting the upstairs floors.  Here, you can see the beginning of the mezzanine floor, which then became a bedroom (see pics below).  The height when you got up onto the floor was amazing.  It's the first time we've seen the height like that.  The cross beam in the pic below is actually at the height of my chest!

This picture shows what will become my kitchen, under the bedroom.

You would think that it would be quite dark, as there is only a small rectangular window - but this picture was take without flash, with only the light coming in the door.  The patio not only stops the mud being walked in, but is also reflecting light into the house.  Once this space has been plaste rboarded and painted, it will be amazingly different.


After we left, Pierre was on a fast track to try to get work done, before he left the area for the Mayenne.  He managed to get the space for the bedroom plaster boarded and the bathroom shell created.

bedroom door and bathroom sliding door

the beam built into the wall....  how lovely will this be to wake up to?

Bed head wall - opposite the A frame beam

window - opposite the bathroom

Because Pierre moved in December, Simon suggested we should make a quick visit in January to find a new builder, which we did and he is starting next week.  When we next visit, hopefully in May, we should see good progress, including getting the log burner installed, We will finally be able to have heating that isn't electric:-)  Then by September, we will have stairs....  M. Beaudonnet of Bellenaves is making us some stairs in oak - it'll be fab.  

Whilst we were there in Jan, we managed to get M. Faure to come and see us too, re making the parking area.  That should also hopefully be done this year - so then next year, we really hope that we will be on to the barn and the final lap of this marathon!!