Transformation takes time!

When we left the house at the end of June 2010 we were happy that the roof was going on.  In between time, as you have seen, there has been much work done and little by little our house is turning from a pile of stones held together by shear force of will to something which will stand for many more years to come, certainly see us out.  As you can see in this first photo, the end wall above the bread oven was looking decidedly sorry for itself.  In April, Simon and I made our annual 'pilgrimage' to start the ball rolling for this year. 



As you can see below - thanks to team work and Simon being prepared to sit on 3 pieces of wood over the bread oven, balanced on the top of ladders which were either side of it, the wall now looks a whole lot safer and less at risk.   We also finished the front of the Bread Oven and discovered that the door at the top of it (far right of the pic) was actually a pidgeon coop where the pidgeons were kept warm in the winter by the warmth from the oven!

I have to admit, we could have done with some warmth this time.  The house was like a meat locker when we arrived!  I'm sure that 30 years without habitation or heating may have something to do with it but that first night, Simon and I clung to each other for warmth and the first thing we did the next morning was buy a convector heater.  Within a couple of days, the room was lovely and warm, but the weather didnt improve at all - however we  did manage to get work done, as you can see.  We also arranged with a couple of local contractors for work to be done and fingers crossed, by the time we return in September, the first floor will be in in the barn and the fosse will be in.  Luc Faure came to meet with us and said he had been passing our house and wondering how he would be able to get his machinery in to make the fosse (the shared access problem).  He also confirmed that the Mairie have asked him to quote for clearing/making the Chemin to access our property and he asked if we owned the land in between.  Beaming, we were able to say that we do and he was happy about that too.  He said 'now there is no problem, your fosse will be in by September'.  Which will be great for us - we can actually attach a toilet  to save us having to go to another village.....Yeay!!

I looked down the Chemin, which will become our private access, as this goes no where but to what is evidently the old access to our property in times gone by.  When you first turn into the Chemin, you cannot see our house, hardly at all, so the idea will be that as you arrive down the Chemin, and the house appears 'out of the ground' it will entice you to come and investigate.  The wall on the right is the back of the Dr's property and the fence to the left is a property at which we have never seen anyone other the gardener.

Michel Williaume is putting in the windows on the ground floor of the barn, almost as I type this. We have put the drainage in at the back of the house and due to running out of time on this visit, it will be something to finish in September, when we plan to finish the pointing on the back of the house.  As you can see, we have started but the weather was not really very helpful.

Thankfully though, there are people in the village who do want to see us succeed.  Mr Bonchereau watches us from his patio door/veranda.  If the weather is a little warmer, he comes out and waves at us but we notice that he has become more frail since we saw him last year.  He tells us he is 86 in August.  One morning, Simon and I were walking to the car, talking, looking at the house and discussing what we were going to do that day.  It was a warmer day and Mr Bonchereau came out without us noticing and shouted to Simon - Bon Travail!  He had been watching Simon sitting on our make shift scaffolding over the bread oven, rebuilding the wall to the gable end and as you can see - it is certaily looking better.  He has asked me what we are going to do about the window at the back which you can see next to his lilac tree.  Someone has done a very poor job of fitting a window which is too large for the hole and butchered the wall to get it in.  This will be another job for our Michel. We shall call this Michel 'Michel le pierre', as he is our mason....!  He is going to help Simon to create the large window at the front which we have seen in many of the houses in the area.  It will need a large oak lintel which the porte-fenetre will sit under, with windows each side and  a small wall each side which will sit under these windows.  Beaucoups de lumiere !! :-))

Then we start on the inside.  As I say, we hope that the first floor will be in place in the barn in the next few months.  We have a price for French oak.  It's half the price of English oak and I'm sure that purists will say that this is because there is a difference in quality.  My answer to that is what is currently in the house has lasted for the last 200 years, so I'm sure that we wont have too much to worry about.  As much as I might like to live there for ever, it's not likely to be that long!!

Anyhow, progressing to the social side - Annie is her usual lovely, bubbly and irrepressible self.  We did have some fun, especially when she came for dinner one night.  I had invited Michel le pioche, (who is renamed by Annie my self as Mon St Michel) Annie and our new friend Denis for dinner and the gas ran out the night before they were due to come.  As it was a Bank Holiday in May the next day, I wasnt able to get any gas, so had to manage on a 1 ring gas stove, start the meal off and then put it into the 18 ltr oven which Id taken with me.  With copious wine, we had a ball !

One of many evenings and lots of hospitality - On the last Sunday, as we had made sure that we didnt have any food in the house as we were leaving early next morning, we had decided to go the the Auberge in Charroux for lunch.  Simon said I should go and book a table, as we hadnt managed to get in the week before.  Again, she was fully booked and I'm not suprised as they offer a very good meal at a good price. 

Consequently, I went round to another restaurant I know of in the village, which has a good reputation and the minute I saw it from outside, I knew it would be good.  Luckily the owner just happened to come out as I was approaching the door to see if I could book.  After a few moment chatting, it was all arranged for 12.30 - when I gave our name, he looked slightly puzzled and asked 'Etoile?'  when I said yes, he smiled.  I think he liked it.

Here is a link to the restaurant - if you are ever in our vacinity, we hope you'll stay with us and this place will certainly be worth a visit !   http://www.fermesaintsebastien.fr/restaurant.php .  Unfortunately, since we looked at the site after returning, I think some work is being carried out, as the video has been removed, but I will keep an eye on that and try to upload again later.

A Bientôt



The Art of Positive Thinking!

We're gearing up for our next trip over.

The plan is for more pointing, but also now have appointments with four different trades so that we can push the work forwards.  Each little bit of good news (just a response from the contractor) lifts our spirits and now I begin to feel that this is not just a dream but will become a reality.

My latest epiphany was regarding the entrance/driveway.  Simon likes Pink Lady apples, which are enourmously expensive and seeing as the ground there is so fertile and we have fig trees, apricot trees and there was a pear tree (but it died!) I dont think it would be too much of a stretch to grow a pink lady apple tree. 

Whilst I was awake in the night a few nights ago (I do that a lot.....think about the house and our plans in the small hours) it came to me that rather than just have a boring rectangle of space as a 'homage' to the car for parking, why not plant an apple tree in a raised bed in the middle of the space, with a lovely wall which will reflect the stone of the house/barn and the well and then the car/s can come in and progress around the right hand side (as we're in France) park along what was the old boundary between our land and our new land, and then they can continue around the circle to exit! 

Once the wall has been built on our boundary between us and Dominique, then the aspect of the house will turn around all together.

Simon and I have talked about having a water feature in this area (which will then become a courtyard) as this will provide white noise.  So then we thought that it would be nice if the water feature was actually part of the wall.

We just need to get things to move forward this year.........I need to turn into a terrier and keep nipping people heals!!

This isnt where the positive thinking ends tho!  I also have plans for my chickens.  Not just 'chickens' either.  I want to choose the chickens for the colour of the shell of their eggs as well as many other considerations!  When we have people staying, especially those with children, how lovely would it be for them to go on their 'egg hunt' and find different coloured egg shells??

News from Home

The news is that the cold spell we had from Siberia caused lots of burst pipes in the village and at the Chateau.  The Mairie emailed us and asked if anyone had a key so that they might go and check on our house for any leaks - how kind of them.  Luckily, (or unluckily depending on the circumstances) we only have a branchement at the moment, so the water does not come into the house.  If there had been a leak there, it would have caused havoc for the neighbours, turning the space outside their house into a skating rink, so I think we would know about it, if that had happened.

Michel (of whom I have spoken numerous times in these blogs) called us to tell us about the bursts pipes at the Chateau and in his house.  He also went to Charroux for us to see if he could speak with M. Mazeau and find out why he hasnt responded to our emails requesting Devis' for work we have discussed.  He was quite disappointed to hear that we have not heard anything from the builder since September last year.  C'est la vie!  We'll look for another route!

We're on a count down now until we go home - for three weeks this time which will be bliss even if we will be working hard.

We have made a pact though that we will not work on Sunday's!

We need to contact M Faure, who has a Devis with us to install a Fosse.  Now we have the additional land, access for his machinery will be easier, so we need him to come and have a look and confirm a date for him to start work.

We are going to a Menuiserie in the next village whilst we are there too.  We need a very large patio door making and I think they need to come and have a look at what we want. 

We hope to be seeing Bernard and his wife again whilst we are there.  Simon and I owe Bernard some very generous hospitality!!  Hopefully, I wont want to be site foreman again next day - I have suggested to Simon that we see them on Saturday night, so that if we are a little lethargic on the Sunday, it wont matter!!

Whoop Whoop - :-)

Well.....  progress on the house may be slow but we have now got a cooker for it!!
You might remember from a previous blog that we want wood fired to run central heating, hot water and cooking.  We looked into several makes - Esse, which I thought were beautiful but they could not produce enough BTU for our needs.  Aga - dont do wood fired and dont run central heating (strange really when Aga is the first range cookers everyone thinks of.)  Italian ones, you name it, we looked at it.  I looked at a company in the Midlands who would sell us a Rayburn (Woodfired) and export it for us so that we didnt have to pay VAT on it.  It would still cost us £4,200 including delivery.

Finally, just after New Year, Simon found a local business who reconditions ranges so we went along and had a look.  We looked at his showroom and he has so many to choose from of all different ages and prices.  He's also converting oil-fired to wood as he is finding that is what everyone is going for.  If anyone reading this is looking for a range - go and see this guy at AGA House, Scorrier, Cornwall....    The only additional item that we paid for (other than reconditioning) was to have two brand new chrome lids.
It's now finished and has a rap round boiler which has a capacity of 65,000 BTU - excellent!

And.....it looks fab.  Unfortunately, as it was only just finished and still in their work shop, my photography is not doing their work justice.  (BTW  we plumped for a matt finish, rather than the enamelled finish and I think that it looks more in keeping to go into a 200+ year old house - you be the judge!)

It'll be delivered whilst we are out there in a month or so - Sooo - we need the house to crack on now!!  :-))

Ski Season is almost upon us....

The first snow of the year has fallen and the official ski season begins 17th December, through until April.

Click the link below and check out the Office de Tourisme website: you can click on all the ski slopes - Mont Dore, Sancy, SuperBesse

www.sancy.com

And now we do!

See the previous blog for the comparison.  Beginning, lintel falling down, interim - lintel now secured and repaired, end - door in place :-)

Wish we had a picture!

After all the delay's, we finally have a porte-fenetre in the barn entrance and so the barn is now totally enclosed....yeay!  After this part being the part which needed the most work in terms of preparation (the barn was full of years of discarded 'stuff'; be it old washing machine parts, broken cookers etc., etc., not to mention a good foot thick of broken tiles and what looked like a chimney bar. If that house could talk, I'm sure it would have a very interesting story to tell - well it would be interesting to me!)  As mentioned in a previous blog, Simon cleared the barn of all the timber (old oak roof beams, stair cases etc., as well as the 'stuff' and tiles) last September in preparation for the insulated floors being put in.  Which happened February time of this year and it was then that Simon thought the best thing would be to get the door in.  We got the quote and our visit in May came and no sign of the door....... The builder wanted our agreement to have it made to fit, so it was ordered at some time after that meeting, I cant say when.  When Simon and I returned in September, we hoped to see the door en-situ.  Mais non - because the factory had closed down for the whole of August, it was still not ready.....  Where's my Fairy Godmother in all this?  I do have a very solid porte-fenetre which does work but has no glass and doesnt fit any of the openings, perhaps she could bibbidy - bobbidy - boo it for us!

At our meeting with M. Mazeau during our September visit, he had told us that he expected a final part to arrive just after we were leaving France for the final time for this year (the house really not being habitable in colder months) and that he would fit it in the couple of weeks following that.

A month passed and we began to wonder what was happening.  Simon has suggested that if only we had a web cam out there to see what was going on.  I think it would be too worrying, at the moment we only worry about what we dont know.  If we had a web cam, we'd be worrying about what we do know and not able to do anything about it!  Anyway, I digress.  I called our friend Michel and he went to our house the next day to see if anything had happened.  Lo and behold the door was in the barn, waiting to be fitted. Michel said it looked very nice and of good quality, so that eased our minds.  Then last Wednesday, we received the facture.  Now bearing in mind that M. Mazeau has said to us quite vehemently, never pay until the job is finished and you are happy, this put us in a quandary.  We trust him, but was he testing us?  Would we offend his dignity by asking for a picture as evidence?  I decided to take a two pronged approach.  I emailed him back and thanked him for the facture and that we look forward to receiving the devis for the next phase of work which we had discussed; and could he forward a picture of the door en-situ?  We then called Michel and asked him if he had heard from M. Mazeau.  "Oh yes, he called at my house and picked up the keys last week and brought them back in the evening with another key on the key ring" - the key for the porte-fenetre.

barn wall when lintel was collapsing - had dropped a good 4 maybe 6 inches and wouldn't have lasted much longer before those bricks gave way and the whole things fell!

same wall now lintel repaired - would you believe that a 6' 3" man can walk under that lintel, not trouble.......gives you an idea of the size of that wall - you're only seeing about half of it!

I do look forward to seeing a picture of the porte-fenetre in place :-)

Yeay!  Door en-situ