Busy, busy ...

Been busy the last few months entertaining guests and now finally on with the renovations. Summer was scorchy hot and swimming in the sea until a few weeks ago - only recently begun to feel the cold, time to buy some Winter fioul and get those log burners installed.

Managed to get the deck finished before the warm weather set in, rather pleased with the results ...





The chiminee in the other room starting to come on ...


Also started on my main project for the Autumn, converting the chai into my new office.
Cut a hole in the wall for a window






And Steve came over and fitted a velux in place of the wriggly plastic rooflight and we started work on plasterboarding the ceiling and one of the walls inside.
Work in progress.


I'm now trying my hand at 'pierre apparente' (rendering allowing the stones to show through) of one of the internal walls. Tricky. Already managed to give myself a lime burn on one of my hands. Ouch - that stuff really hurts. :(

Encore dans le jardin

Neglected blog ... here goes ...

Sooooo, been doing quite a bit to the house. The front room is now pretty much finished, electrics boarded in and painted (quite a job, every plane is on the piss) and the cheminee stripped and refinished (another lengthy job).
I've also made a start on the guest bedroom: more electrics have been boarded in; still to do, refinishing the bigger cheminee and the floor needs some attention; plus a load of decorating of course.
Also made a start on the upstairs bathroom: there isn't a bathroom there at the moment, no water pipes or soil pipe. This is the first room that will have some 'pierre apparent' so I get to try my hand at old-fashioned pointing in the regional style. My mate bob the builder (he's from Manchester) has some expertise with this so he's giving me some lessons.
Bev has been hard at work in the garden. The new lawn, seeded last Autumn, has done well and has had its first cut and is ready to be used this Summer. Bev has put in a load of plants: roses, a mimosa, (er, loads of other stuff I don't know, I'm no gardener) and we invested in a beautiful olive tree (something I've always wanted). We decided we wanted a ground-level deck, so Bev has shifted a load of soil (probably a couple of tonnes in all) so that I can get started. It's a huge deck, about 25 sqm, and I've enjoyed wandering about the place pondering how I'm going to do it. So far I've assembled most of the frame, levelled it up and have started to install the subframe and dug the holes for the posts. Would like to get it done for the first few weeks in May - that's the plan anyway ...

Bev and the kids are off at the coast this week (Easter holidays) while I work, eat like a student and DIY in the evenings ...


Finished cheminee (yeah I need to tile the front bit - I've blocked it up because the oil boiler takes up most of the useable fireplace unfortunately - and probably will put my wood stove in there as well)


This is what is was like half way through stripping, took me months of evenings


Olive tree, deck is going behing there. Need to put a door on the old boghouse, turn it into a storeshed.


This is what it was like last year, moved the wood-store further down the garden. Coal bunker being demolished on the left - built like a battleship, broke the handles of two picks hacking that up. :^D


Deck frame being assembled


Olive tree and church tonight ...

Dans le jardin

So, I finally convinced myself (well, Bev did) that a bit of gardening was in order as it was still dry and a good time to resow the lawn. The existing lawn was pretty much just a field and pretty devoid of actual grass - so Patrique, from the next village, was put to action to rotavate and resow. He's a blinding gardener and, with a teeny bit of help from me and Bev, he had it done in a day and a half.

Meanwhile Bev set to trimming up the grape vines and I hacked up the nasty old coal bunker. The geezer at the local tip (decheterie) got to know me and my trailer pretty well over the next few days.

A few pics of work-in-progress then - and since we got back from Madrid the grass has started to spring up nicely. Over the Winter I'm planning to move the woodshed, build a patio, put a fence up to cover the nasty breezeblock wall at the far end and add a gazebo. Not much then ...

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

... this is what I feel like most days - a combination of too much hefting furniture and house fettling. I'm only 40 - bloody 'mal a la dos'. :^(

By crikey, moving into an unfurnished house in a foreign country with no electrics and in need of 'some renovation' is hard work. This is 'living the dream' - help!

So, we acquired the house about 6 weeks ago now - the electricans laid into it with gusto removing all the soggy and sagging old electrics from the 60s/50s (and probably 30s for all I know) and started to replace with new. This caused a decent amount of mess because of the need to chase wiring into walls and replastering and the natural amount of dust that's in a house of this age. The electrical install has had it's moments - the 'chef' is a German guy, very pleasant, but terribly erratic in the way that he works - for example he can turn up with 4 guys one day and then disappear for a fortnight. I'm trying to be accomodating - this is France and this is what we expected after all - and to be honest I'd rather it was like this and done properly rather than have it all done in a trice and have problems. At least this way we get to test drive it all properly. If he's not here tomorrow though ....

Decorating. We've decided to do a quick tart up to make the place a bit more cheerful and inviting for the Summer and all the visitors we have in August. To that end we've quickly painted the two bedrooms upstairs and the guest bedroom downstairs (thanks to my folks for painting and cleaning duties). Also Bob & James from Girton motorbiked over and spent a week laboriously painting the front room, hallway & dining room (a huge job, given the state of the walls and the amount of paint required). Many thanks to Bob & James for their efforts and a lot of fun during their stay - shame the weather wasn't better for you - and please come again soon.

So, that's good enough for the Summer now - the Autumn and Winter will be a slow process of tackling the house room-by-room to make it 'nice', probably kitchen first, when finances allow. I'll also be repointing the front of the house, something I'm desperate to get my teeth into, but am leaving until some of the more important work is done. There's also the small matter of a new bathroom and fitting out my office in what was the old workshop ...

More news soon ... and pics ...

Avril

I've neglected the blog of late but then we've been busy ... and bought a house. It's the one pictured below at Corme Royal, a nice little village about 5ks from where we are currently renting. It's bang smack in the centre, a sinner's crawl from the church and equally near the bakers and most importantly the bar (in fact I think I may be able to hop over the back wall if I'm in a hurry). It's a traditional Charentaise stone townhouse, with 'some work' to do to finish and there'll be plenty of room for visitors: please bring a paintbrush.

The boys are doing well at school and are beginning to grasp the finer points of French vocabulary. Bev practices hers with the local Mums when she drops the boys off at school, picking up all the local idioms when she can keep up. I continue to speak French like a half-wit and wish I could have been bothered more at school. Harry's football team have continued after the midWinter break and after a couple of storming games have now reached the final of Le Cup, to be played next month sometime. Followers of youth football from the UK will be pleased to learn that French youth football is as full of colourful language (from the touchline) as back home although, in general, the players seem better behaved.

We had a spell of beautifully warm weather a few weeks ago (hot enough for me to get my nose burnt, which I was hugely pleased about, it still being March) and Spring has definitely sprung. Apparently the weather in general this year has been particularly cold for the region and by now should be consistently mid-20s - yes please!

Other stuff going on 'down on the farm': Jim has been preparing his sail boat for a trip down the Medi to Valencia, the boat has been thoroughly painted and repaired and he's due to set sail in a few weeks; Farqua, the leader-of-the-pack horse has gone back to the rescue centre after she kicked one of the other horses - the other horses seem much happier without her; Rosie, the only remaining puppy, is getting stronger and spends most of her day chasing or biting any part of her mother that she can; two rabbits have been added to the menagerie after Jim found them running down the road.

A family return to the UK (planned for April) has been postponed because we're too busy with house stuff and trying to save a few Euros for unexpected bills and furniture. Yes, we have no furniture or white goods or anything really - not even a telly :^(

We're due to take possession of the house in late May, hopefully move in in June after the place has been rewired. Cross your fingers that the exchange rate remains kind when we have to pay for all this ...

Corme Royal House

More househunting

So, the househunting continues ...
The number of houses viewed must be well past fifty now and we've looked at the details of probably hundreds - getting really hard to keep track of what we've looked at and exactly why they've been discounted. We've put offers in on three different houses (the La Brousse house, the St Romain House & a house in Soue (not pictured)) since Christmas and been knocked back on all occasions - I think this means we are cheap bastard carpet-baggers :^) but we're determined not to get stitched up in a plummeting market. The extra expense of buying a house over here is pretty outrageous; up to ten percent (!) for the estate agent, approx seven percent for fees and taxes at the notaire stage. Pretty much all the houses we've seen also 'need work' to some degree and artisans don't come cheap as their own taxes are high and they must guarantee all work for ten years. Or they think we are mugs.
Have to say it's hard being 'without a house' as I kind of like pottering and fixing stuff. The pile of DIY and renovation book pron is mounting as I hanker to get my teeth stuck into a house project ...

The weather is getting warmer. Oh how we laughed when we saw the BBC News showing the UK under thick snow and the usual travel chaos and media whining and complaints about gritting etcetera. At least we were smug until we had a few storms over this way; high winds unlike any I've ever experienced before, strong enough almost to knock you over. Surprisingly little building damage, although I guess most of the houses are built of stone. The weather did knock the satellite dish out, mind, and I've had to suffer no Match of The Day for the last three weeks. Hopefully the satellite man is coming tomorrow! :^D

The Jack Russell pups next door are getting ready to leave for their new homes: the boys were allowed to name them and they ended up as Rufus (in honour of Phil and Jackie's dog), Patch, Snowy (the biggest and totally white), Olly and Rosie. Rosie is the girl pup and the only one that will stay. On the plus side Kiara (the huge white german shepherd that lives there too) has finally decided that she's not going to eat the pups and that they're actually horrid, irritating pests as they all try to bite her at once.

I'm back in the UK for business in the first week of March (first items on the agenda - proper beer and pie) and then back 'en famille' at the end of April.

St Romain de Benet house

Noël

Christmas
So our first ex-pat French Christmas was largely an exercise in attempting to recreate a proper English Christmas, so I guess that means we are homesick and 'miss everyone' - bah! We have a proper Christmas tree (our second as the first dropped all of its needles in three days) and everyone rebelled at my highly artistic idea of a replacement of 'painting a stick white'. :D Presents were opened on Christmas Eve, as per French tradition, and we went next door for Christmas dinner (cooked by Bev) of proper English fayre. Jim & Monique very kindly invited elderley neighbour Paulette for dinner too but I failed to understand more than one word in four of what she was rattling on about, but she seemed quite happy nonetheless.
I made mince pies, a la Jamie Oliver, tres bon and got to do an emergency mission to the English Shop at Saintes for mincemeat and sherry. As it was nice I got to go by motorbike, pretty good for Christmas Eve.

Births & deaths
Boubou, the Jack Russell, gave birth to puppies on the 14th. Harry was witness to the first birth and came back shrieking and waving his arms about, so we were lucky to be on the scene for all seven births. Unfortunately two of the weedy looking ones have since died, one of them holding out for nealy two weeks. So that's sad, yet lovely and educational if you want to look at it that way. The remaining puppies are very healthy, four boys and a girl - the owner of the stud dog gets first dibs on the pick of the puppies and Jim hopes to keep one, so that's three that will be sold I s'pose. Over the weekend also saw the demise of Frofrou, the silky bantam, to a fox we think and Dotty, the pintade (guinea fowl), throat torn out by a weasel (!). Bonne chance mes amis. All go down on the farm! We are now avian-less - maybe I should go to market and buy myself a duck? I counted the horses and donkey this morning, just in case ....

Househunting
We viewed the most fab house today at La Brousse; fantastic position for us as it's less than ten Ks from where the boys are at school and close to decent roads for trips up to La Rochelle and over to where the folks are at La Tremblade. Also it's habitable and has plenty of scope for improvement & enlargement into the numerous outbuildings. Fingers crossed that the pound/euro rate doesn't drop any further then or it'll start to drop out of our price range. Pictures below, though they don't really do the place justice.

Website
Just in case any of you fancy popping over to see us when it gets warmer, here's a link to a website I put together to advertise Jim & Monique's business so you can get an idea of what this place is like.

Football
The boys haven't played competitive football for a good month now but they had their footy squad photo taken. Harry 1st boy on the left, back row; Alfie 2nd boy from right, front row.

la brousse maison

... more la brousse pics

'Winter'

So, a little interlude while: we get on with integrating (I am less than good at this, my French is getting worse); I turn 40 (the shock of this greatly tempered by Mark & Helen & family visiting for a week); and a flying visit to the UK on business (I am granted a filthy English cold).

Harry has been bumped up to Secondary school - so far not too dramatic as he had got to know a few potential classmates from his new football team; so now Harry & Alf go to different schools. Both's spoken French coming along really well and relatively unfazed by spending 100% of their school time learning in a foreign language. Football matches have become rather sporadic mid-season, so we don't have to spend every weekend hollering on the touchline. Alfie is developing into a pretty deadly striker with a hattrick last Saturday (I missed it as I was flying back from Stansted). Harry hasn't had a match for a few weeks now but is still enjoying being a centre back.

We're still looking at houses with a view to buy. Seen absolutely heaps of overpriced, mad rubbish (houses with no garden; houses with a massive garden and a teeny, tiny house wedged in the corner; houses near stupidly busy roads etc blah blah). We do, however, know plenty of people who've bought reasonably priced characterful places, so all hope is not lost. Bev is masterminding the search and regularly spends a morning searching for the property that will be 'the one'.

The boys have started to learn to horse-ride and trot happily around the paddock on a brown & white pony called Cartel. Even Bev has had a go so I guess this means I have to learn now too - I'm a scaredy pants. :( The boys are very excited because Boubou, the terrier who lives with us, is having puppies in a few weeks - I think they are secretly hoping they'll be getting one.

Thinks I miss about the UK:
Cheddar
'Proper beer'
Chums

My little pony


My great big pony

Saujon House

House for sale locally at Saujon.

le beautiful game et l'automne arrive ...

This week we dive headlong back into the all-weekend-encompassing world that is 'Colts' football, except I think it's called 'Poussin' at this level in France. Goodbye Girton Colts - Bonjour Le Gua Poussin. So once again it's Saturday touchline shouting, albeit with better weather, awfully familiar and yet a bit odd to have everyone hollering 'Allez!' followed by 'Voila!!'.

Harry has suffered the thrill of being put in the wrong team for his age yet again, too old this time, but this was rectified after only a single match (in goal naturally - the coach was ecstatic to have been handed briefly a giant foreign goalie with 5 years league experience under his belt). So Harry's moved up to play with the under-13s team, they already have a goalie so he makes his debut as a defender. Does rather well actually, scaring the living daylights out of the opposition centre-forward with some very British firm defending. Le Gua are still well beaten, mind, but H enjoyed himself. Next weekend he plays an away game at Nieulle.

Alfie also made his debut this weekend playing for the Under-10s at Le Gua Stade (yep, each village has their own footy stadium - how about that!). Alf is providing a bit of midfield muscle to a team who's ages seem to range from 6 - 9, some of them are awfully small. They don't seem to play any offside rules at either age level so there's some particulary obvious goal-hanging in this match which along with the frequently absent defensive line makes for a high scoring game. Another loss, next weekend away to Saujon.

Autumn has come in the South of France and we have felt our first spell of cold weather. The leaves are turning golden & falling from the trees, unusual only because we've only ever been here in high Summer before. Last weekend was particularly wet & cold & I had to light the wood burning stove for the first time, haven't needed it since though. Jim is fixing up the end part of the stable so that the new horse, nicknamed Black Beauty, that's wintering here has somewhere to shelter from the worst of the weather. There are 2 other stables, it's just that the other 3 horses and donkey are a bit stroppy about sharing.

Ruby came to stay for a few days last week and over the weekend. We had a few nice trips out for lunch (tres bon pancake shop and too much wine at Palais-sur-Mer) and pizza dinner (thankyou Lapin Pecheur pizzeria) plus a whistlestop tour of the local must-do sites on the one day it didn't rain - visiting Sablonceaux abbey and Ile d'Oleron for tea and cakes and a look round the Chateau. Come back soon Ruby.

My bike arrived from the UK on Monday - yay! The plan was that I would fly back, pick it up from Dan's house and ride it back here, probably via the Dover Boulogne route. In the meantime Bev managed to get a quote from a guy who would transport it down here by van for pretty much the same price. I'm a lazy git and decided a weekend on the beach was better than a weekend toiling down the motorways so a deal was struck. The bike was picked up from Dan's last Wednesday and arrived here having taken a little tour of Italy & Portugal to drop off other bike en-route (irritatingly, I've never been to Italy). Andy, the bike-deliverer-guy, slept on a load of old sofa cushions in the back of the van with the bikes for security - there's dedication. It arrived without a scatch and has taken up residence in the barn with an old Mobylette moped for company. The Honda and I went on a little tour of the local vineyards this evening to celebrate - next time I'll have to take my wallet with me ...

.. photos ..

Il y a du soleil

This weekend we hit the beach and did surfin'. Dude!
This was on the Ile d'Oleron - very nice beaches on the far side of the island heading from St Trojan. Not awfully wavy this time as there wasn't much wind. The proper surfers looked like glum little porpoises waiting fo their Big Wednesday moment. Managed to not meet up with Mum & Dad due to arranging to meet on 'that beach near St Trojan' - turns out there's a good 20 miles worth. :^(



Alfie - gnarly. Hell yeah!




Harry - shooting the tube.










We also did a bit of sandcastling - very British - and built the most splendid castle on the beach. That'll learn them.



Men at work.



Stupid dad.



Not cold at all and yet 'some people' still won't come in the sea ...

... écoutez et répétez - beep!

... so here we are then. Mission accomplished - we now live in France!

We arrived a couple of weeks ago - haven't got around to blogging yet because life, work, fun and technical problems have got in the way.

We're renting a gite a mile outside the village of Le Gua in Charante-Maritime - the area is roughly half-way between La Rochelle and Bordeaux, a good 6 hours drive from Cherbourg. Where we are is about 15 minutes from decent beaches in the area of Royan and maybe 25 minutes to excellent surfing beaches on the far side of Ile d'Oleron.

Our hosts are Jim and Monique who live next door with their 2 dogs Ciara, a while German Shepherd, and Booboo, a Jack Russel Terrier. There are also 3 horses and a donkey (can't remember their names, have to ask Harry). The house and gites are surrounded by fields that the horses roam about in. The rest of the area is pretty flat, almost Fen-like really, and largely agricultural given over mainly to fodder maize and sunflowers.

The boys have settled in nicely to their new school; there was a bit of shellshock when they realised that they would have to go only 2 days after we arrived and that they are the only 2 foreigners attending . Class sizes are rather smaller than we're used to in the UK, probably a maximum of 20 students per class. Homework is given out every day (boo) and the school day is 'til 4:30 (boo) but it's only a 4-day week with Wednesdays off (yay).

Bev is enjoying being a full-time housewife although that may start to become less attractive when the weather gets colder.

I'm enjoying finding out just how cheap it's possible to buy French wine and still find it drinkable. The e1.80 stuff for 1.5 litres isn't half bad actually - I may become an alkie ....

We've looked at a few houses in the area with a view to buy. There's a great one a few miles away, in a small hamlet of about half a dozen houses, half of it has been totally renovated, the rest to do (one large room and a huge garage/barn) so it's liveable in but there's scope for extension. It has to come down a fair bit in price but the market is in a similarly shabby state to the UK so you never know ...

Some random pics ....

Trailer hitched up and leaving Cambridge - 30th August 2008 ...


Leaving Poole - 06:30 a:m 31st August 2008


Action-Man head on tour.


Arrive at Le Gua.


Going over the dunes at the beach ...


Cool moped



Oh look, a mermaid


Harry with Jim and the animals


Sablonceaux abbey - down the road

Oh, saucissons!!

Meh. A setback. This may be getting a little bit out of hand ...

We received an email from our Estate Agent yesterday (we left it with her to get us a quote for repairs). Translation by BabelFish, my French isn't that great ...

"Madam, Sir,

In did answer, we find 2 craftsmen who estimated work at 130 000? and to 150 000? approximately. None agreed to make us an in writing detailed estimate before you engaged because several solutions are possible. It is the restoration of the large garage which is most important. The wall side garden must be entirely remakes as well as the roof if we do not want that the principal building is damaged. The craftsmen advise us begin with work from the garage or to destroy a part and to consolidate the other part of it. Several solutions are possible but must be seen with you on the spot. We do not have any plan for the moment, but we will take measurements.

We remain at your disposal.

Cordially ..."

So, the barn is falling down and needs to be repaired before the builders will consider starting work on the house. Beginning to wonder if the cost of house and repairs will come to a total cost of more than the house is worth. Will have to come up with a likely valuation post conversion to see whether the numbers add up or it's just a non-starter.

Also, going to look again at other houses in the area to see if there's anything which doesn't seem so much of a money pit.

List of items for builders quote :- (blah, blah - a list as long as your arm and then some ...)

EDIT: September 2008. I went back and had a look at this place the other day. Renovation is well under way and by the look of it (from the outside there's a lot to do). Some of the original charm has been lost - the tumbledown wall surrounding the side-garden has been totally rebuilt and is solid again - that's the way it is I s'pose. Bev is going to go back and ask to have a look inside ...

Trumpton

'Here is the clock, the Trumpton clock. Telling the time steadily, sensibly, never too quickly, never too slowly. Telling the time for Trumpton'.
So said Brian Cant in the 1967 animation. I think of Brian and all his puppety chums (the Mayor, Chippy Minton, Nibbs, Miss Lovelace etcetera) as I wonder what the f***ing hell we may be letting ourselves in for with this project .....

A few pictures then, of how it all looks over the first few viewings ...



Map of location

View Larger Map


View Larger Map