Catchup

I’m up early today, Sunday, to see off a lovely couple of clients at 07h00 and have just looked at my email to see a note from the bride commenting the I’ve been so busy with the barn, that my last blog entry was three months ago! It’s true then. Time really does fly when you’re having fun!

The rental season is drawing to a close as our last guests are still sleeping soundly in the Maison d’Amis and we will be pushing even harder getting the barn habitable by the end of the year. 2014 will be very different for us, as we all finally become whole again, living under one beautifully restored roof after living much of the last two years apart. Anyhow, probably more of the sentimental stuff nearer the time, but for now, it’s time to bring the story up to date as far as life in France is concerned.

July 2013: Wow, the hot weather has been with us for a few weeks now and it’s being precisely what it would say on its the tin, if you could can it, hot !!!

Low 30s in the shade to 40ish in direct sunlight would normally cause havoc for physical labour, but now that practically all work is inside the barn, with its thick stone walls, well insulated new roof and the windows open, the interior remains pleasantly cooler. So while gîte guests enjoy the heat, we chaps set about the transformation of our 200 year old barn into our new home. All the team know of our commitment to sensitive restoration and they appreciate how we feel about the graceful inspiring space which we are working with. In consequence, the barn is also working with us in as design solutions and details emerge with the barn’s help and as each day passes, the feeling of this wonderful old building being our home grows stronger.

While we wait for deliveries of hardcore and concrete for the ground floor, up above, we’ve cut a huge stair well to give views of both floors from wherever you are and there’s a new floor and timber studwork to the perimeter walls, while the first of four roof trusses has been cleaned of centuries of grime and a soft red hued timber has been revealed beneath. This will be further sanded, treated for long lasting protection and receive a final finish of linseed oil for a fine natural lustre.

New sub-floor

Lounge and library end

Multi-layered foil and bubble insulation

Perimeter studwork

We’ll continue with the two main intermediate stud partitions next week to form the bedroom and its bathroom, so by the following week, all will be ready for the electrician and plumber to start.

July can’t be allowed to slip past without a mention of my favourite village event of the year, this being 17^th Grand Prix Retro, held over the weekend of the 27 and 28^th July. The weather was hot and sunny and the carnival atmosphere gave everyone happy smiles, well that and the inexpensive temporary bars!

One of the most popular vehicles this year was a handy little pre-war Peugeot pick-up truck, containing a couple of keyboards, a PA system and a man happy to belt out a selection of music most of the day. He parked up next to one of the bars and had the place jumping when he started into his blues and rock repertoire. Absolute unexpected magic!

The spectacle of the ‘nocturne’, or night racing, returns for 2014. This is similar to the Singapore GP, but without so much lighting and is much more friendly and we already have a gîte booking for the weeks either side of the event.

Would love to have one of these!

Play it Sam!

 

August 2013: The hot weather continues and I’m watering the plants every day as there has been no rain to speak of since early last month. It’s great for the gîte clients though and we are full for all month.

We continue work almost exclusively on the barn, but take some time on the garden with the long overdue removal of the big pine and a dead cherry tree. The pine, a Christmas tree which must have been planted one January as quite a good idea at the time some 30 years ago, is taller than the barn and completely dominates the view from the two new first floor gable windows.

Plasterboard Paul arrives with a trailer containing a ladder, three chain saws (bonus points on the manly power tools front), lots of rope, assorted hand tools, one of the anchor chains from the Queen Mary and a helper named Anthony who plays guitar.

Just some trimming to the hedge

Progress is rapid and 30 years of slow growth is disappeared from the landscape in 30 minutes. The rest of the day is spent in reducing the tree to handy lengths to fit in the oversized trailer and following several trips to the tip, a garden is revealed appearing at least twice the size it was pre-tree. The additional usable space is remarkable and makes a valuable contribution to how we can better enjoy the garden. 

Meanwhile, a large Tonka toy was skilfully reversed through the gates and delivered 15 tonnes of crushed stone outside the barn and Dan and I set to in moving it inside and then compact it with a neat little vibrating plate, called a whacker. Yep, it does exactly what its name suggests and woe betide anyone who runs their toes over with it!

Half the stone fill left to get inside

Getting there

Whacked!!!

Concrete next . . . well soonish!

The fill all in and compacted means that we can finally plan getting the concrete floor slab laid and as this entails almost 8 cubic metres of concrete, we’ll be using ready mix. With the best will in the world, I cannot bring myself to believe that our gîte guests would see the visit of a huge ready mix truck with a 50 metre hose snaking along the courtyard pumping concrete, as a worthy holiday attraction, so we wait for the height of the season to pass before we can pump the concrete floor, so back up to the first floor. 

September 2013: Upstairs, albeit no actual staircase yet, progress has been spectacular, thanks not only to the great team, but also the lack of any need to chase the walls for pipes and cables. This was achieved by our desire to have to put as little heating effort into the building in winter as possible and so all perimeter walls have been faced with insulated plasterboard on a timber framework. This has saved a good 2 weeks of programme and by the end of the month, we’ll be ready for 2nd fix electrics and then decorating! 

Insulated plasterboard is then plastered

Meanwhile, I’ve begun decorating the upstairs suite of our little gîte, in readiness for baby sister's big birthday bash in October and we’ve begun the planning stage of the rear gardens with loads of great ideas from a nearby garden centre open day, not to mention a few more plants! 

So more soon as I try to post more regularly, despite the workload!

Wow, I clean forgot to mention my recent experience of the French Health Service, following a little mishap (absolutely no manly power tools were involved!) and am pleased to report that outstanding service and treatment was obtained, so bye for now and thank you for reading.

A bientôt,

LC