Monday, 12 November 2007

A Permis …………………. at last!




[Three posts written but not put on the site owing to the difficulties of accessing the internet. I wrote them on my laptop and place them here now without alteration to demonstrate how the project has progressed.]

Well, it’s taken an inordinate time but at last we have been granted the Permis de Construire that we’ve been waiting for. We received a letter from the Mairie informing us that the Permis and its “arrêté” are awaiting us when we can collect it. Of course, the Permis is based upon revised plans which take into account the fact that we must not demolish the barn as planned and also that we cannot have four roof-lights at the back but just two dormers. Both of these will add to the costs of the renovation; but hey no matter, now we can start to think in terms of progress on the building.

So, back to Arné to collect the formal notification of the Permis. But life is now complicated by the fact that we have acquired a puppy and she requires rabies injections for her to be able to travel freely between the UK and France. This takes time to come into effect; and so Joanne has to stay in the UK to look after the puppy whilst I have come to Arné to try to engage with builders/roofers with the hope that I can get things moving prior to winter setting in.

And given our luck, or planning, or understanding of France it should come as no surprise that my arrival should coincide with a saint’s day holiday in France. The result of which is that no shops are open – dinner has been a sparse affair – and no one is available to talk to about the possibility of quoting for the work we want to have done.

Despite all of which, delight in the physical situation of the house is such that it doesn’t seem to matter. Take a look at the pictures above which demonstrate some of the beautiful scenery to see why we want to be in this house in this part of the world. Let’s hope that we can indeed persuade builders/roofers to do the work we want and let us start to enjoy the benefits of such a wonderful part of the world.

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