We feel that we should let you know what progress has been made in time for us, perhaps, to be able to enjoy the festive season. Firstly we have now cleared all the furniture, clothes, books, pictures, etc., etc. that were in the house in GB and we wanted in France. A mammoth effort in that we had thought that we could have the moving carried out by a local South West British company. They had given me an ‘indicative’ quote over the ‘phone which was, on reflection, ridiculously cheap. On the basis of it we drove back to GB expecting to have to make only the one journey back. In the event when the company made a full assessment of the task they provided a quote which was 6 times higher than the indicative one!! We therefore hired a van and did the move ourselves. Much harder work involving all the packing and unpacking plus lots more driving, but worth a huge saving.
In terms of the house we have the finished bedroom and en suite bathroom and the kitchen/diner. In the big salon the ceiling and one wall have been plaster-boarded and I have started painting the ceiling where there is some staging left from putting up the ceiling. Jean Claude has installed the wood-burning stove and we can now use it to help warm up the house. That is fortunate as the weather has been brutally cold on occasions. The electrician has also worked on this room so all the cabling, switches and sockets are in place. And therefore we are now having the remaining three walls plastered with crepie – a special chalk-based product which is particularly effective on earth walls. If this is finished in time for Christmas we shall be able to make use of the room for the festive period. I shall still have lay all the floor tiles and we have much to do to complete the mezzanine; but we can make use of the room in the meantime.
I have also completed the insulation and plaster-boarding of the spare bedroom which has significantly improved the overall warmth of the house. Now I need to fill all the joints in and paint the room, but it is a useable space and we have indeed slept in it when we had visitors recently. There is also work for the electrician to complete in putting in the switches and sockets.
If I then put in a plaster-board wall in the large cupboard in the hallway, so that we can hang the main electricity switch board, – the ‘tableau principal’ – we should be able to persuade EDF to let us have a full electrical supply. At the moment if we have too many electrical appliances in action at the same time we suffer the main fuse tripping out, usually plunging us into darkness.
So we are getting close to being able to live relatively comfortably in the house. When this phase ends we shall have to turn our attention to the outside and rescue to courtyard, the garden at the back and the field from the encroachments of the weeds, plenty therefore to keep us occupied.
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Saturday, 27 September 2008
It’s been a Long Time
My apologies for the very long gap between postings to the Blog, there are two main reasons for this – firstly the difficulties of working with a dial-up connexion and secondly the fact that we have been working incredibly hard on the house. Below, headed “Real Progress”, is a posting I composed about a month ago in which the position was hopeful.
I can now report that some of these hopes have been realised. The bedroom and en suite bathroom have now been fully completed though not without some problems on the way. Most notably the shower had to be moved out of its corner as a consequence of a flexible hose developing a leak. This led to tiling and paintwork being damaged, an irritation rather than a major difficulty.
The temporary kitchen/diner is now fully operational though not yet absolutely finished. We have a working sink, new cooker and a range of kitchen cabinets and drawers with a complete set of work surfaces. Notwithstanding the need to finish off the work we have been able to move out of the caravan definitively – just in time before the weather begins to chill down in autumn.
Above this kitchen/diner a space has been created where a bedroom can be made. It has only a rather small window as a consequence of an error by the builder, but it should suffice for a bedroom. The next steps for this room will be to complete the wall linings and the ceilings and this will then become useable.
Elsewhere Jean Claude has cut the hole through and placed a window in the downstairs shower-room. There is still much work to be done to the walls and ceiling to complete this, but for the moment it provides a downstairs loo and wash basin. In the very large salon he has also put in the French doors which gives us easier access to the back of the house and the garden – this is a hopeful word to use as at present it is a weed-filled jungle for the most part.
Jean Claude has also commenced on the difficult task of ‘rescuing’ the very fragile wall at the western end of the house – you may remember, and can look back in the blog to see, the very large crack there was, and is, in one corner of the house affecting the stability of the wall. There is a long way to go to finish all that he plans to do to ensure that this wall is fully stabilised but once he has done it we shall commence to work in the large salon as we want to arrive at a point where we can put in the wood-burning stove to start providing heat inside the house.
There’s still a long way to go before we are at a point of true comfort even in terms of just the half of the house we are now aiming to complete. But real progress has been achieved and to be able to ‘abandon’ the caravan is a major step forward.
I can now report that some of these hopes have been realised. The bedroom and en suite bathroom have now been fully completed though not without some problems on the way. Most notably the shower had to be moved out of its corner as a consequence of a flexible hose developing a leak. This led to tiling and paintwork being damaged, an irritation rather than a major difficulty.
The temporary kitchen/diner is now fully operational though not yet absolutely finished. We have a working sink, new cooker and a range of kitchen cabinets and drawers with a complete set of work surfaces. Notwithstanding the need to finish off the work we have been able to move out of the caravan definitively – just in time before the weather begins to chill down in autumn.
Above this kitchen/diner a space has been created where a bedroom can be made. It has only a rather small window as a consequence of an error by the builder, but it should suffice for a bedroom. The next steps for this room will be to complete the wall linings and the ceilings and this will then become useable.
Elsewhere Jean Claude has cut the hole through and placed a window in the downstairs shower-room. There is still much work to be done to the walls and ceiling to complete this, but for the moment it provides a downstairs loo and wash basin. In the very large salon he has also put in the French doors which gives us easier access to the back of the house and the garden – this is a hopeful word to use as at present it is a weed-filled jungle for the most part.
Jean Claude has also commenced on the difficult task of ‘rescuing’ the very fragile wall at the western end of the house – you may remember, and can look back in the blog to see, the very large crack there was, and is, in one corner of the house affecting the stability of the wall. There is a long way to go to finish all that he plans to do to ensure that this wall is fully stabilised but once he has done it we shall commence to work in the large salon as we want to arrive at a point where we can put in the wood-burning stove to start providing heat inside the house.
There’s still a long way to go before we are at a point of true comfort even in terms of just the half of the house we are now aiming to complete. But real progress has been achieved and to be able to ‘abandon’ the caravan is a major step forward.
Real Comfort!
The progress alluded to in the last posting has continued and we now do actually have a functioning bathroom which is complete in terms of the facilities and only a little decoration needs to be finished. The bedroom is also fully formed with its cupboard in place but there remains quite a lot of finishing off to do before we can consider the work in it to be completed, but it is not ‘heavy’ work at all.
Work has commenced on the smaller, back room which will eventually become a study/sitting room. But for the moment it will be used as a kitchen/dining room. The concrete floor has been laid, a new doorway has been cut in to the room off the hallway and the existing two window holes enlarged and new windows mounted. A start has also been made on putting in a first floor so that we shall be able to form a bedroom above.
Given the problems in the British housing market we shall call a halt soon to the work. But the aim is to have sufficient of the work completed such that we shall have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen/diner and very large sitting room. Much of the building work required to get this finished will have to be done by us rather than our builder, but then we haven’t much else to do!!
Work has commenced on the smaller, back room which will eventually become a study/sitting room. But for the moment it will be used as a kitchen/dining room. The concrete floor has been laid, a new doorway has been cut in to the room off the hallway and the existing two window holes enlarged and new windows mounted. A start has also been made on putting in a first floor so that we shall be able to form a bedroom above.
Given the problems in the British housing market we shall call a halt soon to the work. But the aim is to have sufficient of the work completed such that we shall have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen/diner and very large sitting room. Much of the building work required to get this finished will have to be done by us rather than our builder, but then we haven’t much else to do!!
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
A July Up-date
Given the fact that we now have to rely upon a dial-up connexion it is very much more difficult to use the internet and therefore posting to the blog has all but ceased. For that, apologies. There are two posts just below which reflect the position as we saw it towards the end of April and in mid June in this one I hope to bring the position up-to-date as it is in early July.
Work has continued apace on the central section of the house. The bedroom and bathroom are very close to being fully formed and the services to them now need to be fully connected. We have had the electrician working over the past two weekends and all the necessary points and lights have been put in place. The hot water tank has still to be set up but this will not take too much time or effort and the shower can then be installed along with the wash basin and loo. Sliding doors for a cupboard are also on site so a fully operational bedroom and bathroom are a possibility very soon – perhaps next week!
We decided that we had had enough of the caravan’s facilities any way and have set up a bed in the main salon. It’s rather odd to be in the house with bits crumbling off the walls and birds flying around above us, but hey it’s still much more comfortable!!
At the back of the house a huge quantity of earth has been cleared away from the walls to create a very large area which will form a patio for us. We shall install land drains to assist in diverting the water away from the walls of the house and this will ensure that the drying out process is maintained permanently. Of course in digging this area out an enormous quantity of earth had to be removed and it has all been placed on our field in front of the house as the pictures above show. We have had this earth ploughed over and now the very, very tedious task of picking up and moving all of the ‘caillou’ or ‘river stones’ – that is very large pebbles – has had to start. This will take us ages but it’s essential to complete it prior to seeding the field for a lawn into which we shall also put fruit trees.
So hard work all round but definite progress. We feel certain that we shall have the ability to live comfortably in the house very shortly with all ‘facilities’ on stream. The next step is to get the big salon sorted so that we use that properly and decorate it out. Watch this space!!
Work has continued apace on the central section of the house. The bedroom and bathroom are very close to being fully formed and the services to them now need to be fully connected. We have had the electrician working over the past two weekends and all the necessary points and lights have been put in place. The hot water tank has still to be set up but this will not take too much time or effort and the shower can then be installed along with the wash basin and loo. Sliding doors for a cupboard are also on site so a fully operational bedroom and bathroom are a possibility very soon – perhaps next week!
We decided that we had had enough of the caravan’s facilities any way and have set up a bed in the main salon. It’s rather odd to be in the house with bits crumbling off the walls and birds flying around above us, but hey it’s still much more comfortable!!
At the back of the house a huge quantity of earth has been cleared away from the walls to create a very large area which will form a patio for us. We shall install land drains to assist in diverting the water away from the walls of the house and this will ensure that the drying out process is maintained permanently. Of course in digging this area out an enormous quantity of earth had to be removed and it has all been placed on our field in front of the house as the pictures above show. We have had this earth ploughed over and now the very, very tedious task of picking up and moving all of the ‘caillou’ or ‘river stones’ – that is very large pebbles – has had to start. This will take us ages but it’s essential to complete it prior to seeding the field for a lawn into which we shall also put fruit trees.
So hard work all round but definite progress. We feel certain that we shall have the ability to live comfortably in the house very shortly with all ‘facilities’ on stream. The next step is to get the big salon sorted so that we use that properly and decorate it out. Watch this space!!
The Position in Mid-June
After our efforts to get the preparations completed for the flooring we now have a concrete ground floor in the majority of the eastern end of the house and this would have dried out much more rapidly had it not been for the appalling weather we have experienced – it has rained at some point in each 24 hours for the past month and we have had some amazing storms where the amount of water coming down has overwhelmed the new guttering and it’s simply poured down the side of the house.
Jean Claude has also constructed a first floor in new wood in the centre part of the house, and most of the wall needed to form the bedroom in that part of the house has been put up. So in the centre of the house there is a clearly defined hallway, a downstairs operational loo, a cupboard with the board for the mains electricity supply and a ‘developing’ bedroom with en suite bathroom. These though still need a good deal of work for them to be in any sense complete and useable by us.
Importantly the electrician is due to come back to the house in the next few days and wire up the majority of the eastern end giving us sockets and lighting. There will also be an electric hot water tank to service the western end of the house – there will have to be a separate tank for the eastern end as the house is so big. The problem with all of this is that the electrician and the builder do not exactly get on with each other and I am something of a ‘piggy-in-the-middle’ trying to ensure that they do actually collaborate and produce what we want.
Jean Claude has also constructed a first floor in new wood in the centre part of the house, and most of the wall needed to form the bedroom in that part of the house has been put up. So in the centre of the house there is a clearly defined hallway, a downstairs operational loo, a cupboard with the board for the mains electricity supply and a ‘developing’ bedroom with en suite bathroom. These though still need a good deal of work for them to be in any sense complete and useable by us.
Importantly the electrician is due to come back to the house in the next few days and wire up the majority of the eastern end giving us sockets and lighting. There will also be an electric hot water tank to service the western end of the house – there will have to be a separate tank for the eastern end as the house is so big. The problem with all of this is that the electrician and the builder do not exactly get on with each other and I am something of a ‘piggy-in-the-middle’ trying to ensure that they do actually collaborate and produce what we want.
A very late April Posting - Less, but More
We returned as planned in early April bringing two cars, loads of stuff to keep us going for the next six months and our dog. We had dreaded the journey for ages as Morag, the dog, had proved herself to be a very bad traveller. But in Joanne’s car she proved to be perfectly O.K. and indeed a good companion on the very long journey – we did the drive in one day, a foolish thing to do but it got the journey out of the way swiftly.
From the progress report we had had from our builder we had hoped that there would have been a completed floor in the centre of the house with the construction of a wall allowing for the installation of a bathroom. However, when we met him it emerged that he had injured himself falling out of a tree that he was lopping and had been unable to work for three and a half weeks. So no real progress had been made from the installation of the septic tank and the six windows.
But our presence here has re-energised the project and much progress has subsequently been made, albeit as a consequence of the efforts that we have made. The floor in what will be the central hallway area has been fully dug out and hardcore pebbles put in. In the large room we have cleared away all the rubbish and again shifted pebbles into it – this is not yet complete and we have another delivery of 10 tonnes of pebbles to face moving. A telephone connexion has also finally been made – there was a problem with a blockage in the pipe under the road which took a deal of solving. We now have a landline connexion but it cannot support broadband unfortunately, so it’s dial-up only for us.
The water supply has also been brought through into the house with a new connexion to the meter. Again though there was a problem in that there was a leak on the water company’s side of the meter so they had to come out and fix that. After considerable effort by the technician sent out to deal with it, and a new meter, we were re-connected. And on Sunday we shall have electricity inside the house to provide sockets for the fridge, freezer and washing machine we have also acquired. So as Jean Claude keeps saying as we make progress – toute moderne!
Notwithstanding the humour we are beginning to be really hopeful that we can effectively move into the house in summer with a full range of facilities available to us.
From the progress report we had had from our builder we had hoped that there would have been a completed floor in the centre of the house with the construction of a wall allowing for the installation of a bathroom. However, when we met him it emerged that he had injured himself falling out of a tree that he was lopping and had been unable to work for three and a half weeks. So no real progress had been made from the installation of the septic tank and the six windows.
But our presence here has re-energised the project and much progress has subsequently been made, albeit as a consequence of the efforts that we have made. The floor in what will be the central hallway area has been fully dug out and hardcore pebbles put in. In the large room we have cleared away all the rubbish and again shifted pebbles into it – this is not yet complete and we have another delivery of 10 tonnes of pebbles to face moving. A telephone connexion has also finally been made – there was a problem with a blockage in the pipe under the road which took a deal of solving. We now have a landline connexion but it cannot support broadband unfortunately, so it’s dial-up only for us.
The water supply has also been brought through into the house with a new connexion to the meter. Again though there was a problem in that there was a leak on the water company’s side of the meter so they had to come out and fix that. After considerable effort by the technician sent out to deal with it, and a new meter, we were re-connected. And on Sunday we shall have electricity inside the house to provide sockets for the fridge, freezer and washing machine we have also acquired. So as Jean Claude keeps saying as we make progress – toute moderne!
Notwithstanding the humour we are beginning to be really hopeful that we can effectively move into the house in summer with a full range of facilities available to us.
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
And now a Fosse Septique!
As noted in the last posting the contractor putting in the septic tank was due to start in mid-March and indeed it can now be seen that he actually did do so. Another e-mail from Jean-Claude with pictures shows further progress demonstrated above. It appears that the work on the fosse is finished, including the filter bed in our field, together with the pipe-work under the road. Connexions still have to be completed but it does seem that it will be possible to install a bathroom pretty soon which will make staying in the house a pleasanter prospect.
The other thing to note in the pictures is that six windows have also been installed at the front. Together with the completed roof this means that the house is rapidly becoming weatherproof which will encourage the drying-out process.
Much to look forward to on a return to the house then!
The other thing to note in the pictures is that six windows have also been installed at the front. Together with the completed roof this means that the house is rapidly becoming weatherproof which will encourage the drying-out process.
Much to look forward to on a return to the house then!
Sunday, 16 March 2008
We Are Weatherproof
The confidence expressed in the last posting has been met, sort of! We have just returned from a short visit to Arné and as the pictures above demonstrate we now have a complete roof over the whole of the house so it is now weatherproof and the inside can really dry out. But as you can see from the picture of the back there is no window in the roof; neither a dormer, which is what the plans demand, nor a velux, which is what Jean Claude says we can get away with. It is also the case that the internal structure holding the roof up at the north eastern end has not been altered radically. Which means that we have a real problem with the levels inside the house, and if it stayed that way we could not put in the rooms that we plan. We spent a very worried 24 hours contemplating all this until I managed to talk it through with Jean Claude. He was quite insouciant – yes he knew that there were things that need to be done and he would do them in this way, etc. So no problems at all and we could stop our worrying.
With the roof in this state we can move to deal with the inside now and we have started to demolish the wall to create the large room at the south western end of the house. Not as easy as it sounds as concrete has been used quite extensively and therefore a great deal of effort to achieve little change – you can see the position as we left it in the third picture above.
Jean Claude will take on the next phase of construction which entails clearing all the floors in the south western part of the house, building a wall to replace the earth wall that has fallen down (see the post for 28 February 2007), forming the upstairs’ bedroom and en suite and the downstairs’ loo and putting in all the widows and doors. To that end we visited a builders’ merchant and bought 13 windows, two sets of external glazed double doors, eight internal doors, two wash hand-basins and two loos. Given the speed at which Jean Claude works we fully expect that there will be a functional bedroom with loo and wash hand-basin by the time we arrive in early April.
That last comment is based on the fact that we also have received a permit to dig up the road to install the septic tank. The contractor who is to do all the installation wishes to do the work immediately, and indeed is due to start on Monday 17 March, as the local authority is planning to resurface the road at the end of March. Which means that we will be able to let the local authority’s workmen do the top surfacing which will save some money and effort. Together with the sewerage pipe work we shall also put in pipe work to bring the electricity supply under the road and put in a pipe in case France Telecom also wishes to go underground. For this latter we visited their offices and it would appear that a connexion might be made above ground, but we are taking no chances in putting the pipe under the road.
So considerable progress this time and we feel very confident that we shall have a habitable house in time to face the rigours of winter.
With the roof in this state we can move to deal with the inside now and we have started to demolish the wall to create the large room at the south western end of the house. Not as easy as it sounds as concrete has been used quite extensively and therefore a great deal of effort to achieve little change – you can see the position as we left it in the third picture above.
Jean Claude will take on the next phase of construction which entails clearing all the floors in the south western part of the house, building a wall to replace the earth wall that has fallen down (see the post for 28 February 2007), forming the upstairs’ bedroom and en suite and the downstairs’ loo and putting in all the widows and doors. To that end we visited a builders’ merchant and bought 13 windows, two sets of external glazed double doors, eight internal doors, two wash hand-basins and two loos. Given the speed at which Jean Claude works we fully expect that there will be a functional bedroom with loo and wash hand-basin by the time we arrive in early April.
That last comment is based on the fact that we also have received a permit to dig up the road to install the septic tank. The contractor who is to do all the installation wishes to do the work immediately, and indeed is due to start on Monday 17 March, as the local authority is planning to resurface the road at the end of March. Which means that we will be able to let the local authority’s workmen do the top surfacing which will save some money and effort. Together with the sewerage pipe work we shall also put in pipe work to bring the electricity supply under the road and put in a pipe in case France Telecom also wishes to go underground. For this latter we visited their offices and it would appear that a connexion might be made above ground, but we are taking no chances in putting the pipe under the road.
So considerable progress this time and we feel very confident that we shall have a habitable house in time to face the rigours of winter.
Thursday, 7 February 2008
Quickening Pace
As planned we returned to Arne towards the end of January for a two week visit. After the pictures we had received from Jean Claude we were expecting great things and we were in no way disappointed. The pictures at the top of this post clearly demonstrate the great change that has been wrought to the roof. And what’s more given the good weather that has persisted in Arné over the past week it’s more than likely that the uncovered portion has now also been completed.
This leaves about a quarter of the roof still to be stripped out and replaced, but this is much the most difficult part of the job to be done. There are real problems with how to span such a large area, how to deal with the different levels between the house roof and that of the barn with which it interlocks and all of this affects, and is affected by, the issue of getting the heights for the ground and first floor right so that they ‘work’. Jean Claude is absolutely confident that he can sort all of this out and we have decided that we shall ‘go with the flow’ of the solutions that he works out – we’ll make the internal arrangements fit in with however the structure that emerges allows.
We also now have electricity on site. This was organised just as we were leaving last time and it was good to be able to disconnect from our very helpful neighbours and use our own supply. But it might not have been! For some reason EDF had a contact address for me in the next village and so letters that were sent to me demanding that I pay for the connexion costs did not reach me. It was only when we arrived back in Arné that I found out that EDF were proposing to cut off the supply over non-payment of their bill. The local EDF office only opens on Wednesdays between 9:00 and 11:45, so we went along at 11:00 to try to sort out the problems. To no avail though. We had been warned that EDF take an entirely capricious approach to business and are regularly uncontactable and this was the case. The gates were firmly locked and there was no one to be seen so we failed in this attempt. By this stage the letters from EDF were threatening a specific date on which to cut the supply. So I wrote a letter enclosing a cheque to cover the bill together with proper details of my address and sent it off hoping that this would stop the whole process. On the day appointed for disconnexion no one from EDF appeared and they haven’t done so since. But neither have I had any form of acknowledgement of my letter from EDF, I just have to hope that all is now well and that in due course we’ll be properly billed for future costs.
Progress has also occurred on the septic tank front. I have had a devis – a quote – from another local builder which is acceptable. Under instruction from him I went to the Mairie and completed the paperwork necessary to obtain permission to dig up the road that runs between our house and our field. This will allow for the outflow from the septic tank to go into a filter bed. The idea is that at the same time as the road is dug up for this purpose we’ll also get the electricity supply put under the road as well as a connexion to the nearest telecoms post. If we are fortunate all of this might just happen prior to our return on a more permanent basis in mid-April.
Finally we spent our time working around Jean Claude – we cleared away the rubbish he generated whilst taking the roof to pieces as well as clearing out areas of the house that need to be prepared for the re-arrangements of the internal space we plan. An awful lot of rotten wood came out of the house and we had a bonfire going permanently for almost all of the fortnight we were there. The result is that great changes have happened on the inside such that it will be possible to pour the concrete pretty soon to form ground the floor in about half of the house.
So, we are feeling much more confident that we shall indeed be able to go out to France in early April and stay there on a permanent basis. This is based on the expectation that we can create enough habitable space in the house prior to winter. Watch this space to see if this is entirely misplaced confidence!
This leaves about a quarter of the roof still to be stripped out and replaced, but this is much the most difficult part of the job to be done. There are real problems with how to span such a large area, how to deal with the different levels between the house roof and that of the barn with which it interlocks and all of this affects, and is affected by, the issue of getting the heights for the ground and first floor right so that they ‘work’. Jean Claude is absolutely confident that he can sort all of this out and we have decided that we shall ‘go with the flow’ of the solutions that he works out – we’ll make the internal arrangements fit in with however the structure that emerges allows.
We also now have electricity on site. This was organised just as we were leaving last time and it was good to be able to disconnect from our very helpful neighbours and use our own supply. But it might not have been! For some reason EDF had a contact address for me in the next village and so letters that were sent to me demanding that I pay for the connexion costs did not reach me. It was only when we arrived back in Arné that I found out that EDF were proposing to cut off the supply over non-payment of their bill. The local EDF office only opens on Wednesdays between 9:00 and 11:45, so we went along at 11:00 to try to sort out the problems. To no avail though. We had been warned that EDF take an entirely capricious approach to business and are regularly uncontactable and this was the case. The gates were firmly locked and there was no one to be seen so we failed in this attempt. By this stage the letters from EDF were threatening a specific date on which to cut the supply. So I wrote a letter enclosing a cheque to cover the bill together with proper details of my address and sent it off hoping that this would stop the whole process. On the day appointed for disconnexion no one from EDF appeared and they haven’t done so since. But neither have I had any form of acknowledgement of my letter from EDF, I just have to hope that all is now well and that in due course we’ll be properly billed for future costs.
Progress has also occurred on the septic tank front. I have had a devis – a quote – from another local builder which is acceptable. Under instruction from him I went to the Mairie and completed the paperwork necessary to obtain permission to dig up the road that runs between our house and our field. This will allow for the outflow from the septic tank to go into a filter bed. The idea is that at the same time as the road is dug up for this purpose we’ll also get the electricity supply put under the road as well as a connexion to the nearest telecoms post. If we are fortunate all of this might just happen prior to our return on a more permanent basis in mid-April.
Finally we spent our time working around Jean Claude – we cleared away the rubbish he generated whilst taking the roof to pieces as well as clearing out areas of the house that need to be prepared for the re-arrangements of the internal space we plan. An awful lot of rotten wood came out of the house and we had a bonfire going permanently for almost all of the fortnight we were there. The result is that great changes have happened on the inside such that it will be possible to pour the concrete pretty soon to form ground the floor in about half of the house.
So, we are feeling much more confident that we shall indeed be able to go out to France in early April and stay there on a permanent basis. This is based on the expectation that we can create enough habitable space in the house prior to winter. Watch this space to see if this is entirely misplaced confidence!
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