it used to be a Barn but now...

Well for the last 8 or nine nights Mike and I have been laboring away in the barn supported by many cuppa's and cakes served by the very lovely Wendy - almost like she had a sixth sense of when we needed it most. we have generally worked from 09:00 through to 18:00 stopping for Tea, a shower and a bit of telly before knackered crashing to start again the next morning. But the fruits of our labour is in the pictures below.

contemplating where the bathroom furniture will go

The doors in place and squared up

All the steel frame in place furniture measured to fit next Plumbing and Electrics

Mike measuring up for the copper pipe and runs.

Jimmy has been stalled in the Attic awaiting the plumbing to be completed so he has recently joined us in the Barn turning the other end into something inhabitable starting with getting some boards up in to form a ceiling and measuring out the walls and partition between the sleeping area and the bathrooms.

One of those tea breaks

The ceiling going up

Jimmy tidying up to lay the tracs for the walls

We have also been adopted by a wild cat who has taken to breakfast with us and pretty much believe we are it's parents or something...

Really moving along now...

Well it is December the 1st and we have been here 3 months today. We have covered some ground and are moving at a really reassuring pace. We have our first bookings for 2008 and the B&B is starting to take shape thanks to Jimmy of Henry, Limousin Property Services. who is slowly turning our dream into something tangible, "Must be fate" .

Mike has also arrived and we are making some sense out of the Barn and transforming it into the "Club Room" hopefully Jimmy will help here too once the Attic is complete. Both Jimmy and Keith (Salamander Electrics) have transformed a once unorganised space into a really nice en-suite room. Mind you both have probably put on a stone with Wendy cooking cakes and bacon/egg butties. Check out Jimmy sandwiches untouched on the joist... Sean is now here this weekend putting in the copper for the plumbing and the water heaters and plumb in the toilet, shower and sink so the place is almost all together bar the rubbing down.

The Barn is coming along fine - after 4 days we have the floor down, the rooms measured up and some boards on the ceiling (some not all) we are now in the process of putting the stud walls up and building the structure of the walls. All in all we are progressing at a fair pace.

End of Day 2

End of Day 3

Its all taking shape...

We wake to this view each morning and go to sleep to these sunsets...

A bit of a shock this week Money! where does it all go? I Purchased 10,000 euros from my usual source and due to the weak Pound (£) it cost me £500 more than it had in August this year, but it is swings and roundabouts I suppose as we had the highest rate for 4 years when we purchased the house. I bought the sit-on-mower which was £200 cheaper here than in the UK and I have agreed to do Jimmy and Sean's Web sites in lieu of work so the barter system works.
All the plasterboard and steel arrived for the walls in the barn which I expected to cost in the region of 1,500 euros only to get a bill for 2,356 euros (lesson learnt)

My Sit-on- mower arrived Tuesday so I am officially an old man and to prove it I mowed the entire rear lawn, well what will become a lawn, in one go and then read the instructions. Whoops you are not supposed to mow an incline of more than 5degrees oh well. As you can see the ground is a vast improvement on what it was like well you can actually see the ground for a start.

This is a view looking up towards the house from the furthest point of the rear garden
there is still more to clear behind me to the bread oven about 10meters or so.

This view looks down towards the bread oven - there is a white post in the centre which
is half way down the garden and marks the entrance to the wasps nest - The
big pile to the left is to burn - and you can see Wendy in the middle too.

The upstairs toilet is finished bar the decorating and at a total cost of 3,167 euros (£2,260) which included all materials the complete rewiring of the bedroom a new hall way and the white furniture, we are really pleased with the result. Wendy is raring to decorate it now. We would not hesitate in recommending Jimmy, Sean and Keith to anyone looking for real tradesmen genuine, honest know what they are doing they really take the worry out of a project and are real easy going no job too small or too big, very refreshing.

The best I could do in a small space but it gives an idea...

This is the hall left is the new part and you can see the entrance to the toilet and Twin room,
to the right is the door way to the double bedroom

The attic space is slowly looking like a normal room with walls which really shrinks the room down but it will include a good size double room, a good size en-suite, and plenty of storage space. But it is gonna cost... Here is a photo showing the before shot - Once completed I will take a photo and show all. Meanwhile this is the before (Tuesday) and after (Friday) electrics are going in at the same time

This is looking in from the door to the back - The tin in the right corner
is the chemicals used to treat the wood against mites etc.

This is looking towards the chimny from the back of the attic space
The entrance is on the right but the ladder blocks the view

We have managed to squeeze in some social time with Mark and Natalie down in the cafe Commercials (which is becoming our normal place to go in town) Natalie was the star attraction at the beginning of the Beaujolais fest She was the singer for the night and what a very pleasant night it was as their guests we drank and ate free and I consumed enough wine to have a hangover for Wendy's Birthday the next day... Mark and Natelie own http://www.theilfarm.com/ just along the road from us.

Today was a surprisingly Sunny and warm day in comparison to the last week of dull, rain and wind, so I took the opportunity to go for a couple of hours riding on the bikes yes I managed an hour on the FJR and an hour on the R111. The Autumn countryside was very photogenic...

Remember if you click on a picture you can see it magnified... so go on click on one and see ;)

Snow in November

Well you cannot knock the locals they know what is what and sure as day follows night it snowed today...

The Builders are here

I am not sure if my A£53 is punch board or countersunk but it is all starting to happen or at least we have had an eventful few days.

Ikea have finally delivered our furniture so we have tables and chairs at last, so we will be able to accommodate the neighbours round for a meal without feeling we are gypsies with garden furniture in the house pretty flimsy garden furniture to boot. But not now with out ultra modern tables and chairs.

I managed to order my Tondeuse Tractor (Sit on Mower) which I am expecting delivery Monday cannot wait as it will make all the effort in taming the jungle worth while, even if I still have a fair way to go out back. Just the other day as I was strimming (on my third strimmer head) I could hear a buzzing louder than the strimmer but didn't know where it was coming from - I suspected I had a problem with the motor so I stopped it. The noise continued though the engine had subsided, I quickly discovered that wasps or bee's of some sort had nested underground and I had strimmed over it and upset the whole nest which was swarming all over the place, they didn't seem to bother me so I cracked on until the rain drove me indoors.

Also Jimmy a Brit builder over here (payrat Le Chateau) came and did us a quote for an upstairs toilet and to convert the attic space into a double room with on-suite with his mate Sean the plumber. We agreed a price and they started almost immediately. They are mostly finished the toilet room all plumbing etc so electrician tomorrow and then just the tidying up. We are well pleased so far (Will let you know when finished) this is the view so far.

The view looking up the stairs

From inside the bedroom looking to the stairs

A view of where the waste exits the house

The main worry has always been how we dispose of the toilet waste as we have/had no idea where the Foss was or where we could pick up the waste pipes. So I spend a day digging a trench to intersect the pipe and then follow it to determine where it ran and where we could T-in to it for the upstairs toilet and for the future the attic and the barn (Now refer'd to as the "Club Room"), the person or persons who buried the pipe in the first place had a wicked sense of humour because the dig was obstructed by some major rocks and always deeper than I had anticipated.

Wendy has cracked on with papering the smaller of the two spare rooms and has completed the job and even given it two coats of Dulux White Emulsion - brought from the UK by Mark & Kay after we discovered that the French equivalent (Mega expensive) was like fresh single cream in texture and would have needed about 10 coats to cover the wall. Once the toilet is in I will have to refer to this room as the bigger of the two spare rooms...

It is fair to say that we are in for a cold winter typical since it is our first, so we have topped up the diesel tanks for the heating 1000Litres worth and it is heart wrenching to see the rate at which the level is going down - oh well, this is mostly because of fuel prices at the moment the difference is 1/3rd greater than we paid in February. But better to be warm especially when the night temperature drops so rapidly when the sun goes down. We are also grateful for the Log fire in the front room.

It is a shame I didn't know that Jimmy would buy any building materials we needed and split his discount with us as I have already ordered all the plasterboard and wall rails for the Club Room (Barn) to be delivered Friday in time for ActionMike coming out on the 27th Nov to start work. You live and learn - it isn't what you know it is who you know.

Everyone is talking about snow, they seem to think we might get some snow - and Mt Dore is only up the road to Ski-ing is not far away if we care to partake... I think not ;)

Green fingers

Gardening seems to be the word of the week - the sun is out and we are experiencing really good weather so Wendy and I have been concentrating again on the out side area's though I have been able to wash and polish the bikes too ;)

We have completed clearing the front garden and borrowed Mark's pride and joy "A sit on mower" which was able to level the garden and now as long as we keep it mowed it will become a nice lawn (with some repair) Wendy's plan is to rotivate a piece for growing vegetables and another for cutting flowers.

The green house is still to be cleared and either renovated, the perspex is very brittle or to be demolished completely. Watch this space for an update.

We have started on the rear land area which is about 6 time the surface of the front and more overgroan! yes i did spell that right lol... But as you can see we are making an impression on it. This area will become a patio recreation / BBQ space along with some lawns and rockery type things - we hope to find a level enough space to erect our pool too, which will no doubt require a gazebo type of arrangement and some decking... loads of work and for the future as we are only concerned about clearing and maintaining it at present.

The jungle was too much for a strimmer alone and I had to resort to tried and tested methods and tools... Bloody hard work but very enjoyable to stand back by the fire and see the dent you have made. This is going to take a long time to clear.

We have decided that a sit-on-mower is a must have so if you read this kids, Billy, Scott, Ray, Sammy, Bobby and Bethany they cost about £1000 so that works out about £167 each for Christmas ;)
Mark and Kay took the easy option to get there grass cut by using French Marks tractor (Unfortunately there is no access to our area (Yet!) ) so he paid for it by way of a BBQ which we all went to and had a thoroughly good time, When Mark and Kay come over for good I think I am going to become a SOT :)

Mark & Kay

John Luc & Nicole; Me; Pete (Marks dad)

Wendy and Natalie

Natalie & Mark

Weekly Up-Date

The front of the house looking up from the front garden Taken today at 12:00
Notice the brilliant blue sky - the temp says 32 in the sun.

The weather here has changed - we now have cold clear nights resulting in a good spread of frost in the mornings but by 10:30 the sun has come up and dried everything out and brought the temperature up to 16+ and in the direct sun in is very warm according to the gage it is in the 20's however the breeze is still cool enough to make you aware it is Autumn. We have switched the central heating on and are happy to have done so, as it keeps the house at a steady temperature considering we are in and out all day.

I have now completed the majority of the barn/bunk-room insulation and putting the batons up ready to take the plasterboard which I will order Tuesday unless they are open on Monday. Monday is seen as a weekend day here in Treignac by most people but that is slowly changing as the local retailers become more competitive with the big towns.

Wendy is battling on with the garden - a never ending task by the looks of it. I have worn out the strimmer and completely destroyed the line assembly spool and line release mechanism. Only to discover that the French do not recognise JCB products and just shake there heads when we enquire about a replacement unit. JCB do have one of those 0870 numbers but I could probably buy a new strimmer for the cost of the call alone. My dad did have a go for me from the UK but we decided best to go and buy a French variant so we could easily maintain it and of course get the spares...

So of to the Carrefour and BricoDepot to get a Strimmer - there was a good selection to choose from but - like you do - I decided to strip a few down and see what the parts were like as far as durability and discovered that they all mainly used a similar type of assembly once you get down to the nuts and bolts, they do have small differences like size of nuts etc. So I decided for 24 euro's I would buy a french line assembly (I also aquired a couple of different bolts just incase). and was able to Jerry rig it to the JCB strimmer with some success and managed to get out and do some more strimming. I am not sure what the H&S implications are but the strimmer is now much improved and I attacked the garden as though playing an X-Box360 war game. - Once we have done the front we also have about 5 times more land to the rear and the side of the house to clean up and that area is even more wild with scrub, gorse, brambles and trees to contend with.

This is me (who else) Top left corner looking from the house
Notice now we have gotten rid of the jungle you can clearly see the Barn which belongs to Mark and Kay.

Tis one is taken from the bottom of the garden looking up to the house

and this one is looking accross the garden from the direction of Mark and Kay's

Whilst we were out we also came accross a TV table for 94 euros (in a priced to free up the space for a different line of products sale) an absolute bargain we had not seen anything we liked before for under 300 euros so we took it.

We have also managed some time out on the bike taking in some culture and exploring the roads. but you will have to go to the bike site to check out the pictures ;)

Rocamadour

Tidying up outside

We are continuing to tidy up outside as much as we can for the winter - there is loads to do and even after a couple of days we are not even making a dent in it lol... We have trashed most of the tools and had to go out and buy some decent one's - now need a new head for my strimmer to carry on. They are certainly getting some use.

We hope to clear out the front (jungle area) and turn it into a small lawn and a veg/flower garden. Ity is well overgrown and once we made it to the bottom and looked up we realised it was much bigger than we thought at first. There is a green house of sorts which we cannot get into for weeds so another small job hacking through and clearing out.

We will need to buy a very robust lawnmower when the area is cut down enough to cope.

I spent a couple of days pruning the tree outside the front door, we were even able to use the branches for fire wood (once they have dried out a bit) it was a tough job but now it is done it will only need a little maintenance yearly.

Here is a pic of me nearing the end.

36 degree's outside and Wendy has a fire going...

We received the best kind of news today we're GrandParents again or should I say my Son Raymond has rung to proudly announce his son (our Grandson) was born today at 10h46 (UK time) he is a bouncing Boy named Daniel Anthony... hopefully we will be getting some photos emailed/text over soon. Sadly we will not see him until Christmas but then that will make Christmas much mnore to look forward to.

Here is a nice picture of me with Emily and Ryan... (Well I think so anyway)

Wendy's fire is in the garden that is - as she is burning all the rubbish as she tackles the route to the bottom right hand corner of the front Garden... Today is a gloriously hot day as in fact was yesterday and saturday, I think we are going to have a much enjoyable Oct and Nov with some good weather allowing us to continue riding...

Wendy still a tomboy at heart!

Clear blue sky's above our home...
We had a good day Last Friday - the boiler man did indeed turn up as promised and the boiler is burning like new, it works a treat and the pipes and radiators all hold water and get warm so result and only cost 30 euro's and a bag of freshly picked mushrooms from the woods to our rear.

The satelite man turned up unannounced but welcome to errect and tune us into Sky so we also have English TV (still nothing much on LOL) a bit expensive but will be worth the money just to see what is going on in the world. He fitted it just in time for us to be able to watch the France England Rugby match, which we ended up going to the Cafe Commercial to watch with Mark and Kay and John, good result , the French were a little miserable after the match as they were conviced that they were going to take the game away...

Prior to the match Wendy and I managed a good ride down to the Dardogne with some tremendus roads and whilst we were out enjoying ourselves Mark and John removed the unsightly plethora of antenna sprouting from our chimney (unfortunately they were unable to get a picture on their telly maybe next time they are here.

Sunday saw us sat in the sun drinking Pastis with Mark and Natilie Mark and Kay and John a fitting end to the weekend.