happy campers

We waved goodbye to two campervans littering the lane today, Joan and Tony with their friends John and Heather have been staying with us for 3 nights which was a pleasant change.

They timed it perfectly as the weather has been glorious for the last couple of days and Tony and I have been working outside sans t-shirts moving all the roof tiles which were left piled up near the rear of the barn, intend to use them as hardcore for a parking area.

This is them leaving...

Update on the rennovations is the tieling has started and the Attic shower is now finished...

I have also spent sometime making a workbench and sorting out my tools and turned the 3rd garage into a workshop - in the photo you can see there is also room to park the tractor and even room to put a couple of bikes if need be.

The water heaters are both 200L and the left one serves the Bunkroom bathrooms x3 and the right one serves the attic room and our en-suite.

Plus a photo of the middle garage showing how we excavate all the waste from the 3 toilets, 3 sinks and 1 bath - I knocked holes through the floor f the barn into the garage undereneath and then out through the end wall which then met the waste pipe to the fosse the exit hole you can see is approx 18 inches below ground level.

(NB the roof and pipework is not concave as the picture may suggest that is just the effect of joining several photos together)

We are still here

It has been an age since we last blogged or reported on our progress, largely as we have little evidence of progress. Or should I say we are slogging on and making progress but that the difference is not really noticeable in photographs as we have hit the tape and jointing phase of the barn.

We have completed all the fabrication, all plasterboards are up, the pluming is completed, except a small leak on one of the water heaters which is a plastic retainer which has been over tightened and will be replaced tomorrow (I hope) the waste pipes are all in fixed and tested and even connected to the fosse,, so everything is happening or has happened.

I have attempted to upload some vido clips of the attic and barn but due to lightweight dial up speeds of 36 kbps I have given up and almost thrown the computer out of the window but after a beer or two I have conceeded to FTP them and simply add a link for those who are curious enough to click the link to view ;)

Attic

Barn

Whilst I have been fitting the extractor fans and being Jimmy’s gopher I have managed to put a few coats of white paint in the Attic bedroom and bathroom. Wendy has completed the second of the inside double rooms this one will be a twin room, Wendy has sanded and stained the floor which adds real character as does the a frame very visible in the Attic room.

Once the sanding down has been completed (tomorrow) Jimmy can start on the tiling, 1 shower in the Attic and 2 showers and a bath surround in the barn. Once painted we can put vinyl down in all the bathrooms and then concentrate on the entrance hall to the barn and main bunk room again painting and 46 sqm of floor tiles to lay after levelling the floor with some self leveller.

All work and no play as the saying goes, we have made a dent in the wine lake of France and enjoyed sampling the wines of the area, well you have to don't you especially if we are going to be buying it in for guests. We have also drunk some beer blonde too. Wendy continues to astound with her cooking and how I have managed to loose a stone and a half since arriving and keeping it off amazes me...

Money is still going out, Tiles, vinyl all cost money, paint we bought whilst in the UK over xmas at B&Q, We have ordered beds direct from Ikea in Toulouse which came to a total of £1758 .99 but that includes deliver. In total this is 13 beds in the form of 4 bunk beds, 4 single beds and a fold up bed just in case all including mattresses. We went through Ikea simply because it is near on impossible to find any in the local shops and once you start to buy them with mattresses you suddenly find yourself having to hire a removals van so even though we have coughed up 350 euros for delivery we consider it value for money since it would take us 3 to 4 hours travel one way and we would have to pay tolls to use the motorways we have ourselves a bargain.

We haven't had much time nor the weather to get out on the bikes but the 1st peep of sun and we have shot off - see http://www.whereistonynow.co.uk/ for pics of the bikes ;)

so it's 2008 is it?

Crimbo has now past as has the New Year festivities, but the memories live on for now.

22nd saw us suddenly stressed and headed North to get the ferry across to the UK, and an overnight on Billy's sofa (hotel next time). 23rd we met Daniel for the first time (our Grandson) and then picked up Bethany and headed North again to Barnsley. Where we had a very pleasant few days of Christmas relaxed and in the company of my Mum and Dad and Bethany... We even enjoyed a bottle or two with Marie and Wayne who popped up for a flying visit.

Daniel

Not the best picture but one with us all in ;)

Boxing day the 26th and we went North West to Burnley to visit Wendy's family and a pleasant stay over with Sammy and Leon, I caught flu from Pauline but is was still nice to see her ;) Wendy was reunited with her family and it was nice to see Both Scott and Bobby too.

Chillin with the cat - at Sammy & Leons

Sammy and her Mum (they will shoot me for putting this on the net lol...

27th and back to Barnsley where Billy and Ryan had arrived, and awaited the arrival of Ray, Becki, Emily and Daniel to complete the Lang side of my family, a rarity which we hope to revisit here in France.

Ryan & Emily


Emily & Wendy clapping hands...

The 29th saw us headed back South to take Bethany home, we now had a full car and trailer however I managed to forget the coffee table we had ordered from Argos especially oh well never mind, Hopefully Joan and Tony can pick it up and bring it to France when they come over in Feb...

The night of the 29th we had a nice meal out in Barnstaple with Bobby Scott and Dave and a good nights rest before heading back to the Ferry port of Portsmouth for the homeward journey. We dropped in on Mondo and Joy in Bransgore for a quick hello and was gone.

Once back in Le Theil and Ridersrest we quickly got into the festive spirit once more and celebrated New Year with the commune, John Luc, Nicole, Mark and Kay, much wine champers and oysters were consumed and we watched the new year come in a second time on the BBC.

the 2nd Jan saw us back to renovating the house ready for guests...

Wendy has now completed the decoration of the two upstairs bedrooms and the toilet room bar painting the doors. All the lights are up and the doors have handles...

Bedroom 1 - Finished

Bedroom 2 - Nearly finished

The Barn is coming along with most of the boards up now and the electrics completed and all working (Had me worried for a while - the only thing I have done from start to finish on my own in the Barn)

Friday and time to break for Christmas

For most that is Jimmy is cracking on with the attic room now Sean has finished the plumbing so we are breaking now for a week and intend to enjoy our family and Christmas.

Wendy provided a slap-up brunch for Jimmy, Jamie and Sean whilst not Christmasy in the real sense a treat by any other name, bacon, cumberland sausages, eggs, Heinz beans, tomatoes and mushrooms with toast and a mug of rosey lee - something you come to miss here in France but not at RidersRest ;)

Merry Christmas guy's and thank you for your hard work...

Still at it...

Still working hard on getting the place sorted. Sean arrived Monday to complete the plumbing and moving at a fair pace here he is making an opening for the toilet waste pipe More than just a pretty face eh!

We have made a room in the Barn by putting a door up now.

A bit of culture... and a reality check...

The barn was looking like we were still making progress as we had fitted a few plasterboard's by the end of Friday - some were more difficult to cut due to the complicated angles and the beams this is what it looked like when we had finished for Friday...

Saturday saw us headed for Oradour-sur-Glane near Limoges.
During World War II, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, on the outskirts of Limoges, was destroyed and its people were massacred by Nazis. The site of one of the most horrific massacres of the Second World War Oradour-sur-Glane is now a memorial to the events of June 10th, 1944. On that day, Nazi troops killed virtually the entire village population - only six people out of 648 inhabitants survived. to tell this crucial piece of history, part of the village remains the same as it was after it was destroyed, with everything left in place just as it was on that day. The cars are still on the street exactly where they were left, furniture still in place in the houses that survived the fires. Oradour-sur-Glane is truly a unique memorial and one that genuinely evokes the meaning of one of the awful events of that time. Story

Some photos to mark our visit and give you an idea of the solemness of the place. Well worth a visit.

Joan and Tony Cold but happy

Moving along at a brisk pace

Well the barn is being transformed at a pretty quick pace - Whilst mike has been here we have completed a considerable amount of work on the three bathrooms. Sadly Mike has had to cut short his visit to be with his father who is unwell, we wish you mike and your dad all the very best...

Here are the pictures of where we were when Mike left this morning (11/12/07).

A view of the back of the barn intended to be the dormitory

A view from the ceiling taking in the electrics (I have still to connect everything up...

Mike finishing the pluming

a view of the bathrooms awaiting the waste pips and boards to be fitted...

Jimmy and I have continued in the dorm area boarding up the walls and ceilings, I have also run all the electrics in the room so we could get the boards up without delay.

This is what the Dormitory part looked like last thing Thursday Night 13th ...

Jimmy and a couple of his mates fitting the steal which the plasterboard will be supported by
The silver is insulation which Joan's Tony and I put up the night before.

Jimmy on the other side - note the bathrooms in the background

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