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

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 ;)