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La Maison
Work in progress
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A roller coaster to the final
We came back to France a bit later than expected as Jo had to have a final check-up for his eyes - all good though he still cannot see any better with the operated eye. However, the surgeon says it could take months.
We left immediately after his appointment so arrived late on 2 June with just under three weeks before our first paying guests arrive on 21 June.
There were several things we had not been able to finish in April but also we were not happy with the way we left the car park and boules area.
The next day we looked with some horror at the jungle of garden which had shot up during May. Then Andy arrived at 10.00 to start work again on some things we had not been able to finish and most importantly to decide what to do about the car park - boules area. We were not happy with the finished product in April.
How we left the car park and boules area in April
In the end we decided that it would be better to cover the car park in the same gravel as the boules area but to distinguish the two areas more clearly with a stone wall and hedge. So that meant getting the digger back and more loads of gravel.
While we were discussing with Andy what to do with the car park, the caretakers arrived at 11.00 with very bad news. They had been there at the weekend to open up the swimming pool and had discovered it leaked. It had gone down by over a foot. Panic. They had already bee to several places to ask pool technicians to come and have a look at it but it is the busy season for pools and they were all very busy.
Alice then started painting the two downstairs bedrooms -
Alice painting
while I went off with Josh to rent a strimmer to cut down the jungle but in the end we came back with a scythe.
Josh scything the jungle
Meanwhile I was getting increasingly nervous about the pool as the first time we could get someone to come and look at it was the following Saturday.
On Wednesday we went to fetch Ginny who was arriving in Rodez. We were greatly encouraged by her reaction to the house and garden which she assured us was even better than the photos.
The next day was all go. Ginny started cleaning the loungers and I started clueing the chest of drawers we had bought in a 'brocante'.It took four days for Andy to finish his work from Monday to Thursday and Jo started work on the garden -
Jo at work
Frank started putting castine around the car park with his digger and Andy and Stuart put up the pergola in the walled garden and cut the high stone by the terrace. By Thursday the gravel was laid and the pergola was up.
We finally got some pool technicians to come on Saturday who said the only solution was to test each outlet pipe one by one. So we had to plug an outlet, fill the pool, wait overnight to see if it went down. If it didn't that outlet was ok. To test each outlet would take 3 days. They assured us that we could still use the pool providing at least one of the skimmers and its corresponding outlet were ok though it would be more difficult to clean. So we started immediately.
On Sunday the pool had gone down by an inch which indicated a slight leak on that outlet - or possibly a faulty seal. However, it also meant that there must be another pipe leaking more seriously since originally the water level had gone down very quickly by a foot.
The weather has been very hot since we've been here and haymaking in the nearby fields is almost completed.
On Monday Mick came to build the wall between the car park and boules area and Ginny took an intermission from loungers washing to put loops on the mattresses so that they could be hung up in the bike shed.
Ginny hard at work
On Tuesday Ginny and I went to a huge garden centre near Montauban to buy plants for the walled garden. We decided to make the hedge between the car park and boules area with lavender so bought 16 pots of that and much else. The car was crammed with plants but we managed. When we got back the bed for the bedroom at the far end had arrived.
Bed arrives
Ginny left on Wednesday and on Thursday Judith and John arrived by car with Woody. By this time Alice had finished painting the far end bedroom and we intended J and J to sleep there but when Alice and Josh tried to assemble the new bed they found the wrong slats had been delivered. So I called the firm in Ireland immediately and they promised to send the right ones by the following Tuesday. Fingers crossed!
By Thursday Mick had finished most of the wall and drilled holes for the lavender so we all set to planting the lavender. I don't have any photos of us at work as we were all too busy.
Josh mowing
On Friday the sofa arrived to go under the pergola.
Now we have done most of the planting the the beds and the walled garden, including a solanum to climb up the arch and a vine to climb over the pergola.
Pergola with sofa
Time for a sit down
Today (Sunday) Alice has finished painting the second bedroom so in the next blog it will hopefully be possible to show you the downstairs bedrooms furnished (if the new slats arrive).
We all went to St Antonin Noble Val with the aim of going canoeing but in the end just wandered round the market, bought some more plants and had a mediocre lunch but in a beautiful situation by the river Aveyron.
More soon.
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From leak to leak
Sorry it's been such a long time since the last blog but we have been extremely busy.
Our main worry has been caused by smells and leaks. Both the downstairs bathroom and one of the upstairs bathrooms have been rather smelly. The plumber reduced the smell upstairs by putting a vent in the roof but this didn't solve it completely. I've tried dunking litres of cleaning fluid down all orifices but to no avail and there was no obvious other source. The only solution (without knocking down walls to check each and every pipe) seemed to be to seal off all cracks and holes where the smell could be coming from. So far that seems to be working - early days though.
The third bathroom did not suffer from smells but a leak. After putting in new grouting and silicon we seem to have solved that too - Jo has tested it several times by taking a shower there.
However, after an afternoon of torrential rain, we had another small leak in the roof of the far downstairs bedroom. Fortunately no beds were underneath. Andy popped up on the roof and found an accumulation of moss causing the rain to build up behind the moss and run back up the tiles. So he spent an afternoon clearing the moss and reinforcing the flashing at the side - otherwise the roof seems to be in good condition.
Clearing moss
The wall onto the lane (which fell) has now been finished.
And the inside of the shed has been whitewashed and the doors varnished. We are still waiting for the electricians to come to put in the light, plugs and fuse box. It is now being used as a tool shed by Andy.
Inside shed
Stuart has been busy stabilising walls and putting in a flower bed in the one by the terrace.
Mending walls
He brought his dogs one day.
Stuart's dogs
Work has also started on clearing up the mess in the car park. A lot is wood, including huge tree stumps, which have been dealt with by burning. Much of the rest will be used to level out the car park. The garden in front of the shed and the car park will be attacked next week when Frank will come back with the digger.
Burning tree stumps
Meanwhile Andy has done a lot of work inside the house. He has built a place for saucepans, a ledge and a new shelf around the cooker.
New shelves
He has made a bookshelf for the sitting room and a new shelf for one of the upstairs bathrooms. He has also checked all the doors and windows to make them open and shut smoothly - shutters still to be done.
Given all the work in the house, in particular the electricity, it has become necessary to re-decorate almost all the rooms other than our bedroom upstairs and one of the bathrooms. So Jo and I have started work on that. The downstairs bathroom and the upstairs bedroom have now been completely redecorated - using the same paint as our Brussels kitchen in order to use it up - so the bedroom will now be known as the blue bedroom.
Downstairs bathroom
We are now doing the sitting room and hope to finish that, and our upstairs bathroom, before coming back to Brussels at the beginning of May. That leaves the two downstairs bedrooms to be decorated when we come back in June but the amount of wall is quite small (especially compared with Brussels) so it shouldn't take long.
Outside, the countryside is transformed, as is the garden. All the trees are now in leaf, including our chestnut tree.
Chestnut tree
One of the roses is out.
Yellow rose
And Jo has bought a bike.
New bike
But hasn't had time to use it yet!!!
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