Wednesday 27 June 2018

Lest you think it's all fun & games here

Looking back at the last few posts you would be forgiven in thinking that we're living the high life at the Old Notaire's House. We have been having fun but we've been hard at work as well.

We have some deadlines for work in the barn, the electrician is arriving at the beginning of September to connect everything up for us, but he does need the cabling in place. Andrew, with some assistance from a very capable friend, has been pulling cables like crazy, I think we're up to about 600 metres and they're still in there. They have plaster boarded the ground floor ceilings and the walls have started to be insulated.

Barn update
We were fortunate that the previous owners left approximately 70 metres of chestnut parquet flooring which we are going to use on the first floor. It has been in the barn for at least 20 years, possibly longer, and was filthy and in the wrong place. As unskilled labour my job was to give the bundles a quick clean and then move them upstairs. This involved moving them to a scaffold trestle at the bottom of the ladder, hoik them through the stairwell entrance to the first floor and then shift them into a new position. I certainly earned my pizza that day!

Barn flooring
Inspired by our neighbour's recent tree felling, Andrew tackled an overgrown hedge in the garden. This had been planted about three metres from the summer kitchen door and was really overgrown. As it was a conifer we would never have been able to get it back into shape and so we decided it had to go. We still have to remove the stumps and landscape that area, but already it had made a huge difference.

Garden improvement
We had a couple of leaks in the roof, one of which was in the bathroom. We haven't been using the shower as it wasn't tiled and the leak was over it. Andrew was happy to do a quick re-tile but not until the slipped roof slate was replaced. We had a roofer in who solved our issues and we now no longer have to have buckets in the sitting room and Andrew got the shower operational. The difference in being able to have a daily shower instead of a bath is wonderful, particularly in this hot weather.

Inspired by the improvement in the bathroom I decided to tackle the loo. This room was wallpapered but impossible to clean as the hand blocked paper just smeared ink everywhere. Conscious that visitors may have higher standards than us, I did a really quick paint job to clean the room up. Twenty four hours later, it's not a fine design statement and don't look at the edges, but it's so much better than before.


Another really quick job was the second guest room. We had spent quite a lot of time on the primary guest room but with Andrew's adult god daughter arriving with her mother I needed to create another bedroom. The only option was one of the notaire's rooms that we're using as storage. It goes without saying that the nicer was the one with the most boxes which I had to move. Wallpapered with early woodchip, now an unattractive tobacco colour I needed a quick solution. I washed it down with sugar soap and applied three coats of white emulsion (there is still discolouration but it's much better than it was). The ceiling wasn't too bad so I just cleaned it. I already had some accessories in the same shade of green, bought a lamp, installed a hanging rail for clothes and a couple of posters on the wall and we're there. Again it doesn't bear close inspection but it's a much nicer space.


We've also started building the wall in the barn so that we can order the new windows-another deadline to meet. But we're taking a few days off as guests arrive, which is just as well as I think we need a break. Andrew has strained his thumbs, probably as building a wall from granite stones is not easy work. I managed to fall backwards over a stack of concrete blocks at the builders merchants and have lovely grazes on my arm and leg. A few days of playing tourist will be lovely!

Gorgeous Corrèze town

Sunday 17 June 2018

A dog in clover

Mortimer in clover
Actually a dog and two humans, although we didn't go rolling in it, tempting though that was. One of the joys of Corrèze town is the marked walks that we have on our doorstep. This morning we decided on a favourite, 'fontaines & lavoirs' which is just a couple of hours duration.

Wild flowers in Corrèze
I have become slightly obsessive at documenting the wild flowers, particularly on the verges, around us but today's walk was special. The early summer flowers were everywhere, as was the sound of bees and crickets, and we kept disturbing the butterflies. Limousin cattle were happily grazing on rich grassland and we found a field of clover that had been planted. Clover, particularly red, is used by organic farmers to fix nitrogen into the soil and reduce the need for chemicals. Bees are particularly fond of it.

Mortimer enjoying his walk

President Macron has announced a target of 15% of French agriculture to be organic by 2022 (currently 6.5%), and is helping to fund this as well as financial incentives for young farmers. In comparison 2.9% of U.K agriculture in 2017 was using organic methods, but sadly organic farming has fallen by 30% since the peak in 2008. I hope Macron succeeds so we benefit from more countryside like this.

Corrèze countryside

Wednesday 13 June 2018

My first French wedding

Last Saturday was a big day in the Corrèze calendar - the first wedding in the village of an English couple, and we were fortunate enough to be invited.


I first met Sue and John after only a few days of moving in to the Old Notaire's House. Andrew had returned to London so it was just Mortimer and me. We were on our evening dog walk when a chap, also dog walking, stopped and asked what breed of dog Mortimer was. As this is a fairly common question I had my little French speech prepared " I don't know what he is in French but in English he is..." I didn't get any further as he looked relieved and switched to English. After a short chat he invited me back home to meet Sue. Poor woman, I still blush as the first she knew was a big, black hairy dog came rushing into her spotlessly clean kitchen! But she made me really welcome, let me warm up and enjoy a glass of red wine.

Seven months on and we were delighted to be involved in their wedding. It was such a great occasion with so many people helping to make it special. The day before the event I was part of the team of helpers who transform the village hall. Last decorated about 40 years ago, when as the mayor's wife told me it was ' a la mode', it is not quite the decoration one would want for a wedding reception, red and orange felted walls, but an afternoon's work with LED curtain lights, metres of organza, balloons, bunting and greenery it looked great.


The day itself was full of people helping to make it special. Andrew had volunteered to drive the bridal car (he really wanted to tick something off his bucket list - driving through a French town beeping his horn!), there wasn't an official photographer so everyone was snapping away and there have been some gorgeous photographs on Facebook. People opened wine, supervised the catering and made sure that everything went smoothly.

There were friends and family from England, France, Ireland & Belgium, with important moments translated from French to English and vice versa. Entertainment was provided by a local family who sung both traditional and contemporary songs. Singing seems to be a big part of a French social occasion as even the Mayor joined forces with his mother to serenade John and Sue.


We are very lucky in the village to have an award winning traiteur, Bernard Fraysse, and they provided the catering. The presentation was amazing and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

It really was a lovely day, even the weather was superb, and we'd like to thank John and Sue for allowing us to share it with them and their friends.

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