Behind locked doors

Despite, or perhaps because of, our current restrictions work has continued apace at The Old Notaires' House. If I'm honest life has been quite enjoyable. The weather over the past week or so has been glorious with warm spring sunshine and postcard-blue skies. I've started painting the new doors and it's been really nice to be able to do that outdoors. We've had our sandwiches on the barn's terrace and even Mortimer has been contentedly dozing in the grass.

On the morning of our first day of 'lockdown', nearly a fortnight ago, we did a trip to LeClerc and a fairly large shop but since then we haven't been out in the car. I've walked twice to our local Petit Casino and of course our bread from the boulangerie but this is part of Mortimer's morning walk anyway. In fact it is the daily dog walks that have been the only real change in our routine. Usually we walk Mortimer together twice a day, but the initial restrictions dictated that you could only exercise alone, and that included dog walking. I took on the morning and Andrew the evening. Earlier this week when the French government extended our homestay from two weeks to four they made a small adjustment to the exercise section. We can now exercise with one other person from the same household however only for one hour a day and no more than one kilometre from home. As Mr M has at least two forty-five minute walks a day then we are no better off. It would be easy to work around these restrictions but that's not really in the spirit of it.

Beautiful view ten minutes from home

It's a long hill!

This blog, and to a degree our Facebook posts, have always been and will remain a light-hearted account of our house restoration and life in Corrèze. This does not mean that we are ignorant of the effect that the pandemic is having on millions of people and that it will continue to do so for months, possibly years ahead. It's not just those who catch the disease who are suffering, those who remain virus free may well have life-changing experiences too. Andrew and I know that we are extremely fortunate and don't forget that.

New doorways

So what have we been up to? At the moment we still have building supplies to keep us going. Andrew continues to concentrate on destroying walls and creating rubble which is a tad unfortunate as the déchetterie is closed. The upstairs of the Notaires' House is being rearranged, in some places quite dramatically. The sitting room is staying put although it has a recess which will be turned into an office. Two small bedrooms are being made into one space to include a bathroom. The old kitchen, loo and a corridor become another bedroom with its ensuite being constructed from half the old bathroom. The third bedroom has a new doorway and grabs the other half of the bathroom for its own. So in total that's three new doorways created, three to be blocked and three walls removed. And just because he was in the mood he took a ceiling down as well! In the process of all this we've discovered one difference in floor level and several ceiling height differences.

Old ceiling on the left. Andrew also discovered decades of wheat chaff left behind but some unknown creature

And a new windowsill

As mentioned earlier I have been painting doors. While I was back in the UK our new external doors were fitted, the double ones for the room that will be the kitchen, new doors for both the main entrance and the dining room. It's quite a lot of work but I enjoy it. Andrew finished the new steps as well and has done a beautiful job. They may look simple but they took a huge amount of planning to get right. Because they are the entrance to the kitchen I plan on having large pots of herbs either side of them so have started potting up, such a nice way to spend a sunny afternoon.

So impressed with the new steps

The kitchen itself is proving very bothersome and if I'm honest has reduced me to tears, particularly galling as I used to be a kitchen designer. The overall space is quite large, about eleven metres by five and although each wall has a door it is quite symmetrical. The issue I/we're trying to overcome is that Andrew and I are approaching the design from from two different angles. Andrew sees a calm, uncluttered space where, along with cooking, we can relax and escape from guests. I on the other hand see more of a warm, welcoming kitchen where we can cook as well as have a natter with friends over a cup of coffee or a light lunch. We will get there, we always do, but at the moment...

The other achievement was a big clear up of the sitting room. Along with the packing cases that remain unpacked since the move from England we also have repacked the items and furniture that we used whilst living in the house (plus possibly the odd Emmaüs purchase or two!). There is no handy annexe to put all this in so everything has just been piled up in random corners. Plus all the demolition work has left them covered with a thick layer of dust. So we set to, cleaned and organised everything in to the garden bedroom and cleared the sitting room, it's made such a difference.

Before

After

The beautiful spring weather has added to our enjoyment, it's been warm enough to work in a t-shirt (although that is changing for a few days this week). Spring blossoms are out and it feels good to sit on our new steps with a cup of coffee and warm sun on skin. Yes we are very lucky at the moment.

View from one side of the garden

And from the other

If you would like to follow our French progress then please feel free to follow/friend us here on Facebook Meanwhile I have a small confession. Remember how you couldn't get toilet rolls for love nor money...

House/3

December has been famine and feast in The Old Notaires' House. We've either been demolishing with gusto or almost motionless in front of a computer, planning. Many an evening has passed with a glass of red, batting ideas about and solving problems. Lists made and spreadsheets created. Experience has taught us that time spent in this manner is a crucial part of a successful project and guilt shouldn't be felt if you're not physically getting on with work.

The two downstairs rooms of the original house have now had their walls stripped back to the granite stone. Both have some damp issues, mainly caused by the ground level being built up too high against the outside walls and an historic misunderstanding of how to solve damp issues. Apart from the installation of a French ditch around this part of the house we've decided to allow the rooms to breathe. Everyone has been so complimentary of our stone wall in the barn that we've decided to do both the dining room and entrance hall - I may regret this! It will be a long, messy job but will look fabulous, more importantly it will improve the damp issue no end.

Entrance hall

Hall from the staircase

Andrew has finished demolition (well apart from two new doorways to be knocked through). There are times on large projects when you have to concentrate on your vision, it can sometimes be difficult when confronted with a building site to think that it will one day be a beautiful space.

The new dining room

I have managed to remove all of the stuck-on sticky back plastic circles in the bathroom and Andrew has taken out the bath. This room will become two ensuites.

Old bathroom

Another wall removed downstairs, the four old notaires' rooms have become two. This has made such a difference to the light in the space that will become the kitchen and snug. The external doors have been ordered, no longer will we see daylight through the cracks!

This will be a kitchen and snug

This should become our bedroom & ensuite

Concept board for the Gentleman's Room 

I've also been creating concept boards for the guest bedrooms and planning the furniture layouts. It's important for me to get this done early in the project. On a practical note it allows Andrew to finalise the electrical circuit & plumbing plans. We're trying to use as much of the furniture that came with the house and items we already own to furnish rooms so planning them in now really helps. I then know what we need to buy, along with sizes, and can take time to find the right pieces.

The old kitchen, hall and loo will become the Artists Room

Concept board for the Artists bedroom

We're having a break from the house over Christmas and New Year to recharge the batteries for what will be a very busy few months in 2020. If you would like to know more about life in Corrèze then feel free to follow or friend over here on Facebook

Concept boards for the Garden bedroom

Our morning walk

Mortimer is ready to go - are you coming too?

Back in March some of you came with us on our evening walk with Mortimer and I did say that you could join us for our morning promenade if you wished. Today seems perfect, still cool but with a promise of a gorgeous autumn day ahead. It's a bit more strenuous than the evening stroll but definitely worth the effort.

All set? OK so like before we're turning right out of the drive and heading into the centre of the village. Yes, well remembered, that's where we turned down to go into the 'ville clos' but this time we're going through the centre of Corrèze. That's our boulangerie, Madame is very kind about my French and I have a mini lesson each day, but I don't think I'll ever get the hang of 'millefeuille myrtilles'. Those boards? we're fortunate to have several marked walks and cycle routes of varying degrees of difficulty that start in the village and these show you the routes.

Entrance to Corrèze ville clos

Our boulangerie

Walking and cycle paths in Corrèze

As you can tell from Mortimer's insistence that we cross the road our traiteur has the rotisserie chickens on the go. Bernard Fraysse is an award winning traiteur (it's like a delicatessen) as well as being a superb butcher.

Sadly closed but I just love the tiles

We're now starting the long climb out of the village so just tell me if you want to stop.  We moved here from the Fens in Norfolk where we were at sea level and not a hill in sight, so all these hills and 500 metres altitude came as a bit of a shock! This is the Atelier du Pénitent Blanc, I love the style of pottery here and covet one of the striding pilgrim figures. I suspect it's so named because it's situated opposite the Chapelle des Pénitents Blancs up there. Yes that's the village cemetery, I know I need to have a good look round too - maybe we'll do that another day as I think it will be worth spending some time in there.

Atelier du Pénitent Blanc

Chapelle des Pénitents Blancs

You see that walnut tree? We turn left there up to Vieux Foirail, I love that every cluster of houses, however small has a name. This is quite steep, you can see Mortimer starts plodding and falls behind. When we're pushed for time we cut a corner off the walk and go up these steps but not today. Down there is an old lavoir, there are a lot in the village and in fact one of the marked walks I was telling you about earlier is called 'lavoirs et fontaines'. Originally they were used to do the laundry but many are like this now, home to water lilies.

Vieux Foirail

Old lavoir

We're turning left up this track and I promise the final uphill section. In the summer it's lined with hundreds of wild strawberry plants and there is the most beautifully scented honeysuckle. This house? It's cute isn't it and for sale I believe, as is one of my favourite buildings. I love this barn, actually a small house and barn, if you just look round the back you can see it has a bread oven too.

That's it for uphill now, unless you want to do an extended walk? Maybe another time. One of the things I love about the village is the amount of livestock and chickens that you see in 'normal' gardens. These hens are quite bold and come up to the fence, I do count them each morning though! Earlier in the year there were two beautiful Limousin cows in this field and then of course we have the goats, they seem to prefer life off the ground.

This has to be one of my favourite views of Corrèze, you can see why this lane is called Belle Vue. Down there is La Poste and watching the small, yellow postal vans is like seeing Trumpton in the flesh. I'll see if I can find you some photographs in different seasons.

Today's view of Corrèze

Last winter

For some reason I love this shed and seem to have quite a lot of photographs of it!

We're heading down here, look -  another lavoir. You may have noticed some iron crosses as we've walked, some of our route has been on the 'Voie Rocamadour' which is part of the Santiago de Compestela pilgrimage route. I forgot to point out a small cross by a barn further back, crosses were often placed by barns or fields to protect harvests.

Lavoir lily pond

I was about to say that we're coming up to our small supermarket and Gamm Vert and that they were not quintessentially French, just blocky buildings round a car park, but actually I think they are. Anyone who has spent time in France will be familiar with the out of town shopping malls. This is not in that league but not overly photogenic either, however I'm very pleased that we have them within a few minutes walk of our house.

We're nearly home now, just down this hill and we've completed the full circuit. Go on, through the gates, and if you want to go down to the terrace I'll put the kettle on. Tea or coffee?

Tea or coffee?

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Projects

The river Corrèze

Work on 'La Grange' is getting quite exciting now as we're slowly moving away from building works to decorating and design. I'm rarely seen without my design folder (which is getting fatter by the day) and am constantly on the look out for furniture and styling items.

As I write, we are a good two-thirds of the way through laying the upstairs flooring. We were lucky to have inherited several piles of chestnut parquet with the house. Never used, filthy dirty and assorted sizes but beautiful. Because it's been sitting around for a couple of decades I have to sand each tongue & groove before handing it to Andrew for glueing. The jury's out on the likelihood that we have enough, but there is a Plan B. We're hoping to get it down and treated before the kitchen arrives at the end of the month.

Two thirds done 

Andrew's cunning solution to put pressure on the floor overnight 

It took some planning but I love this detail

The plastering has been finished downstairs and Andrew has made headway with the plumbing, just as well as the en-suite fittings and tiles have arrived. We have decided to put underfloor heating in both bathrooms, it's so nice underfoot.  Design decisions can be put on hold here for the moment.

Plastering finished

Andrew keeps reminding me how much painting I have to do once the plaster is fully dried. I'm ignoring that at the moment and am trying to get ahead on some of the furniture and soft furnishing projects. Before we left the U.K. I bought a small Parker Knoll bedroom chair which needs recovering. I love this make of chair, beautifully made and timeless style but the downside is that they can't be recovered, you have to start from scratch. I've stripped and painted it and am now waiting for my new toy to arrive so I can start work. We were gifted my father's compressor and Andrew has ordered me a stapler that I can use with it which will make my life so much easier. I am also fortunate that our next door neighbour is an upholsterer (with an atelier that I covet) and is happy to sell me any supplies that I need.

Before stripping 

Stripped and part painted

Other projects are lining up behind the chair, some furniture I've chosen to paint, which are quite simple projects, but I've also been inspired to make some lampshade covers, which is completely new to me. I've commandeered one of the old notaires offices as a clean upholstery room whilst the summer kitchen has become the painting room.

Ready to be painted

I'm avoiding the French shabby chic look in the gîte, it's a very popular but not really our style. I need the spaces to be practical, easy to clean and robust but I want to have some fun as well so I'm throwing in a few mid century design element. There are plenty of funky items around at the brocantes and vide greniers and they'll work beautifully with the contemporary feel we're after.

A surprise delivery from a French friend - crêpes and chocolate mousse

We do feel that we've hunkered down since the New Year, most outings have involved either a D.I.Y store or searching for inexpensive furniture. It has however been so much better than last year as the woodburner has kept us cosy and, on the whole, the winter weather has been quite benign. We have had snow and it has been very cold but not nearly as wet. The last few days have been really warm, I've even seen some of our friendly lizards basking on the granite walls and lunchtime baguettes have been eaten outside. I'm not saying it too loudly but I think spring is just around the corner.

Spring?

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