Spring is officially here!

We have daylight now till around 7.15 pm and from Sunday of course, the days will stretch further till well after 8.15 pm. What a difference an hour makes! We have felt Spring like for many weeks down here in the Languedoc Roussillon (there has scarcely been a day without at least some sunshine and many with clear blue skies) so our thoughts have turned this week to planning our garden space.

Outside space with a property is not so easy to find in these parts: this, the largest wine growing region in France is home to so many who spend their days working outside tending the vines and so do not have quite the same craving to laze in the sun as we Brits may have! One of the many reasons we hit upon this beautiful old house was its large courtyard space of around 200 sq.m. which is perfect for Mr. Fix It and I – and I venture to guess is fine by Eddie & Alfie – neither of us being hugely green fingered although still keen to have space to sit outside long into the evening as the summer days stretch ahead.

Having constructed 2 new doors with steps down which used to be windows on to the garden and either side of the double front door, the garden space instantly becomes almost fused with the inner space for a good part of the year. Even though we have yet to “do” our garden, I remember countless evenings last year when we sat outside with friends and family visiting; music, wine, laughter and of course Mr. Fix It’s famous barbeque on the go (another one of his talents).

Plans for our garden? Well here in the South of France swimming pools are very common. As you fly into either Carcassonne, Beziers or Montpellier you can clearly see swimming pools dotted around the countryside and it’s easy to see why: with over 320 days of sunshine to enjoy and temperatures often reaching into the 40s in July and August, a pool becomes perhaps not a necessity but certainly a sensible option. We have planned a small pool for one end of our garden, just enough space to cool off and practise a few strokes we thought. There is something magical about sitting close to water even if one doesn’t venture in and knowing Mr. Fix It, our pool will be well lit inside, lending a luxurious air to this space.

Most of our garden will be levelled over and paved but we will retain a portion at the opposite end from the future pool as a space for plants and 2 existing trees. One side of the garden is walled (I love walled gardens) with a strange feature in the middle which we intend to develop in some way. Ideas welcome, here it comes!


The season of Spring invariably brings with it a sense of optimism and new beginnings and here in the South of France there are notable differences as the days grow longer: parks and gardens in our nearby towns of Carcassonne, Narbonne and Montpellier are open longer showing off their fresh green colours, the pavement café tables are filling up and restaurants become busy both at lunchtime and in the evenings. A visit to the stunning ancient Cathar village of Minerve the other day and a delicious lunch sitting outside overlooking the massive gorge over the River Cesse renewed Mr. Fix It’s vigour to press on with work on our kitchen. As for me, until the day when our kitchen is finally in, I have no complaints: Minerve and so many other villages and towns here are so beautiful, so relaxing and reached by such leisurely traffic free, tree lined roads, I am quite happy to look far over to the mountains in the distance and enjoy the moment.

Alexis
The Overseas Guides Company
http://www.Francebuyingguide.com

Have a look at my website at: http://www.francebuyingguide.comAlexisThe Overseas Guides CompanyFrance@overseasguidescompany.com

Kitchen planning – and more exploring in the sun!

With a little help from a friend – the lovely Trevor who was with us last week – we have achieved a huge amount this week. Remember the picture of the window in the kitchen we were planning to raise in last week’s blog? Well I have news for you: it’s all done! Just raising this by around 9 inches has made a massive difference, not only aesthetically but in terms of light flooding in – not to mention now being able to see the sky above the terracotta roofs of our neighbours.

Our large white ceramic sink will be sited underneath this window and of course whilst the boys were working on it, I was already planning my pots of herbs and the like to sit neatly in the sunshine on the windowsill.

Between them, Mr. Fix It and Trevor dug out the floor and laid the plates and joists in order to level it off ahead of putting down our wood floor right through this room. Before this however comes the important task of electrics. Mr. Fix It says this is very simple – but then he would as he has done all this before several times in the UK! In France there is no ring main system, everything is done on spurs. Each appliance such as cooker, oven, hob, air conditioning unit, fridge, needs its own circuit breaker on the fuse board. Further, you are limited to 8 double sockets (prises) per spur and no more than 8 lights can be put on one lighting circuit. It is vital of course to stick to the rules and we have been lucky to find an excellent electrician to oversee what Mr. Fix It has achieved so far. You are at liberty to carry out any electrical works yourself but they must be approved by a qualified French registered electrician who will then issue you with a certificate confirming that the rules have been followed.

Mr. Fix It’s lighting plan for our kitchen is truly something to behold. With soft spots on the ceiling, hidden lights under wall cupboards and space for at least a couple of table lamps, I know that this will transform this space we have, as only good lighting can do. We have shopped around over the last year for wall lights, low voltage tracks and table lamps. It is a joy to look around the many “vides greniers” (street sales) and “brocantes” (antique shops) which abound in rural France. We bought this lamp for just €20 a few months ago. And yes you guessed it: I caught Mr. Fix It on a small wine break – well he deserves it after all!



As the old saying goes “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” and living in France renovating this house makes us feel that there is a great deal of truth in this. Thus it was that we headed out at the weekend and explored around and about in both the Aude and the Herault. Our house is just over the border in the Aude. We are quite literally surrounded by vineyards and are still finding new places we have not come across before. On a beautiful day here (of which there are so many) there is really nothing nicer than having a glass of wine, a leisurely meal on a “prix fixe” menu – oh, and meeting a young friendly cat. As Trevor said to us before he left to go back to the UK, you can see for miles around you wherever you look in this stunning part of France – and no-one seems to be in a rush to get anywhere.

Alexis
The Overseas Guides Company
http://www.francebuyingguide.com/

Have a look at my website at: http://www.francebuyingguide.comAlexisThe Overseas Guides CompanyFrance@overseasguidescompany.com

Fun in the sun in France!

It is so hard to believe we are still in early March down here in the Languedoc Roussillon. The sun shines most every day, each day is lasting longer and it will not be long before we are sitting out in our garden well into the evening. Despite the mammoth task we have taken on in renovating our house – or perhaps because of it! – we have been out and about this week to some favourite places and some new haunts, making the most of what this area has to offer: the bright sunlight, the proximity to the ocean and the space.
We took Eddie and Alfie to the beach at Agde, close to Beziers the other day. They bounded around like small children, bemused by the soft sand and splashing in the sea. This is a wonderful time of the year: there are few tourists but just a sprinkling of people out enjoying this balmy spring weather. Who can resist sitting in a pretty restaurant on a boardwalk overlooking the sea, eating freshly caught fish? Mr. Fix It and I could not.


There is something wonderfully unpretentious about the seaside here in France. In fact, overall we have found there is less “keeping up with the Jones’s” than we have been used to in the UK. I wonder if this is because of the space in this country. People are less stressed when they live in spacious surroundings and it is as if the French have less to prove to each other. There is also something intangible and extremely attractive about their way of life – a certain “je ne sais quoi” as they would say. They stop for lunch; they linger in cafes and chat in the markets. Mr. Fix It and I have noticed our own perspectives on life change over the last year since we have been down here, most definitely for the better.
A trip to a pretty village called Ginestas, just 15 minutes away from us, completed our weekend break from the renovation. We came upon a wonderful restaurant with a raised terrace and sat in the sunshine. These are good moments, ones when we still feel as though we are on holiday until we realise how many beautiful villages and towns we have right on our doorstep to lure us away from the work in hand: yes we live here, this has become our home.


Back down to earth with a bump on Monday and a good friend from the UK arrived to give Mr. Fix It a helping hand: and what a helping hand indeed. In just one day Trevor has dug out our kitchen floor and levelled it off ready for the new floor to be laid. This is hard graft and for jobs such as this it is your friends who are the best to call on to help. Eddie and Alfie gambol happily in the rubble: oh if only they could dig a little deeper and offer some help!


(With Trevor’s wonderful, hands on assistance, we will soon see the window in the above picture raised by around a foot. This will not only enable our sink to be sited underneath, it will afford us more light and views of the blue sky beyond the rooftops to the mountains in the distance. Maybe this is what life offers one here: the ability to look afar and combine a love of the present with a plan for the future. Isn’t that what life is all about after all?

AlexisThe Overseas Guides Company
Have a look at my website at: http://www.francebuyingguide.comAlexisThe Overseas Guides CompanyFrance@overseasguidescompany.com