Just a few days ago the 4 of us sat in the sun in our garden on a well earned break from working on this huge house. “It feels as though Spring is around the corner,” said my husband. He then muttered something about getting on with renovating our first bathroom in anticipation of being free to enjoy barbeques and glasses of wine on the terrace.
The next day we awoke to thick snow: our village was a picture postcard!
We have made great friends with Maurice who runs our local “epicerie”, literally a stone’s throw away. He says he has never seen so much snow here. Reassured however by Maurice’s conviction that soon after Easter the temperature will start to rise, we felt happy to continue work on the house on the basis that any exercise will keep one warm.
Meanwhile Eddie & Alfie are having a ball. They are rapidly becoming bilingual, something which impressed Jean-Pierre in our local Tabac. How great it is to be able to walk out of our house with the dogs, down a little lane and into the Tabac, dogs and all. Jean-Pierre and his wife welcome them with open arms and have told us about a wonderful vet in the next door village.
This is what I find so joyous about living in rural France: we have only encountered friendly faces and, aided by Eddie & Alfie, have already met many neighbours. We truly have no wish to return to the UK, this has felt like home since the moment we walked through the door. Are you tempted to do the same as us? You could do worse than consulting my France Buying Guide for tips galore on how to plan your own French sojourn. www.francebuyingguide.com/guide.htm
And so the work has started and my husband and his son Jack knocked a wall down in what will be our main huge bathroom. Buoyed up by such progress, they are much looking forward to doing the same in the kitchen, knocking a wall down to make one huge room out of what is currently two but for that they will enlist the help of a builder as the wall is a supporting one and will need a steel insert.
I marvel at their knowledge of the intricacies of plumbing, something with which I, sadly, cannot help, aside from translating in plumbing and builders’ merchants. My husband, ever modest, says it is not so hard to learn. I call him “Mr. Fix it” and thank my lucky stars that I am married to such a practical man.
I love the high ceilings in this house, they give such a feeling of space and light and whilst they were pondering over the correct pipes for installing the shower, I was imagining shades of French blue and cream for the walls, perhaps matching towels and why not a large bowl of pot pourri on the windowsill? Jack’s lovely American girlfriend Blaine agreed and husband and stepson gave us both a sideways look…. At that I realised that now all 4 of us make a good team and between us we will make this house become something quite stunning.
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