BLESS OUR FRENCH BUILDERS!

We bought this huge house from the Church, it is an old Presbytery. Indeed, it looks on to the beautiful 14th century Church of St. Julien, just a stone’s throw away. We are not religious people but there is something about being here which gives us a real feeling of calm: the house has a lovely atmosphere, even in its present somewhat rough state.

This week we have reason to celebrate as the local builder, whose very reasonable quote we accepted, has taken the supporting wall down between the kitchen that was and the next room (complete with corner marble fireplace). He came with his brother and another chap when he said he would, got on with the job and now these two rooms are one. We keep looking at the space, it is wonderful and we can now get on with designing our kitchen. So religious or not, we really do bless these builders. Now how many times can one say that?

It pays to shop around, get at least 2 quotes and to trust one’s gut instinct. We both liked this chap and now that he has done such a great job, we have built up confidence and shall ask him to quote for further work (of which there is a great deal). He is local, lives in our village and was telling me just today that he has done a lot of renovation for other English people in the area.

Meanwhile Mr. Fix It is designing the kitchen, making the best use of the space we have. Preliminary thoughts include black granite worktops, an L shaped breakfast bar at the kitchen end and then a large dining table at the other end looking out on to the garden. As for me, I shall soon be sourcing a large range cooker, a fridge and dishwasher. We are just half an hour from Carcassonne, on the edge of which is a large estate filled with shops such as Brico Depot, Weldom, Tridome and many more. The concept of DIY is relatively new in France but becoming more popular and we look forward to shopping for the best deals. If you are not sure where to start, you could do worse than arm yourself with a copy of my France Buying Guide: aside from the main Guide, there are 2 bonus sections with detail of the best shops to go to for everything from DIY to mushrooms! www.francebuyingguide.com/guide.htm

Our future bedroom is coming along, we have stripped the rather strange wallpaper (the French do love their wallpaper) and Mr. Fix It has run pipes up to it so that the ensuite shower room can be put in place shortly. This room faces due south-east so once the tower in the garden is demolished, will be drenched in early sunlight. I envisage many a morning sitting on our new balcony with a cup of coffee and a croissant from our local boulangerie.

But that is yet to come. Last Friday I took Eddie & Alfie to their first class at our dog club and they did rather well. Their French is almost as good as mine now, they respond to “bisous” (kisses), “promenade” (walks), “manger”, (eat), “viens ici” (come here) and their vocabulary grows apace. My main goal is to get them to walk to heel and the lady at the dog club was pleased with their willingness to learn. We met a couple of lovely people, one of whom has a puppy Yorkshire Terrier which looks remarkably like a hairbrush. Eddie & Alfie, although sometimes timid with other dogs, rather took to this one.

So this week has been a productive one and we look forward to a very sunny and warm weekend. I hope to encourage Mr. Fix It to take a well-earned break and go exploring a little more in this, the most beautiful part of France.