At Work and Play

Watching a beautiful house such as this one regain its beauty is a joy. The day we first walked into the grand hallway and saw the stunning tiled floors, high ceilings and fine grey marble staircase we knew that all it needed was a huge dose of serious “TLC”. The proportions of the rooms are excellent, the ceilings are high and although there is a huge amount of work to do in terms of bathrooms, rewiring, kitchen fitting and the like, there is in truth little structural work aside from remaking the balcony outside (for which we still await permission) and knocking 2 rooms into one for our kitchen (done that).

Thus the space and light we have streaming through the long windows make the work seem – well less like actual work. Mr. Fix It is a natural: never happier than when covered in brick and sawdust. Occasionally he comes up with some great ideas too: “You know, instead of paying to get rid of the rubble from the knocked down wall and tower, why don’t we leave it outside in order to break down at a later stage to create a base for our future garden?” Our delightful French builder is fine with that so this pile of bricks (reminiscent of an entry into the Tate Modern I thought) will serve us well.



We received a letter from the Mairie asking for some more information on our balcony which we have now supplied and so await another letter telling us we can go ahead. If a house is situated close to a Church in France, the rules about altering the outside aspect are somewhat stricter. Still, Mr. Fix It’s excellent drawings and our desire to retain the character of this elegant building will, we hope, stand us in good stead for a resounding “Allez Y” in the not too distant future.

We are greeted by blue sky and warm sun each morning and took some time out to welcome Rosie, Mr. Fix It’s gorgeous daughter to our home for a few days. Bless her, all she wanted to do was pick poppies which abound in the fields and hedgerows and so she and I scooted off with Eddie & Alfie and suddenly the house was filled with vases of these stunning wild flowers. She and I persuaded Mr. Fix It to take a day off and we drove to Collioure and Port Vendres, 2 small coastal towns near to the border with Spain. In the early 20th century Collioure was a centre of artistic activity. Many artists such as Matisse, Picasso, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Andre Derain were inspired by the royal castle, the sun and the light.

"This feels like a real holiday,” said Rosie, sunning herself as we stopped for coffee by the sea. “We cannot believe we actually LIVE here,” said Mr. Fix It, “it still feels as though we are on holiday too, despite all the work”.

It was heart-warming to see father and daughter spending some leisure time together, Rosie away for once from exam revision and Mr. Fix It for once away from the brickdust



Mr. Fix It is now an authority on French plumbing stores and woodyards. I often wonder what they must think of this mildly eccentric Englishman, gesticulating and miming to describe some obscure shower fitting or pipe connector. Still, who was it who said that if you can make yourself understood you are ALWAYS speaking well? Communication can come in many different forms.

My France Buying Guide is very well thumbed now, Mr. Fix It takes great pride in referring it to it on an almost daily basis. www.francebuyingguide.com/guide.htm I confess I do not know how to plumb in a shower but at least I can help by finding out the best place to get one.

We have days when we feel we have not done very much to the house and other days when we can see that it is coming along apace. The goodness and simplicity of the people we meet helps us enjoy the journey and one thing we never have is a day when we wish we were back in the UK. After almost 3 months of being here, we feel as though we are at home and only wish we had thought of taking on this massive project before now.