French cuisine is on its way!

Like children with a new toy, this week has seen us revel in our newly installed gas central heating. We have concrete floors which retain warmth and these old fashioned cast iron radiators chuck out wonderful and even heat. We still wake up to the sun shining through our full length windows but it is cooler now, so the incredible hard work of Mr. Fix It and Justin, our boiler engineer, was undertaken in the nick of time.

So, warm as toast and basking in the Autumn sunshine during the day, we turn our attention to our future kitchen. This is a great space, around 28 x 14 ft, widening out at the “eating end”. Although I have become used to cooking on our mini oven – indeed a casserole cooks as I write this; it is amazing what you can rustle up in such a small appliance - after 9 months of having no real kitchen to speak of, I am greatly looking forward to this next stage: planning and fitting our kitchen, putting soft lighting in, having a breakfast bar to linger at with a coffee in the mornings, listening to music from the huge speakers which Mr. Fix It has owned for many years and which will nestle underneath the units.

Mr. Fix it is raring to go (his energy is boundless) and his plan on paper looks both slick and functional. Buoyed up by thoughts of fine French cooking from the wonderful cookery book he gave me “Rotis of France”, this coming week will see him putting in the groundwork and me clearing a space at the kitchen end, ready for the wall and floor treatments ahead of the units going in. So it was that we headed off to Ikea in Montpellier to look at kitchens, find a sink, lights and the like and the planning mode will soon become execution mode.

I look back to when we first arrived here, this kitchen space we now have as 2 rooms then, almost begging to be uplifted. The day the wall came down was another one of those days to remember: here suddenly was this new space.

We already have our floor: old pine strips which Mr. Fix It will be laying in due course and I have had the happy task of sourcing taps, lights, an actual kitchen and deciding on which oven to install. The corner fireplace lends a cosy air to this space and with 2 radiators opposite, we envisage many convivial evenings around our dinner table, candles lit, music and hopefully some fine French cooking. We had a taste of what was to become when we had a visit from some of family recently. Why, even Mr. Fix It turned his hand to some cooking.

The concept of DIY is relatively new in France but it is my guess that it will become more and more popular over the next few years. There are some great appliances around however and our American fridge/freezer arrives Thursday, ready to take its place in the new kitchen. This next stage of our renovation is a big deal; after all, the kitchen is the heart of every home. With Christmas fast approaching and a visit to Germany and then to England to spend time with our family on the cards, Mr. Fix It is determined to start the process now and to have it up and running by the end of February. Watch this space!

Meanwhile, Eddie & Alfie keep us grounded. They don’t care about the kitchen and have no interest in our house renovation. They only know that they love the long walks by the canal, sitting by our log fire and tucking in to French dog food: life could be worse for them and for us.

The heat is on!

We all have days and weeks in life which turn out to be little landmarks and which we will remember in years to come. This week has been one of those for Mr. Fix It and I. Yes, you guessed it: our central heating is on, fully operational, fired up and HOT! The bespectacled “monsieur” turned up again just a few hours ago, inserted our gas meter in the wall outside and put the gas on. With a flick of a switch – actually 2 switches since we have 2 boilers in the cellar – Mr. Fix It swung the heating into action. I have watched him pottering to and fro, in and out of the rooms where he has painstakingly fitted these old radiators, as proud as a child who knows he has written a great essay at school.

We look back a mere 5 weeks and note this fine achievement: the road being dug up outside to create the gas run to our house, endless holes drilled into floors and alcoves to receive over 150 metres (!) of copper piping, 2 boilers fitted in the cellar, 9 radiators plumbed in on ground and first floor, sheer hard graft on the part of both Mr. Fix It and the lovely Justin, our English boiler engineer. I feel a small celebration coming on, perhaps that good bottle of red wine I mentioned last week. This one should do the trick…



I confess I would not know where to start when it comes to installing heating in a grand old house such as this one. Mr. Fix It never fails to amaze me with his knowledge of such basic matters. This is more than DIY. He could, in my view, so easily have been a plumber, tiler, car mechanic or heating engineer and his attention to detail is meticulous. A standing joke here in France has been when we meet friends and neighbours around the village and get chatting, as we have done this week at a huge “vide grenier” in our village and I am complimented on my French – to which Mr. Fix It chimes in: “but have you seen her plumbing? Not a pretty sight…” So yes, you guessed it again, we make a good team, he and I, and my lack of knowledge of HOW to plumb notwithstanding, I sure have learnt a lot of French plumbing vocabulary (well, you never know when you might need it).

I am not sure how comfortable it would have been living without heating until mid-November in the UK. Lovely though it is to be up and running, we have in truth not really needed it to date; such is the mild climate down here in the Languedoc Roussillon. Each day has offered full sun, the colours remain outstanding and the sunsets magical. November 11th was a holiday here, to remember the Armistice of the First World War. The weather was sublime and we had a day out in the lovely city of Narbonne.

Village celebrations continue as the lovely autumn season is now in full flow and Friday night we attended a wonderful “soiree deguisee” or fancy dress evening at our local bar. I had no qualms about dressing up as a Spanish dancer, sleeveless in the mild evening air. Mr. Fix It was a cowboy, a persona that does not become him: his work is of anything but a cowboy! We danced the night away, Mr. Fix It’s French coming along apace now as he enjoyed a well-deserved glass or two of red wine. I am not sure I can say the same about my plumbing ability but please continue to watch this space: you just never know.



Alexis
The Overseas Guides Company
Have you been to the main site yet? http://www.francebuyingguide.com

Sunny Autumn days in the South of France

It is hard to believe we are now well into November as the sun blazes down over the colourful vineyards each day. Mr. Fix It flew back to the UK for his dear daughter Rosie’s graduation ceremony at the beginning of the week so for 3 days it was just Eddie, Alfie and I scrunching the leaves along the canal, basking in the autumn sunshine and sitting by a log fire in the evening.

Aside from being a proud Dad back in the UK, this trip gave Mr. Fix It the chance to fall back and regroup, play about with our kitchen plan on paper as he flew north and soothe the callouses which have appeared on his hands from using heavy power tools to drill holes for all the pipe connections to our radiators. Putting central heating in a huge property such as this is a big deal and as proud as Mr. Fix It is of Rosie, I too am proud of him: not only of his ability and foresight (the first time we ever saw this house he clocked the small alcoves in many rooms, as if tailor made to receive pipe runs between floors) but of his energy and enthusiasm to get this huge job done and dusted.

Such is the bureaucracy in France (one does get used to it!), we were obliged to wait for the “monsieur” from Gaz de France to sign off our works and issue a “Certificat de Conformite”: the pipes underground, the location for the boiler, the flue etc. A rather serious, bespectacled chap turned up and gave us the “ok”. Next step: to make an account with one of the 5 gas companies who estimate future usage from the size of the property and await another visit, no doubt from another bespectacled “monsieur” for our meter to be installed in the box outside our gates and finally, for the gas to be put on. This is imminent and no doubt the day it happens will see Mr. Fix It opening one of his finer bottles of Minervois wine.

Meanwhile not a day goes by without my amazement at the balmy days and truly fantastic colours in this, our first autumn season in the South of France. Nature offers us great ideas, I have always thought and as I drove twice to Toulouse Airport to take and pick up Mr. Fix It for his trip to the UK, I marvelled at the sheer reds and burnt oranges all along the way. Even the middle section of the autoroute boasted glorious colour and I began to plan for our future decoration and paint colours as I listened to classic romantic French songs on the radio. Space and stunning surroundings offer inspiration.

Mr. Fix It returned from his trip, happy to be home. “Three days there was enough” he said, “it was so busy, I had forgotten how people race around and how congested the roads are in England. Plus it is at least ten degrees warmer here in France.” The sun shone as he emerged from arrivals and it was hard to know who was the happier to see him: me, Eddie or Alfie.

I am not sure how long it takes to truly integrate into another country. Maybe the length of time is different for each one of us. Both of us having always been truly committed Francophiles, we have taken to French life as a duck takes to water. The secret is to love the differences, all of them, and take the whole package on board. This we have done with gusto as we continue to work on this beautiful house, always taking time to look up at the blue sky, along the tree line and down into the canal waters and thus see this autumn season in its full glory.

Alexis
The Overseas Guides Company
Visit the main website at: http://www.francebuyingguide.com/

Another little view of our French home!

As we continue with our huge renovation project down here in the Languedoc Roussillon, we have nonetheless taken time out every now and then over the last 8 months or so to welcome friends and family down here. This, we find, is one of the joys of living in France. Rather than spending just an evening together as we did in the UK, we can spend real time with our friends and enjoy their company as well as revel in their interest in our work. Mr. Fix It is more than happy occasionally to down tools, tootle off to some neighbouring village for lunch and enjoy the company of old friends with a fine glass of Minervois. This week saw us doing just that as we welcomed some of our family down here for a few days. We paid a visit to the old Cathar stronghold of Lastours where we happened upon a Michelin starred restaurant, set on the site of an old factory, nestling beneath 2 Cathar chateaux. Life could be worse!


“This house is splendid,” mused Steven, a lawyer by trade and therefore not one to offer false compliments. We showed them around proudly and sat at our kitchen table for the first time. A log fire in the corner, soft candles and lighting, a little music, some robust red wine and delicious delicacies from the wonderful market in Narbonne: why, we almost forgot we don’t actually have a kitchen fitted yet! So this was a landmark for us: we could see how convivial, warm and cosy this space will be when it is properly up and running.


Our rooms are mostly square and large with high ceilings, our floors splendidly tiled and intact. Although we have a great deal still to do, this house becomes somehow more “lived in” each day. Standing majestically opposite the 14th century church of St. Julien, it invites great interest from passing folk, its Flemish architecture standing out amongst the French houses alongside it. We often wonder about its history, a mission for me in store whilst Mr. Fix It continues to pipe in our remaining cast iron radiators in the entrance hall, kitchen and one of the bedrooms and we await the final “oui” from the monsieur at Gaz de France.

Now in the heart of the Autumn season, fetes and gatherings abound in the villages surrounding us and the colours on the rural landscape are quite astounding: reds, oranges, yellows, browns each take their place and sometimes mingle amongst the trees, vineyards and leaves. The sun is still with us, now lower in the sky but still bright and golden until early evening.

The long views over the hills and mountains which surround our village render us humble: there is a real feeling here of humans having worked the land for over two thousand years. As we continue to bring this house back to its former glory, we marvel at the Cathar monuments, often seemingly precariously placed at the top of a craggy rock, and wonder at their ability to build so magnificently in those ancient times. Mr. Fix It can take heart: his knowledge of house renovation is paying off bit by bit and as the work continues, we revel in this Autumn season here in the South of France.

Alexis
The Overseas Guides Company
Visit my main website at: http://www.francebuyingguide.com/