Untitled

2007

Still doin' it.

I still had the van in January so I thought I would do one more trip to take the inevitable collection of things to the house. It was to be just me again so I loaded the van and left for Portsmouth on 15th January for a couple of weeks. I was taking with me a couple of bunk-beds a neighbour had given me for doing some lights for her - fair exchange you know. I also had my old wooden desk that nobody else wanted but would do well for the office corner in the house. Jan's sister had given me a dining table and six chairs for helping them move so they went in the van too. When my tools and everything else for surviving the fortnight went in it was full again. I still managed to cram in a large quantity of baked beans for my new neighbour Gill whose boys can't live without them!!

The journey has become so regular that it is like going to work, I am sure the crew on the ship must know me by now! I am a member of Brittany Ferries Property Owner's Travel Club so get a reasonable discount and a free breakfast. Always worth looking forward to.

The trip from St Malo was good and the van didn't miss a beat. I did some shopping in Lidls when I was nearly at my destination and was in the house by lunchtime. The first thing was to turn on the electric and water and make sure all was ok then to light the fire. In no time it was cosy and a home from home.

After cleaning up the dust and cobwebs that appear as if by magic as soon as you leave I brought in the new furniture with my trusty sack-trucks. It all fitted as I had planned so another success.

Because it was winter some of the doors and shutters had swelled-up so the next day I set about easing them by planing the edges and repainting. It took some time but it was better in the end - it should be alright next year too. I had planned to second-coat all of the inside doors and fit some curtains I had brought over so I had plenty of things to do in the coming days.

A few days in I woke to find it had snowed again so I took the camera for a walk. It certainly looks different in the summer.


The back of the house	The front of the new house

My neighbour Rene and his father during the previous summer had been digging out a lake in the land behind me with just a tractor and allowing it to fill with natural springs. He intends to use it for fishing and picnics and even swimming for the brave. At this time it had been filling gradually and in the snow it looked etherial. I expected a French version of the lady in the lake to emerge at any time.

Rene's lake

I got most things done that I had planned in the time and the snow had thawed enough to go and fill-up with diesel so very early in the morning of the 29th I drained down the water and turned off the electrics and set off for St Malo and the journey home.

When I got back I cleaned out the van took some pictures of it and put it on EBAY for sale. I had enquiries from all over the place and eventually sold it for a lot more than I had paid for it the year before. I was a happy bunny. Four successful trips and I got my money back. What shall I get next?

The Next Trip

At the end of 2006 our old neighbours Anne and Keith asked if they could go to the house again. Keith helped me on the original refurb in 2001 and they both came over a couple of years later. They were interested to see how much more I had done and also wanted to visit some old friends of theirs from Spain who now live in the Vendee. I was due to go again so we booked up to go together in April. We went in my car so it would save the cost of taking two. We did the usual trip on the 17th and arrived mid-day on the 18th. We stocked up with wine and beer in the supermarche and oh we got some food too.

I wanted to go to La Rochelle to buy a new bath for the upstairs bathroom as Leroy Merlin - a bricolage like B & Q had a special offer on baths the size I wanted. We took a day out to go into La Rochelle for a walk round and lunch by the harbour and got the bath and a few more bricolagey things as well on the way back.

I fitted the bath the following day and when I eventually completed the plumbing I was the first to have a bath. Good it was too, with the window open I could see all across the rolling fields to the Chateau about a mile or so away. It was luxury.


Fitting the new bath	With the panel and tiles on and ready to go.

Another day we went to see their friends who now live north-west of La Roche sur Yon. On the way we stopped at Conforama to get a new stand for my TV. It was very hot that day.

When we got back I assembled the stand and proudly put the TV on it only for the TV to packup a couple of days later so it was off to Intermarche to buy another one of those.

Anne wanted something to do so she cleaned-up the fireplace in the new house while Keith volunteered to paint the front and back doors. Who was I to stop them!!


The fireplace in the new/old house	Anne giving it the once over

We had a good trip and a few good meals out and it was enjoyed by all.

September

I had a big birthday in July and it coincided with seeing a campervan that I fancied. I had been looking for one for some time to replace the van and one day there it was, for sale at a garage just around the corner. I got Jan there to come for a test drive with me and before we knew it it was ours. What a birthday present. I couldn't justify paying a lot of money but I knew what I wanted.

When I picked it up we went for a shakedown trip to see what it was like. Apart from a few things all seemed ok so we decided to take it to France in September!!

Trying out the camper

We loaded up the usual camping stuff and the dogs and set off on 3rd September for two and a half weeks. Porstmouth to Cherbourg this time, a shorter crossing so the dogs wouldn't be cooped up in the van for too long. When we got there we drove straight to Carteret for lunch and to let the dogs have a run on the beach. It was a lovely day so later we pressed on for the house. We didn't intend to do too much work as for the first time this was to be a holiday. We mainly worked in the garden, knocking down a bit more of the dividing wall between our two properties to open-up the garden. I also chopped the top off of the laylandii trees to give us a view. I cleared out the big barn and burnt the rubbish. The dogs loved the new walks and smells. One evening we went into Rene's chaise for a tasting of his new wine - the grapes were affected by mildew this year because of the weather but the rouge-nouveau tasted ok to me.

We went over to Wendy and Richards at Chinon for a couple of days to see the progress on their gite and we stayed at the campsite on the banks of the river. It was excellent.

We decided to leave for home a day early so we went to Mont St Michel and booked in to a site there. We climbed the mount the next morning with hundreds of others of all nationalities but not many dogs. It was a lovely day. We caught the evening Fast-Cat and were home about 10.45 pm tired but happy.

November

I didn't get much work done in September so I thought I had better go over again to finish what I had started. Took the Volvo again this time on November 11th. I was going to finish filling-in between the rafters above the new wall upstaires that separated the bedroom from the bathroom and include a borrowed-light over the door. I also planned to redecorate the downstairs bedroom and convert it into a sitting room with the TV and the bed-settee so that it could double as a bedroom as and when the need arised. This would leave the lounge/diner that after redecorating would now be large salle-a-manger.


Th finished partition with borrowed-lights.	The new salle-a-manger

I managed to get all of this done in the time and more so it will be a better and more comfortable place to come to next year.

Back to MENU