The final push......

We returned from our short break in France last Wednesday and before we knew it we were back into work at breakneck speed with barely a minute to reflect on the transition from relaxing rural France to frenetic, congested England. So I'll try and do it here.....

We managed a day in Brantome whilst in France, where I got a chance to experiment with my new camera. . We also managed a few drives through the beautiful countryside, taking in magnificent sites like Chateau Montbrun. Here are a couple of snaps I managed. Not brilliant but I'm still getting used to my camera...

We were determined to just relax and spend some time thinking about the details for the completion of the Gite as we enter the final stages of its renovation. A visit to Castorama in Limoges (owned by B&Q) gave us the inspiration for choosing the details. Wall tiles, floor tiles, patio tiles were all chosen and carefully photographed to send back to Fred and Pat who are departing for France next week with a trailer full of bathroom furniture.

We didn't argue much over the details, we have relatively similar tastes and neither of us much design flair but I think we have chosen well with the main criteria being durability and light colours to counteract the lack of natural light.

We caught up with our friends Roz & Neil, and their new pigs who were very cute and extremely edible looking.

We also had a lovely evening at our friends Matt & Helens with their two adorable boys Etienne and Louis where we put the world to rights and consumed more alcohol than is sensible for one night. They also bought me a fantastic Manchester City T-shirt for my 40th which must have stuck in their throats given their support of the 'other team'. I include a photo of Helen and the boys here purely due to her dislike of having her photo taken.

All too soon it was time to return armed with lots of ideas and thoughts as to completing our 3 year project.

On Saturday, Pat and Fred travelled down from Hartlepool to spend the day planning the bathroom fixtures and reviewing the ever increasing list of jobs that Fred will undertake for us during their 5 week stay. They are a really calming influence, dampening my tendency to get stressed and over-excited by it all and making pragmatic, down to earth suggestions. Just what I need as I hurtle around with work and find myself with little time to think and plan properly.

After they left, Mel and I impeccably observed our self-imposed abstinence from Alcohol following our consumption of half of Frances wine reserves. I say impeccably observed, it actually lasted for about 30 minutes before we cracked open a bottle of 12 year old single malt that I'd been given for my birthday and drained half of it. The accompanying bottle of champagne and three beers were probably a mistake but if your going to break a fast then I firmly believe you should do it properly.

As a natural consequence, Sunday was a write off with none of my pre-planned jobs ever getting beyond the advanced planning stage.

Another big week in work beckons but safe in the knowledge that our final push to finish our barn renovation is well underway and in safe hands (i.e not ours!).

The rennovation game

It's nearly three years since we bought our lovely place in Chalus in the Limousin region of France. Mel and I were married that year and I remember the excitement at our rennovation project and thinking we would have it completed within 9 months and that we would be renting out the barn conversion as a holiday home in 2008.

In that three years we have seen a global recession, the collapse of the pound versus the euro, the decline in the UK property market and a whole host of other issues which impacted those original timescales. Consequently, after an initial burst of activity (and expense) we stopped all work on the rennovation during 2008 and awaited calmer financial weather.

Thanks to some improvement in the economic climate, the sale of our house in Didsbury last year and an improvement in the value of Sterling we started again earlier this year. Mel's parents have encouraged us to push on with our project and a couple of weeks ago the major work on the outside of the property started in earnest.

I have attached two photographs, as you would expect before and after:-

It may not look like it but we are about 80% of the way there now and are confident we will be renting out the property on the left of the picture in 2011. There is still much to do of course and Marcus, Neil and the team have done a cracking job of demolishing and clearing the old house and the wall that previously divided the two properties. It's a shame they had to go but they were in a terrible state and we are now able to treat the suddenly huge garden as a blank canvas. The next job is to build a new dividing wall that will give our guests privacy when we are there and a pool will be installed in the coming months. Progress continues apace inside too and final fixes to the plumbing and electricity will be done in the next few weeks and we will be fitting it out and furnishing it before the year is out.

The holiday cottage will be a four bedroomed property (all ensuite) with a huge lounge and kitchen opening onto a large patio which will house the pool. We will be fitting it out to the highest standards even though that will deplete our remaining funds significantly, it will be worth it in the end. 

We go out there for two weeks at the beginning of July, which we are both ready for as we are working hard to earn the money to complete the project. When we return, Mel will start her training to become an Aesthetic Practitioner which allow her to administer Botox and fillers which will help to bolster our earnings and possibly provide us with an additional income for when we eventually make the move to France full-time in a few years time. It will also mean, she will probably practice on me so expect me to post pictures of myself looking permanently surprised.

Here are another few photo's of Gouhaut.