Summer 2010

During the summer break, we took the opportunity to finish some of the remaining work inside the house. This included completing the en-suite bathroom, furnishing the new third bedroom, installing ballustrade (which helps to avoid one falling down the stairs in the dark!), replacing the final window in the hallway and putting up curtains.

Towards the end of our stay, we were aided and abetted by Tina, Mark and Hannah!

Summer Escapades

With the new frontage on the forge, and the new windows installed in the two first floor bedrooms, the house was beginning to take shape. It took us some time to install the windows and at the same time we completed the decoration of the two bedrooms, making them all together more homely.







We also spent time tiling and decorating the hallway, which also helped to improve the inside of the building, making it lighter and brighter.














With the landing painted white and the glosswork finished on the woodwork (thanks to mum and dad for that!) the first floor was complete!


The garden (aka the Jungle), however, is a different story!

Despite lots of effort to try to tame the garden, it continues to grow at a rapid rate.

Horror! We discovered we have an invasion of Japanese Knot Weed, which will need to be virtually nuked out of the garden to get rid of it. According to our reading on the web, we need to inject the plant using a hyperdermic syringe with systemic weedkiller at regular intervals for at least three years!

And the garden furniture still leads a little to the imagination - however, it is sufficient to enjoy a barbecue and a bottle or two of the local wine. At least the builders have completed the installation of the french doors in the forge; we however await the installation of the back door to the forge in the Autumn as this has to be bespoke manufactured.

Easter fun

Easter was spent sanding the bedroom floors and finishing one of the bedrooms. At least we have a decent place to sleep now!















We did some finishing off in the kitchen and managed to get the final wall unit hung.

When we were sorting out the hayloft above the barn we unearthed an ancient wooden lathe!











We spent some time clearing out the forge of the old ironmongery and got some help to remove some of the larger pieces of metalwork.

Finally, we also got the blinds up in the dining room and cleaned all the windows.

Mid October Developments

Simon, Janet and Jo headed back to France for a few days to practice their decorating skills. We managed to put some of the finishing touches to the kitchen and finally install the gas cooker, gave a lick of paint to the stairway and decorated one of the bedrooms. 10 litres of paint and 5 litres of wine later, and the bedroom was finished!!







Here is a picture of the local village transport and a view of the village in the autumn: