There's a hole in my forge!

Finally, work has started to convert the old forge into our living room. The big old doors have gone and are to be replaced with a window; whilst at the back of the property, there will be large patio doors to let in lots more light and give us access straight out onto the garden.

Minor Difficulties

After some deliberations, I had decided to give my Morris Minor 1000 a new home in France. I have owned the car since 1994 and it has been very reliable. The usual welding etc had been needed over the years to get it through the MOT in the UK, but otherwise no major problems. Last year I had fitted two replacement rear doors and a passenger door. The front offside wing had been primed, but looking like a patchwork quilt, it was now ready for a respray.

Considering our barn was empty and our neighbours ran the garage in the village(http://www.garagestmarien.com/), with a spraying shed on site, it appeared to be the ideal opportunity. I set off from home on Friday morning and all was well until I reached Barton Mills roundabout when steam appeared from under the bonnet. A quick look revealed the radiator had boiled dry. So after letting the engine cool down I was able to top it up with water and continue on my journey; picking up Jim on the way, who was to accompany me on the trip.

Because of the breakdown and the rain causing me to drive cautiously, we missed the scheduled ferry and had to get a later one. Consequently, the MotorRail with whom I had booked, also went without us and (because the MotorRail only runs once a week) we were faced with driving all the way down in a 1957 Morris Minor! We found somewhere to stay for the night and opened a bottle of wine.

The next day we filled up with fuel and set off on our way. We had decided to make a Road Trip of it and avoid the Autoroutes, remaining on the N and D roads all the way. We enjoyed the journey down from Calais to Dieppe, then on to Rouen to Dreux. Our average speed was around 50mph and we stopped frequently to check on the radiator and top up when necessary. We stayed the second night at Dreux then continued down through Orleans, Vierzons and Issodun. Lots of heads were turned as we trundled through the villages; people seemed entertained by the Trafficators and the throaty exhaust with that characteristic Morris Minor noise.

We arrived at the house a day later than scheduled, but found that all was well there. Having moved some bits and pieces to one side in the barn, the Minor settled down to it's new home in France.

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.

Tree felling and Furniture buying

Our neighbour had complained that one of our trees was overhanging his workshop roof and, in the recent gales, bits of the tree had started to fall down. Steven and Ken decided to become lumberjacks for the day and fell the tree. At it was overhanging the neighbours property, all hands were requried on deck as the tree was roped up and bits of it were cut off with a chainsaw.
Ever the opportunist, Ken seized the chance to pose for a few pictures in preparation for his forthcoming phone call to a "no-win-no-fee" claims company.

Unfortunately, he missed the point that one actually needs to be injured in the accident; and that crawling under the tree whilst posing for a photo doesn't actually count! No doubt we'll be hearing from his lawyers in due course.

"Bah. Humbug!"

Meanwhile, Simon completed the work on the tiling of the bathroom and some minor adjustments to the electrical system. Much more sensible inside tasks whilst the weather was approaching zero degrees outside.

On a recent "expedition" to a local brocante shop, we spied a rather nice dark wood dresser to go with our dining table and chairs. This was purchased at a very reasonable price and delivered straight away. It goes really well in the dining room with the other furniture. We also managed to bag two single beds for the second bedroom into the bargain!

Christmas 2008

It's Christmas day and look who appears to have been warming his toes on our new wood-burner!

And he managed to get all those toys down the chimney too!

Thanks also goes to Rudolph and his chums for all their help in pulling the sleigh from Lapland to Creuse last night. We didn't see that one coming!

Our Chrismas Eve dinner was a enjoyed by all last night. We made use of the dining table we bought at the Brocante in the summer and also came across a set of 6 great dining chairs to go with it in a local Troc store. We were joined by Ken and Jeanette (Barbie). Now we have a gas hob as well as our electric oven in the kitchen it was easy to cook the meal.

The Circus Comes to Town!

It's October half-term in the UK, so Steven and our friend (John) headed down to France for a further week's work on the house.

As winter was fast approaching, one of the key targets was to get some form of heating into the house. A small wood-burner was purchased and was to be fitted in the fire-place we uncovered in the summer .

Another project for the week was to put up the stud-work, fit loft insulation and begin the process of converting the attic room into a third bedroom with ensuite bathroom.

Luckily, John's friends, Keith and Chrissie were returning from Spain and (foolishly) decided to pop in for a visit, they were rapidly enlisted to help with some of the labour, including fitting the flue for the wood burner and also with lifting the sheets of plasterboard up two flights of stairs read to start on the conversion of the attic.

Then, Steven got the hump...

Oh, sorry, silly mistake, the Circus came to town. So a fun time was had by all watching the entertainment.

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: