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Greetings from a frosty corner of France

Happy New Year/Bonne Année to you all

I am off to a slow start this year, but a start nonetheless!

This blog rather took a back seat last year for various reasons, which is a shame as I enjoy writing it and sharing our adventure with you. It has been quite an adventure so far, with many twists and turns along the way. It has definitely not gone according to plan at all. The country B&B is no longer a thing as we have my Mother and son living with us. The rural location, whilst wonderful, is also proving an issue with two non-drivers and no public transport. We have had to have a good look at life, our plans and how we make things work for everyone. We have been a little stretched so quite a few things have not progressed very far – including the renovation work! We managed a number of bits of jobs in between work and chauffeuring people places. The best laid plans…

So now 2025. Big plans are afoot, not least in the house. Rooms are finally beginning to take shape. Our focus this month is on finishing the kitchen, a room that has been underway for quite some time. In the summer we had to remove some damp plaster from the corner that sits below ground level and had a massive dresser in front of it for years, which won’t have helped. The kitchen end of the house is the oldest part – all too evident by the curving walls and the fact that it has the deepest walls of the whole house. There isn’t a flat wall in sight, a challenge when putting up shelves but as the kitchen is pretty much bespoke and made by us we are finding ways around this. The cooking end is almost done; we have lighting to add above the sink and work surfaces, the French doors to paint and some final touches to make. The eating end is a work in progress. The kitchen measures approximately 9m by 4.5m (roughly 30ft by 15ft) so pretty big. The ceiling height is about 3m (nearly 10ft). Every wall takes forever to paint and there are windows, doors, fireplaces and of course cracks to fill in, loose plaster or peeling paint to deal with. Slowly, centimetre by centimetre we are getting there. The island went in 4 years ago and gradually we have shifted furniture around, installed a wonderful cooker and found the right layout (for us) for this room that is the heart of the house. It isn’t actually at the heart of the house but it is the focus of daily life, plus it has the biggest woodburner so in the winter is a magnet for humans and animals alike!

Other rooms have had makeovers, some are finished, some are on their way, some remain untouched as of yet. 2025 is our year of trying to bring the house together, finally tackling those last boxes (yes we still have some unopened boxes from our move, and my Mother’s, and no we are not throwing them away intact even though some would say we obviously don’t need what is in the boxes!). In 2024 the salon benefitted from a reorganisation and two new sofas. The third sofa still needs to be recovered and new cushion covers made, as well as a couple of other jobs. The séjour as was, now the dining room, is scheduled for painting in February. We will also be reorganising the furniture in this room – definitely too much at the moment.

Forward we go, as anyone renovating a place knows, it is the only way to go. If you stop and think about the enormity of the job you have taken on, it might just floor you! I have said this before and perhaps need to practice what I preach, but it is best to focus on the task in hand. It is so easy to get distracted and we do regularly. Whether it is an emergency repair, a new idea or a new brocante purchase that needs a home, there are many things to derail even the best laid plans.

Over the coming weeks, we will be revisiting the house and the progress we have made. The history of this place continues to fascinate me, although I have very little time to find out any more detail at the moment. I often sit and wonder about how rooms were used in times gone by, how the house evolved, what secrets are yet to be discovered. We are merely custodians of this old house. It has seen many a person come and go and given its structure should see many more. The stories it could tell…. A couple of years ago our chimney sweep cleaned the salon fireplace as we were hoping to install a woodburner in there. He mentioned that behind the rather pretty marble fire surround that we have is a much larger fireplace. The temptation to knock through is huge. However the current mantelpiece is lovely and probably wouldn’t survive intact and who knows what might happen if we tried. Perhaps some things are best left as a nod to history, a treasure for someone else to uncover. It is very tempting though, but having cleaned up the marble and scraped off paint and plaster on the sides, maybe a temptation to resist!

The early part of this year will also see the introduction of a new feature on Fridays and the launch of a new venture. Watch this space – who knows what might happen.

Enjoy the week. The very cold weather continues, the view white and wintry each morning. Getting out of bed is a struggle, even the cats are getting under the covers! Coffee, chocolatines, tea and cake are all vital ingredients on these chilly days.

A bientôt

Ali xx

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