Blog posts

The big chill continues

Hello everyone

How was your week? Mine was cold! Just for a change. However the weather is lovely – freezing but sunny most days. The deep chill continues. Today it was still -2°C at lunchtime. The views are stunning, the air crisp and cold, energising but making you catch your breath too. Even our water is colder than usual, which makes sense really but bracing for my morning splash of cold water on my face! The sun breaks through early mist each morning, the lake freezes overnight, the surrounding countryside is painted white each day by the hard night-time frosts. The garden is like concrete, so no potager digging for now. The plants look so cold, all frosted and forlorn. When the sun catches the leaves on the ground, the moss on the walls the effect is dazzling – as I have said before it is as though the landscape is sprinkled with glitter. Talking of leaves, lots still to clear – a job for the weekend.

The downside of this long cold patch is the house is really cold to its core. We are trying so hard not to have a huge electricity bill but have to relent when feet become numb and then switch on one of the electricity guzzling plug in heaters! The woodburner in the kitchen is working hard and keeping us warm, the smaller one in the séjour is struggling a bit as it is really not an adequate size for the room. Something to note for the salon – we will definitely have to open up the fireplace a bit to accommodate a larger woodburner. The logs I mentioned last week came at just the right time, all stacked now by the house – the perfect job for keeping warm!

The heated towel rails are playing their part beautifully – warm dry towels, a forgotten luxury all the more appreciated after 2 and a bit winters without! Our rescue menagerie of one 46kg mountain dog and 4 French born kitties are finding the pull of fireside chairs or cosy blankets more than they can resist – coming in early to get the best spot!

One of the wonderful things around here and generally in France is the abundance of trees. In winter, denuded of leaves, they take on a majestic splendour. The bare branches spread out against wintry skies, allowing you to see their true size and reach. Trees are really amazing, working so hard for the environment, home to so many creatures, providing shade on sunny days, rooted to the earth like sentries. Many in our garden and the surrounding woods are so old. We are really lucky to have an avenue of plane trees down our drive – something I love in France as you drive along many roads. These are said to have been planted in Napoléon’s time to provide marching soldiers with some shade from the sun. Ours may date back to the 1800s – who knows, particularly as the owner post the Revolution was a former officer with Napoléon (we think this is possibly how he came to own the house – maybe gifted to him by Napoléon – more research needed here). The trees are vast, stretching out and over the driveway, reaching towards each other as if to say hello, I am here, leading the way to our home. I resist using the word awesome, but it does sum these trees up quite succinctly!

I have mainly spent this week working, trying to catch up on paid consultancy work, administration and blog plans. Over the latter part of last year I fell behind with everything as our focus was constantly being pulled elsewhere. It feels great to be heading in the right direction now. I still have loads to do but some of the ‘to do list’ has been ticked off this month.

I have also been working out what I would like to incorporate into my life this year. One of these things is to make more time for creative things, but also finally improve my very rudimentary piano playing and use the camera my son gave me more. I have a habit of taking all my photos on my phone, I think many of us do as it is there. This generally works well until you see some deer in the distance or an amazing buzzard and the zoom function just isn’t powerful enough.

I also love jigsaws so would like to find some time and a place to set out a jigsaw to dip into in passing or when time allows. The other thing is to get my ballet exercises (and maybe some yoga or Pilates) back into my daily routine. I am using the rather pathetic excuse that it is too cold currently, but I am trying to master hula hooping to keep warm! I have managed January as Vegetanuary – not quite Veganuary but a start. Maybe less wine and cheesy biscuits for February …. I have become slightly unable to resist a packet of Michel et Augustin cheesy nibbles – they come in various cheese flavours and are very yummy. Probably not great for the arteries but…irresistible. It is also an interesting company and great packaging, although not recyclable (another aim for 2022 to cut down on packaging even more).

Max and I have been chatting about plans since ‘slurrygate’ (see post ‘C’est la vie to find out more)! Our petit château is not a small house and we bought it with plans to open it up to other people as a B&B. We planned which rooms to do what with, but now feel we need to rethink a little, both the layout and what we will do. We have decided to make what was known as the Master suite, with its lovely bathroom, our space instead of the second floor. The bedroom has a lovely, if currently rickety, balcony. Not quite as amazing as the second floor terrace, but fine for now. Our old office, currently my son’s study, which leads from the landing to our bedroom will return to being our office space (once my son has finished his degree if he stays here for that). We will then use half the adjoining room as a walk in wardrobe, turning the remaining half into the ensuite bathroom for the so-called Nun’s room as originally planned. The configuration of the first floor is curious as every room flows into another (see first floor plan below). I wonder how that used to work, although we do know that at least part of the inner room was a waiting area for the lawyer’s office (now Master bedroom) in the mid-1800s. Got all that?

This weekend we are installing a temporary radiator into the room my son is using to study as he is really cold and suffering quite badly from chilblains on his hands. Not conducive to studying at all. We are then tackling the rest of the kitchen, to finish it finally, so watch this space as we try to empty parts of the kitchen whilst also living in it! We have a massive dresser in the kitchen, 2.5metres high (over 8ft), bought from the previous owner, which is moving to the séjour but needs painting, so we are working out where to put that to paint it, avoiding little cat paws if possible! Each step requires a different step to be completed first and there are aspects of the kitchen that we can’t finish for now, such as a new cooker – one day! Aside from anything the gas cooker that came with the house is still working, so for now we will keep on using it. It is handy having gas during the relatively frequent power cuts here. We had to rethink that too as we were going for an induction range cooker, not practical when the power goes down. There are quite a few plans we have had to adjust as we learn the ways of this house and the environment we live in.

I have also been planning this blog and from February will return to weekly posts about our life here in rural France, more history of the house, the ups and downs of our five rescue animals and more, published on Thursday evenings, in time for some weekend reading hopefully. The Seasonal Food posts will continue on the first Monday of each month, although I may share recipes in between. The Places to Visit blog will resume on the 3rd Wednesday of each month – we have a new list of places to visit! Added to this I will be sharing renovation project stories – rooms and furniture, gardening progress and interesting discoveries.

I would, as ever, love to hear your views. It is so gratifying when someone posts a comment, always lovely to know that there are people out there who are enjoying our journey here. I am also really interested in what you want to hear about. I type away, sharing all sorts of things, the good and bad. It is far from a rose tinted view of life here. Whilst we are so lucky to have been able to move to France, it is not always straightforward nor easy. Add in a pandemic and it can feel quite isolated at times. However when you pop out for a walk and see the wide open spaces, or look up at the night sky to be wrapped in rich twinkling velvet, we know we love it here. That is without mentioning the amazing food, fab wines, delicious patisserie, fresh air and space, plus for me the chance to speak French all the time – well some of the time! This is where I feel I belong, the emphasis on quality of life is good, I am at home (well I am at home but you know what I mean).

We hope to be welcoming visitors this year, pandemic willing but who knows what will come next!

I look forward to hearing from you and to sharing more of our laughs and mishaps as we attempt to tidy up the house and navigate life in la France profonde!

A bientôt and stay safe

Ali xx

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *