Distant thunder and bells

9 August 2016

We've been here for 10 days and it feels like weeks. 'Normal life' - whatever that means - has receded and it's hard to recall the details. Assuming you care to try.

It felt as if I was in shock the first couple of days, and not only because of jet lag. There was so much to take in, so many changes to absorb and examine. I felt buffeted by the delights of the barn and dépendance, and once again found myself stunned by the setting. The views and the peace continue to thrill me and a year between visits is just simply too long. The quiet cooing of doves, the drone of bees in the lavender, church bells and the roll of distant thunder. These are a few of my favourite things.

Location shot

The covered porch is fantastic. I'd been concerned that the addition might spoil the barn, cut down the light inside, look as if it had been tacked on...and wondered if the benefits of shade and shelter would be more than hypothetical. I shouldn't have worried: the porch looks as if it's been there forever, the size of the oak beams and the generous proportions say 'agricultural', rather than 'domestic', and the seasoned timbers marry well with the barn structure and dépendance.  The height of the roof is such that there is no loss of light inside, and the porch adds a very definite extra dimension, both visually and functionally: it's an extra room.

The porch frames the view

View from the kitchen window

Already enjoying the shade...

The rain chains need tweaking - the chain needs to drop vertically from the gutter. With this arrangement, some of the water simply misses the chain altogether!

Supersized beams 

Two old cast iron pots filled with sundry iron findings seem to be the obvious choice for the rain chain catchment, don't you agree? The chains are already losing their shiny patina.

The growth in the meadow below the barn is rampant

As I said, agricultural, not domestic... 

The growth of the meadows was a surprise - the grass was waist high! - and I felt that the area had to be more clearly defined as it was encroaching too closely on the trees, interfering with a) hanging the washing and b) lurking in the hammock. I didn't want to have to rely on John the gardener, so, during our first few days we managed to buy a second-hand blade tronsonneuse, which will help us keep control. I've already had a go at it and it's not as easy as I'd imagined. The blade keeps getting jammed with grass and the cutting-through-butter-with-a-hot-knife experience I'd envisaged was more like sweep-back-and-forth-again-and-again-stopping-frequently-to-clear-the-blade-while-making-little-progress. Photos to follow...

First project was to organise a cupboard for the shower room. The idea was to store the towels there, take the pressure off the storage upstairs, and clear the cleaning agents and mess from the recess behind the toilet. G put together a couple of high kitchen cupboards and we fixed some old handles that have been waiting for their moment. Funny how excited one can be to have a noo cupboard!

 

Wonder how long it'll stay so neat and tidy :)

Recess behind the downstairs toilet - with original tins found in the barn and meadow flowers

Next up - the kitchen project! Once G had put up the hotte above the fond de hotte, I began tiling the splash back...for which we chose a simple row of 10 x 20 cm matte white tiles. The little black things in the photos are spacers (croisillons).

Green tea is never far away

A double row for the sink splash back

Tilers' assistants don't come any more obliging

The first top cupboard!

Measure twice, cut once

Getting there...

 We collected friend M at Brive station and gave him barely enough time to shrug off the dust of a year in Spain before we put him to work. (Amazing that he came back, after the hard graft of last summer - you may recall that he and G moved a large pile of heavy rocks from A to B, pruned the fig tree, and M cleaned our windows while G gazed into the middle distance and sipped tea.)

Miserable craic

General bonhomie

Barn owner in customary supervisory rôle

Just look at that kitchen! Also, note the tiles with vertical slate 'features', ahem.

While the guys were busy on the kitchen, I spent some time weeding around the perimeter plants and removing the tall dock seed heads that were in worrisome abundance in the big meadow below the stone terrace. J-M says they will take over everything if we leave them alone. It was hot and tiring but satisfying work.

The heat yesterday reached a peak around 5pm, so we slid gratefully into the cool water of the pool, and spent some time lounging there, with beers and nibbles. And goosebumps. 

It's on a slope, hence the bulging oval shape. And the pool is distorted too :)

Daiquiris, anyone? 

France - it has everything for the discerning traveller

Fiji? You can keep it.