PerigordVacance

Update

Whilst we wait for M Fabre I have continued to make good progress with the old barn and it is close to being transformed into my woodworking shop.

The second section of floor has now been concreted and the walls have been constructed using sawn timber (the French don't have 4"2" but 60mm x 80mm) and Poplar.

The poplar is like waste product that comes in varied widths so it suits the frame of the old barn because nothing is plumb or straight. It would have been too expensive to re build so we have settled for a cheaper yet robust option.

The machinery is installed and tomorrow I hope to complete the walls.

One year on

The 17th September saw the one year mark pass from leaving Wimble Cottage and I can honestly say none of us miss the house. That is kind of sad but we had 14 very good years there and both the children knew no other home and we had moved on mentally before we had left.

Tooled up

Now that the concrete base (or at least half of it) is in place I can set up the work shop. This means the heavy equipment has to be sited before I can build the walls, mainly because of the weight of the machines and the difficult access. The telescopic made the job easier.

Oh how I have missed that machine!

Tomatoes

We have had a real glut of tomatoes so yesterday Donna set about turning those we haven't eaten with salad into puree and freezing them down.

We have not been able to water too much due to a hosepipe ban (although Anita assured us we are able to legally water vegetables) so I have this theory that the tomatoes are actually richer in flavour than shop bought commercially grown Tommie's that are just water content.

Moving the workshop

I thought this week would bring a little rest after the slog of building the Pigeoniare but alas I was wrong. Having had thursday afternoon off to recover and enjoy the warm earther I decided that I could not sit around on Friday and got started on transforming one of the barns into my woodworking shop.

Mat and I concreted part of the floor.

Telescopic

I shouldn't grumble really but ironically the day I completed the construction work on the house the  mechanics turned up and completed the work on the telescopic!

I know it will still be of use but I could really have done with it last week!

Weather

The weather continues to excel here with the temperature currently at about 34 degrees C. Clear blue skies from the off this morning. The weather has sure helped to maintain good progress on the house.

Its that time again

The Walnuts are starting to drop from the trees so I will have to start collecting. There are only 3 trees on our land to not such a workload this year.

We also have  27 water Melons to harvest although I am now worried that they will not ripen before the season is out. I am not that excited either way about eating them but I don't want our efforts to go to waste.

Genoise update

M Fabre has aksed me not to put the Genoise on the Pigeonnaire so that he has space to work and he can construct the roof easily. But happily I have now completed the remaining low level work.

We are undecided about pointing the joints which will change the features and bring everything up flush with the stones and also making the walls seem brighter. We quite like the 'rugged' effect that the course deep joints create.

Tornado

Interestingly I posted about a possible tornado last week that came through our land. Well I remember when my Dad, Billy William Ernest Voice did some research on our family history and came across one of our ancestors who was killed in Guildford after a tornado.

Taken from the Surrey Advertiser http://www.surreyad.co.uk/news/yesteryear/?article15730

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GUILDFORD’s very own twister swept through the town 99 years ago this week leaving two people dead in its wake.

Looking at the storm damage to the Town Bridge.