Ice on the pool!

Now back in France after being in the UK for a spell and enjoying stunningly good winter weather. However, we did have a couple of weeks earlier when it was bitterly cold - minus 10C at night. Jane was back from the UK for a long weekend and the temperature never rose above 0C. It's been the talk of the village as it's unusual for it to be quite that cold, and for so long - cold spells only last two or three days at most. with the freezing temperatures the water on top of the tarpaulins, currently covering the pool, froze solid. All very confusing for the birds wanting to come and have a bath.

Thankfully we are now back to 'normal' winter weather; sunny, warm days and cool nights. We went to the beach for lunch last Friday and it was 24C, very pleasant indeed.  We can cope with this for winter weather...

Scaffolding - French style

The pictures probably say all there is to say about health and safety in France ... it doesn't exist.

Rotted wooden planks above the main lounge have been removed and replaced, some missing tiles on the roof replaced and soon the exterior wall will be rendered. It's best not to look when the workmen are up there!

A bit of a winter walk …

While back in the UK, Jane joined friends early in the New Year for a bracing 10 mile walk in East Sussex. It was a gorgeous winters day, cold but sunny and the route took us past Bodiam Castle. It’s a perfect medieval moated castle and looks as though it's straight out of a storybook. It was built in 1385 as a defence against a French invasion during the Hundred Years War – although it’s not actually on the coast, so am not sure how effective a deterrent it would have been! Never mind, it looks wonderful and it’s lovely to walk around a ‘proper’ castle. The walk took in a good pub lunch at Hurst Green and then back to Robertsbridge and a final sprint for the train. A great day out. 

Piscine progress

Here's what the pool looks like now. We'll have it covered over winter and in spring it will need emptying and the painting of the bottom finished. We love it!

Gite progress - Dec 2011

Here's what the gite looks like now. Just about finished inside and next week work starts on the exterior.

Christmas 2011

This was our first 'proper' Christmas in the house. Last year we arrived just before Xmas due to snow delaying transport from the UK. Everything was still in packing boxes, we slept on a mattress on the lounge floor and spent Christmas Day 2010 painting our bedroom. 

This year we have a fully furnished house and were able to have a lovely relaxed day. We have a tree and decorations throughout the house, plus we unexpectedly have three cats; Wellington and Henry finding the tree a great source of entertainment. The higher the bauble the better. The weather, so far, over the festive season has been great - cold frosty nights, with warm sunny days. Perfect for cosy fires in the evening and great bike rides during the day. It's been windless and up to 20C most days so great for getting out on the roads around us.

 

Le dependence, aka le gîte

Besides the pool, the other major project this year has been the demolition of the existing ‘dependence’ and rebuilding it into a two-bedroom gîte. It’s situated on the ground floor at the far end of the cave and originally was where the grape-pickers stayed. It had a bathroom, kitchen/lounge area and two rooms for sleeping but had been unused for many years and was completely derelict.

Given its dire state the best option was to demolish everything (basically just walls, ceiling and floor left) and start again. Cue much banging, dust, noise and rubble. The upside was, we gained a lot of firewood for the winter from the floorboards and foundations. An original fireplace had to go as it just took up too much room in the middle of what will become a useful wall space. The basic layout has remained the same but we’ve stolen a few inches from the bedrooms to create a bigger living and kitchen area. Work is almost complete but here are some photos of the original state.