Kitchen progress

The placo ceiling and one new insulated wall are now up and today the plastering was done. All the electrics and plumbing are in - just waiting on the kitchen furniture to arrive at the end of February.

The Wall

Almost finished. We just need to put on a protective sealant and we are done. The old oven space will be used as a shelf for cookbooks.

More destruction

Another shute has been demolished in the 'old' kitchen. It's now created a much more usable space and will, in time, be a lovely bedroom! Just a small matter of how to get the old marble sink out. It is extremely large and very heavy. It would be ideal for using in the garden - if we can get it out in one, or even two, pieces. However, the likelihood of getting it out without having to smash it to pieces is remote.

Kitchen work

Work has started in what will be the new kitchen, plus some demolition in what was the original kitchen in the house.

Framing for new plasterboard on one wall and the ceiling is now up. These will be insulated, boarded then plastered. They should be done by the beginning of next week. It will take 10 weeks for the kitchen 'furniture' to arrive so the plan is have everything done; painting, tiling etc by the time that arrives.

At the far end of the house was the original kitchen with the remains of a cooking range. That has now been demolished, as has the shute to the right in the photo below. The shute was used for moving hay from the grenier (attic) to the manger on the cave (garage). Opening up the shute meant we had an easy way to get rid of all the rubble into the cave. This room will be an en-suite guest room … eventually.

Winter in the south of France

It's tough - sunshine and blue sky every day. Since mid-December we've had no rain - which means having to water the garden - with ideal winter weather; chilly but sunny. Perfect for getting out on the bikes. Yesterday we went on the mountain bikes for a off-road jaunt through the vineyards. Pruning of the grape vines is in full flow at the moment, at least the vignerons are having good weather for a hard job.

End of 2014 overnight trip

A quick trip up to Millau - home of the amazing viaduct and where beautiful leather gloves are made.  First stop Couvertoirade, on the Grand Causses. It's a beautiful fortified village, run by the Knights Templars from the 12th century. Today it is the home of many crafts people, artists and cafe's. 

Onto Millau, for a late lunch and a stroll round the glove factories/stores. Amazing selection of beautiful gloves - some are made for the Paris fashion houses; Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton etc. However, the ones we bought were a cheaper style - but still lovely!

The 'other ' major attraction at Millau is the viaduct which is hard to miss. A fantastic structure; functional as well as a thing of beauty.

On the return journey we took a longer route via Roquefort to look at the cheese caves - and buy some of the renowned cheese. Then up into the Haut-Languedoc where there was snow at the top - the temperature never rose above 2C all day. A lovely drive, on a cold but sunny day. A nice way to end the year with some time out in our 'backyard'. 2015 we'll be back into renovating ...

Kitchen Wall

Work on making our new kitchen has started. We've already had the wood burner put into the main lounge and decided to expose the stone wall which was behind the fire. Have taken off the plaster covering it - resulting in a LOT of rubble and dust. We took buckets of rubble out the window and bagged it up in the garden, which saved some of the dust from getting in the rest of the house, although despite our best efforts there's still a lot of dust around. We also discovered the back of an old oven in the wall and are still deciding exactly how we are going to use this feature.

Next we had to remove the old grout around the stones which is very fine and also very dusty! So far we think we've taken around 20 bags of rubble and grit to the tip. Now we've started on the repointing.  Another new skill! It's going well and we're pleased with the result. It will be a great feature in the kitchen - eventually.

The first stage of removing the plaster - and discovering the old oven.

Half-way through the repointing: