June Trip - Floorboards, Barn doors and 20 years of marriage!

The weeks have flown by and the  time for Phil to make the next trip back to France has arrived. After a frantic search for a "special kind of" wing mirror for his van that resulted in a last minute trip to Glasgow (he had only known he needed if for 6 weeks) we finally got the van loaded.  There was just a space left for a collection he needed to make on route but other than that  not a gap of spare space to be found inside the van! We managed finally to close the doors shut about 9pm and hoped that all would survive the 880 mile trip to the Limousin.

Phil, due to depart at 7.30am my time,  finally manages to leave at 11am his time - with a short divert to collect a garden table and chairs from Newcastle ( I've just discovered the delights of ebaying!) he made it to Dover by the skin of his pants just  as they were starting to load the Ferry!  For those of you who know Phil well this will come as no surprise to you that he got there last minute and that  he  rang me, rather smugley, to sing "White Cliffs of Dover" over the telephone delighting in the fact that I told him he would never make it on time!!

Phil was extremely lucky on this trip that his friend Alastair was joining him for a few days and although I had a list left of things that needed doing it goes without saying that it was all the "Man" jobs that got done along with a day trip to Futurescope at Poitiers via Chateauroux ( another example of Phil's "It's on the way there"!)  However that said they well and truly did get stuck in!!

Phil, not being able to abide squeaky floor boards, decided that the whole floor needed ripping up in the back bedroom I didn't take too well to this news and once I had recovered from my tantrum ( This was not on my list of things that needed doing!) and an over exagerated explosion of PMT which had nothing to do with the fact that I had had a bad day at work, It was pouring with rain and my husband was having a 3 week jolly to France!!  All that said  I have to say it  turned out to be an excellent job - thanks Alastair!  They both worked extremely hard as you will see from this photo!!

Alastair with the floor ripped up!



The room with the new floor down!





The new bedroom!

They also managed to set about the Barn door that had been lying on the barn floor and not hung like it should be! With ropes slung over beams and vans pulling on the ropes and help from various neighbours the barn door was finally lifted into place on its new hinges!  Another area starting to be tided up!



I flew out to Limoges on the 22nd of June, for Phil's last week, to spend our 20th wedding anniversary together.  Alastair had left the week before and Phil had been confined to barracks for 5 days painting solid to get the bedrooms ready for my inspection!  He had done a fantastic job with all bedrooms painted and just the hall ,stairs and landing to be completed which will be on his July trip. 



With the downstairs room newly painted I set about organising  the room which was originally a dining room. This is a lovely room with a door direct to the garden and is very spacious and airy.  When we move over to run the B&B this will be our room and we will rent out the 3 bedrooms upstairs but in the meantime Jack and his friend Sean will be staying there this summer.  I am not sure however that cream is a good colour scheme for two 15year old boys, I wonder how long that will last?





The room transformed into a twin bedroom.





On this trip Phil also managed to install the washing machine which will come in very handy for his 6 week trip from mid July until the end of Aug.  He also managed to fix the 20ft barn door and with some help of the tractor mower, rope, Alastair and our neighbour they  managed to get it hung back up!

The house is really starting to take shape now and with some more finishing touches in the Summer I am hoping we will almost be at a standard to be able to rent it out late Autumn and next summer.  Before we can do this however the new septic tank needs to be installed but paperwork for this is going through as we speak and work is due to start late August!

I am really looking forward to getting out there on 29th July to have a relaxing 2 week holiday - I am sure we will still do some bits and peices but the garden seats and the new garden swing will be beckoning along with the chilled rose.... can't wait!