Summer Holidays!

On the countdown now only 9 more sleeps till we ride cattle class with Ryan air to Limoges and I have never wished for some sunshine as much as I am right now!

It has been exciting working on marketing the house for rental over  the past year and I have been delighted with the response I have had from the Owners Direct  website. At times it has been like a full time job organising it all at least that is what I tell Phil in the hope I can give up work! Our very god friends Andrew & Jukie have just spent the last 2 weeks out there and I am really looking forward to hearing all about their trip next week.

I am also delighted that this evening we just filled our last remaining week for the summer with bookings now up to 1st September and also a further one in October which for the first year I am delighted with.  However not sure how it's going to feel going into the house after other people have stayed there, but will find out soon enough.

Mum and Dad are joining us for our first week and rumour they may put my rockery in that I had planned for the garden.  Phil has ordered 2 tonne of sand to be delivered to finish the edging off on the patio and to rebuild a new wall around the fountain. There is a little list of jobs to do but we also plan on enjoying some holiday time together.

So watch this space in 3 weeks time when I am back with updated news and photographs on life in La Souterraine. x

Why would you want to be anywhere else?

This saying became the "Theme Phrase" for this recent trip to France!  If Lorraine said it once she said it a hundred times which I think means that she loved the place almost as much as me... well OK nobody probably loves it as much as me but it was pretty close!  Pretending to loose her passport at the airport on departure proved that, Lorraine you have to go home!

Have to say it was not a particularly good start to this trip as once again an extremely bumpy ride into Limoges airport! This time the rain was coming down in stair rods and the aeroplane hit the runway with some bump and almost for a split second or two appeared to go sideways, took a deep breath in and my knuckles went white as it ground to a halt at the end of the runway.  There was a round of applause from the obviously nervous passengers accompanied by the ritual of the Ryan Air fanfare for another on time flight arrival!


Not being well equipped for the rain, Lorraine and I pulled our cardigans over our heads and ran for cover and with a quick pass through customs we had arrived!  We jumped in a taxi and headed for Limoges station with some free time for a nice lunch before the 3pm train to La Souterraine.


Thank goodness we did have lunch, as we were soon to discover we had arrived on May 8th which is a massive holiday in France and EVERYWHERE was closed.  So here we are arriving at the house, no food, no milk and more importantly no alcohol... note to self always make sure you leave some alcohol somewhere for the next visit!!  Lorraine was pretty miffed everything I had promised her... sunshine, alcohol and delicious fresh food just wasn't happening and the 2 Belvita breakfast biscuits didn't quite have the same impact!  However I have to add that she more than made up for this on the rest of the holiday!!


So after a 4am start we finally settled down in front of the fire but couldn't work out where the running water noise was coming from and why after 2 hours we had no hot water?  I went upstairs to the bathroom and there was the bathroom sink tap pouring its heart out down the plug hole... yes Lorraine!  Lorraine had gone to the toilet when we first arrived and hadn't realised that there was no water switched on until she tried the tap and nothing came out but instead of switching it off she left it on so once I switched the water on obviously it started running whilst we disappeared out in the car for an hour! Therefore there was no bath that night and no hot water until the next morning. Just because she didn't get her supper!!


I think we managed to get through to 8.30pm before finally sloping off to bed it had been a long day and we had to be up early in the morning for the arrival of our builder Mick to start work on the chimney and then we were off to collect my sister from Limoges airport.


Mick arrived bright and early but because of the rain the day before he wasn't going to be starting until tomorrow.With the date of our first renters creeping up on me I had a long list of things that needed to be done on this trip not least to find a suitable cleaner to turn around the property after the company I had lined up had decided to close down!  I am delighted to say that Heather appeared as the last of the 3 people I was interviewing and it looks like all my prayers have been answered I offered her the job on the spot and I am sure she will make a good job of keeping the house up to scratch for the renters.


Wednesday evening we settled down with a big plate of home made bean chilli and the first of 4 bottles of wine...  

... as i said Lorraine more than made up for it!

Kym also got tucked in to the wine and I am not quite sure what she was doing here but maybe it was her rendition of the chicken dance?

We enjoyed a lovely breakfast in La Soutteraine and a trip around both La Souterraine and Gueret markets buying fresh food to eat that evening..

It was great on this trip to also see the new gravel patio area that had been put down the week before.  The garden had had quite a big section dug up to put the septic tank in which meant that it needed re seeding so an easy option was to cover some with gravel.  it was also time for the new chimney to be fitted.

The Chimney exposed 

The new bricks going on..

The New Chimney!

It took the builders 2 days and I would definitely not of wanted to of attempted to go up that ladder to the top!  Apparently one side of the chimney was so bad it was just cement holding it up and hardly any bricks left!  Now we have a chimney that the 3 little pigs would be very proud of and nobody can huff or puff it away!

The patio area I have to say was a little disappointing at first site... but with some womanly touches from us girls it soon took shape and after a stressed call to Phil he has promised to make it look much better when he  gets out there in July with some better edging around it rather than the weather board that has been used.

It started as a muddy area then progressed to a weather-boarded gravel area...

then add a table and a few chairs...

Pot up a few pretty flowers...

add in a garden swing seat...

Decorate the back door steps...

And before you know it you have a pretty patio area to sit and enjoy the sunshine!

Thank you to my lovely sister for the garden planters and to the lovely Lorraine for all the beautiful bedding plants that you bought it really did finish it all off perfectly!

So as yet another glorious sunset glides slowly behind the trees another set of accomplishments get ticked off the list!  Closing the doors this time was even more difficult but the thought of only 7 weeks until I am back again keeps me going and for the hundredth time Lorraine mutters... "Why would you want to be anywhere else" and the answer is I really don't!

But for now its off to Paris for a girls weekend in Montemarte!

Hold on tight to your dreams...

On the Monday morning of the second week feeling very dejected about the progress of the bathroom and the state of the garden I came down stairs to make my cuppa and switched on the radio to be met with the sounds of ELO and "hold on tight to your dreams".  Hearing this I couldn't help but smile and give myself a good kick to get back in focus to the long term dream that I am determined will happen!

Local Tulips

It had been a long process but then it was never going to be the 60 minute makeover that you see on the TV but typical of me I just want everything to happen NOW!  Phil and Peter had an extremely long drive down on the Thursday and Friday and Rosemary and I took the more leisurely route from Edinburgh to Stansted with a very nice over night stop at The Radisson Blu (even if we couldn't get the biscuits out of the mini bar) and then an onward flight with reserved seating right by the door to Limoges where our neighbour Ralph was waiting to whisk us up to Bousseresse.

The weather was glorious and the sun was shining as we pulled into the drive way, the lovely Trudy had been in the day before and had cleaned the cobwebs away and had left us enough provisions for the afternoon and evening.  It was however back to basics as no matter how hard Ralph and I tried we just could not switch the water on!  Thank goodness for the spring water fountain as we filled up a bucket so we could flush the toilet and we filled up the water bottles to boil and make ourselves a nice cup of tea.  With a nice cheese and ham toastie and a fresh cup of tea we made it out to the garden to while away the next couple of hours sunbathing!!  When it came to dinner time I then couldn't get the gas to switch on for the hob but Rosemary remembered I had a steamer so we popped the sausages in the electric oven and the veg in the steamer and settled down with a glass of wine to await the delivery drivers.

Wisteria on the barn.

I have to admit I was quite dissappointed with the backgarden, but then if I had really thought about it I would of realised that the amount of work that had had to be undertaken to install the septic tank there was bound to be some upheavel in the garden.  If it had been later in the summer then I am sure some of the ground would of been covered with new shoots of grass.

The area to the forefront of this photo has been worked on by dad to prepare for gravel being laid and the area to the back of that was raked over by myself in preparation for new grass seed being put down.  I am sure another few weeks down the road it will all look like the lovely back garden it once was.

This trip was all about the bathroom but I was also extremely lucky to had mum & dad there to also work on the garden and what a difference they made in just 3 days.  Firstly dad put up the fence across the derelict barn which we hope will deter people from wandering in there as it is not a safe place to be.

This had made it look much tidier and I plan to put a couple of flower troughs to hang on the top to brighten it up a little when I am on my next trip out in May.  The plan is to cap off the top of this barn at a later stage to make it much safer and not so much of an eye sore.

However the main task of this trip, as I mentioned before, was to install the bathroom.  There was a natural space off the landing that had contained shelves and a clothes rail when we had moved in, a pokey hole with no natural lighting but it was ideally situated above the downstairs toilet and shower room which potentially made it easier for running the new pipes up to a bathroom.

This is the glory hole!

Prior to our visit Chris who had installed the Septic Tank had also put the waste pipe in for us to start the bathroom off which was  a big help and meant Phil and Peter didn't have to waste time trying to bash through solid stone walls.  There were however a few complications with the pipe work and they had to make a dash up to Chateauroux on the Monday which turned from a half day trip into a full day trip as they couldn't find what they needed! We had bought the bathroom suite in the UK but hadn't bought the taps until we got to France but then it turned out that they needed adapting to fit the bath which I think caused a few worry lines for a day or so.

The bathroom progresses slowly but there was an awful lot of work that needed to be done and some heavy lifting and a few leaky pipe moments but they eventually got the floor down and walls up and very well insulated!



It now felt like it was suddenly taking shape and begining to resemble a room!

Peter and Rosemary were leaving on the Saturday to return to Scotland but it was great to have the room at a point where Phil and his painters mate...me could carry on with the work.  The only heavy thing left to do was the ceiling and I think I developed a few muscles holding up the panels. Before Peter and Rosemary left we managed to get a meal out to Porte St Jean for another delicious Limousin Fillet Steak!  This is the second time we have all eaten at this restaurant and once again we were not to be dissappointed!

This steak just melts in your mouth!

Followed by a delicious Creme Brulee for myself and Rosemary.

It was a lovely evening and a nice way to round off a week of extremely hard work and work that was greatly appreciated so thank you Peter..... by the way what are you doing next April??

I musn't also forget the wonderful job that Mum and Dad did on this trip as well, they flew in on the Monday and pretty much got stuck in straight away on the garden.  I am not at all green fingered but hope one day to develop the talent that my mum seems to have with gardening. Not only did Dad put up the fence across the barn as I have shown you above but they turned my sorry attempts at flowerbeds in to neat, stone walled flower beds.  They pulled plants out of places and put in new places and instantly brightened up the garden. 

I think I probably spent a little more than I should on plants but it will be worth it when they all start to bloom and also there is a lot of garden to fill  so its best to do it in slow chunks!

I had made a start down the side of the house on my last trip but had a feeble attempt at dry stone walling but as you will see from this picture what a difference a couple of experts can make!

 It will be great to get back out in 3 weeks time to see how the geraniums, lavenders and roses have developed and hopefully by this time the new grass seed will be down and the patio area gravelled and ready for the table and chairs and a few Al Fresco lunches and a glass of rose!

There was no keeping mum pinned down and not only did she do the flowerbeds but also planted some new bushes for me...

And of course with a helping hand or two from Rosemary!

Once every one had departed back to the UK Phil and I had then another week to bash on and get the bathroom finished, there were a few tense moments but on the whole we got through without any threats of a divorce!  I did tell him once or twice that he wouldn't of spoken to Peter like that if he was helping him  though!!

So time to get the roof up, electrics in and the painting and decorating completed...



The plasterboard was extremely difficult to get up the stairs and it was up to me to hold it up while phil fired the gun... so to speak!

I managed a token nail myself into the roof but left the rest to him.

Next it was the painting and 2 nights running we were up until nearly 11pm trying to get finished and the undercoat on the wood gave me a really bad headache the smell was so strong. The tongue and groove seemed to go up relatively easily once the mounts were in place.

But I am sure you will agree the finished bathroom is absolutley beautiful!!

I  finally managed to get a lovely hot soak in a beautiful bath the night before I left to come home but it was worth every moment of sweat, blood & nearly tears to of got such a fantastic result.  Thank you to my wonderful husband and wonderful friend for making it all possible!

Although much of this trip was bathroom orientated I did manage to clean out the kitchen cupboards and to finish a few little painting jobs around the place and then the time had come to pack up to go home.  The nice thing this time is knowing that in 3 weeks time I will be back again and hopefully will get time to relax a little on this trip and to continue to visit my neighbout Ginette who is a great teacher of French, with no knowledge of English I have to use my French and feel that It came on again by the end of the trip.  With a few more visits this year I should hopefully be much improved by the end of 2012.

So... what's next?

Well hopefully by my return in May the grass seed will be coming through and the gravel area will be finished.  I have one more paint job to complete outside our bedroom and then to clean the house from top to bottom before I leave ready for our first paying customers on the 25th May... exciting!

But whatever happens, in the words of where I started, I will be..

Holding on tight to the dream!

Spring is in the air!

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The Tank is in!

Although not there to witness the event first hand I am delighted to say that our Septic Tank has finally been installed and apart from how my garden now looks I am delighted that we now will no longer need to resort to drain rods on our visits!! ( Hopefully).  The guy that installed it has thoughtfully sent some pictures so I am adding these to my blog.   I hope by the time we get out there in the spring the garden will of grown back over and I can get some nice plants in down the back wall.

Gravel on the drive

Hole for Septic Tank

more pipes!

Tank in place!

My garden!

So that's the first real major peice of work almost completed

looking forward to getting out there now to see to the garden.