No update for nearly a year and now 2 in the space of a few weeks.


The insulation and Polypipe underfloor heating system arrived from the UK and is now installed and a team of guys arrive on Monday morning to pour the liquid screed.

It was a bit of a pain to fit with the shape of the house but it is done, plumbed in, pressure tested  and crossed off the list.  (It is nice to cross jobs off instead of adding them).

The ceiling in the 2 storey part of the house is up and filled with insulation. This is definitely my most hated job but it has been easier in the cold weather than it was in summer. When we come back from our visit to Adelaide the partition walls for the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom can be built. Each time we complete a job it is beginning to look more like a house.

We are hoping to dig the foundations for the pool house later this week and have the concrete poured before the end of the year or early January, depending on when the cement works are open after Christmas.

The topsoil is now in the garden and we just have to dig it in - Fingers crossed this is our job for tomorrow.  I have placed my seed order and when we arrive back from our petites vacances we will be ready to plant the potatoes and sow the vegetable seeds as another year life cycle begins. I am hoping Bryan may find time to build me a cold frame (especially when he sees the one Tom has built for Amy in Australia).  One job crossed off the list and a new one added. Got to keep up my reputation.....

We haven't found time to collect our Olive oil yet. That is one of my many plans for this week, foundation work and time permitting.  Maybe I will find time to do a bit of holiday planning too.

Joyeux Noël

Well - Where do I start ?.......

My last post said the deadline for the staircase, interior walls & underfloor heating was June - Don't you just love a dreamer !!!!

Staircase through the arch

It is now November & the staircase & interior walls are done but we are only just ready for installing the underfloor heating.  The floor panels and all the pipe work are en route to France as I write this.







In March we took delivery of our pool and what a godsend it was in the long hot summer months. It was great to be able to cool off after a days work. We were still swimming in it in October.  The terracing around it  is still to do and there is also the pool-house to build - That's another two jobs for my ever growing list. But even though it wasn't completely finished this year the guests loved it. It is a lot of work daily to keep it clean and inviting but it is worth it.

The lettings have been very successful this year and we already have quite a few bookings for next year including bookings for Villa Lucques. So it looks like we will have to move sooner rather than later - No pressure there then.  As friends and family know - I have form for doing this so it came as no surprise to Bryan...... We will have to start working the night shift to get it finished on time.

Villa Lucques

We have installed a rainwater recuperation system for the vegetable garden. All the water from the house and garage roof runs into a large underground tank which is then pumped up to two tanks at the top of the garden - a thunderstorm in summer then gives us free water for the growing vegetables, It worked well - when it did eventually rain.  We have either eaten, bottled or frozen everything from the veg patch now and 10 tons of soil has been delivered and is sat waiting to be dug in to the existing garden -Another job on the list.  It is growing daily.

The Beautiful Village of Cebazan

The Olives have been picked and taken to the mill for processing into oil. It was a good harvest but I didn't pick them all. Some were too small - I presume from the lack of rain (it has been a long dry season) and my bad back is playing up again at the moment. 110 kilos is enough for us for Oil.

Another season is over and we are now starting to look forward to a few weeks rest to recharge the batteries. Then it is full steam ahead for 2018.  Fingers crossed that we meet our deadline of being in the house for May, which gives us June to re-furbish Villa Lucques ready for our guests. Now where's my notepad.........

Happy New Year

Well we did it ! Although we had to call in the 'A Team' at the last minute.

The weather has not been kind to us this last few weeks.  It has either been too frosty, wet or windy so we had fallen behind on the schedule.  We have been working 7 days a week to try to catch up but when more heavy rain was forecast last week we had a site meeting and decided to ring round for help.

This morning 'help' arrived ( 4 men and a Manitou) and within an hour 8 pallets of tiles were tidily  stacked on the roof - much quicker than we could have done it.  They are now being put into place, as I write, and it seems that we may just meet the deadline after all.

Bookings for Villa Picholine are now coming in and the first guests arrive in April.  The swimming pool is on order and is being delivered in March - It won't be completely ready for guests to use this year but the villa will be advertised with swimming pool for 2018.

From tomorrow we have a free month to reflect and prepare ourselves for the next stage of the build.
As per usual we now have a new deadline !! We hope to make the staircase have that in place along with the interior walls and the underfloor heating in by June - Before the weather gets too hot. Oh how I love deadlines - they are nearly as good as lists !

Now for a visit to see two small boys.... A bientôt.