Although we brought most of our UK furniture with us, we needed to buy some additional items and we’ve been able to get some pieces via the online expat forums where people are coming and going. We wanted some additional storage near the kitchen and had originally thought of buying a new dresser to fit… Continue reading Upcycling and Recycling
Autumn and Admin
The weeks seem to zip by very quickly as we settle in to life here and start to work our way through the admin of French life. We’ve very much enjoyed having some visitors already and had a lovely few days with long-standing neighbours Jan and Philip from Lingfield. Although we know the area pretty… Continue reading Autumn and Admin
Getting Active
We’re trying to get into a bit more of a routine here with some regular activities to be planned into a week or month and to do some more physical activity. Joe is making use each day of the weight machines that were left in the barn but we seem to have got out of… Continue reading Getting Active
Vintage cars
We’ve had a couple of car-themed weeks in various ways. One of our key tasks for after our arrival was to get a practical French car, i.e. not a Jeep, classic motorbike or campervan. It’s not something we’ve been particularly enthused about but we’ve found a nearly-new small Renault Captur that should serve us well… Continue reading Vintage cars
A warm start to September
September seems to be a busy month in this area with lots of local events every weekend, presumably scheduled to take advantage of locals being back from their holidays and hopeful of mild September weather. Our first full weekend here was a busy one with a variety of events. Our village was hosting a 2… Continue reading A warm start to September
Moving Day
We returned to France this week for our permanent move after a busy month in the UK getting our 12 month France visa, paperwork for customs for the removal company, as well as packing up the UK house and getting it ready for renting. Having managed large commercial office move projects for many years, I… Continue reading Moving Day
Wildlife and Hobbies
Joe read an article recently about the 10 most dangerous animals, etc in France and we seem to be ticking some of them off as we encounter wildlife nearby. I’d already mentioned that we’d seen deer in adjacent fields and on two recent mornings we have seen from a bedroom window a wild boar (no.… Continue reading Wildlife and Hobbies
Local Produce and neighbours
We’re discovering more about what we actually have on the land around the house. The previous owners planted a number of trees to supplement long-standing specimens and we have a variety of fruit trees including cherries, apples, pears, plums, walnuts and figs. So we will not go hungry and will have to learn pretty quickly… Continue reading Local Produce and neighbours
Tournon d’Agenais
So a bit about our local village this time. Surprisingly, although we have travelled quite a lot in this area, we seemed to have skirted the village on all sides on previous travels as neither of us could recall ever visiting it. The bastide village of Tournon d’Agenais sits at 260m up on a hill… Continue reading Tournon d’Agenais
Labourdette
We decided when looking for a house in France that it would be our permanent home rather than a holiday house, so we will be relocating our furniture and belongings from the UK to France and supplementing as required. There is administration to deal with to get set up in France and paperwork required to… Continue reading Labourdette