Spring has well and truly sprung here and fruit trees are in blossom, bulbs are flowering and we are surrounded by bright yellow fields of rapeseed. Joe has been mowing parts of the land every few days and there are jobs to be done in some area of the garden every day. It will be… Continue reading Spring Break
Countryside Pursuits
It’s hard to believe that’s it’s a year since we first saw the house, made an offer and started this adventure. We’ve been in the house for 5 months now and I think we’re beginning to feel pretty settled here. We had a quick trip back to the UK in February to meet up with… Continue reading Countryside Pursuits
A winter project
One of the things Joe was most looking forward to with his barn was having the space to work on vehicles easily. He had hoped to be able to install a car lift, such as you might find in a garage repair shop, to enable him to work under vehicles without crawling around on the… Continue reading A winter project
A first Christmas in France
Bonne Année! In France and most of Europe the main celebration is usually on the evening of Christmas Eve, with families either celebrating at home or at a restaurant. For our first Christmas in France we decided to have a quiet evening at home on Christmas Eve and to go out for lunch on Christmas… Continue reading A first Christmas in France
Christmas Preparations
It’s interesting to find out what happens around here in the run up to Christmas. Our village, despite being what some might describe as a one horse town, has acquired the reputation of being a centre for blues music and has held regular blues concerts for the last 30 years. When the most recent one… Continue reading Christmas Preparations
High Society
So we have now been formally welcomed into (very) local society. A few hundred metres up the road at the brow of the hill is the Chateau de Lamothe d’Anthé, the chateau of the hamlet on whose very outer edges we live. The chateau, officially classed as a manoir, but a very grand one at… Continue reading High Society
Upcycling and Recycling
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