First Fixing Blues

Winter Home

Christmas and the new year is now behind us and work has re-commenced on trying to turn our house into somewhere people would like to spend a day or two whilst touring the many delights that this part of the world has to offer.

We managed to weather the storms that affected Brittany over the holiday period and came out pretty much un-scathed.

Our "hanger" is still partly flooded, but considering the amount of rain that fell, thats only to be expected. The worse thing was losing the internet, and therefore our land line, for the best part of five days. I Know many people had a lot more to cope with than that, but we found being out of contact with our children and other loved ones during our first Christmas away quite hard. 

On Christmas morning we actually showed our faces at the village church, the first time either of us had been for an occasion other than a wedding or a funeral for a very long time. It also helped by the fact Karen had heard that the priest was, quote, a bit of a dish, and she wasn't dis-appointed..........Apparently.

Our good friends Dave and Sue Price made the long trip to come over to see us over new year, unfortunately their arrival coincided with another batch of awful weather, and the staff at the local tabac going on holiday. But we did manage a few hours in Josselin before heading home for food wine and ping pong.  

First Fixing

The en- suites are slowly taking shape, however the "first fixing" stage seems never ending. And being I can't begin any real decorating until they're complete, it,s quite frustrating. We have purchased Three shower cubicles, one of which wont fit properly in the space allowed and has to be changed, three loos and three hand basins. Also we have a huge pile of both wall and floor tiles. The second boiler is in place and being tested as I write this.

Our poor plumber did manage to drill through our phone line at one point, depriving us of phone and internet yet again. But fortunately the very resourceful French "sparks" fixed it before we had to pay Orange shed loads of euros for doing the same thing.   

More First Fixing.

We have made a start on the garden, mostly to get away from the noise and the mess in doors I'll admit. Now we seem to spend half our days at the dechettirrer (the dump) and my car, both inside and out, is so filthy even a French farmer would be embarrassed to be seen out in it. Two days ago Karen discovered a path running across a large flower bed at the back of the house we didn't know existed. Uncovering it was hard work and involved another two trips to said dechettirrer.

Last Saturday we went down to the community hall where the Marie and other notables spoke of how the commune had fared over the last twelve months and what they felt was in store for 2014. Of coarse we couldn't understand a word of what anyone said, but we were introduced  to many people, got to meet more of our neighbours and had free drinks and nibbles, so an evening well spent in my book. We were surprised to find just how many people knew who we were, where we lived and what we planned, and they all were all so friendly, I think we picked the right place.

Well, next post I hope to have pics of some tiling and maybe even a fitted shower......Bet you can't wait.

First Few Weeks

French countryside

 Well, at long last we are here. The long wait and all the hassles are behind us and we are in our French home and can begin the latest chapter.
As our furniture wasn't going to join us for two weeks we were able to relax a little and take time over rearranging what the previous owner had left behind and making it as comfortable as possible for that period. We had a bed, sofa, oven and hob, plus various wardrobes and such, so it wasn't exactly camping. The electric radiators and the hot water all worked, so we wasn't going to freeze to death either. The only appliance that refused to work was the TV, no great loss.
One job that did cause a certain amount of stress was getting the internet and phone operational. We had collected our Orange "livebox" during our stay at the gite, but we still had no idea how it worked. After connecting it up and a bit of faffing we got the computer internet going but the phone was still a mystery. Luckily our new friend Peter, owner of the gite, popped round for a coffee and he managed to sort it. In Fact they have managed to point us in the right direction on more than one occasion.
We also were reunited with Howard, who we met on our buying trip, and he was able to take us to a house which had some furniture for sale. There we managed to purchase an eight seater dining table and chairs, a dresser and several other decent bits and pieces for a very good price.
Our furniture duly arrived on December 10th, Karens birthday, delivered by the top blokes from Wheadon removals. It all went well with only one vase broken, but that  was probably due to my packing. And since then our feet haven't touched the ground. Sorting through stuff  we'd forgotten we owned and trying to decide where to put it. It's amazing how many books we have that have no relevance out here. "Weekend walks in Britain" and "Footpaths of Britain" to name but two.
But we seem to be on top of it now, the Christmas tree is up and the place almost looks like a home. I say almost because we now have the builders in......

 It was always our intention to begin the work on the en suite bathrooms after new year, with only a couple of minor bits done before. Unfortunately as the builder has other commitments in January, and we wish to open for guests at Easter,  the stud work at least has to be done now. 
So I now have bags of rubble and such to transport to the"Dechettarie" and a previously tidied workshop, in need of a tidy. But they seem to be doing a good job. We've lost a little more space out of two of the bedrooms than I would have liked but I'm sure when it's done it'll be fine. 

Stud Work going up

Me at our local lake

As I said we seem to getting on pretty well in the village. We get handshakes in the Tabac and we are known in the Boulangerie. Our French neighbours are very nice, and the ex- pats are a cheery bunch. The only blots so far is the failure to find a key to fit the side door into the basement, and as we can't open it, getting a new lock fitted is proving a problem.
And the fact that the log burner isn't up to French standards and has to be replaced at some point. We can use it for now so it's not too bad.  
Yesterday we took delivery of a "cord" of logs (3 square meters apparently) and spent over an hour stacking them in our wood store in the rain. But I'll be glad of them come Christmas.
So here's to the new year and whatever it brings. 
Joyeux Noel et une Bonne Annee

Arriving in France

On Our Way

November 16th 2013, at last the day had arrived and we loaded the cats in the car and headed off to Le Shuttle to start our new life in France.
It had been a long haul since 6th September when we moved out of "Melrose" and trundled down to Folkestone to spend the weekend at our son and his girlfriends flat, the first of many temporary homes we would have over the next period of weeks.
I cannot over emphasize the debt we owe these wonderful people who put up with our moans, moods and my guitar "playing". We couldn't have done it without their generosity. We thank them dearly.
At present we are exactly one week away from taking possession of our new house. We have rented a very comfortable gite just outside Meneac, a village which is about fifteen minutes drive from La Trinite Porhoet, our village. The owners Peter and Karen are very nice people, inviting us to dinner on our first night, and a mine of useful information. 
The house insurance is now in place after our appointment with the wonderfully named Monsieur Phillippe Cool, so we now have all we need before next Wednesdays meeting with the Notaire to collect the keys. Tomorrow we collect our live box so we should have broadband and phone as soon as we move in.

Any Wishes

Our Gite

 We have a house sale to attend this coming Saturday, where we might find something of use for a reasonable price. Also on Monday we're going to meet up with Howard, the really nice man we met in August, as he has a friend who is moving back to the Uk and has some furniture to sell. We actually viewed this house back in the summer and it has some really nice bits and pieces, so if the price is right we may find our dining table quicker than we thought.
Today we met the present owner of our house so he can put us in the know on how the heating works, what switch does what etc; wrong. It was quite strange how little he actually knew about his own house. When asked if the side door opened ok the reply was "yes if I knew where the key was". We then said that we thought we had some mail in his mail box and may we have it the reply was "yes if I knew where the key was". I was also slightly surprised to see he was having a bonfire in the centre of what was a fairly nice lawn. Oh well I'm sure it'll grow back.
He was in fact very pleasant and again very helpful. The tools he is leaving behind will save me a fortune alone and many of the other things we may be able to sell at the local brocante.
So we are going to treat the remainder of the time until we get the keys as a mini holiday, because I can see there will be plenty to keep us busy between then and the spring.

Bonjour Peeps!

Bureaucracy.

France is well known as a place that takes it's time. It takes it's time over lunch, it takes it's time over breakfast, and it takes it's time when you are trying to pay at the supermarket. Which is fine, in many ways it's the very reason we want to move there. A slower pace and a more gratifying way of life. However, when it comes to buying your dream home it starts to wear slightly thin.
We waited four weeks for the "compromis de vente" to reach us which we then had to go through over the phone with the Notaires office. The power of attorney then had to be witnessed (another £10), before being sent back.  Then and only then did the THREE MONTH procedure commence!
During the conversation with the Notaires office we were quoted a preliminary completion date of 15th of December, well as you can imagine this was a bit of a shock. I know it was a worst case date, but even so! We knew that most of the searches had already been done when the house was almost sold previously, and were still valid. Also the fact that we were not seeking a mortgage would help things along a little. But as I said it was a worse case date and with any luck we'll get the keys a little earlier.
We have made tentative enquiries with the owner to see if we could rent the house for a couple of weeks prior to the signing of the final papers, if only to rid of the payments being made to keep our two cats in our local cattery, which is more expensive than storing all our worldly goods. Still awaiting a reply on that one.

So at present we are in our third week lodging with our (still) good friends Paul and Pauline, constantly scanning the email for the elusive completion date. It seems a long time ago we left "Melrose" and began the big wait. But were getting there. Hopefully by the next post things will be clearer and we'll be getting stressed about the Christmas shopping that will have to be done before we go.

Life On The Road

Waiting For France

Well it's been a week and four days since we packed the last box and dragged ourselves exhausted out the door of "Melrose" and into the wide unforgiving world. Well that's what it felt like anyway.
The first weekend was spent in sunny Folkestone, and very pleasant it was too. The sun really did shine and it was almost like having a little holiday. We took strolls by the sea, drank coffee by the harbour and had a very pleasant night out with my good friends from times gone by. Not a bad way to begin our life on the road.
The next port of call was back in Ashford at my sister and brother-in-law's house.They are having a two week holiday in Turkey (lucky things) and we are house sitting for the duration. And that is where I find myself at the moment, listening to the rain falling on the conservatory roof while I tap away at this computer.

                                                                                                                                                The wheels of French bureaucracy seem to be turning even slower than I thought it were possible. I was warned that this would be the case but even so........
It has taken the notaire almost three weeks to get the draft copy of the "compromis de vent" to us along with the "power of attorney", and that was by email. Mind you good job it did come through the ether as Karen muddled up the numbers on our forwarding address which caused no end of trouble and confusion......Bless her.
The power of attorney has since been witnessed by a very attractive solicitor and has been sent back to France, so that's out of the way, and the notaire can sign the "compromis de vent" on our behalf saving us another expensive trip across the water.
The other thing that has come to light is the existence of a French organisation called "Safer". It is well known that when buying a house in France that the local Maire has the authority to buy the house that you are purchasing if he, or she, decides it can fulfill a need in the community. Seldom is this power used, but it has to be gone through as part of the process.
But it also transpires that the people from "Safer Fr" have the same right, and have to be informed of the house sale so they can make a judgement on weather they would like to buy the dwelling. On reading up on the organisation it seems that, in the main they only deal with farmland and rural properties with a good deal of land attached, so there shouldn't be any problem.
Being the house we are buying has been on the market for over two years, common sense would say that these two bodies could, long ago, have decided if they had any interest in the property at La trintie Porhoet and saved us all a lot of time and heart ache. But that's not how it works, they wait until some one shows an interest, puts in a lot of time and effort, not to mention money, transfers the 10% to the Notaires office, then they send off the details to these two concerned parties and they let you know in due course. How long French due coarse is who can say?
At this moment our new life in Brittany seems a long way off......Keep the faith or "garder la foi" ( Thank you google translate).

Au revoir for now. 
          

Packing Madness

Nightmare

Packing must be like childbirth, if you remember how long and painful an experience it is, you wouldn't do it again. Mind you the last two weeks will not be forgotten in a hurry.

To start with it was hot, very hot, pushing 30 degrees for the most part, not making working conditions easy. Two weeks sounds along time but it very soon disappears and everything becomes one big rush.

We started on our books, that probably accounted for the first three days, I didn't realise we had so many! Piles of them being crammed into boxes which we then found difficult to lift. That's without the two large holdalls full I lugged up to the cancer shop.

With Karen's assistance (supervision) week one went fairly well, at the end of each day we would look around the house, nod sagely, and proclaim "we were getting there". How wrong we were.

At the start of the second week it was obvious we were getting behind. Karen had to return to work leaving me on my own franticly packing and transporting and stacking all our stuff into Lok n Store. But at least the size of our storage unit looked to be about right. that assumption proved to be a little off the mark as well.
More troops were required and in the shape of my esteemed brother in law, Mr Terry Abbott and a very good friend Norman Drewitt I found them. Also Karen driving to Tesco at 7am every morning to keep us supplied with fresh boxes was crucial.
So we worked and worked, and on Thursday evening, having rented another small unit, we finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The packing did become a little frenzied towards the end and box labelling went out the window, but needs must. Good thing too as we had to be out of Melrose by lunch time the following day.
So on Friday morning we took the cats over to the cattery that was to be their home for the next eight weeks or so. Dismantled  the bed and took it with the last few bits down to the store. Even then, when we finally packed the car to leave we could barely get it all in.
But it was done, we were out, with about an hour and a half to spare, and it wouldn't have happened without the help of Norman, Terry and Mr. Colin Newton who drove the van for the large pieces of furniture at the beginning and looking after our bicycles and a double mattress that wouldn't fit in storage.
Well that's it we are now homeless and will spend the next part of this adventure dossing with various friends and relatives. I hope were not going to be too much of a nuisance. 

Right Move

38 Rue St. Yves La Trinite Porhoet

 Wednesday was always going to be special because that was the day we were to view the house in La Trinite Porhoet. We found the place on E Bay of all places and had been in constant touch by email with the owner, Jim Allen, ever since. He had supplied us with many photos, plan drawings and ideas for what was possible to make the house fit for our purpose. The only problem being it was quite a lump over our budget, but we just had to take a look.

But first we had an appointment in Saint Gilles (or village flowery) and it certainly was. Very, very pretty place with a large lake.
The property in question was an old hotel/ bar with twelve, yes twelve bedrooms, four bathrooms and four toilets. The bar it's self was still there complete with pumps and everything. I know I've used the word huge on many occasions, but this place was simply.....Huge. And all for 74,500 euro, but you would need twice that again to get it looking anywhere near it's former glory, evidence of which was all around in the shape of photos of the former proprietors standing proudly outside their flower festooned establishment. Quite sad really.

Downstairs living room

   Then it was on to La Trinite Porhoet where we had an hour to wait for the estate agent to finish their lunch (we were beginning to get into the laid back way the French fill their day) So we took the opportunity to check out the local bar and sample their coffee.
That done we went off to view the property, and immediately fell in love with it. Lovely entrance hall with marble staircase, big front room, big kitchen and four bedrooms and a bathroom on the ground floor. Self contained two bedroom apartment with fitted kitchen and bathroom and a large lounge on the second floor. Then a basement with double garage, games room office another fitted kitchen, shower and loo. Also there is a large detached garage at the rear of the house. Now if that isn't perfect for a B&B I don't know what is.

Lake at La Trintie Porhoet

Another little bonus was the beautiful lake three minutes walk away down the lane to the side of the property where you can fish or stroll, there is also a sailing club. So all in all we think we have found the place of our dreams. Four en suites to install and we should be good to go. The estate agent contacted the Marie and they have no problems with our plans and also gave us the thumbs up for solar panels if we can afford them.

Now it was back to blighty to pack our stuff and prepare for France.