Dordogne Retreat - a farmhouse tale

The French aren't always known for their recycling (although probably ahead of the UK!) but on occasions you do see wonderful examples of ingenuity. 

One prime example is not far from us.

I can't help but wonder if they just drove it there one day after failing the French MOT!

We didn't time our visit very well so missed most of the autumn colours in the trees however it was still a lovely site looking down the 'estate' and out over the valley.

We have mentioned our ongoing battles with the local Loir population in previous posts on the site. Apart from not wanting the little critters runing around in the attic the real reason for wanting them 'moved on' is that they dig into stone walls to make their nests and can cause the walls to collapse.

This is the end wall of one of our neighbours barns, caused by Loir!

In France for a few days R&R we settled into a routine of sitting down in front of the fire late each afternoon with a glass of Winter Pimms and suitable snacks.... it was wonderful.

When we left in the summer the gazebo was still up so we couldn't see the two sets of steps in 'alignment' and their full glory:

While I was busy plastering around the newly fitted window Paul started stripping more of the ivy off one of the remaining barn walls. This is not a straightforward task as the ivy has been establishing itself for many many years and it would be easy to pull chunks of the wall down. The wall is almost 3 metres high at the end so you are also working on a ladder while trying to cut and hack the ivy back.

Paul did a great job but the top of the wall was just earth so we removed that and laid a layer of cement along the top to protect it for the next couple of years before the full restoration gets underway.