PerigordVacance

Spotting a Hen Harrier in France

2009-04-17T09:58:00+01:00

Find more videos like this on Landscape Juice Network

Every single morning I wake up to something different here. The countryside is changing. Bleak lifeless landscapes have given way to vivid and turgid growth; Grasses, trees and wild flowers are now erupting.

We also enjoy a wide array of wildlife too. I have seen boar, deer, foxes, badger, owls, buzzards to name but a few.

Last Sunday I heard my first cuckoo and swallows have been here for a few weeks. One of my favourites though is the Hen Harrier. Although I have been seeing the bird flying low over the fields in the spring and summer for all of the time we have been here, I have only recently (through ignorance and laziness) learnt that it is in fact a male Hen Harrier.

This video was filmed late yesterday evening as he passed by on a regular hunting foray. Three times I spotted it yesterday but this was the closest pass of the house.

He will surely be feeding chicks now and be hunting regularly to feed them.

By the way, all of this activity could be observed from the Pigeonnaire terrace.

I have just returned from walking the dogs and as I left the house he was hunting again.

Tracing the history of our French house

2009-02-15T19:15:35+00:00

I will never forget the first time I saw Jean Blanc. The house was empty and all of the barns and outbuildings were used as agricultural storage and cows still occupied the yard and fields.

Mr Bertrand had told us that the house had not been lived in for about forty years and his father had purchased the farm including the land but they never used it as accommodation - It was much cheaper to re-register all of the property as agricultural.

I longed to understand the history of the place. I could not believe that it did not have a story to tell me yet for some reason, the walls looked the other way and stayed silent, determined not to give away any secrets. I knew they were telling a lie, I knew that the walls had witnessed many things but it seemed that history was destined to elude my enquiring mind - until last weekend that is.

I was busy in my workshop making stairs for the house (the last real 'big' job to do) when a silver Renault car pulled up outside the house.

'Bugger' I thought to myself. The afternoon was bright, clear and not too cold and the rest of the family had popped to Villeneuve to do the shopping which meant I could get on and do some much needed woodwork.

We get the odd car that pops up and when the driver realises that they had taken the wrong turn, they apologise and turn round.

I walked down and said bonjour to the gentleman who had exited the car. He said hello, turned to the house, and said to me 'I am Max Mallet and I was born in this house in 1943.'

I had suddenly become excited at being disturbed by my unannounced visitor and shook him by the hand.

A thousand questions entered my head and I felt that this was now the time to make some sense of why, what and where. Max told me that he lived with his parents and grand parents and a brother.

Max took it in turns (or at least this is how I interpreted what he said) sharing a bedroom with his grand parents and his brother shared with a bedroom in the small house (now the pigeonnaire) with his parents. They swapped over from time to time.

Max showed me where his mother and grand mother tended a vegetable plot (for those who have been here it is between the track and the swimming pool).

There is a also a small stone building on the edge of the woods which I speculated about - was it a tools shed, a shelter or even a well?.

Max tells me that it was in fact a shooting hide that his father and grandfather would shoot rabbits and hare from. They also shot small birds (a small finch) that were cooked on skewers with lardons to create a mini kebab.

He told me that they cultivated tobacco, wheat for bread and dried prunes in an oven which was in the corner of what is now our kitchen.

He also told me that we had a vineyard on the lower meadow of the farm (land I now believe belongs to our neighbour) which accounts for the large wine vats (cuvé) in the barn and the beer barrels in the Cavé.

Max says that they had little money but his life at Jean Blanc was happy and they were never short of food. They exchanged produce with other farmers. A boulangerie in Born took a third of their wheat in return for free daily bread for the year.

Max also said that when he returned from service in the French Marines (fourteen years in Africa - including Belize, Chad and Zaire) he returned and asked Mr Betrtrand's mother if he could buy back the farm.

Sadly fro Max she said no because of the value of the farm to her family but Max said to me 'my loss is your gain' and congratulated us on our achievements and said that he approved very much with our renovations and the additions to his former home.

He also let me into a secret. Max built his own aeroplane and said that he had flown over the house and photographed it from the air.

I am hoping to stay in touch and visit Max and see his plane and find out some more. He says he has the written history of our house recorded on a CD but sadly no photographs.

One last thing - when I showed Max the new stairs I was making and the old stair/ladder we had inherited and used since we had been here, he told me that the stairs are the originals since his time there.

They had been used to access the loft space where they stored food and other essentials. I am loathed to throw them away.

Max is also a carpenter (and so too was his brother who had sadly died after Christmas 2008) and he complimented me on my humble achievements in the house.

Max and his family had moved out in 1967.

How to get your phone connected with France telecom

2009-01-18T09:46:13+00:00

Moving to France can be full of so many high's. The scenery, the peace and quiet and of course the local food and drink and it is also so easy to feel as though all of your troubles will go away forever, sadly, this is not the case.

Speaking the language, even if it is just a little is the best asset you can have to make life go that little bit easier and let you get on, stress free with the things you moved to France to do.

Calling a service provider to get your phone connected or the local water company to turn on the water is so much easier if you can communicate.

Sometimes, even if you feel equipped with a reasonable vocabulary of eagerly learned French words and phrases, the speed with which the telephone operator the other end speaks, or perhaps the dialect that they have, can make understanding, and making yourself get across is made all the more difficult.

There are English speaking service providers such as Teleconnect for telephone and broadband or English speaking sections of existing services like France Telecom's English speaking help service (although I have had lin=mited success with this).

In this day and age, anyone that is Internet savvi can get to the service they need. For example, just typing English speaking mechanic, builder or electrician near Monflanquin into Google and you will get three choices or recommended artisans to choose from.

However, there is always the need for a personal touch and when things can feel as though they are getting you down (after all, you moved here for less stress right?), there are services available to help you out.

One such new service is the Settling In Service run by our friend Anita Phillips from Monpazier.

We met Anita, and her husband Simon very soon after we arrived here through Lafayette, who we used to buy our house.

Simon and Anita have become good friends and I play golf with Simon and we all meet up (too infrequently) at Chez Minou in Monpazier for a pizza.

Back in 2005, Lafayette started an after sales service for their clients designed to help settle in new clients after the house buying process had been completed.

Anita and her colleague Pippa would then assist clients in setting up bank accounts, getting connected to the telephone, arranging medical insurance or currency exchange, or even just reassuring clients with a friendly chat before they had chance to make friends elsewhere.

We were a guinea pig for the service and didn't have to pay and we got into the swing of things fairly quickly - I think it is called 'in at the deep end' and didn't have a need for too long.

If you are thinking of moving to France or have recently arrived then Anita could help getting things straight - the telephone number and email are on the site.

Life in France in 2009 and onwards

2009-01-06T09:50:58+00:00

I know that there is a growing feeling that the love affair with France has died now that the credit crunch and the strong Euro has put pay to cheap holidays and cheap French houses.

My personal view is (and this is not intended as any kind of advice) that France will be a secure bet for living and buying a property in the coming eighteen months.

New pay as you go legislation that comes into force this month will help to stimulate France's small enterprise market.

I feel we will see thousands of ex-pats, who until now have been working on the 'black' and avoiding their social security and tax responsibilities because of the fear of paying much more than they can expect to earn - especially in the start-up phase when getting established is extremely difficult.

I will take a while to sort itself out but I am positive that many more people will go 'legal' and start paying into the French system. It will help France with their national debt burden, create liquidity in the system (although there is nothing more liquid than cash).

The new scheme, called l'auto-entrepreneur system will mean that a new business will only pay social charges (or Cotistations) and Tax as it is earned.

As far as housing is concerned; I am convinced that France is going through the kind of changes that the UK tackled twenty five to thirty years ago.

Getting a mortgage is harder here and the banks are much stricter on the way they lend to people. This in-turn has kept the house prices pegged amongst the French housing market to levels that are within the finance budgets of the average French family.

There is a second tier market that is out of kilter with the underlying French housing market which has been fuelled by speculation and investment by foreign money. This market is falling rapidly and is closer to the underlying market than it has been for a long time.

I feel that we are going to see an alignment of these polarised markets in the next year to eighteen months which means that the market will rise as a whole.

The young French are breaking free a little more and have been influenced to a degree by the influx of English, Dutch and Germans. Playstation, mobile phones, nice cars and homes are becoming more important and this materialism will I feel have an impact.

This materialism does not sit well with the current French demography but change is inevitable. I do not see massive spikes in house values but I see security in them.

I have a view that the Euro will start to fall back - as I write this, the rate is £1 = 1.09 - to the £1 = 1.25 Euro by June and I really do feel that the Euro-zone getting disenchanted with the single currency.

At present, I am sure that there is a smugness amongst those counties that have subscribed to the Euro looking down at the weak pound and the UK and feeling as though it has brought down a super-power to a humble equal.

The biggest challenge to Europe is holding the pound at these levels and if they cannot hold on tight enough then I feel a breakdown in the system is possible.

Snow and ice hits South-West France

2009-01-06T08:55:02+00:00

I have been keeping a close eye on the UK weather and boy does it look cold.

For all of you who are dreaming of sleepy France with memories of your last holiday, basking in the hot summer sun, take a look at the scene that greeted us this morning.

Temperatures are set to fall to around minus 4-8 in the next day or so and are currently hovering at about minus one.

It really is quite picturesque but I can tell you, despite insulation, oil central heating and the Godin kitchen wood burning stove, heating these stone houses is quite a task.

Late yesterday afternoon I spent an hour in the woods with the chainsaw and cut a third of a cubic metre of still standing, but dead oak.

It was like burning pure charcoal and the temperature gauge was screaming to its maximum and for the first time this winter I didn't feel like putting on extra clothes at night while watching the TV.

Enjoy learning wood carving in France

2009-01-03T19:29:48+00:00

We can add a little artistic and creative twist to your French holiday by offering you the chance to learn how to carve from wood that you cut from the woodland.

My mate Mark Rogers will come to the pigeonnaire and show you how to carve small wooden caricatures from green and seasoned wood that has been cut from our own woodland.

Spend the day or days in an informal setting on a one to one basis learning how to cut your desired wood, mark it out and then carve it into a memento that will remind you of your stay here at Jean Blanc forever.

Mark is an experienced carver and woodworker and I know that you will enjoy learning and carving with him.

For more details on carving or booking your French holiday, contact us directly.

Booking your French holiday

2009-01-03T18:58:02+00:00

Thank you for visiting us at Perigord Vacance.

You have come to the right place if you are looking to book a holiday for 2010.

We think that our little spot is special and we hope that if you come, you will agree.

Why not come with the hope of seeing one of many Hen Harrier as they make regular feeding flights around our farm.

Of course, we are not going to make promises but going on previous history, daily sightings are the norm with up to three or four separate fly pasts in a day.

Our prices range between £450-£900 per week depending on the time of your stay and anyone booking in July and August will get a free case of regional wine.

For more details or if you just wish to have a chat before making up your mind either:

Email us: philipvoice@gmail.com

Call us (UK local call): 0844 232 4221

Direct French number: 00 33 553 01 26 14

Roy Seedwell - English Electrician in France

2008-10-19T12:07:23+01:00

If you own a second home in France or you are planning to move to France in the near future then there is the possibility that you will be in need of a local tradesman to carry out installations or repairs.

It is advisable to use French tradesman where possible and avoid black market labour on important jobs such as structural modifications, roof construction or repairs, plumbing (especially gas an oil) and probably the most important of all electrical works.

The French people love you to integrate into their communities and contribute to the local economy. It helps to keep the small villages fluid and vibrant as well.

There are many businesses in France that are owned by English people and they should be treated as local tradesmen and women too.

They pay their taxes to the prefecture and are viewed as essential to the local economies. Their success is their communes and departments success too.

One of the greatest challenges for anyone who moves to a foreign country is the language and where electirics are concerned it pays either to get an interpreter or employ someone who is either English or fluent in English. It avoids all unnecessary misunderstandings and of course, you can call for advice and be clear that you understand the advice is given.

Roy Seedwell has carried out installations for us here at Jean Blanc since we bought the property in 2004. We have 3 phase arrive at the fuse board so it is something I just didn't want to mess with. Roy got us up and running with temporary sockets so that we could run a mixer and a kettle even before we got anywhere near moving in.

I have wired my own kitchen extension, mainly because of money as we were getting close to the end of our available savings and needed it to stretch further.

However, after wiring up to the fuse board and encountering a problem I was able to call Roy and ask advice and he was able to help me out straight away.

I am happy to recommend Roy for your renovations or repairs or even just advice.

Below is the Google map showing Ségelas where Roy lives. Roy tells me that he will travel approximately 25 Kilometres to carry our work so if you are unsure then use the map to calculate the distance by adding your locations as the starting point - if you are on the limit then I suggest that you call Roy or Jane to confirm.

Roy tells me that he used to advertise in French News but would get calls from people as far afield as Carcasson so now he relies mainly on word of mouth so that he stays within a comfortable distance of his home.

Roy is also happy to advise over the phone but he told me that he cannot accept responsibility for any repairs or modifications you subsequently do yourself and he may still charge you even if he does not visit so be sure of what you want before calling.

Email Roy Seedwell here | rssefr@orange.fr

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La Chasse en France

2008-09-29T19:44:43+01:00

Hunting is hugely popular in rural areas of France and after the 1st September every year you will see men with shotguns and dogs wandering around the countryside looking for rabbits, hare, pigeons, woodcock, pheasants and partridge etc.

Our land here at Jean Blanc has been 'donated' by Mr Bertrand to the Chasse which means the hunters can wander within 150 metres of our house 'popping off' game.

We can apply to the Mairie to make it a Chase free zone but the rules are state we must apply at six months before the five year agreement expires - source Internet French Property Shooting rights in France.

However, I was a bit disappointed because this is Mr Janouix our roofer and this hare was shot just fifty metres from the Gite.

I didn't want to cause a fuss although I was none too happy.

Weather watching on Meteo France

2008-08-30T16:42:47+01:00

Watching the weather is a bit of a British trait and for those of us who do not want old habits to die out might be interested in the new weather website from Meteo France. New featured have been added in Java Script that allows the user to hover the cursor over a region and get a pop out summary of what the weather is doing for the day. You can view up to four days information at a time but a longer range forecast is only available to subscribers. I do however think that we are so close to the Atlantic - we are 2 hours east of Bordeaux - so the weather is very changeable at the best of times.

Fishing for Carp near Bergerac

2008-08-30T15:03:21+01:00

I didn't realise that fishing was such a massive pastime until I moved to France but it is. One of the major things that fishermen have going for them is the space and no shortage of lakes and rivers.

Locally to us there are an awful lot of small irrigation reservoirs which are stocked with large Carp which are introduced to help clean the lakes up.

Recently, the kids and I decided to dust off the old Argos fishing rods and cast our lines out at a reservoir which is owned by Fleur's school friends grandfather.

For those who normally have to jostle for the best swim on the bank it is the perfect scenario because we were the only three there on a lake of about two acres.

After setting up the tackle we didn't have to wait too long before I caught a Carp of about four pounds and shortly afterwards another of a similar size.

Fleur, who was on her first ever fishing excursion caught a two pounder just before we left. Henry though, didn't have much luck and suffered several 'birds nests' tangles.

The bait was the good old dependable sweetcorn but I did have a bit of a bite using bread dough. Not being an expert fishermen though I could not begin to advise on what might be fashionable at the moment - if you know then please feel free to leave a comment below.

We have about four trips behind us now and also enquired at a smaller but deeper lake within five minutes from here where a local I spoke to had about ten small fish that looked like sprats which he said that he would take away to eat.

There are also Crayfish in both lakes and if you look at this rather blurred image you can see one that we caught on our first trip.

Chicory found on the our land

2008-08-02T07:53:27+01:00

Even after being here for nearly four years there is still something new to discover almost every week. The latest one is a rather attractive light blue flower that grows in abundance in the meadows all around the farm.

The plant is Chicory - Cichorium intybus which as many of you know is used extensively as an additive to coffee,

Chicory is best viewed in the early morning or late evening or on a cloudy day because when the sun is at it's strongest and brightest the flowers close up leaving a rather bare looking scrub.

The plant can grow to about five feet tall and to be honest, if the flower wasn't present you would cut it down because the harsh woody stems are unattractive.

There a number of uses for Chicory including extensive medical remedies and cures and as an addition to salads or as a hot vegetable.

If you are in France this time of year, look out for it because it seems to be everywhere.

Your chance to win a week's holiday in France

2008-06-08T14:10:46+01:00

I have just added a competition to my Landscape Juice gardening site. The winner will win a week for up to four people in our Pigeonnaire in June 2009. "The prize will be one week accommodation only for a party of up to four people in the stunning Pigeonnaire on our farm situated in the Lot et Garonne in South West France. Sun_025_2The farm is set in 20 acres of stunning unspoilt countryside which is teeming with wildlife and wild flowers. You can expect to see an assortment of wild Orchid as well as the possibility of young deer, the Hopoe or even baby Boar (but you have to be especially lucky there)."To qualify, you need to first study a photo that I have put on Landscape Juice and then go to my new Landscape Juice Network and find where that photo portion fits with the original and leave a comment stating that it is a competition entry on the relevant post. Good luck!

Re-building the house

2008-06-01T11:05:50+01:00

Under normal (with heavy emphasis on normal) circumstances, we should all be snug as bugs and moving onto other projects outside of the main house.

Trouble is, we do not seem to be normal and effectively built the house twice. Once in the original format but using plan 'C' and now in the new much more practical and comfortable format using plan 'A' (which we should have done originally)

Much has happened in the last three months and it is mainly because I have been trying to build content and accelerate my Landscape Juice site and the new Landscape Juice Network that I have kind of neglected updating this site.
The new kitchen is now 99% finished. Donna's Dad has been here for ten days and has rubbed down, filled and painted the triple French doors and Fleur's bedroom window (the old 'snug' window).

I have made an oak shelf to put on a few ornaments and for the first time, we are able to go into the barn where all of our belongings are stored and start to retrieve some of the useful and decorative items that we have not seen for nearly four years.

The most emotional moment for Donna and I will come this week when Henry will go into his own bedroom for the first time since leaving England. Sure, he has had a space of his own for a brief period when we have rented but not had his own 'space' that he could personalise.

Donna is completing the painting as I type and then the floor is going to get a polish and hopefully, this afternoon, we will assemble Henner's bed and get him set up.

I am pleased that we have had a chance to re do the old kitchen. At the time, everything was so rushed that I never felt as though I finished off properly. You know, plaster residues over wooden beams and probably the worst part was the lack of experience with the Lutece.

I am confident now that I can use the plaster at various stages of the mix from a runny'ish double cream to an advanced putty consistency so that large holes can be filled or voids shaped and sculptured to get the required profile.

What is more, using a simple paintbrush and copious amounts of fresh water, it is possible to work the material into spaces and finsih the surface to a fine detail that a humble finger will not allow (and without the lime burn too).

I do not know if you remember the old kitchen layout but it was a sort of open plan with the original simple steps up to the the bedroom and en suite. We have partitioned off the stairs to form a hallway and in doing so created Henry's bedroom.

All the tiles and work surfaces have been removed and the water and waste to the old kitchen sink boxed in just in case we wanted a show later on.

I have plastered all of the concrete block walls (I hate stud partitioning, especially in an old house) and I have plastered over any damage from removing the tiles and filling in the wood burner chimney outlet too.

We have also taken the opportunity to add an oak support beam under the upstairs floor to stop the creaking.
The great thing about the beam is we already had it as part of the milking sheds and because it had been there years, it was dry and stable. I used the electric plant to straighten up the side that sits against the joists but left the tongue worn exposed sides as they were. Donna scrubbed it clean and we treated it with Xylophene to kill any worm.

I thought that I would show you this pictured from last week. With the triple door facing West we can benefit from having a cool room which is sheltered behind the main structure of the house but fantastic sunsets.

When the sun is at treetop height it floods into the room and we get this amazing warm glow on the end wall. Mind you, the kids complain that you cannot see the tele properly.

The Landscape Juice Garden Network

2008-05-28T09:13:31+01:00

I think I am developing square eyes! If it isn't busy enough I decided to make it even busier and start a garden network attached to my Landscape Juice garden site.

The aim is to build a professional and amateur gardening community who can return time and time again and glean valuable snippets of information and put it to good use.

The idea is, once a critical mass has evolved, the membership will fuel the content from within leaving me with a more administrative role.

However, I do feel I have a fair bit of experience, not only at being a professional gardener and landscaper but, after learning the hard way over twenty one years or running a landscape and garden maintenance company, some valuable business experience.

It is hard for anyone who may be starting out to understand how to set up an hourly rate or perhaps approach a new contract so I have written spreadsheets and explanations of the processes involved which may help a little getting started.

The site is open to anyone so being a member could be of great benefit and you never know where the opportunities will come from.

Landscape Juice itself is going great guns! - I always wanted to make the internet work for me and try and develop a business here in France that was not reliant on going out and doing a manual task.

The last two years have been hard work but extremely good fun.

I remember, discussing opportunities with Craig McGinty when he said to me, you ought to start a garden site, after all that is what you do best and one day, it could provide you with a living.

After a year, and only getting about 1,000 visitors a month I was disillusioned and one the brink of throwing in the towel but Craig urged me to keep at it and just write good articles on subjects that would be topical and helpful for any gardener in search of answers.

Craid said that the visitors will come and wow was he right! I now enjoy six thousand readers a week who scan over 34,000 pages.

I am also visited regularly by industry sites who I know keep a close eye on me because of some of the critical things I have to say about a few organisations that take and never give back.

I am also selling advertising on the main page and make money through affiliate links and Google adsense.

I still cannot afford to support a family but I am now at a stage where I could do just a few hours a week of writing and maintain an income. In another two years, I expect to be fully self sufficient with earnings rising substantially from here.

I have registered as a micro enterprise - with the tag of Internet Trader and Donna too is a seperate enterprise of Internet Consultant. We both pay separate cotistations and also have a third registered business as a Gite business.

The woodwork is on hold for now but I have plenty of my own to do around the house - more news to come there soon.

I hope that there are a few of you here in France that will find my experience of setting up a business over the internet of some use and I would be glad to discuss it with you if you care to give me a call or send an email.

If you have a special skill or experience that can be shared then in time, after an initial set up period, you could earn a supplementary or full time income from the web - however, I can tell you, that unless you are lucky, this is NO get rich quick scheme.

Fuel protests start to cripple France

2008-05-24T08:59:04+01:00

We are just about to head off into Villeneuve to buy a few bits, however, the blockades by French (now Belgian and Spanish) fishermen of the fuel depots is having effects countrywide with fuel running out (or at least being restricted) at the pumps and we are not sure if we can fill up. We are hearing reports of panic buying with French locals taking cans into the garages before the situation escalated and now, unless fuel supplies are allowed to get to the service stations it looks as though France will literally grind to a standstill.We went out for a pizza last night and tried to put a bit of fuel in at the (expensive) 24 hour garage in Monflanquin. Signs adorned the front saying that it had been switched off so no go there. We will try again but hold out little hope and with less than a quarter of a tank, we will have to stay put until something gives.

Heads up I'm coming back

2008-05-23T22:33:41+01:00

I know that this has been the biggest break since I started Perigord Vacance and I am really sorry. I have got quite a bit to tell you about progress, my new venture and lots of simple things that France is all about.I am setting aside some time this weekend and share it with you. Hang in there!

English electrician near Bergerac

2008-04-20T16:48:42+01:00

I have to a big big thank you to Roy Seedwell for helping me out last weekend with finalising the electrics.

I had, with the help of a couple of buddies, worked out how to wire the kitchen plugs and circuits and I had delivered all of the conduits back to the fuse board.

Half of the electrics had been temporarily connected for some time but I has not fixed the conduits onto beams and walls in the cave so all had to be disconnected and then routed and fixed.

All went fairly well last Sunday and I dismantled three temporary plugs that Roy had put in when he first installed the original wiring to the main house and Gite.

However, I had decided that I wanted to have a go and did some research, bought a book on French wiring and sought advice from friends.

We are wired for three phase and when wiring up a new set of 16amp fuses I inadvertently failed to wire in a neutral strap and sent 415 volts, head on around the circuit - The stereo made a funny noise!

I called Roy in desperation because I could not work out what went wrong and tried to talk it through on the phone. Roy was having none of it and, although it was Sunday, came out within the hour to check it out.

Roy soon worked out what was amiss and put it right and explained to me, patiently, what I had done. So, now all is well and we have a full working electrical system for the kitchen.

I wired in a ceiling light last Friday and installed an interrupter for the three way light switch (conduits already in place). Should have the lights up and running by the weekend.

If you are planning electrical work and live around the Bergerac, Monflanquin, Villereal or Castillones areas and need a good sparky then Roy is your man.

Email me with your details and I will pass it on (although Roy will be updating me with his preferred communication method shortly).

Just two extra points. I cannot speak for Roy and I am not suggesting he will come out on a whim on a Sunday normally and he is also very busy most of the time so leave enough time for contact before you need any work done.

Results of the Ebay sale for the kitchen island unit and another addition to the cuisine.

2008-04-20T16:14:54+01:00

I didn't sell any island units but it was a good exercise never the less, although, this week I did get an enquiry from an Ebay'er who asked me if I would take an offer on it.

I probably didn't go about the marketing properly (mainly because I could not fully understand how to navigate the site in French) Not to worry, at least I do not have to worry about spending a lot of time making another one at the moment.

I didn't put it on the site but I did actually build a second complimentary kitchen unit about six weeks ago but I ran out of steam after realising I was short of one set of hinges.

Only yesterday, with Henry's help complete the structure and today the top was sealed with Vernis Cuisine & Salle de Bains treatment. I added the door knobs today in Donna and I put it in place.

However, this could not be done until the immensely heavy hob of the Godin had been transported, with the help of two burly neighbours, from the old kitchen to the new barn kitchen.

We managed that last weekend (after the electrics - which turned into a nightmare - were done).So now, all the chrome and fittings have been re-assembled and now we are really pleased and content.

Bob the Builder - can he fix it?

2008-03-30T18:40:03+01:00

Has it really been over one month since I last tapped the key board and updated Perigord Vacance?

It is certainly not down to laziness because I have been doing plenty of other things and maybe it reflects the stage we are now at here in our farm house.

When things were moving at a pace and we were captivated by the excitement of the deadlines, I felt there was something of interest to keep readers popping back.

However, I am sure that no one wanted to hear what toothpaste we used and how many times a day we passed wind so the posts died down again.

I suppose that we are now comfortable, working and 'living the dream' so in a way, we have achieved the goal and maybe this blog will find another direction. It has served us rather well and has proved a rather useful tool for some out you that have found it.

I know that I have missed a great opportunity in creating an excellent resource for anyone wanting to start a new life and is looking for information.

I could have put up more pages with links to French departments, building resources, swimming pool information, schools and telephone suppliers etc etc but what I have gleaned, and I don't mean to sound conceited here, is that the people who have contacted us have found a certain inspiration from our project.

We have had a lot of highs and lows and tried to share them all, warts and all.

The sink is in

Anyway, back to the sink - it is now installed after the trials and tribulations. Castorama in Agen has not been easy to deal with. We ordered the sink on the 8th February and did not pick it up until the 24th March.

Whilst we were in the store on Easter Monday, Neil Morrisey, of 'Bob the Builder' and of Men Behaving Badly fame, was shopping for home improvement items with his partner.

It is amazing how many 'celebrities' have homes close by. Jimmy Hill has a house near St Vivien and I have seen Chris Packam at Bergerac and recently travelled on the same flight with Sally Taylor from BBC South Today back to Southampton.

Anyway, I digress, - we are absolutely delighted, despite the sleepless nights and anxiety about cutting into the oak surface, that the sink is in it and looks stunning.

Having never done this before I took advice from a couple of friends and cut a template from thin plywood (This has to be done by turning the sink upside down). I then transferred this to the surface and pencilled in the shape.

I then cut well within the markings with my jigsaw and, using clamps and a straight edge, cleaned up the rough cut with my router.

I then placed the sink through the opening from the top (only because I did not have the space from underneath) and secured it with two braces secured against the internal walls.

I then cut separate borders so that the we could 'oversail' the ceramic edges and give the appearance that the sink has been offered up from underneath.

What is also achieved this way, and I think is an important detail, is having a contra direction and contrasting direction with the grain of the wood - I hope you can pick this out in the photo (click to enlarge).

I just need to sort out the taps and the water connection with the drainage and we are away.