The French Renovation

As the long hot summer continues in earnest, work on the terrace similarly continues. Visiting friends play their part with pride, placing stones and helping with the liming. But more about the terrace later; we recently escaped to watch the Tour de Limousin fly through Masseret. An event like this is never confined to the main act, however! There were entertainers and pop-up restaurants and bars to enjoy too.  We waited with anticipation for over an hour, but, when the bicycles eventually came, they were only around for a fleeting moment. (This echoes my previous Tour de France experience in Tonbridge, Kent. But, at least, on that occasion, there were lots of free gifts being distributed from the leader cars: tee-shirts, caps, sweets, map books, flags...) The cyclists had just completed a gruellingly steep climb to reach us at the Tour de Masseret, so water was being handed out. The only things being distributed this time were high speed water bottles due to the rapid sn...

What with family and friends coming to stay for a sunny summer escape recently, very little has been renovated here on our delipidated French farm on top of a hill. But work on the terrace continues! What sort of idiot decides to create a terrace spanning seventy square metres? Us. We're the idiots. As we have zero income and very little left in our savings account, we are salvaging the stone from our eight acres. And the ruin. I had originally harboured hopes of renovating the ruin into a sort of high-level walled terrace with an observatory of sorts, as the views of the stars here are simply incredible. There won't be much ruin left by the time I've harvested all of its stones. Basically, if the stone has a flat side, it's mine. Even if it doesn't initially have a flat side, I've learnt how to make one using a hammer and chisel. I've been able to create an almost level surface using stones of very different depths, either by digging a hole to fit tall sto...