Our last two weeks before leaving France

We didn't know it at the time, but the first two weeks of October 2018 were our last two weeks in France. We were suddenly called away to England, as both of my parents had become seriously ill; one of them remains so. I don't know when we'll be able to return to our farm in the clouds, but I'm sure we'll be able to manage to pop back now and then. Meanwhile, our lovely French neighbours are looking after things. I'm longing to return, not least to get on with that bloomin' terrace. The next few photos show my progress in those last two weeks. I achieved my goal of joining the two flat-paved sections! But there's still a lot to be done.









Before we left, we thought it would be wise to mend the lower barn roof. Yes, I know, it's just rusty old corrugated iron sheets, but it's important to try and keep the interior dry. I've heard that wet straw and hay can do strange things, including spontaneously combusting! One day, we hope to convert that barn into accommodation, so I'd hate its beautiful oak timbers to set alight! The 'simple job' involved Kevin and three sets of ladders. The top ladder isn't a special hooked roof ladder; we had to tie it to a tree on the other side of the barn. The sheet of corrugated iron that we'd ear-marked for the job turned out to be too small, so we sought help from Farmer Joel, who happened to have just what we needed.


Our last glimpses of our little French haven:

'Little Red'

The Piggery at 5pm
Keep your fingers crossed that we can get back to work soon! Well, maybe not too soon... it's under snow there at the mo! And we still have no proper heating.

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