The French Renovation

Don't ever buy a property with 8 acres of land. Unless you have a vast array of top grade farming machinery. I'd like to be sharing with you our achievements with the renovation (and I know that's what you're here for!), but most of our time has been spent mowing, strimming, raking and visiting the dechetterie. Our ride-on mower has more or less given up the ghost, and I really don't think it'd be worth mending/servicing it. I'm not sure how we're going to continue to tame the land with just two push mowers and a scythe. We've decided to leave a lot of our land as meadow, with creative paths mown through it. Farmer Joel has very kindly mown and gathered hay, but this has exposed acres of dry, unpleasant stubble. And you wouldn't believe the amount of dust and grass seed that's kicked up during the processes of cutting, turning, lining up and baling! The time of dust coincided with the time of refreshing the exterior white paint. Thankfully, n...

The sun breaks through stormy skies to shine on a blessed part of the 'Shire'. We've now been back in France for nearly three weeks, and, having placed ourselves in quarantine for the first two weeks, we have begun to venture out a little. Although new cases of COVID-19 are waning, the French continue to be cautious, and masks are invariably worn in all indoor locations, and also at outdoor markets to a significant extent. We've been out for two meals, one a socially-distanced BBQ in a friend's garden, the other a Thai meal at an outdoor lakeside restaurant. Groups of diners were limited to ten people, and all catering and serving staff were masked throughout.  Evening falls at the lakeside restaurant, Cote Ti Plage, at Treignac   Garden BBQ guests! I know it's not terribly interesting, but let's have a look at how we're managing the five feet grass situation. Kevin began tackling the top lawn last week, with the blades set high. The ride-on mower didn...