The French Renovation

We have a supply of fresh water both from the well and from a mains source. At the moment, the mains source goes to one outdoor tap and one indoor tap in one of the cottages. There are no toilets or bathrooms, just a stone sink in each of the two cottages. Our first job is to install a 'fosse' or septic tank. This will initially  involve digging a hole about ten feet deep and ten by ten wide. Oh, the joys of simple, back-breaking work! Until we have a toilet, we will live with a chemical loo in a caravan. There is a decent public toilet at the Mairie in Bar if we begin to hanker after luxury. There is an electrical supply to the two cottages and one of the barns. This seems to supply one light bulb in each of those buildings. And the thing that's worrying me most at the moment is the cat... what on Earth will Polly make of all this?

Well, we're doing it. We're giving up a perfectly happy life of luxury and buying a tumbledown gathering of stone buildings in the Correze. Why? Because we're growing steadily older and have not yet sought real adventure, so this is it. We're selling the 15th century Cranbrook cottage that we love, giving up well-paid jobs that we love (most of the time) and leaving my elderly parents, two twenty-something children and their partners, and most importantly, our beautiful new granddaughter, Hazel. How could we do that? I'll agree, it's going to be tough . The plan is to restore the collection of cottages, barns and other buildings and create a beautiful village of gites. We shall see. ..