The French Renovation

  We discovered a beautiful land between the clouds...  

The peculiar title is a combination of two Correzian delights: Uzerche, a magical medieval town... and Julia, a magical, but not medieval, estate agent! Julia lives in this beautiful place, which means that it is a highly desirable place in which to live. An estate agent would know. N'est pas? We just happened to be visiting our property in the Correze on the very weekend when Julia was moving properties in Uzerche... yes, from Uzerche to Uzerche... that's how addictive it is! We turned up, at her invitation, for a few glasses of wine to toast the new place. We caught the tail end of the removal work, which had largely been undertaken that day by the Dream Team of Pete, Sue and Steve, and of course, Julia herself. That's Julia! And at last, the wine! Cheers, Julia!

We wanted to see what we looked like from the other side of the valley. So we drove to a point that we knew we could see from our farm. We should have taken binoculars. It was impossible to locate us! A drive through St Jal, a village nearby.

I'm afraid to say that you are absolutely correct. There was, after all, a creature stirring, and it was found to be a mouse.  I was busying away in cottage #1, where the silence is usually deafening, when I heard the sound of nibbling coming from the lovely old bread proving table, the one that I call a coffin. I flung open the lid to witness a small mouse dart into his nest in the corner, which he'd cleverly lined with some blue fabric. The mouse escaped through his emergency exit and out of the front door, so I removed his little blue blanket and have replaced it with some wire-wool. Happy Christmas, little mouse.  PS. Dear Mouse,  There are two barns packed to the rafters with hay and straw. Perhaps you could find shelter there? Yours sincerely, Mrs Wire-wool xx

Okay, I might have a thing about sunshine and shadows... and sky. It is extraordinary how much the position where the sun sets on the horizon changes during the year. This direction is a good 90 degrees round from the mid summer sun setting place. Et voila! Cottage #1 and the caravan. We're still having to sleep in the caravan, but it requires at least two duvets and a stout heart. Even with the caravan's little heater on, your breath comes out in condensed clouds.  Fabien and Frederique's dogs regularly come to see what we're up to. They're little terrors when cars come up the lane, running along beside them, barking and making the driver think he's going to run them over. Most drivers feel obliged to slow down, but the post lady just drives. She's used to their little antics.   The winter 'village', with mistletoe in full berry!

This innocent spot of sunlight was the harbinger of bad news... a hole in the roof! I had to stand on a chair and put my eye in the patch of light to see where it was coming from. As the sun is so low in the sky during winter, it turned out that the hole was at the opposite end of the top floor. You can see the hole in the top right of this photo, and, below, you can see the slipped tile, plus another that has experienced the shortest of tumbles.  All of the tiles were hand chiseled to create the fish scale shape. We're loathe to break any. The reason they're falling out is that they are held in with just one iron nail each, and these are weak with rust. 

This French mole is clearly trying to communicate with me and has formed the shape of a scythe. No, wait, what am I thinking of? It's a hockey stick! There's also a small circle of mole hills to represent the ball. All in all, this busy fellow has managed twenty eight mole hills! 

Despite my uniform mowing throughout the summer, there are areas of very short grass amid areas of quite long grass. I know what you're thinking... 'Rabbits, you fool!' But no! There are no rabbits here. No rabbit poo. No rabbits. Rabbits don't survive well on slopes that are patrolled by buzzards. Yes, I suppose it could be that black horse, but she never tended to just eat in one place- she'd graze and wander far and wide. And besides, there was no horse poo. It's a mystery. Suggestions on a postcard please.

Walking on acorns. What a fabulous sensation and sound! Go! Try it. There has to be a hard surface underneath. I think that a mud underlay would be bitterly disappointing due to the lack of crunch.

You may be surprised to learn that there are people who read my blog who consider some of my photos of Correzian nature to be so beautiful, that they request permission to copy and print them on to canvas* (yes, you may)! Yes! It's true! My camera is the lowliest of little snap-happy instamatics, so it's quite amazing. Feast your eyes on these beauts! There... better than a muddy lid, eh? * Canvas. Ah yes, canvas! Here's an idea... How about printing the images giant sized onto the side of a tent? Camouflaged! Da dah!

Kevin has been overly curious as to why this lid on the fosse septique is caked in a layer of mud residue. The other one isn't. My theory is that it has been subjected to a flash flood, since it is situated at the bottom of a slope. Kevin found it difficult to believe that the water could have flooded up and over the edge. I find it easier to believe. The fosse septique is not affected; it's just a muddy lid.

After a few frantic weeks back in England, this weekend we returned to France to see how our farm had fared during the first icy blasts of winter. The immediate item of note was that, surprise of all surprises, all of the leaves had dropped to create a plush carpet of bronze. The second item of note, was that the grass had at last slowed its furious rate of growth, and I didn't feel even slightly compelled to unleash the mower. Well... there were some patches I might have liked to attack, but it was all too moist for that sort of treatment.   Do you notice anything untoward in this photo? Yes, that's it! A displaced corrugated sheet on the corner of the lower barn! Maybe dislodged due to a forceful gale, but maybe by a giant troll or similar. Who knows? It couldn't stay like that, as an unsuspecting rambler could lose more than their way if the sheet decided to fall as they passed beneath... Anyway, we dragged out the steps and a long ladder and soon the sheet was sa