The French Renovation

I know... you've missed my little blogs, haven't you? I've been in Japan for a fortnight! This means that precious little has happened renovation-wise. Before I left, I managed to re-point another swathe of the piggery wall, this time going from top to bottom, as suggested by some of you. There didn't seem to be much difference, quite honestly. I now have to get it finished. But... I also need to start the inside of the master bedroom, where we are keeping the end wall as stone. It's a ridiculously tall wall, and it gets very hot up there in the summer, so it won't be much fun. The side walls are more or less just the backside of the roof tiles, so we're going to silverline, fluffpuff and plasterboard those, leaving some beams exposed. We'll also be installing a dormer window to the rear and another Velux to the front of the cottage. Rain is forecast (good!), so it's a game of nerves... especially seeing as Kevin can't remember how he built

If you want to know the weather forecast, ask a farmer. Farmer Joel knew he only had two days to cut, dry and gather the hay, as rain was due, and he did it. Just in time. I'm wondering just how many golf balls are wrapped within these bails. My estimate is ten per bail. It's not going to end well, as, some day, a cow will end up with a golf ball in its mouth. That's a bit sad... The water trough is home to a new resident, cohabiting comfortably alongside the midwife toad. I don't mind playing host to newts, but who on Earth lives in a house like this? Something with digging superpowers has dug out all around a previously buried tree stump, casting rocks aside in its endeavours. I have a suspicion that it's a pine marten-type creature, as I caught sight of something in that vein last week, dashing off in the direction of the stump. I'd gone towards the big cherry tree to remonstrate with the birds, who were making such a loud fuss

The first bits of bloom on the hydrangea  The first passion flower this year One day, this overgrown patch under the lime tree will be part of a stone terrace, with a circular bench ringing the trunk... We have a lot of slopes Free flowers to brighten the edges of the 'park' Clover is under-rated I may have made a mistake in letting the 'car park field' become a meadow... I'll never get a mower through this now. And the last time I used the dead farmer's scythe, I nearly chopped off my legs. I'm no Poldark. Common lime tree Farmer Joel cut the long grass in our lower fields today (Yes, I too have a new idea for the car park field...) Buzzards followed in his wake like seagulls behind a fishing boat. Farmer Joel told me they were waiting to catch the ... He didn't say mouse, but I pretended I understood the word he did say... Inspired by Farmer Joel's cutting, I decided to cut the other four

In between mowing and saving the lives of seedlings, my piggery re-pointing project continues... There are so many gaping holes in the piggery walls, that I need a constant supply of additional stones. No, I didn't put the water in there... It rained. Small holes need small stones- I've poked in bits of chunky gravel left over from the fosse septique channels. It's probably all falling out on the other side... Yes, I do push in lot of lime mix first. The white and orange marks on the stones are lichen- I'll wire brush it all off when I'm done. The whitish marks on the big stone near the top are almost crystals, like the marks barnacles leave on the keels of ships. I've had to chip out lots of badly applied concrete; I left some in, however, as I doubted that the wall would stay up if I removed too much of it. It'll blend in... What's that? You've noticed that I'm dropping less? True. I was banging so hard to wedge