The sound of silence...

Colin's post on his 'Black Redstart' house guest meant me not posting a similar thing last week. We had them nesting in our barn, so when I went off to Paris last Thursday I left the barn doors slightly ajar so as the young birds could be attended to. The reason for posting now is that on my return I missed the activity and sharp call of the birds that had greeted me on a daily basis for the last week or so.Could the young all have flown the nest in the time I was away? Or had David's cat played a part in their destiny? Unfortunately I could not get up to check the nest as a friend of mine (you know who you are) has my extending ladder out on loan.

In the days before I left for Paris I had made a number of attempts to catch one of them on camera - with little success - quick little birds! 

Here is one of it just having left the top of the lucarne...

 here is one of it just having left the top of the barn door...

here's where it sat on the inside of the door,although not long enough!

Ah got it at last - hope the cat didn't! 

You give them a home for the summer...

Hirondelles had been living in our barn long before we had it and the previous owners had in fact made them a nesting shelf under the rafters

This was ok until I started to fill the barn with 'stuff' we sadly had to restrict access to them by making sure the barn door was firmly closed. This year however they were allowed in via a bit of luck, or at least that's the only thing I can think of, as a piece of roof tile had worked its way behind the door planks and its support timber giving them just enough room to get in. Now I'm sure this couldn't have been from when the roof was redone as I'd have noticed it before now but there it is, lodged firmly enogh to push the plans away from the timber.

One thought I'd had was maybe it had been sitting there since the roof was done and with the opening and closing of the door had worked its way down but no, as if you look closely enough you will see it is tapered bottom to top so looks as if it has been hammered up the way!

Anyway bottom line is I decided this meant that they were supposed to be allowed back in this year and happy to report that Ma & Pa are the proud parents of a brood of five healthy young...and my reward for this...poo eveywhere, even lucky enough to have direct hit on my napper!

That piece of tile may not be there next year.

Hirondelles' first flight

At the beginning of the year we had decided that we wouldn't be letting the Hirondelles back into the barn as they make a bit of  a mess over what is stored there but then fate showed its hand. The barn doors are pretty ancient and one night as we were closing them up a piece fell off and we decided that we wouldn't repair it as they were obviously meant to have access.

Below is the second brood of the year...

and we were lucky enough to catch their inaugural flight with them just making the top of the door before landing on the vine or whtever was handy.

It wasn't long before they got the hang of it...now we have more mess to contend with!

The current project...

I have a number of projects on the go at present but the one that I am concentrating on at the moment is the facing of the block wall at the bottom off the garden behind the barn at the Old Walnut Mill.

I have completed the first part - replacing the missing blocks on the existing wall - I now have to face it with the stone that has, as Pauline reminds me, been moved by her over the years on a number of occasions. The anticipated good spell of weather should see a bit of progress, with the only cloud on the horizon being the need to dispose of 'stuff' from the barn becoming the priority. 

Three steps to recycling...

When they were doing all the works on our street last year I asked if I could have three of the slabs they were digging up with a view to using them in a future project.

I knew that they would just be taking them away to dump as landfill.They gave me the ones from outside our gates which I was pleased about. So, as we have started the 'free' work on our barn project (things I can do myself with existing materials), after the huge cost of the new roof, I got to work...

Step1..clear and level the area that will be our 'sitooterie' (terrace) behind the barn...

Step 2...fit steps

Step 3.. Build surrounding wall.

Wish I had asked for more now as I have another project they would have been perfect for....

A weekend of sunshine and reminders

What a good weekend weather-wise. We are always grateful when we have a sunny day when greeting new guests as on Saturday, when a lovely couple from Wyoming arrived at 'Le Bourg'. It also allowed us to do some overdue garden work at the Old Walnut Mill. We also had some leisure time which as ever involved eating and drinking, Aperos on Friday night with friends and neighbours on Grande Rue and dinner with friends on Saturday night, We rounded it off by catching up with our neighbour David last night for aperos and are embarrassed to admit we missed a 'significant' birthday of his (bad). His last milestone was actually celebrated in our barn 10 years ago (surely it can't be?) and we would have loved to have done something for him again (though the barn is now crammed full of 'stuff'). Anyway it drives home the point that no matter how busy you are you need to take time out for others.

Barrou brocante Sunday the 3rd

On Sunday we have our annual brocante here in Barrou which is always a good day as it brings all the locals out. If you are coming in the afternoon why not pop into No92 for a refreshment - be good to see you.

Can I also point out that our neighbour John Pierre who has the big house and barn opposite the filling station has a barn full of STUFF he will be delighted to show you.

In the evening you can head over to Angles-sur-l'Anglin for their spectacular fireworks display.

Barn roof progress...

The rear of the barn with all-new tiles - almost finished with two of the three 'Velux' windows fitted.

These are good to see as it brings the much needed natural light into the roof space and we can begin to visualise the room formations. It was also pleasing to see that we will have a pleasant view from them, even though we are surrounded by other houses.

Stuffocation solution...

Many of you will know I have too much 'stuff' which,prior to us selling our house in Barrou, was not a major problem due to our large barn there. Losing that meant we had to come up with another solution. Part of that was to take advantage of some friend's generous offer of space in their barns but also to reinstate the little barn here at 'the project'. Part of that work was the replacing  of the floor on the in its 'attic'. I had been using it for storage but knew it was not really 'fit for purpose' as it was really just a series of loose boards over the joists. 

This entailed leveling up the supports for the new floor as the joists were all over the place with one,as you can see from the pic. simply too bowed to rest on so I had to leave it revealed. 

Nomads no more...

For the last couple of summers we have lead a rather nomadic lifestyle here in the Loire Valley, something that rather lost its appeal after a short while. We had good reasons for this - as we were starting a new business in a new country we had decided that in order to make a go of it here in France we would have to be flexible.After having 'tested the water' by successfully renting out our holiday home in Barrou 'remotely' we decided to take the plunge and move here 'en permanance'.

This of course meant that we would need somewhere else to live if we were renting out the original house. 

We found our second house in the nearby village of Le Grand Pressigny.

We thought we knew the village pretty well but we couldn't place the house from the picture on the local estate agent's website. As it was, there was only one photograph - like the one above - with none of the inside.When we asked if we could see some more,we were told NO. This still seems to be the method employed in the marketing of houses here - you would think they do not want to sell their houses!

We came over for a look - it had to be a bit of a 'project' so as we could 'add value' and actually afford it - it was! At first we rejected it as it needed rewired, re-plumbed and totally insulated -but it was a project -and the balcony eventually swayed us.

Here we had a countryside view in the village.

So we had somewhere to live when our Barrou house was rented in summer. The house wasn't really that bad compared to some of the projects Pauline and I  had taken on in the past but strangely enough became less habitable the more work we did.

We had the usual fun and frustration of renovating with the added element of doing it in a foreign country.More of this later...

During the project we pretty much lived in two rooms during the summer a bedroom and the room which eventually became our study. This was our utilitarian room, kitchen,lounge and office, it was cosy. This was not a new experience for us so it was not such a hardship.After completing the project we decided that perhaps this may be as rentable as 'The Old Walnut Mill' and with three bedrooms we could increase our revenue stream. The only difficulty was that we knew the Barrou house rented well because of its character - the Le Grand Pressigny  house (Les Balcons) as a 1930's house was a different 'kettle of fish'! So what if we only offered this? Would we be killing our 'cash cow'?

We decided that in the first year we should test the market, so put both the houses up for rent and...as we said, live in the one that was not booked - seemed straightforward enough to us! The only problem was that by this time we had taken on the management of a second house 'Le Bourg' in Barrou.

This had come about as after meeting and becoming friends with its Canadian owner, who for a variety of reasons,not least the distance,was only using the house for a couple of weeks a year, asked if we thought  her house would be attractive to tourists. It was not a difficult question to answer, as with its riverside location and barn interior features it was a very good property for renting.

We marketed the houses on my 'tourist' site www.experienceloire.com with 'The Old walnut Mill' on our house site www.loirevalleyexperience.com (now hosting 'Les Balcons')and I made a new site www.loirevalleyexperiences.com that included the three houses.This did the trick and the three houses were equally popular -so we needn't have worried! This success however meant we moved depending on what was booked first.

So for 2012 we are staying put in our Barrou house with the added advantage of a project on our doorstep in the shape of our barn - all we need to do now is earn the money to get it finished.

Footnote: As it happens we had a lovely Australian couple in the 'Old Walnut Mill' for the first couple of weeks of the season as they asked to book it on recommendation before we took it of the market! It was just as well really as it did wonders for our cash-flow. Anyway never say never.

 .

Cat sitting...

David our French neighbour has gone to visit family in Paris for the weekend and asked us to look after his cat 'Rikiki'. This does not entail much other than putting some food out as she (the cat) like most of her species is very independent. When she is too late on returning from a 'night out' and it's past her curfew time she has taken to sleeping in our barn,not his, anyway so it will not be too traumatic a time for her.

 I had thought she was quite fond of me but her response at being told that I would be responsible for her, now has me doubting this!

We used to have cats and they were all different in the way they behaved. One 'Fluffy' who must have had a hard time out with his mates with a name like that, used to follow me down the road and sit by me as I waited for a lift to work, much to the amusement of my travelling companions. We had another 'Jasper' who thought he was human and demanded the same attention as the baby at the time -strange but lovely cat!

They are an interesting breed - we also have a cat in the village who has at least three different names and homes - it must be a mood thing.

Here is some cat trivia for your amusement (or not!)

Ailurophilia is the "love of cats."

There are more than 500 million domestic cats in the world, with 33 different breeds.

A cat's heart beats twice as fast as a human heart, at 110 to 140 beats per minute.

25% of cat owners blow dry their cats hair after a bath.

The domestic cat is the only cat species able to hold its tail vertically while walking.  All wild cats hold their tails horizontally or tucked between their legs while walking.

During her ‘productive life’, one female cat could have more than 100 kittens.

A single pair of cats and their kittens can produce as many as 420,000 kittens in just 7 years.

Sir Isaac Newton, discoverer of the principles of gravity, also invented the cat flap.

A cat will amost never "meow" at another cat.  This sound is reserved for humans.

The weirdest cat on record was a female called Mincho who went up a tree in Argentina and didn't come down again until she died six years later.  While treed, she managed to have three litters with equally ambitious dads.

People who own pets live longer, have less stress, and have fewer heart attacks.

The greatest number of mice killed by one cat?  28,899!  Towser, a tortoise-shell tabby in charge of rodent control in Scotland*, killed 28,899 mice in her 21 years.  This is about four mice per day, every day, for 21 years.  Towser died in 1987. *Don't think they mean the whole of the country!

The most popular names for female cats in the U.S. are Missy, Misty, Muffin, Patches, Fluffy, Tabitha, Tigger, Pumpkin and Samantha.

In French, cat is "Chat."  In German, your cat is "katze."   The Spanish word for cat is "gato," and the Italian word is "gatto."  Japanese prefer "neko" and Arabic countries call a cat a "kitte."

The Giraffe, Camel and Cat are the only animals that walk by moving both their left feet, then both their right feet, when walking.  This method of walking ensures speed, agility and silence.

A group of kittens is called a "kindle." (must be a nightmare trying to read)

A group of grown cats is called a "clowder."

Cats are the sleepiest of all mammals.   They spend 16 hours of each day sleeping.  With that in mind, a seven year old cat has only been awake for two years of its life!

Each year Americans spend four billion dollars on cat food.  That's one billion dollars more than they spend on baby food!

All the above must be true as I got them of the 'net - Mmmmm...

More progress...

The front of the barn roof is finished other than the 'lucarne' - now for the rear...

My little project...part I

With not having the funds to do much on our barn conversion at the moment I've had to look at what I can do without spending too much - jobs that mainly require time for example and use existing materials. Like the job to create what will be the litlle 'sitooterie'**. This new little project was to replace the roof on our little outhouse.

Neighbours have told us it was originally used as two animal sheds , thus the dividing wall down the middle, when most of the houses here would have been small farm houses with their small pieces of land somewhere outside the village.

As you can see time and neglect had taken its toll

The first job was to remove the dividing wall and repair the lintel over one of the openings which had been covered over by a fascia board to hide the damage behind it.

To be continued...

** 'Sitooterie' -  a place for alfresco dining.

Back to the wall...

 

With this fine spell of weather I am back to working on walls - this time it's the back wall of the barn at the Old Walnut Mill.It requires re-pointing, a project that the previous owner started over 12 years ago but only reached head height - only just getting round to it - what have I been doing with my time? Pauline,meanwhile,is working at putting the back garden to bed for the winter.

Returning to the Loire Valley and France...

We have started taking bookings for our vacation rental houses here in Southern Touraine and are delighted to report that we have returning guests in each of the houses, This is particularly pleasing as it confirms to us that the service we are offering must be along the right lines plus the area has so much to offer you just have to return. At 'Le Bourg' (which we manage) we have our 4 lovely american friends actually returning for their fourth time, having fallen in love with Barrou and the 'village' experience.

The houses:

'Old Walnut Mill'

The 'Old Walnut Mill' is a delightful 19th century 2 bedroom cottage in the village of Barrou in Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire France. The village sits on the banks of the river Creuse surrounded by rolling countryside. It has welcomed guests from around the world who have enjoyed the ‘French village experience’. In 2016 we had the pleasure of receiving gifted painters who enjoyed the many opportunities to capture images of this very pretty part of France. The house is within walking distance of the village amenities, the restaurant, boulangerie, butcher and convenience store.

 Cottage website

'Les Balcons' 

Quality two storey 3 bedroom  Loire Valley house for rent in the popular village of Le Grand Pressigny in the department of Indre et Loire, France. The village’s location makes it an ideal base to explore the Loire Valley, its chateaux and other delights as well many of the attractions of the neighbouring department of Vienne such as Futuroscope. The village itself has a restaurant, two bars, boulangerie (baker) boucherie (butcher) and épicier (grocer) pharmacy and newsagent all within walking distance of the house.

House website

'Le Bourg'

Lovely riverside barn conversion with separate 'petite maison'. The house is in the village of Barrou, in the department of Indre et Loire, France and as the name suggests 'Le Bourg' is located in the centre of the village. Its situation means you have the benefits of experiencing a small French village but you are also ideally placed to visit all the major attractions of the Loire valley plus some of the highlights of the neighbouring department of 'Vienne'

Riverside house website