Renovating a Gite in Brittany

Saint Robert

The pond has already started to go a little bit green. Slightly annoying after our mamouth cleaning effort. So this morning, because it was raining, we decided to do something about it. Some research about pond filters on the web, and we both head off to St Brieuc. St Brieuc is about 1 hour away and is the largest town (city ?) in Cotes D'Armor. There are two fish pond shops and a quick visit to each before lunch. Interestingly one recommended chemicals (about 100 euros worth) and the other shop recommended various bio filters and Ultra Violet lamps (about 300 euros worth). Careful consideration over lunch near Carrefour and we decided on the non-chemical solution. More expensive, but there is always that worry that you get the wrong dose or mess up the pH or some other finely balanced parameter.

Whilst waiting for the fish shop to open we had a browse around Carrefour. We both felt a bit like yokels in the big city. The place was huge ! and seem to sell everything. I expect it's much like K-Mart.

Anyway, back home to the country, and the system is in. A new pump, a bio filter box (basically a plastic box full of gravel) and an UV lamp the water passes over to kill the nasty bacteria. The pipework and general installation needs a little covering up with plants/rocks, but hopefully it should help to keep the pond clear and looking good. It's also good for the fish.

Still haven't found the chicken eggs !

Saint Catherine de Sienne

Chickens. When we moved to La Lohuas in December 2002, we inherited a menagerie of goats, rabbits, some chickens and a goose. The children who stay in the gites love feeding the animals and we have the additional bonus of free range eggs. A while back Caroline bought a few more young chicks to increase our egg production. We now have 8 chickens and regularly get 7 eggs a day; until the beginning of this week. The nest boxes have one or two eggs, but somewhere they are hiding their eggs. When we don't have guests staying in the gites we let the chickens roam. We've got about 4 acres, so the have plenty of space. The eggs also taste better, with rich golden yolks, when they are free to explore. The problem is, we think they have found somewhere else to lay in the grounds. The hunt is on !

After removing the green gates Caroline came up the idea to make some new railings that match the existing ones infront of the house and gites. These would temporarily replace the green gates and provide Caroline with something to hang pansies and geranimums on. So, off to the workshop to practice welding. I bought an electric arc welder a while ago, but haven't had any call to use it. I just spent half a dozen rods and nearly two hours cursing and swearing trying to weld. All that seems to happen is the rods stick to the work or the weld is so weak I would be better off using superglue. Argggg! More practice needed I think.

The veg patch is coming along nicely

Saint Valerie

Bits and bobs day. The worst part about lots of little jobs is having to cart all your tools around, and I always forget something. I think I spend as much time walking backwards and forwards to my workshop as I do actually performing the task. Thats not to mention the countless trips to the DIY stores to buy the appropriate parts.

Plumbed in the new washing machine we bought yesterday. The machine was on special offer in one of the out of town supermarkets. Often they have great 'deals' that are genuine bargins. There is usually a very limited supply, so if you go home to think about it, by the time you return they are all sold out.
The cold water supply isn't usually too much of a problem, it's the waste water that causes grief. Water doesn't seem to flow uphill very well.

Very occasionally the fosse septiques would smell when all the gites were occupied and they where particularly active. It wasn't a really bad smell, or intrusive, (you had to be stood next to the tank), but it needed attention. The problem was simply that the ventilation pipes on one of the tanks had broken off and the other was too short with no cap on it. The plastic tubing seems to get brittle after many years weathering and it had been snapped off some time ago. Apparently if the tanks are not vented correctly the gas build up from the bacteria can erode the concrete tank, so it's essential to have a very tall ventilation pipe to discharge any smell high up away from noses. Fortunately the tanks, and vents, are round the back of the house and next to a farmers field. So a relatively simple job, lengths of 100mm tube, fixings and new caps etc. Now it smells as sweet as a rose garden.

Water butts plumbed together to collect 'free' water. Last year we used loads of tap water to water various new plants, hanging baskets, pots etc. We estimate about 400 euros worth. Water here is more expensive than in the UK, it's about 1 euro per cubic meter, however there are no sewerage charges due to the septic tanks. Just need to hook up a pump and voila, a few more euros saved.

This evening I hope to trim long grass under new leylandii hedge. Rather foolishly we didn't buy any of the porous plastic matting to prevent week growth. My attempts at strimming the saplings has already claimed 1 plant after stripping the bark with a slight slip of the hand. We are going to have to clear the growth by hand then mulch with something. There are 60 young trees, but we are definitely going to keep on-top of these after the hedge trimming episode last week. http://radio.weblogs.com/0136203/2004/04/19.html

Saint Zita

Nice warm day again so a bit more gardening and an unplanned job. The fish pond has been getting more and more cloudy over the past few months. However this last week it went so green and cloudy (because the pond is in full sun) that we couldn't see the fish at all. So sleeves up, wellies on and a major clean up. After extracting the 5 Koi Carp into several Sainsbury boxes, we had a good pressure washing and scrubbing session. The tired 'nymphette' statue was removed and replaced with 2 bronze cranes. Replanted and split a few plants and lilies. Hopefully they should provide some shade to stop it going green if they don't get eaten by the fish. A very satisfactory days work and a definite improvement.

Saint Alida

I was reading some more of 'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel last night and I came across the following short section,

Why do people move? What makes them uproot and leave everything they've known for a great unknown beyond the horizon? Why climb this Mount Everest of formalities that makes you feel like a beggar? Why enter this jungle of foreignness where everything is new, stange and difficult?
The answer is the same the world over: people move in the hope of a better life.

I read it to Caroline and we started to ask ourselves the same questions. It has been very difficult over here, like climbing Mount Everest sometimes, the culture, the language, a whole different attitude to life. But yes, it has been worth it. I am sure we have found a better life for the whole family. The new circle of friends, French and English, have all made us very welcome and feel part of the community.

A visit to the coiffure tomorrow. It's always an interesting trip. My French language is limited to DIY products, not hair cutting techniques !

I looked at the themometer this morning and yesterday it reached 24°. Today felt warmer.

Souvenir des Deportes

Caroline went out to a soiree last night in the local village. We have been to several since coming to France and they generally follow the tried and trusted formula. About 200 people are invited to the local village hall to start at 8pm. Nobody arrives until about 9pm, then it's a 5/6 course meal with fizz, white wine, red wine and finished by coffee. There is usually a live band (often with an accordian player) and possibly a 'disco' at the end. Finish time is about 2am.

At first glance it seems like a long evening, but the pace is lesiurely and the wine flows steadily, along with the conversation. Quite often there is dancing and mingling between courses. They are all very relaxed and extremely enjoyable. If you ever get invited and havn't been before I would recommend going.

Anyway, last night Caroline got some useful advice, 'Do not take off your clothes in April'! The reason being if it is warm enough in April to strip off then the sun is too strong. Advice I could of used yesterday. Gardening in just shorts was a big mistake. This morning my back is red and quite tender ! I think I'll keep my shirt on until May

Added “NewGite” to stories. Let us see how it unfold over the coming months.

Farmers out early this morning planting maize. They were also working the fields late last night under headlights. Looks like this is the weekend for planting now the soil has warmed up a bit.
These spurts of activity happen often. A few weeks ago there was suddenly more tractors than cars racing around with muck and slurry spraying and covering the fields. They seem to go mad for a few days working 12 hour shifts then nothing obviously visible to the untrained eye. I guess when the time is right you take advantage.

Schumacher in total control. Michael Schumacher wins the San Marino Grand Prix for his fourth victory in a row. [BBC Sport | Motorsport | UK Edition]
Quel Suprise.

Nice steady day, bit of work in the garden and out this afternoon with the children to Betineuc lake. It's a small lake with a man made beach that is only a couple of minutes away. Ideal for a quick trip out after a late lunch to help the kids sleep.

Button takes first F1 pole. Jenson Button beats Michael Schumacher in San Marino Grand Prix qualifying. [BBC Sport | Motorsport | UK Edition]
As a bit MS fan, but also an Englishman, I'm really pleased for Button. Hope for a good race tomorrow.

Fabulous weather today. Apart from watching qualifying we both spent all day in the garden catching up on strimming, planting, tidying up etc. Having 4 acres to manage is almost a full time job in itself.

Saint Fidele

This morning I shifted a load of fairly large rocks to create a new rock garden. I do the hard landscaping and Caroline does all the planting.  It needs a bit of colour but that will come.

St Georges

The green gates are history. All chopped up and disposed of. All in all it looks much better without the gates, really opens the place up.

Finally finished the hedge trimming for the friend with a holiday home. Looks got but it was hard work. It took about two days, as estimated, but because of the weather and other commitments the elapsed time was quite a bit longer.

A job I have been putting off for ages is tidying up my workshop. Well I say workshop, it's more of a dumping ground for all my tools, and various other junk. Screws, nails, wood, pipework, stuff. The problem is I have been so busy I just dump everything in the workshop and walk away. It does cause quite a few problems searching for things. So this afternon I spent a few hours sorting all the tools and tidying everything up. It's amazing what 'lost' items turn up. Just got to try to keep it that way.

Hugh went to the cinema today with school and saw 'The Three Eskimos' in French. Well we think thats what he saw. Both the children have loads of outing with school to zoos, theaters, cinemas, etc. Along with the three course lunches and two hours afternoon naps, it sounds fantastic.

Saint Alexandre

Bit of disaster last night. Between the barn and one of the gites is a very large (20 foot by 30 foot) metal agricultual gate. It's handy cos there is some hard standing behind the gate which I use to store my concrete mixer, piles of gravel and sand etc. General building stuff, out of sight. However last night I closed the gate and the wind caught it, and pulled the top hinge that was concreted into the wall out slightly. This morning I opened the gate and 'ping' top hinge come right out of the wall. So this morning a quick phone call to Ian round the corner to help me lift the thing safely down onto the ground. There's no way to repair it and it was going to be removed after the summer anyway once the renovation had started on the barn to turn it into two more gites. SO looks like I'm going to be busy with the angle grinder chopping the thing up tomorrow to take to the recycling depot. Not to mention the extra tidying up of the 'junk' that was hidden behind the gate. It's most probably a blessing in disguise, as we will plant a load of tubs with flowers to brighten up the hard standing area and make the surrounding for the adjacent gite more pleasant. A premature job, but one that was lower down on the list (5 months lower).

Caroline managed to mow some of the lawns because we have had a few dry days on the trot. The weather this week has been much cooler with frequent showers. It made last week seem like summer. Between us we have also planted a row of hedging, lonicera, from some cuttings that Caroline took in the Autumn from a friends hedge. Just about every cutting survived and we now have 50 very small bushes to plant.

A tough French lesson today. I haven't spoken much French in the last three weeks so I was very rusty. The lycee in Dinan run a French conversion group during school term time. Caroline goes to a different French lesson (for advanced students!) and she said her's was 'easy' , but she speaks French most days. Like most things in life, a little and often seems to be the key.

No golf tomorrow. One of the players best friends, Martin, got rushed into hospital this morning with a lung infection. The postponement might give me a chance to get some practise in. Speedy recovery to Martin.