Back to France to find all the works undertaken by Jean Marc Sentenac complete. A few hours were required making cable connections and levelling the rocks and bits of concrete slab in the in the garage, whilst Susie set to tidying and planning the garden.

 Susie's Wisteria

Garage floor starting to be levelled out ready for concreting

Our first job was to prepare the walls of the gite for the chaux chanvre with a splatterdash coat of sand and lime which the french call a "gobetis" Susie and I donned our disposable boiler suits and glasses (the lime is quite caustic) and in an afternoon we had covered all the walls.

Susie and I putting on the the "gobetis" or splatterdash

Whilst we waited for it to dry and for the delivery of chaux and chanvre we tidied up around the gite, built a fence and set up some hinge pins where we can hang the middle shutters of the kitchen window when not required to open up the view from inside...a small but noticeble improvement tot he view from the kitchen. 

Middle shutters removed from the kitchen

External works at the gite

The tonne of chaux and 13 bales of chenevot arrived and after unloading and then transporting to the barn we commenced the chaux chanvre with Phil from the Moulin d'Aleu who I'd roped in to help us. Our first was carefully prepared following the instructions but was way too runny. We were at a bit of a loss as to what to do as it wouldn't stick to the walls. Eventually I went to see Lionel who was working at chez Philippe and Sophie's and he suggested pressing the mix onto the wall rather than throwing it. This seemed to work a bit better, but over the course of three more mixes and by weighing the chanvre, we arrived at a good mix which we can throw or smear as the location dictates. This first coat is 2-3 cm thick and left rough, ready to receive a second coat which we will have to polish with a "taloche" to make it smooth.

Chenevot or chopped chanvre

 First coat of chaux chanvre....what a job!

Assainissiment, joints, placoplatre, arbres, l'eau et l'éléctricité

It's been all go with the (unscheduled) arrival of Jean-Marc Sentenac to install the fosse septique and services. In two days almost everything is in place with just the cables to be pulled and the excavations to be refilled. In addition we've installed the water main, moved pile of huge chestnut tree trunks and felled and removed the large dead chestnut.

Inside the gite I've finished 95% of the plasterboarding, completed all the pointing and just a some first fix plumbing to do before Susie and I can start the chaux-chanvre on Monday week.

Blue tits nesting in the wall of the barn....the parents are both frantically feeding the new chicks. They arrive and depart so fast the shutter just can't open fast enough, it took 65 photos and 45 minutes to get a couple of reasonable ones.

Cette entretien provisoire a fait par Orange (France Telecom) en mai 2010. 6 années plus tard il est encore la. Peut etre c'est pourquoi je perds ma connexion internet 4 ou 5 fois par jour?

Back to a France, raining today but the weather set to improve. As usual this time of year the everywhere is very green and even though I've only been away a couple of weeks the grass has grown 12 inches. The crop of dandelions keeps the bullfinches happy.

In the barn I found a black redstart's nest with 5 eggs (one removed in the photo). I'm not sure when it made it or how it got in but the eggs are cold and there's no sign of the parents.

The fields and newly laid hedges are full of life and the kiwi's are at last getting going with some new shoots from the base of the plants.

Lots of pointing to be done this trip which is already underway and hopefully the plasterboarding too.

Sprung and East Prawle

Susie's last SPRUNG dance show at KEVICC last week. Two nights of beautiful contemporary dance and many lovely tributes to Susie (who set up the dance department 16 years ago). Some of her ex-students, now professional dancers, came back to perform at the Thursday night show.

Susie's Improvisation

Saskia and Maya dance their piece "Kylian Style"

Scenes from Susie's choreography - "Window Dresser" - for the Rambert competition

Lewis and Anders - Alumnii now professional dancers perform for Susie's last "Sprung" dance show

On the bank holiday afternoon a walk with the Dare's at East Prawle visiting the remains of the wreck of "The Demetrios" which hit the rocks there in 1992. 

Back in the UK for a couple of weeks. 99% the electrical first fix got completed for I left. Most the distribution is at first floor level and will be boxed-in (except for junction boxes which have to be accessible). Next trip will be to carry out the plaster boarding and pointing ahead of the chaux-chanvre (lime and hemp). 

The seasons are a bit behind France in the UK this year, trees are only just coming into leaf and the bluebells are out.

Last few days have been spent doing the first fix electrics and fitting an old salvaged door to make everything secure. It's a abit of a drag but another day should see it all finished, then its on with pointing ahead of chaux-chanvre on the next trip.

 Too many sockets!

Distribution board progressing

A return to hot sunny weather with the South wind blowing. The trees are getter greener and the snows are rapidly reducing.

Barn/gite works continue to occupy my every waking hour - I put an old piece of 6" flue pipe through the wall at the stove location - the flue is actually 5" so effectively this is a sleeve. That took most of the day as the hole is four feet (120cm) long and as it goes through the wall at 45 degrees it was quite a job to remove stones without the whole wall coming down - plus of course it has to line up with where the hole is in the roof! Once in, the wall was carefully rebuilt around the flue.

The last window in the old gable was also installed. The old one was was more frame than glass and didn't let in much light. It was also fitted within the oak frame (so had so had gaps around it), the new one is slightly larger and fits into a newly cut rebate. I also cut a proper sub-cill out of the oak wall plate.  All in all this means it is much better weatherproofed and draft sealed. First fix electrics have also started.

As most the electrics are distributed via the first floor, I had to empty it of the 90 bundles of thatch that were stored there. I managed to make 4 mini bales, which are just about moveable by hand.

In the garden everything is bursting into leaf including our kiwi which at last looks like it's getting going. the newly laid hedge is budding and it's oak before ash this year so it looks like a dry summer. 

I knocked off early (5.00) and went for walk - Biech / Col de Boulogne / Cane / Biech. Was hoping to find some morels - no chance.