crisp christmas weather

Winter solstice, and the weather is beautiful.  Cold and crisp but warm enough to work in a T shirt in the sunshine, especially if there is something energetic to be getting on with.

It’s been raining loads, so the ground is rather wet to work unnecessarily, so I have been tempted to start clearing part of the ruin where my new house is going to be.  It’s the first time I’ve done any work on this area, as my priority has been the productive garden areas of the plot until now.  

I decided early on that it would be best to get a lot of long term planting done as soon as possible so that whilst building work is continuing, all the trees and shrubs can get on with growing.  Once the house is complete they will already be a decent size and hopefully the orchard will start to be productive.  All my fruit trees are happily settling in, along with thirty or so evergreen shrubs that I purchased to replace or bulk up the hedge to the windward side of the property.  The sooner there is a decent windbreak there the better.  I still have hedges to plant, but am waiting to clarify the boundaries with the neighbouring farmer before I go ahead and order the plants as I don’t want to get them in the wrong place.  Hopefully they’ll go in this season, if not next year will have to do.

newly planted fruit trees 

new raised beds (under construction)

the new drive, complete with planting, in the winter sun

no point clearing all the brambles!!!

they should grow well with this view I would have thought

So I started clearing the ruin, the safer part where the walls have already fallen.  The brambles went in a couple of hours but the next stage is going to take somewhat longer.  It’s fine, as I can’t get on with much else, there isn’t a rush to start building as the final permissions will be another three or four months in the processing and it’s great to have the opportunity to salvage as much as possible.

There are loads of whole roof tiles which I’ll add to the earlier collection.  Plenty of broken ones too which will make excellent sub base around the site when the time comes.  Hefty, solid timbers, ideal for garden structures or raised bed construction, more rotten bits for experimental projects (check out Hugelcultur, a method of vegetable cultivation that mounds soil over rotten timbers, the rotting wood releases nutrients, retains moisture and yet allows for a free draining soil.  With free materials on site, I thought I might make a couple of beds to see how it works).  Then there are all the unknown bits and pieces underneath the rubble.  Who knows what may be lurking below and by taking a bit of time, I’ll be more likely to find things in tact than if a bulldozer gets anywhere near the site.  Going on a treasure hunt.

It’s great to be working now, during the shortest days, to see how the light works its way round the plot and where the sunny and shaded areas are.  The sun is at it’s lowest in the sky and, whilst it’s strength is weak, it is of the most benefit for passively heating the inside of buildings during the cold winter months.  I checked this out and am very pleased to see that my kitchen and bathroom windows get sunshine all afternoon and till just after five in the evening, almost to sunset, maximising the effect of those warming rays.  The house won’t roast in summer because the windows become shaded by a balcony when the sun is higher in the sky.  If that isn’t enough, some climbing plants will soon be planted to give a little extra shade.

this bit of old wall is where my new kitchen window will be, it's 15:55 on 21/12/14  sunny till the end

exploring in the remains of a barn

Percy in the evening light with new 'keep clean' walkway to the chalet

just a little clearing to do

I’ll post some sketches and plans of the house right soon, so that you can all have a good look, ask questions, make suggestions and generally give it a good going over to see that it all makes sense.  I’ve been living imaginarily inside it for some time, yet still find details that don’t work and improvements that can be easily added at this stage of the proceedings.  Hopefully my next post, I just need to get some paperwork from on site.

it's caught on here too!!

to you all

So, that’s it for now.  A slightly belated Christmas to you all, I write on Boxing Day (Dec 26th) and with the sun shining am heading right back out there to carry on.  Best wishes and much love.  xxxxx

percy needs an MOT

Percy is due for his MOT, so I’m heading back to the UK for a bit.  I booked the trip ages ago, thinking that I would have been well and truly installed in Vieuzos, but paperwork has been slow and my departure feels far too swift, I’ve hardly got my feet on the ground and I’m heading off again.  But go I shall and will make a good trip of it too.

The journey started well, with the dates of a new month not corresponding with the days of the week, so I set of a day early, thinking my ferry was on Tuesday the 2nd, and not on the Wednesday when it actually departs. I had an extra day to get to Calais. The early start was not without reason, as I was to find out en route.  First stop, Chalets Tendille on the outskirts  of Toulouse, to pay deposit for my chalet.  There was an offer on special offer, almost the exact same building that I had chosen, but in a thicker and so more solid insulating wood, with higher quality window and doors, floor included (the other model it was extra) all for less that my original choice.  Even with an additional window I am saving on my original purchase price.  I had nearly put a cheque in the post to save time!!

Chalet ordered, my next scheduled stop was at the channel, some four days later, so I took my time.  An online calculator suggested that the journey, using motorways, should take about 12 hours.  I tend not to use paid motorways, as my speed doesn’t warrant the extra expense, plus it’s rather nice to see some of the countryside up close and pass through some of the smaller interesting towns along the way.  I increased my driving by half to 18 hours and wasn’t far out.  With a few diversions taken into account it actually took 19.5 hours for the 817 mile journey, comfortably spread over four days with plenty of time to stop off along the way.

To break the journey I did gardens, gardens of all shapes and sizes, in search of inspiration and ideas for when I get going.  The first, a newly opened site, linked to the art  museum of Cecile Sarbourdy , an interesting concept of entertainment and ecological ideas, demonstrating green manures, a mixed fruit orchard, herb gardens and a demonstration garden of the huge variety of plants within the cabbage (brassica) family, along with more formal, established gardens to the front of the museum.  A fascinating idea and somewhere I’d like to revisit in a few years to see how it develops.

part of the cabbage collection

an orchard, the first season after planting

green manures, planted for all to see.  Thew will be dug in to the
ground or composted before the seed sets.

an older formal part of the gardens

Getting on

There may be silence here for a while as there is no electricity, or phone connection, no WIFI  

Do nothing for the evening...... likely story.  When I arrived the weeds were between waist and shoulder high, so I set too, immediately, with the strimmer and cleared a driveway in, space to set up camp, paths around the site and to the fruit bushes that I had planted earlier in the year.  Only then did I crack open a bottle of fizz and celebrate, before collapsing into bed and sleeping very soundly.

It’s been non stop since then, clearing and trying to make sense of what order to do things in.  I thought as much before, but it’s blatantly obvious that living in a camper van isn’t as practical after a day clearing brush in the rain.  The challenge isn’t so much me, it’s keeping the van in some sort of order, having somewhere to put wet clothes to dry, to change and still keep the tiny living area clean and dry to relax and sleep in.  Rather like camping, life becomes a constant juggle of logistics on a miniature scale.  Fun, but not for the long term.  A temporary solution is necessary in the form of a wooden shed/chalet that I can use as a store, summer kitchen and workshop, whilst leaving Percy clear for leisure and a comfortable bed.  It’ll make a big difference not having to pack everything up every time I head out to shop or visit folk.

My early investigations suggested that there was a concrete base under the remains of the pig sties, so clearing that, along with planting the vegetable garden has been my priority for the last three weeks.  Unfortunately no concrete base, just a narrow path between the two sets of sties, but at least it’s clean and tidy now, plenty of reclaimed wood and tiles for reuse and a nursery bed for small plants that I am bound to acquire along the way.  

The veggie plot appears to be an immediate success, well, at least a good start, we’ll see how it progresses through the season.  All my tiny seedlings have been successfully transplanted, along with a carpet of vegetable sowings.  I took a suggestion from an interesting book I am reading on permaculture, that suggested that a variety of seeds should be sown across the area and as early crops are harvested, space is then left for longer maturing varieties.  Rather experimental and an exciting concept if it works.  I’ll keep you posted.

Percy is being kept busy in our new live 

a few whole tiles that I saved from the pig sty

my concrete path to no where

cleared and ready for a temporary home

my nearest neighbour, any ideas of a name?

ten days in....

ten days in and I find myself unexpectedly in an internet cafe, having read loads of comments on my last post asking how I am getting on, so a quick visual tour of things I have done and I shall write further now that I have charged my computer.  Life is rather basic, but very enjoyable here for the moment.

Strimmed everywhere just to get in

the veggie plot I dug this spring

cleared of weeds, the fruit bushes survived (to left)

with these, that I planted earlier

turned into this in a couple of days

from this

to this, an old pig shed

thrown in for nothing,  completely hidden with brambles

outdoor living

revisits to Nic and Brigitte and on....

And then to Nic’s for a week, more of a catch up visit and to see how he’s getting on with the various projects that he has on the go.  I haven’t been to the tower for a couple of years so it’ll be interesting to see the changes.

In fact Nic has been concentrating on another property he has in the village with the idea of selling it on to finance further developments of the main building, that way he can do it properly without scrimping to get decent materials.  He has spent most of his time refurbishing the house, which is coming close to being ready to go on the market.

It has been a great week,  sorting out the ground outside and sowing grass seed for a lawn, scraping ceilings in preparation for a coat of paint, putting up stair banisters.  He enjoys me being here as I take over the kitchen and give him a good break from cooking, which he finds tedious and struggles with inspiration for meals.  I’ve loved throwing together meals with minimal ingredients on an ever more healthy theme.  Each time I visit, we find that our knowledge of food has increased and we both err towards a more natural, home produced diet.  This time cows milk products have been struck off the list, goat and sheep cheeses and yoghurts are still allowed, the reasoning being that unless very locally produced, the poor cows are now fed an increasingly unnatural diet of grains, industrial food processing waste, live inside for most of the year and are kept going with antibiotics and a range of productivity enhancing drugs.  The natural grass diet of a cow is becoming a rarity rather than the norm.

Enough of that for now.

I continue writing ten days later, having not had chance to use the wifi before moving on.  

The last week at Brigitte’s was wonderful, so nice to return and help a lovely lady and good to see that she is well on the mend after a winter of illness.  The aim was to help get the garden up and running again, but I was beaten to the post by Gareth who had arrived earlier in the year for a couple of weeks  but has decided to stay, almost indefinitely by the sounds of things, and is busy settling into the region.  

Gareth is a great gardener and he’d gotten most of it under control, a botanist by training and brilliant at wild plant foraging, so as you can imagine, our conversations were in-depth, endless and fascinating for the two of us, both learning loads from each other.  I don’t think I have eaten so many different wild plants in such a short period ever, mainly a tasting, but occasionally more of a meal, including the ever popular nettle soup and several almost completely wild salads.  

We got on and did several jobs that were much easier done with a couple of pairs of hands.  Replacing the roof on a sun terrace awning, clearing and strimming an enormous patch of semi wild land near the property and burning loads of garden waste, chatting on for most of the time. A third helper arrived too, Trina, a canadian, who helped out more with spring cleaning and sorting out the cellar and summer house whilst I was there.  It was as interesting week language wise, with Brigitte and I being accustomed to speaking french to each other whilst Gareth and Trina in the early learning stages, we swapped back and forth between english and french continually which was great for everyone.  

I was sad to leave after a week, two or three would have been much more agreeable, but I was on a promise and have had a long long drive to get where I am now.  It’s not that far on the map, as the crow flies, but climbing mountain roads takes time in a van like Percy, going up is slow and down is no better, gently does it so as not to overheat the breaks - it smells terrible and is slightly worrying when smoke billows from the wheels when you stop, so a low gear is more the order of the day.  1200m was the first pass then a long descent before climbing almost immediately to 850m and down again.  

I’m somewhere in the Ardeche, south of Lyon, high in the hills with marvelous views, helping a Belgian family build their first ever straw bale house that has only just begun.  I’ll tell you more next time......

It's starting well, 2014

I know, I know, it’s been over a month since I last wrote and I am starting to get emails from close friends checking that I am OK.  Yes, all is well with me, I’ve just been rather busy and not often with internet access.  

The second week of January, I stayed with my good friend Pierre in the mountains, we skied twice, went out on racquets in the snow and generally enjoyed a few cold and sunny days in winter wonderland, though, after November the scenery wasn’t quite as spectacularly snowy.  We even spent a day at Chalet Lou Rider with Clare and her team which was great.  A really good crowd, great fun, but with all that is going on with my land purchase, I am glad that I’m not there this year. 

On that front, things are progressing slowly.  Problems with a farmer neighbour (involving the present owner) have been sorted and all that is needed now is a reply to a legal letter confirming the outcome.  I met the farmer a couple of weeks ago and we have agreed ongoing rights of passage and his use of part of my future land, for an indeterminate period of time, this is an additional area that the present owners are pleased to sell rather than the initial plot.  

For two weeks I have been working flat out with a semi professional team, endeavoring to finish the ground floor plastering of Pierlo and Sandrine’s house as quickly as possible due to a change in family circumstances..  I’ve helped them periodically during the last four years and when I discovered that their son, Jules, had been in a swimming accident last autumn and is still quite disabled, decided to lend a hand.  He suffered an apnea attack as he dived into the pool and was without air for some time before he was rescued.  His lungs did not fill with water, so he had not drowned, but still, spent a couple of months in a coma.  He is slowly gaining his senses, movement and comprehension, but it appears that it may take several years before he returns to some sort of normality.  A huge shock and life changing for the family.  They hope to get Jules home as soon as it is in a fit state to receive him and a great group of friends are rallying round to give support. I’ll no doubt be back to help from time to time, but for the moment have committed myself to another project.

I am back with Cherry and Chris, where I stayed over Christmas and the New Year, where I planted over a hundred trees in the autumn and house sat on a couple of occasions.  They move house at the start of March and have an enormous list of chores.  The offer of £££ for extra hours was a tempting one, so I am working more than full time for them till the end of the month.  The new house is in the process of being renovated and will be no where near ready , so I shall be heading back to  give Pierlo a hand when I finish here.

Looking further into the spring, hopefully I will have signed for the purchase of the land by then, I have 2-4 months for searches and official paperwork before completion.   There are already three possible straw bale building projects available that want help (more arrive as we get closer to spring) and with Percy at the ready I am easily able to move from place to place to head off and lend a hand, learn still more skills and better formulate how I plan to proceed.  Hopefully the current owners will allow me to plant a vegetable plot during the transition period so I am not too far behind with the season and then in early summer there is the possibility of a 6 day professional course in straw bale building near La Rochelle.  I can use the trip north to visit other friends on route and then head back to the UK for Percy’s MOT and a long awaited visit.

Not sure how it’s all going to pan out and in what order it’s all going to happen but its going to be a challenging, exciting and demanding year.  I am almost bursting with anticipation and am finding it difficult to hold back on planning and getting stuck in to my next chapter.  I must be patient and bide my time until the formalities are over.  There’ll be plenty of time afterwards for it all to unfold.

snow capped Pyrénées

winter sunset

my current abode

Suzy, the bestest french dog I know

stripey

Suzy

newly planted beech hedge

the new residence

percy in the snow

The snow remained pretty much everywhere from that morning on.  I left later that day for a week in the UK, fully prepared to return to a damp grey valley, how wrong I was.  It had continued to snow sporadically throughout the week and as I returned to the mountains became increasingly worried about retrieving Percy from his mountain hideaway so that we could continue our travels.  Way down at 500m there were mounds of snow on the sides of the roads, evidence that the snow ploughs had been out already.  Further into the mountains, climbing, there was more snow than I could remember from previous years when arriving at the start of the ski season.  Now, there was another month to go and it looked like a midwinter scene.  The tiny road up to Barrancoueu, Pierre’s village, was clear, just, with deep snow everywhere around,  it was odd to see the poor trees struggling under thick coats of snow, still clinging on to their autumn leaves and fields that had been vibrant green not that long ago transformed into a black and white wonderland.  Time to get out there and enjoy.

all covered in snow

a good bit of insulation!!

ferme de hameau de pau

I returned to Francoise and Vincent in Pau for an autumnal week.  It was great to see them again and I was welcomed like a good friend.  As we chatted away during the first evening I was surprised and very pleased to hear that Francoise thought that my french was better than it had been in the spring.  Slowly but surely my grey cells are absorbing a new language.

Vincent and I got on with chores around the property, pruning hedges and shredding the resulting branches, picked the last of the raspberries and prepared the fattened rabbits for the freezer.  It was great to learn a new skill, though sombre at the same time.  I can give a graphic account if you want or just say that I now know how to dispatch, skin, clean and prepare a rabbit for the oven or pot.  It wasn’t as difficult or complicated as I had imagined and to see how fast the whole process happened not as onerous a task either.  So, in the future, when rabbits decimate my garden I shall know exactly what to do with them..

percy in front of the gite

the route up to lac bleu

lac bleu

We spent a day trekking in the mountains, took time out to check out the second hand stores in town, cycling out into the country to find a café, which was closed, a great ride anyway. Visited the opening of a community gardens. Helped some friends with their self build eco house.  I could stay with Francoise and Vincent for ages, but as they live in the wettest town in France, I have to move east to find somewhere somewhat drier.  That said, I left with plenty of leads and a gathering of estate agents to visit.

amazing autumn colours

Vincent and Francoise harvesting beans.  Haricot de Bearn to be exact.

interesting landscaping ideas, mixing old with new

cycling out, with the mountains in the distance

the first raised bed for Vincent's new no dig garden

biarritz

Biarritz has been a fairly topic of conversation when beaches and surfing has been mentioned in the past, so as I was passing closer than I had ever been, it seemed a shame not to take the opportunity to visit.  The weather was still exceedingly warm and sunny for the time of year, so I headed there immediately I had crossed the border.

A smart, well proportioned beach town, with cliff top hotels, a casino, interesting shops and plenty of moneyed inhabitants.  Interesting when mixed with a large beach bum/surfing population who lived for the next storm and the perfect wave, a can only imagine that both parties tolerate each other and get on one way or another.  With Percy I didn’t fit into either category, but into the weird and wonderful world of the motor home traveler, not that I really feel at home there either.  Just as well as I spend very little time in the allotted camper van parking area as the town and beach are so much more enjoyable.  

The sea was rough with brilliant waves for surfing.  I momentarily wished that I had packed my wet suit and body board, but logistically there really isn’t room.  Swimming is a close second, though after the med last month and the chilly river beaches I had enjoyed in Portugal I severely braced myself for the freezing atlantic waters.  What a pleasant surprise, in comparison to icy river dips, the sea felt warm and playing in the waves was great fun, I lasted a good half hour before feeling the chill and quickly warmed myself in the sun afterwards.  A couple of mornings cycling round the town and the afternoons beach side was a great treat and a wonderful way to pass my birthday, I treated myself to a cliff top restaurant meal to celebrate the passing of another year and the renewed opportunity to further my plans.  Tomorrow the search would become No:1 on the agenda once again.

spot the surfer

the southern side of town

sunset over the spanish coastline

funky modern aquarium

18 October 2013.  birthday boy.

yes Milady, I stayed in Milady