This is an account or blog of our life here in Le Deshayes. We, Jo and Jonathan Turner, moved here in October 2004. Our first task was to renovate the adjoining workshop into a high quality Gite or holiday cottage. This we managed by Easter 2005 - the next two projects, the renovation of a development house for resale and the renovation of our own house, took a little while longer! We are now planning to construct a very low energy timber house on our field - our last big project! We hope you enjoy following the ups and downs of our life in France.
23 August 2010
We have been busy reducing the size of the house and attach the new plans, elevations and typical section. Hopefully cutting out 30% of the area will bring the costs back to a level we can afford - revised prices are now being sought and we will keep all our readers informed of progress!
15 August 2010
Okay - so we said that we were enjoying the rain, but enough is enough and the family currently in the Gite deserve some sunshine! We are going to the Spectacle du Nuit tonight at Guehebert, close to Le Deshayes. A cast of 200 present 20 scenes telling the history of Guehebert and the region. A night of lights and music - fantasy and fireworks (well that's what they say on the website!!). Should be fun, so long as the rain stops.
The house saga rumbles on - we looked at the various options to fund the increase in cost, but finally decided that rather than build such a huge house and risk our financial stability we will reduce the size of the house and bring the costs back to a level we could afford. So we are shuffling the layout around and taking out around 25 - 30% of the floor space. Some has been quite easy - the ground floor workshop has gone and we will build an inexpensive shed / workshop in the garden. But taking out that much space on the first floor is proving harder to achieve without seriously changing what we end up with!! Watch this space for the new plans and elevations.
It's been a strange year for the garden - weeks without rain and then lashings for the past week. The fruit trees are having a good year and we had loads of cherries - although oddly the birds haven't bothered to take them this year, we don't understand why not. There are lots of half eaten cherries on the ground, which in turn means loads of wasps!! Hey ho!
1August 2010
After weeks of hot and hunid weather we are now enjoying some rain - enjoying is perhaps not the right word, but living in this rural corner of France means that we are very aware of the ups and downs of farming life and this rain is long overdue. So we enjoy it - up to the point that the grass starts growing again!!
It's been good having clients in the Gite as so many of them are now good friends. Whilst this year has been the quietest since we first started and our income is therefore lower, it has given us more time to concentrate on the new house project, so not all is lost!!
Details and prices are being firmed up for the house build. We got a good price from our local roofer, including the two chimneys for the log fires, and the excellent guy from our village is preparing an estimate for the groundworks (including stripping the topsoil, excavating for the foundations, laying gravel for the access/parking area, forming the new access onto the site, etc). We are trying to keep the costs in check and hope to place orders shortly. As the frame guys have an eight week lead-in, this will still make late October achievable and give us time to get it weathertight before the winter weather sets in. The frame manufacturer, Turner Timber Frames, continue to impress us with sterling work trying to obtain the best prices for insulation, timber cladding, etc. They will include these materials on the lorries coming over with the frame components - excellent savings against the prices over here! More info as the project progresses.
27 June 2010
Elevations and Sections - please click on drawing to see a larger image
Good progress on the house. We had a weekend in England and visited the window and door supplier - Skaala (a Finnish company) and the likely frame supplier, Turner Timber Frames - no relation unfortunately, so no discount!! We spent three nights in Hull and had a good break. We plan to get the frame supplier to erect the frame, probably late September or early October. Still loads to resolve, especially agreeing a price with the roofer and starting the dig on site for the foundations - watch this space. Currently we have the farmer's cows on the plot keeping the grass down - so our poles showing the rough outline of the house have been dislodged, but at least the ground is being fertilized!!
Bookings for the Gite have been quiet this year - although it is the first year we have had all the summer holiday weeks booked, which is great!
6 June 2010
House Plans - click on a plan to see a larger image
May 2010
What great fun - getting in all the prices for our new house and actually planning to start digging the foundations in July! It's been a few years in the making, but we are now so close. We have prices from frame manufacturers in the UK to compare with the local French companies and a contact in Germany. We are also getting in prices for the timber components, so if need be we can build the frame ourselves - we have to know that our small budget is being used to the best advantage!
Enjoying a trip to Holyrood House in Edinburgh
For the past few weeks we have been distracted by Jonathan's 60th birthday celebrations. Organising a party for 70 people was quite a challenge, but well worth the effort. So many family and friends came over from the UK - amazing! Unfortunately two days after the party Jonathan developed vertigo - we thought it was just a fear of heights, but he lost the sense of balance - very worrying! Our doctor sent him to the local emergency department where he was given a MRI scan and then kept in for two nights - just for observation! Fortunately it has now passed, but it was a hard reminder that he had just turned 60!
So now it's back to work on the house - more prices to obtain, materials to be researched and details to finalise. We will sort out the plans and post them on here in the next blog.
10 February 2010
Good news on the new timber house front - our application for full planning approval (permis de construire) has been accepted by our Mairie or Town Hall - things tend to be done a local basis this side of the Channel. Okay, they did then ask us to complete the form regarding drainage as we will be installing the usual septic tank, but as the local expert has visited, taken some measurements, agreed where everything will go and completed the form for us - hopefully it should all sail through in the next two months. Although as this is France we expect they will find some minor issue or omission!!
Now that things are finally moving, we have been looking to find suppliers for the main materials and services. We prefer to use local people, but with our limited budget we will have to find the best prices even if they are from England, Germany or Eastern Europe! Trying to get responses after leaving messages on the manufacturers' web sites is proving difficult, but we will persevere.
At this time of year our biggest bug-bear is the state of the roads. The farmers are moving vast amounts of manure onto the fields in preparation for spreading it before the next crop of maize is planted. As the field are very wet and muddy, so are the roads - absolutely filthy!! It means the cars are all a similar colour, but as the region depends on these small farmers we mustn't grumble too much. It'll soon be spring and we can enjoy the early roadside flowers!
Wednesday 13 Jan 2010
After a week of snow and cold weather we finally managed to get out for a walk. This photo summed up the beauty of our snow covered landscape - just so long as you don't try and drive up the lane! The tracks are from our farmer's tractor.
Apart from the usual "must lose weight" new year resolution, we resolve to keep this blog up to date this year, so you can all follow our life in this tranquil corner of Normandy and the progress of our new house project. Apologies for the lack of entries for most of last year.
We have been planning our new timber house for a couple of years, but were delayed early last year by a refusal for outline planning due to issues with the supply of electricity. We thought this had been sorted out by our new Mayor when he came round with an approval. With the help of a local Architect we then prepared the necessary plans, etc, for the full planning application - the Permis de Construire. However, when we came to hand in the documents at the Mairie they told us to come back mid-January after the Council meeting where they would decide if they could afford to pay their share of getting electricity to the site - only in France! More in the next episode.
The best bit of the Christmas break was our son's wedding to his beautiful Shells in Ireland. The official registry office wedding on 31st December was great fun and followed by a super new years eve party. But the highlight of the visit was the blessing and reception on 2 Jan 2010. So well organised and such a memorable day - meeting family and friends, a great meal and dancing into the small hours! Loads of photos - many of them on Facebook (search for Jo's profile by using our email address) - but this is the best one of the happy couple:
We were tasked with making and decorating the cakes - a traditional fruit cake, a chocolate biscuit cake and a lemon sponge cake (Matt's favourite!). Great fun to do, although it was rather stressful having to transport them from France through England and on to Ireland!! Fortunately the ferries weren't too rough and everything arrived in good order. Everyone loved them, especially the amusing bride and groom on the top tier!
We hope to get a picture of the two of us in our wedding outfits soon and will add it to the next posting!
We are quite hopeful for Gite bookings this year. Last year was quiet at 16 weeks - but we already have 8 weeks booked or waiting for deposit cheques so far this year, pretty good for January! If we get going on the new house build in the spring we will need all the help we can get, so the more the merrier!!
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