This is just so far out of date! I need to do a serious re-write, first sections is coming together nicely, kitchen is nearly done, bedroom almost finished, this week will see “nearly” and “almost” finished 
things are finally back on track, this week we have been tiling, plastering, wiring and cutting back trees.
we are hoping to be able to start preparing the vegy patch soon, we have now come up with a great plan to irrigate it from the moat, we have been getting all out seeds, potatoes, unions etc, I must find some time to put the greenhouse up : )
Long time no blog! sorry guys, its been hectic, not much done on the castle I’m afraid, we have been busy with work, then the weather as been unusually bad, and to top it all we was hit quite badly with the storm last week, 150km winds, we lost power and phone for 2 days, some damage done to the barn, but all in all we was lucky.
Well, its finally time to get back at it, Rachael and I went to brico last week to get 60 sheets of plasterboard, only to find when we got 35 in the van it was looking very low on the suspension so we left it at that.
We also got a load more cable, including TV coax and communication cable, turns out we have to have a networking socket and TV aerial in every room to comply with the regs (obviously dreamed up before they invented wifi)
So tomorrow is unloading day, we are going to unload the van in the morning then take the rest of the day off, first day off for months, then next week its full steam ahead.
Happy new year everyone, thats it for another year : )
Today is day 2 of being a non smoker, yesterday was hard work, but today is a little better, i had purchased a electronic cig to help me along if things got difficult, but that was about 6 months ago, leaving it stood doing nothing doesn’t seem to have done it much good and it doesn’t seem to be working, we popped out today and got some lozengers : )
The weather as been quite bad lately, last week we got snowed in at a friends house for 4 days, really strange for this area, normally we never see snow, and on the rare occasion we do it never sticks.
So with a hectic social calender for the festive season we have decided to leave work on the château until the new year and enjoy a well earned break.
We don’t have anymore holiday workers due until the new year, so its Christmas at Colin and Janice’s 24/25 and if the weather is fine we may spend the 26/27 finishing their roof, then we have a party to go to on the 28th, then Kevin and Patricia’s for the new year.
So on that note I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and wish you all the best for the new year.
Chris
Wilmer, our pot bellied pig
Ive had a lot of work to do the last few days, work on the internet I mean, so not done as much on the castle as i would have liked.
Wilmer our pot bellied pig who follows me everywhere came to work with me today, unfortunately she isn’t much help, she is content to lye on the bridge in the sun or sit and watch me working.
Our Pygmy goats, Billy, Milly and Cher have moved out YIPPEE…..
I’m a little sad to see them go, but i wont miss the smell of Billy. It was difficult as sometimes we are away for a few days and although we have someone who feeds the animals while we are away, the goats have been getting out with the moat being dry.
The B Brothers (one of our neighbours) was getting sick of them eating their flowers.
We delivered them to their new home yesterday, Marion, a English woman who lives about 15mins from us as them, she as all kinds of animals and a couple of big fields for them to run around in.
Its great to be able to leave the front door of the castle open while I’m working, in the past if i did that i would soon smell that tell tale smell that Billy was near.
So now its just the three cats and Wilmer the pot bellied pig. I’m trying to talk Rachael in to 100 chickens, but thats another story!
Well, not much done on the castle this week as ive had internet work to do, I had plastered one of the walls in the bathroom, but the plaster that i used that we thought was a 2 hrs drying time, set in 15mins so it was a rush but i got it done, then the other day Rachael (who is fluent French) came in and Read the plaster sack, turns out its not plaster, its plasterboard Glue! so thats why it set in 15mins, anyway it dried OK : ), then I plastered one of the bigger walls the other day, with plaster this time, much easier : )
Just a quick update showing the progress on the ground floor of the first section of the castle, sorry its a little dark, Ill make sure the next one is better.
People keep asking me to upload some videos so here is the first.
When i first bought the castle I used to come up and spend hours here just looking around, for months and months every time i came here I would find something new, a face carved in to the stone, a coat of arms etc to name but a few. Even now we still find things regular.
The window sill in the bedroom downstairs in the first section was made up of some rotten wood with stones and general dust and muck underneath, we had been discussing how we would like it, I suggested putting a stone paved window sill, Rachael preferred a oak sill, so, yesterday I set about removing all the old timber and stones etc to get back to the stone wall in order to put the new sill in.
As I shoveled the stone and muck out after removing the wood i felt a flat surface under the spade, i thought it may have been tilled at some point with the old terracota tiles, as i removed more I realized it was all one piece of stone, when i cleared it and brushed it off there was a bonny medieval stone sink, what a bonny item.
