Now - we are pretty keen on recycling whatever we can and so we have taken this first layer of turfs to the bottom of the garden, turned them upside down and made a pile of them. We are reliably informed that in about a year this pile of turfs will have become loam and will be marvellous to redistribute about the garden.

Then I went off into Dun le Palestel for my french lesson with Dominique . . . . and when I got back about an hour and a half later, this is what I found had happened!!!

The weather has continued to be wet and miserable for about the past ten days, but Gavin decided that today - no matter what!! - he was going to dig up the first turf for the foundations of the terrace of our new home. So this had to be recorded for posterity!!

The last item to be unloaded from the truck was Gavin's Royal Enfield motobike!!

'Boys and their toys'!!

And now, for the first time in nearly three years, we have all our belongings in one place - at least we think we do!!

And then another truck arrived!! This time with our consignment from India. From Jamnagar to Mombai by road; from Mombai to Marseilles by sea and from Marseille to Naillat by road - amazing!! And I have to say arriving in much better shape than the consignment from UK. Anyway, we have taken a few of the things inside our little cottage to make ourselves a little more comfortable but the rest will be stored in this barn until we are ready to move in either to the new garage (just to spread it out a bit and maybe be able to get to things) or the barn itself.

The area currently fenced off for chickens will be their home until about the end of the year - then they will be moved to the far side of the building and the current area will become the Potager Garden (the Kitchen Garden).

This is the plan anyway!!

Back to the Saga of the Shed!!
No stain - one coat of stain - two coats of stain!!

A number of family and friends have been asking, so this is a little note to say that the weather has not been as good as we would have hoped over the past weeks.

I think it would be fair to say that this has meant we are about two to three complete weeks behind where we would like to be at this time. But since there is nothing we can do about it, we put this fact to the backs of our minds and do not worry.

Yesterday was a fabulous day - all sunshine and fluffy white clouds and we got some herbs and a few other bits and pieces planted in the garden and lots of strimming done in the orchard and Gavin has started marking out where the terrace will be at the back of the barn and where the garage will be at the front.

And then - this morning - it is raining and grey again!!

But - we always have in our minds 'indoor' and 'outdoor' jobs that can be done, so there is no sitting about wondering what to do next!!!

And - twenty minutes later . . .

To take these photographs I am standing exactly where the garage will go.

Watch this space . . . . .

Just thought you might like these two tiny corners of the garden . . .

I understand that these straps of wood will be on the roof in due course to stop the roofing felt from coming off!! Very important for the chickens' nightime cosiness!!

These pictures to show that I am doing some work and not just taking photographs!!

And so the saga of the chicken house/garden tool shed goes on despite the rain and hailstones . . . Somehow it does not seem to matter what order I download the pictures they seem to come out in the wrong order!! But you get the gist of the story line anyway, I have no doubt!! In fact as I type this the pictures are the right way round, but when I have a look at a preview before 'posting' them they seem to have changed around!!

There are lots of these huge trees out in white blossom at the moment. We do not know what they are yet, but these ones are in our garden!!

Last Tuesday our consignment of household effects arrived from Dunfermline. It poured with rain all day as it was unloaded!! It certainly was a tight squeeze geting the HUGE truck up our little lane!! The interior view of the barn was taken almost at the beginning of the unloading!! At the end the view is quite different. Jessie and Steve were brilliant and lots of fun so we all had lunch together just before we had to sign all sorts of paperwork.

The last two or three weeks have seen unseasonable weather here - most frustrating - more rain and certainly more hail stones than is usual for this time of the year. But we still manage to get things done every day and so feel we are moving forwards. And then yesterday early evening we had this rainbow - it was fantastic. The pictures should have been better, but we were so busy admiring the scene that for quite a while we forgot to go in and get the camera to make a record of it!!

We had planned to turn over the first 'sod' for the garage block yesterday - 1st April 2008 - but . . .

We will blame weather lapses over the past little while puttin us a bit behind and the fact that I have suddenly got the most appalling cold which is meaning I am not working up to speed!!

But we did put up this notice on one of the old barn doors. This is a legal requirement showing details of the work to be done, including the Planning Permission number from the Mairie's Office. So, we are at least, a fully fledged and legal building site now!!

And then . . . . we had to have a tea break . . . !!

And then . . . . .

And then . . . . .

Well - this is were we started!!

Saga of a Chicken House/Garden Tool Shed!!

Although this amazing building is not finished yet thought it was time to start putting some 'before' and 'during' progress pictures here for you to see!! The 'after' pictures will be added in due course.

It has taken a little longer for the construction to be done, but it must be remembered that at the same time Gavin has been building the block wall between our property and the garden of the lady next door and on quite a number of days we have been hampered by snow, hail, wind and rain!!