Last autumn I plants about five hundred daffodil bulbs as well as other assorted bulbs.

I just thought you ought to see a picture of the very first daffodil to flower!! And before the end of February, too!!

Just a quick note to show you how the veggie patch is coming on - pathways installed and the beds starting to be dug over. I can tell you that the bed by the wheelbarrow is now finished and the bed to the right of the picture is done up to the first batten. Hard work, but I am pretty proud of our efforts.

Some of what has been done over the past months is extremely difficult to photograph (or perhaps I forget!!) but I have to say that Gavin has continued to go out 'to work' virtually every day over the winter and work is accomplished. Even though it is work which will not show very much - it is certainly work which is producing the inner framework of our new home and will, in part, be holding up the barn!!

But to end with - just a little spot out side our rented kitchen door - which catches whatever winter sunshine is about and makes quite a colourful little corner.

I will certainly try hard not to leave it so long before I add more to this saga!!

Sorry Andrew . . . .

. . . . . A few nights ago we had a HUGE wind storm and when we got up a hole had been blown through the wall. I have to say that the hole was not nearly as big as these pictures would suggest. But more has had to be knocked down so that it will ALL be sturdier when repaired. We really do not want to take time to fix this at present. But, the property surrounding wall is important to us and so several half days of work will have to be fitted in to deal with this set back.

These things are just sent to try us . . . but after the first awareness we just knuckle down and get on with it.

We do have a fabulous dry-stone wall surrounding our property, of which we are very proud.

However . . . . .

Another major task dealt with recently is the reduction of the size of the chicken run. This are will now be pathed, dug over and prepared for being a major part of this year's kitchen garden. We are still using apples (stored), raspberries and blackberries (frozen), jam and pickles made with some grown and some purchased produce and of course we are still getting plenty of eggs from our nine lovely chickens.

But this year we hope to do even better!!

While we were in the UK there was a bit of a disaster!! The meter for the water and the ancient water pipe linking the Barn to the mains water supply in the road burst and our new cellar ended up with about three feet of water in it. What a nightmare to come home to!!

Anyway, water soon drained away and the boys managed to clear up all the mess with sawdust and time. I should add here that in due the cellar will be properly 'tanked' and sealed and will in future bad weather not enable water to seep through even if there is a broken pipe.

We knew that we were going to have to pay for the meter to moved to outside the front of the barn (so the meter can be read for billing purposes!) and that the local commune would have to replace the old pipe at the same time. But it appears that since the bursts were actually on the meter and caused by the weakness of the old pipe this work has now been done and will be paid for by the commune - so luck is really on our side sometimes!!

There was even time for Simon and Christopher to build a temporary staircase from the main part of what will be the main hall to the upstairs. This will be so much better than having to use a ladder over the coming months. Although I will probably have to remind Gavin once or twice that this is only 'temporary' and not the finished article!!

The biggest job tackled while the boys were here was getting the joists for the upstairs floor in place - about fifty eight joists went up there, I think!! Just fantastic!!

We were delighted to welcome back Simon and Christopher for another ten days of hard work, which certainly helped us to catch up on time and work missed while we were in the UK in January buying all the plumbing fittings and pipework for the whole house and all the kitchen fittings for use further down the line. As I mentioned before this is to help our building fund stretch a little further in these difficult financial times.

A little while ago we had a bit of a problem with the wood burninhg stove in our little rented cottage. Every time we lit it all three rooms (one of top of each other) were filled with smoke!! Not good!!

The chimney sweep arrived, but amongst other things it was discovered that all the pieces of the flue had been fitted in upside down!!

Anyway, although we are not responsible for fixing this situation, we have re-sealed all the pieces, had the chimney cleaned, blocked up the foot square holes into each of the upstairs rooms, and (at least for the time being) all appears to be well. Thank goodness for that!!

Although I am looking out on a very little bit of snow just now, we really have had a pretty good winter here and some days have been really lovely in the sunshine and here you will see I have managed to thoroughly dig over an area which will be a garden bed in due course. Masses of weed and root to pull out, but at the end of the day fantastic soil with masses of worms!! Can't wait to get started with some planting!!

We have also now purchased the Douglas Fir poles we plan to use to hold up the roof of the terrace and the little roof over the front door.

The beam on the left is the one that Gavin made and the one of the left is the huge ancient oak truss which was holding the barn up in the beginning. And the other picture shows the metal 'shoes' we had made locally to fix the beams in place. All very successfully at the end of the day. We did have to wait much longer for the 'shoes' to be made than we thought we would, but they were eventually delivered the day before Christmas!! Which was why Gavin was keen to do at least some work on Christmas Day. He just had to go and try and see if the system he had devised would work!! And it did!!

Instead of putting hugely expensive oak beams for the start of the ground floor ceilings Gavin devised a way of taking three pine joists and putting them together, sanding and staining them instead. Now that they are in place they look just grand.

Alot of what has been done over the last few months is a little difficult to photograph and, for me, a little difficult to explain!! BUT . . . . the lintels for the tops of the ground floor window and doors have been constructed just below the roof level. The walls are about half a metre thick and so Gavin has devised and built wooden lintels like giant window boxes and filled them with concrete. A lengthy and difficult task when working alone and in the freezing cold.

But these are all in place now. At the bac k of the barn for the lounge, kitchen and master bedroom and at the front of the building for the dining room and cloakroom and master bathroom. A major acheivement.

First of all a VERY belated, but nonetheless sincere, HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone.

I have had a lot of stick from various people because our Blog Diary is so far behind!! There are those who reckon that our blog is what gives them a French/Naillat 'FIX' when they are not able to be here. And to those people I can only apologise.

However, I do have a million excuses!! Far too many to list here!!

But to name just a few - we have had a couple of spells where we did not have internet connection - there was our first Christmas and New Year in France with a little time out for socialising (although I should add here that Gavin did actually go out on to the building site and work on Christmas Day!!!) - we spent a joint ten days in the UK in January, trying to make our depleted funds (the credit crunch is hitting everyone) go as far as possible - Gavin had to return again for a few days to visit with his brother in Maidenhead - we actually had to spend time doing work or there would have been nothing to tell you about!!

So I think it is about time I put this to rights.