My name is Jo, and in 2020 I moved to France with my husband, Brian. From our move to France, to running our B&B, my blog, which you can read below, is a diary of ‘Our French Adventure’. I share short stories about the Champagne region, and its people, and the life we have embraced here.
Stepping up
With the path now complete, just a bit of sand to sweep in and plants to plant, we were now all moving onto other jobs.
Brian and Chris were looking at what needed to happen to level out the steps.
Whilst Louise and I were starting to prepare the wrought iron rail and gate ready to be painted, and started to paint the garden furniture.
It’s amazing how fast we are getting through the jobs, it certainly makes a difference having Workaways, and we are learning so much aswell.
Jobs for the day
With all the hard work put into preparing the ground yesterday, the next job was for Brian to start to lay the path to the composter. He’d made a small step at the end, which gave him a straight edge to work from, now all he needed was pavers. The hardest thing was moving all the pavers up the steps ready to be laid, they’re heavy and cumbersome, and he needed a lot of them. We all tried to ensure he was kept with a steady supply, but it wasn’t that easy as we were all doing our own little jobs.
The path soon started to take shape though, and I was loving how it looked, with the little pockets either side for me to fill with some suitable plants.
I was making the first mow of the year on the slope. I cut it quite long for the first cut, so as not to shock it too much. I soon had it looking so much tidier.
Louise had moved onto sanding the garden furniture ready for painting. It’s never an easy job as there are so many little corners and edges.
By the time it came to down tools we were all quite exhausted. All in all a very successful day in the garden
Composting
One of the really interesting things we have learnt about having Workaways is that they bring different skills and know-how. Take for instance our composter. Over dinner we discussed that it may be good to use the partially composted material we had in it to fill part of the new bed, but as we talked about what state it might be in we started to learn that we hadn’t been doing the right things to create healthy compost that would encourage worms. Food waste I usually put in there includes onion peelings and lemon skins. Both apparently raise the acid levels too high and scare the worms off. Just as bad is that I recently threw in some vegetables, which were past their best. The problem was I put them in whole which apparently is a no-no, as everything that goes in should be chopped up or shredded as much as possible, to help it break down. Also, it’s good to add water occasionally, to help the decomposition. He also mentioned it’s fine to add our coffee grounds and ash from the fire, just as long as we mix it all in. All-in-all we were doing it completely wrong.
The next day Chris opened up the front of the composter and got stuck in. He split up any big lumps and turned the compost for us, showing me what I needed to be doing and what it should look like to achieve good compost. It’s now in a much better shape, and if we only add the right stuff going forward, keep it turned and watered periodically, it will soon balance out.
I think I was expecting too much would just happen on its own. Neither of us realised that you need to take a bit more care. Anyway, things are on the up — bring on the worms.
A-shaped
It was great to see how Chris approached cutting our laurel hedge. His aim, he explained, was to achieve an A shaped hedge, so narrower at the top. In fact the width at the top should be no more than half the height.
He cut the front first, ensuring he maintained a level top, before heading round to our neighbours to cut it from the back. Brian and I had spoken to them earlier in the week to ensure they were happy with us going onto their property.
It wasn’t long before Chris and I were loading the cuttings into the back of the trailer and heading to the tip.
Job done, and now so much easier to maintain.
Pavers
We woke feeling refreshed and raring to go. Our walk the afternoon before had been a welcome distraction for us all, but it left us ready to get back at it with vigour. I wanted to get the grass cut, Louise was back chipping off the cement, and Chris made a start on trimming the laurel hedge, a job that had been looming over us for a while. Brian was tasked with laying the pavers near the dahlia bed.
Tap the picture below to view the short video.
Once he’d finished he spread out some of the fine sand to dry in the sun, before sweeping it in, letting it slip slowly between the cracks. It looked like hundreds of little egg timers, all set off.
Walk-away
When we returned from our shopping trip we suggested to Louise and Chris that I make some ‘jambon beurres‘ and we head out for a little walk and picnic.
Brian suggested a walk we had done recently, and they seemed happy with that.
We headed up through the vineyards, chatting and enjoying the landscape as we climbed. From the top of the first hill we walked over into the village of Loches-sur-Ource, where we sat by the river to enjoy our ham sandwiches with the sound of the birdsong and the flowing water as a backdrop. Such a beautiful setting.
We then headed along the river and up through a wooded area where we could hear some chomping, and came across a rather interesting machine that was clearing the brush land. It was certainly making light work of it, munching the little trees.
We followed the path up through Landreville, then back over to our village. It’s always so pretty, nestled amongst the vineyards.
Louise said that at 10.5km it’s the longest hike they’ve had since being in France. It certainly left us with tired legs, but a well deserved break from garden diy.
Nipped out
We needed to buy some kiln dried sand to fill in between the gaps of the pavers. In France it’s known as ‘Sable fine 0/1’. As we were out I took the opportunity to buy some fresh baguettes and visit the butchers, to order some meat to pick up later in the week. Whilst in town we saw a group of local people gathered in front of the café de ville, waiting to make a little procession. They all looked very smart and proud — so nice to see the camaraderie.
It didn’t feel like we’d been gone long, just a couple of hours, but when we returned Chris had cleaned up all the weeds and climbers from around the pool house, and Louise had finished off all the puttying that we’d started the day before.
Oh, and Chris had single handedly managed to lift two of the steps that need re-levelling.
What terrific work.
Sanding and levelling
We woke again to another gorgeous day, with sunshine and blue skies. Perfect for continuing our work in the garden.
The first job for Brian was to get the sand in place so that he could start laying the pavers. To begin, he put down a weed suppressing sheet, then he emptied the bags of sand we’d picked up from our friends onto it.
Meanwhile, Louise and I decided we’d have a change of pace, and headed up to the pool. Our aim was to strip the doors back, so that we could repair the putty on the windows and give them a new coat of paint. They are in need of it.
It was another steady job, scraping and sanding the paintwork ready to have the putty pushed into place.
Chris continued to work on the path he’d started that would lead up to the composter. It took a lot of work to level it, ready for the pavers. I plan to plant aromats along the side of the path, like rosemary, thyme, lavender and sage, so I’m quite excited.
We we’re all pleased with our results by the end of the day, things are certainly moving on quicker than we achieve with just the two of us.
Seeing results
We woke to gorgeous sunshine, which certainly put a spring in all our steps. We got ready to go out, as some friends of ours had very generously offered us some sand they had left over from their building project, something that we definitely needed a lot of. So first thing we attached the trailer and jumped into the car and drove to their house to pick it up.
My reversing skills with the trailer aren’t great, and with the heavy load of sand we returned with making the trailer even more awkward, I asked Chris if he’d do it for me. He made it look very easy and dropped the trailer into the perfect position.
Before Brian and Chris started on laying the sand, they wanted to create a board structure to help retain the earth for a plant bed on the side. Brian found some suitable planks to use, created some pegs, and started to build the edge to my planting area.
Louise and I spent most of the day on the wall, still chipping away, whilst Brian and Chris worked on the area on the other side of the wall.
Their results were much more visible than ours — I was so pleased with the planting bed they’d created. I just need to order my dahlias now.
Attack of the mattock
We woke to a day quite grey, and a little chilly, but we were all ready to get started. Louise and I were going to start on chipping away all the old cement and Chaux from one of the stone walls — near the steps of the walled garden. It was a tough job, and one we soon realised was going to take several days of work, it would just be a case of perseverance.
Brian and Chris had chosen to start on preparing the area on the other side of the wall, to lay some pavers and create me a bed to plant some dahlias. I’d like to try and grow some for cut flowers in the house. I will also use this area to pot up cuttings and bring on smaller plants in a cold frame.
It really didn’t seem to take them long to have the area measured out, and a plan in place on how the pavers were going to work. It was very exciting seeing this vision actually happening.
Whilst Brian progressed with this, Chris was attacking the ground, with what we found out was his favourite tool, the mattock. He was swiftly cutting the path on the opposite side of the steps, to lead up to the composter.
It was a very rewarding first day, which we finished off with a little stroll up to the point de vue to show them the village from above.
Work away
Our Workaways, Chris & Louise — an English couple — arrived today around noon. After they settled in, and enjoyed a light lunch of homemade soup and onion tart, we sat and chatted together, to learn a little about each other and to learn what we were all wanting from the couple of weeks they would be spending with us. They had been in France doing work away since early January, and we were their third hosts. They’ve had a variety of experiences on their trip, so it was good to listen to their stories and understand what they expect.
We spent some time showing them the house and the garden, and explaining some of the jobs we wanted to try and get done while they were here. It was good to hear their ideas on some of the projects, and hear some different points of view on how we can approach things. We now had a plan and were all looking forward to getting started.
Clearance
The last few days we’ve been pulling together things that we no longer need, and that we think can be used, or will be treasured by someone else. That’s to say we’re going to make a trip to the charity shop, to help us clear out our cupboards and our minds. It’s always so satisfying when you have a sort out, and ours was way overdue.
We put together some rather nice stuff, that I would imagine people would be happy to find and purchase, and we set off for recyclorient — our local recycling plant with a charity shop on the side. Such a brilliant idea.
There was just a little problem though, after we’d dropped our car load off to a very grateful man, We realised they had a special room set up selling just books! Neither of us could resist, so unfortunately we came home with a bit more stuff — 2 French cookbooks for me, a wine book and jazz book for Brian, and he also found a beautiful old book of French after dinner anecdotes. So much for the clear out, Hey-ho!
Alley cat
There’s a wonderful little alley in Troyes called ‘La ruelle des chats’, which I think is one of the prettiest views in the whole city.
It widens out into a charming street of restaurants and bars, which is buzzing with people in summer. Today it was much quieter, and as we were here for me to have my hair cut we decided lunch out would be a very nice addition to our day.
I did like the look of the ‘plat du jour’ at Chez Felix, just what I fancied.
The restaurant was quite lovely inside, and nicely quiet for a Friday lunchtime. We were able to enjoy a whole corner to ourselves, which was delightful.
A glass of Auxerre was a lovely aperitif, and a good match with the plat du jour.
And during the dessert the ‘chat’ of the alley finally showed his face.
Day 2, looking good
We had arrived at our friends early to hopefully get as much completed on their barn doors as we could, although we knew we would not get everything done. Brian started by finishing a few pieces off on the little door. It had firmed up really well over night, and was soon ready to be hung and painted.
I put an undercoat on, and it already started to look rather good. Brian had moved on to fitting a sill to the little door overhead, to help prevent the rain from coming in. He soon had it cut and ready for me to paint, before fixing it into place. He then went back to fill a few holes that had become visible on the main doors, after we had painted them.
Unfortunately we just ran out of time to complete everything we wanted to do, so we’ve arranged to return in a few weeks time, after our Workaways have been with us, and before our first guests arrive. Our Workaways are arriving very shortly. We’re looking forward to getting some of our bigger jobs completed with them that would be difficult with just the two of us.
A bit worse for wear
We packed the car up and headed over to JM & Valerie’s. The forecast was good, so we were looking forward to making some good progress on their barn doors and enjoying a productive day together.
Brian started off by sorting out a few leaky holes on the main double doors. He cut out the areas of rotten wood and filled them with small pieces of reclaimed wood JM had recovered from an old cupboard.
Whilst he worked on the left side door, Valérie and I made progress on getting a first coat on the right hand side door. We diluted the paint slightly with some thinners to create an undercoat, and were soon seeing a good coverage and great foundation.
Brian had moved onto the smaller, side door, which was looking quite worse for wear. We removed it first and placed it on two tables. Then he scraped all the loose wood off to get back to what was salvageable. He soon had the rotten, bottom section cut off, and swiftly replaced it with more reclaimed wood. He needed to replace one of the diagonal supports, and a number of rotten areas around the hinges.
Back at the barn doors we needed to leave the undercoat to dry, and the mends to the doors to fix properly before going further. Not a bad start.
You have been warned!
Whilst driving through the village of Charry-sur-Seine on the way to friends the other day Brian noticed an unusual sign, and asked me to stop, so that he could photograph it.
It reads:
“Careful, French village.
Enter at your own risk.
Here we have steeples that ring regularly, roosters crowing very early, herds that live nearby — some even have bells around their necks — farmers working to feed you.
If you can't stand that, you've come to the wrong place.
Otherwise, we've got great local produce and talented craftspeople who are happy to show you their skills and products.”
Gosh, I do love rural France.
A colourful gift
It was a nice dry, warm day today, so I was keen to get some jobs done outside. First I wanted to prune the wisteria and get Brian to help me fix it back on the wall, as it had broken away during winter. Then I set about cleaning up all the fallen leaves, it’s amazing what an instant change it makes. I’ve got some spring bulbs trying to poke through, so making it all clear will help them flourish.
Happy with that patch of gardening, I decided to get the crémone ready for Brian to fit. It’s one of the last things that needs fitting to the bibliothèque doors. Once we had decided which elements he was going to use, from the parts we had been given, I started to clean them up. The metal rod just needed a light sand, to remove some old paint and a bit of rust. I then cleaned it down with some white spirit. I also put a bit of WD40 into the mechanism of the handle, just to loosen it up slightly. The last thing to do was to paint rust remover onto the little fixings and handle. I will leave this overnight before wiping it off with some wire wool tomorrow.
My last little task for the day was to make up a table flower display for a friend who was coming over for apéro. It had been her birthday earlier in the week so I wanted to give her a little present.
It made for a very colourful little gift for her to take home.
Coming to Champagne 2025
We enjoyed a late breakfast in the courtyard this morning. Brian then finished off our first newsletter for 2025 and went online to publish it. If you are already registered to receive the newsletter you should have received your notification yesterday, if not, I have put the link below. It makes for an interesting read.
Hung up
We had got these pictures framed a few months ago now, and I was keen to get them up. However, it’s never a quick job hanging pictures, in fact it can take quite a while to get pictures hung on the walls here, because Brian likes to do it properly.
And properly means the trusty laser level, a lot of measuring, and the right kind of hangers.
We also have to agree on whether we want to bunch the pictures together or to space them out across the wall, whether they line up at the top or through their centres, all of which means it isn’t as easy a decision as it sounds. Once all is decided though it doesn’t take long before they’re hung up and changing the look of the room for the better.
I love how the new pictures bring the two sides of the room together.
Les fleurs
We had received a flyer in the post inviting us to a discussion about the village flowers for the year. I always try to make myself available to help when the flowers are being prepared each year, so I thought it would be a good idea to attend a meeting to find out what’s going on for 2025.
Our French is so much better now, but if there’s a lot being said, and it’s being spoken very fast, we still need a bit of help, so I sometimes use our translator app to see if it can throw some light on what’s being said. It’s usually pretty good, if it’s one on one, but the flower discussion got quite excited, and all the other eight attendees were all talking at once, so I decided to just go with it and see what I could understand.
What we picked up is that the local department that decides whether you’re a village worthy of a flower rating had told us that we had ‘too much rosé’. I’m not sure if that meant the colour pink, or too many roses. Either way it didn’t seem to go down too well with our audience. Our village also plants a lot of Geraniums, because they are pretty hardy plants and good for water conservation, but the department had said, “Why Geraniums? You’re not the Alsace”, this obviously caused a lot of heated responses, which, although we didn’t fully understand them, we got the idea.
It seemed like a lot got sorted out and the meeting ended well, with a cordial glass or two of Laurent Perrier, and a catch up with our neighbours.