A fabulous day in the garden

Sara and I spent most of the afternoon weeding the herb bed alongside the path at the bottom of our slope. She had already spent the morning potting up some plants for me, and had weeded the path. It was a glorious way to spend the afternoon, chatting and weeding, and listening to the guys banter about how they would tackle the next job on the list: the shed.

This evening we had planned to eat at L’Union, one of our favourite local restaurants in Essoyes. Anthony, one of the owners, is a great Sommelier, and always makes a good recommendation on what wine to drink with dinner. The food also never disappoints us of course.

Another fabulous evening spent at L’Union.

Dégustation at Robert-GrandPierre

I’d arranged for us, and our friends, to visit our local champagne producer – Robert-GrandPierre. Their Domaine is only about 500 metres from our door, so it’s very convenient. They converted the beautiful Priory, or ‘Prieuré’, into their Domaine residence about 10 years ago. It is an historically important building next to the 11th century church, which was apparently established in 1085.

As you enter the Prieuré courtyard you first see the connecting modern structure, a rather impressive glass and wood atrium in the shape of a barrel. It’s quite spectacular. The tasting room is built into the older part of the building, on the left.

They have a wonderful selection, and we love their champagnes, so going for a tasting is always a delight.

Thank you Céline for a delightful tasting.

The greatest chaux-man

We were hopeful of a dryer day, so the plan was to push ahead on the wall. Brian got the first mix of chaux prepared nice and early.

Then the two of them worked on pointing the wall together. They’d made great progress the day before, so could see an end in sight.

However Brian realised too late that his last bag of sand was a different type, and it was too late to go and get more. Finishing off will have to wait for tomorrow.

Late frosts

At the end of March, and the beginning of April, the vines start to burst into life. Unfortunately, it’s also the time when we often get a late frost in Champagne. If ice forms in the little buds it splits them open and kills the new growth. The frosts this year will get down to at least -2ºC, so many of the vignerons are taking measures to ensure their crops aren’t damaged. The two traditional methods for this are using heat and fans to raise the temperature in the vineyards, or freezing them in a controlled way. Freezing the vines may sound like a silly way to stop them getting ice damage, but it’s the way they freeze that’s important. The vignerons use sprinklers to form layer on layer of ice on the vines, causing the outside to freeze, but the inside to stay warm, preventing the ice from forming inside the bud. It’s a spectacular thing to see, and even more wonderful to see the little buds safe in their ice cocoon.

We woke our friends up early to drive up and see the display as the sun rose.

It’s such a spectacular sight.

Unfortunately our other friends that were due to arrive last night didn’t make it. They had an issue with their car just near Arras and ended up having to make the decision to go home. So disappointing for all. Hopefully we will get to see them later in the year.

Chauxing off

The day started with Brian getting the chaux mixed up and Chris tucking himself away under the tarpaulin and starting to point the wall. The sun was shining, but it was bitterly cold, and we knew the forecast today was very changeable.

I think Chris had learnt a lot from the wall he had helped chaux last year, so he started with great enthusiasm, and progress was good throughout the day.

Brian kept the chaux mixed up for Chris, and spent a little more time just cleaning up some of the gaps he’d maybe missed on his first pass with the hammer drill.

Sara and I were on wood protection. The wood for the shed was untreated, so we needed to get a coat of exterior treatment on it, before our other friends Philip and Jillian arrived to help put it up.

All this happened in between the showers of hail! But we all helped keep each other’s spirits high.

Camping out

Our friends arrived yesterday, and their plan is to help Brian to repoint the wall, and hopefully build the shed.

However, although we have beautiful blue skies today the forecast is not great, and rain, and possibly snow showers, are due later in the week.

So that the rain doesn’t stop their progress, they have put up a temporary tarpaulin to work under.

Next little task was to fix the bitumen tape to the rafters of the decking, and then fix the decking on top of that ready to build the shed on.

First though they needed to carry all the decking up to where it was needed. Having Chris helping out doing this was such a huge support for Brian.

The job was certainly getting done a lot quicker with help. It wasn’t long before they were laying it in place.

Cut and blow dry

We are hopeful that Brian will be able to finish cutting all the cement out of the wall today. He’s had an early start, and my plan is to keep him motivated with lots of little tea breaks and the occasional chocolate biscuit.

He’s clearing up as he goes, putting the chipped off cement into sacks—it’s a good job we have lots of ‘bags for life’, as they make great rubble bags. We’ll find time to take them to the tip later in the week.

It’s so important having the face shield and ear defenders, flying cement and constant drilling needs protection.

It was a little chilly as he got further across the wall and moved into the shade, but so good to see the job nearly complete.

We finished off with me using the air compressor to blow and clean off all the loose dust that had caught up in the joints.

Voilà, ready to be grouted with chaux.

Grasping the plot

Thought we’d have a change of pace today, and a rest from the hammer drill for Brian. So we decided to get the ‘plots’ (the name for the round supports) and rafters fitted for the deck of the shed.

Brian took his time measuring and fixing the frame, to ensure that it wasn’t only the right size for the deck, but also square. He does this by measuring the length of the diagonals, which should be equal.

We then set about placing the plots and laying the rafters, which Brian had already cut to size. He then fixed the rafters in place, and finally adjusted the ‘plots’ to take the weight evenly.

It had all seemed quite challenging to start with, but once we could see how it was all going to work, it became quite easy, although it took us all day. We were pretty pleased with the outcome.

Chipping away

Today it’s back on the wall. It’s looking so much better already even with the cement just taken off. It’s proving quite tough, but he knows it can be done because our Workaway Chris showed it was possible, so he keeps chipping away.

End of day two. It is very hard going on his hands and shoulders, the hammer drill is quite heavy, and combined with the vibration, it makes the whole process very difficult. However, it’s much quicker than doing it manually with a hammer and chisel!

Shed delivery

Great excitement this morning as our shed was being delivered. I heard the lorry pull up outside our house, so I called Brian to come and help. Unfortunately a neighbour needed to get out of their driveway, so the delivery man needed to pull up further along the road.

Now it seemed like he completely blocked the road, and had no intention of moving again until he’d made his delivery.

It did arrive a little damaged, but we decided Brian would be able to fix it, and probably less hassle than not accepting the delivery.

All we need to do now is finish the pad it is going to live on. And then build it of course.

Another stone wall

With a little encouragement from a friend, we decided the stone wall to the left of the steps needs the concrete chipping off, and the pointing replaced with chaux. It will be so much more in keeping with the wall on the right that they did last year.

Some friends are arriving next week to help repoint it, so Brian wanted to get on with preparing it ready for when they arrive.

It’s a really tough job, the hammer drill he uses is quite heavy, and so this is not a job I can currently help him with. But he’s got started, and has made some good progress.

See you soon

We woke to beautiful blue skies this morning, and you could feel the air starting to warm up.

We were all up early as Lauren and Max were heading off to continue their adventure, travelling around Europe.

Wonderful adventures ahead, which we will hear all about when they come back on their return journey.

We headed out for a few errands, and once they were done we made time for morning coffee. It was gorgeous sitting in the sunshine, even though it was still a little chilly.

I’d wanted to pick up a few more plants for the garden, so we popped into Genty in Châtillon-sur-Seine. They always have some good quality plants, so it was nice choosing a few to take home.

I’ll try and get them planted this week.

Potting pansies

It’s been beautiful in the garden, and seeing all the spring colour coming through motivated me to add some more. I found these beautiful little pansies in the Leclerc the other day, so went about cleaning and tidying up some of my pots for them, that I hadn’t had a chance to empty out from last year.

To help minimise spreading any diseases in the plants I washed out all the terracotta and porcelain pots—it’s just a good habit to get into

I think the little pansies are now looking vibrant and beautiful in my repurposed tureen.

It also wasn’t long before they attracted a little bee to investigate.

Carrying gravel

The day started with laying down a weed surpressant membrane. Brian had made some metal hooks, just to secure the edges and corners, which helped speed things up.

The next task was to carry the gravel up the two flights of steps, and up the first part of the slope, to the prepared area. I was able to help shovel the gravel at the bottom, whilst the others carried it up there. Luckily Lauren just loved the physical work out, which was good as there was a lot of trips up the hill needed.

It was fabulous having many hands helping out. We stopped for a little coffee break and biscuit after about an hour, then got straight back on it, and were finished by lunchtime.

A lot of effort, but great fun.

Levelling out

After the hard day of stripping the turf, the tricky bit came; levelling out the area. Brian and Max spent most of the day further digging the soil. They then needed to cart it across the garden to an area under the plum tree where I can spread it out at a later time and level off another patch of garden.

It was surprising just how much earth they actually needed to remove.

It was another full day of hard labour.

Breaking new ground

After what seems ages, we are finally ready to start building the shed up on the hill to take our lawnmower and other tools. We began our plans many, many months ago, but things got held up. Now though, we have a shed ordered, and all we need to build a platform for it. But crucially we also have help, which is going to make life so much easier.

Max and Lauren are with us, and they have kindly offered to help get works underway, which is a huge motivation for us.

Our clay and limestone soil is not for the faint of heart though, and it took a lot of work just to get the grass layer stripped away, but they worked hard and got there eventually.

Carte de séjour

We needed to make an important trip to Troyes today, as we had been invited to go and review the documentation we had submitted for our carte de séjour renewal. Our CDS’s (carte des séjours) were actually out of date, even though we had submitted them within the timeframe they had advised on the government website—not before 2 months of expiry—but their response was slow, so we were put in a position where we had to travel to the UK on expired cards; never a good thing. Fortunately for us I think this is quite common at the moment, as when we returned at the Chunnel border a mere shrug of the shoulders, and a French style ‘puff’ of air through the lips from Brian seemed to be enough for the border patrol man to wave us through. How useful a bit of cultural observation can be.

We arrived just before 8.30am at the prefecture in Troyes, and were first in line.

We soon found ourselves chatting with the clerks to complete the required paperwork, mainly signing a temporary CDS and having our finger prints taken again. They were extremely friendly, and although my lady had a little difficulty with the equipment to scan my fingerprints, the whole process was over in about 15 minutes, and we are now the proud owners of 2 temporary CDS. They are only needed whilst our new cards are created, which can take a few months apparently.

All done, we nipped for a coffee, then a trip to the bakers, before heading home for lunch with Lauren and Max. We had left them sorting out some jobs they wanted to do on their van.

This is me cuddling my warm bread.

Van life

Our niece Lauren and her boyfriend Max arrived today. It was great hearing how their adventure had already started and the little challenges they had experienced along the way and how they had overcome them.

Between them they have been renovating and converting the van over the past few years, whilst planning and preparing for their trip. They’ve done such an amazing job together.

Aswell as ensuring they have the right kit externally; solar panels on the roof, four season tyres, recovery tracks. They have also made sure they are comfortable inside with a full-size mattress, a hot water shower, sink, cooker and proper fridge freezer.

It’s amazing what you can fit into a van.

Flat bed

We have a long awaited project about to start. Yesterday we went to the local builders yard to order some materials for Brian to prepare a flat area up the hill to build a shed.

The plan is that he’ll scrape off the grass, level it out, lay down a membrane, then use gravel to help achieve the best level he can.

Fortunately for us, our niece Lauren, and her boyfriend Max, are arriving tomorrow. They are planning to stay for a week, and offered to help with some jobs whilst they are here. It will be great to see them and spend time together, and hear all about their plans for the next few months; travelling around Europe in their van they have converted.

Spring is sprung

Seeing the first of the daffodils coming through in the garden is just delightful. The pop of yellow and the brightness they bring to the garden always makes me smile.

I can feel the warmth in the sun, helping to wake up the spring flowers once again, and tell us ‘spring has sprung’. Simply my favourite season.

The hellebores are still doing well with their darker winter hues, and they look majestic against the slightly more vibrant greens that are appearing.

The Muscari is blooming all around the edge of the courtyard. It’s such a beautiful vivid blue against the silver of the lavender, which is laying dormant waiting for its own moment.

I also have a few pansies that have self seeded. I bought some more today, so will look to fill some pots with more colour.

The bleeding heart I think has flowered a little early, but it’s looking strong along with the hyacinths I’d popped in last year, after I’d enjoyed them in the house.

Lastly, the little anemones are popping up throughout the gravel. they have all self seeded themselves, so hopefully I’ll have lots more in years to come.