Progress - wall down!

In between other jobs we decided to take a hammer to the wall between the two bedrooms that had been made of the original second reception room. It was a partition made of terra-cotta blocks, plastered, but the rooms it created were narrow and not very useful. Fortunately there was no wiring in it and it just went up to a huge beam in the ceiling which is self-supporting. Here it is in pieces all over the floor!

It's now all outside ready to go to the dechetterie and the room looks very much better - big and square so we'll be able to tidy it up and bring it back into use. The window bays have beautiful stonework around them that we'll restore, once we can get off the green and blue paint and various sealants. The wooden floor - the last on the ground floor in the house - has a bit of woodworm so we don't know yet if we'll treat it to keep it, or replace it.

We're here

We've arrived and are busy settling in and starting to get everything as we want it. The removal men left everything for us in the chai and we've been having a fun time finding things and moving them into the house.  Our hibiscus in the back garden is looking magnificent (picture) and we've got some of the grass cut and weeds pulled up, so it looks more lived in now. 

We've had a lovely 'welcome' visit from Penny and Adrian yesterday, and the neighbour across the stream at the bottom of the garden called round this morning. Apparently the old lady of our house (who we keep calling 'granny'), was his aunt. They're all part of a big family in the village so they're all interested in what we're up to.


We've ordered a water softener and supplier came round this morning with his plumber, so we're hopeful this can be done soon. The water is very hard here and after being used to soft Manchester water its taking some getting used to, so we'd rather not. Its not as expensive as we feared.