July 2007
During the two weeks we spent in Normandy, we drove to Aude to visit the house there, watch the Tour and see the work that had been done by our builder during our absence. If you ever wondered how big France is, make a decision to drive through it! After 11 hours on the road, we eventually reached Toulouse during rush hour (and still had another two hours to go!) Admittedly, we were avoiding toll roads, but even so.... Also, it is a great way to see the country; we went through the Loire valley, went along the Le Mans 24 hour circuit, went through Blois and saw the countryside rolling along.
In Aude, the house was much as we had left it, with the exception of the additional work that had been done in our absence: a step had been cemented in for the toilet to sit on and a boxed in area next to it housed the pipework. Along with the new door to the bathroom, this makes the bathroom feel more complete, even though there is still some work to do in this area.
In the section at the rear of the property, the ceiling on the back of the new roof was started in plasterboard. This really was a fantastic job and created the impression of completeness (until you look at the rest of the room!).
While we were there, we knocked down the slate wall between the staircase and landing to the first floor to create a more open space, and plastered the joint. The landing also received a light for the first time ever.
We also cleaned and tidied up - spurred on by the effectiveness of this approach in Normandy earlier in the week and also by the fact that we had a leak from the bath water supply (one of the joints pulled off and flooded the room downstairs). We left the house feeling a sense of achievement: there is still a long way to go but there is now obvious progress.
Selected images:
