April 2005 after signing the Acte de Vente &, yes , the horse should have gone
|
A view across the 'terrain' looking roughly south. note the picturesque 'chicken shed'. Our land ends just beyond the corner of the shed.
|
Looking from the far side towards the entrance. The 'talus' on the left belongs to us & needs some attention. We are still trying to ascertain who has ownership of the half-butchered 'talus' behind the houses!
|
May 2005. We have conceded defeat over keeping the grass in check &, with the help of several of our kind neighbours enlisted the help of the local farmer & his large tractor.
|
First things first. a long line of shrubs to try to disguise the shed which we discover has a demolition order on it!
|
May 2006, we finally have a permanent fence dividing us from the other 'terrain'. We have chosen to have a hedge of native plants to encourage wildlife.
|
Our surprise on reaching Maël Carhaix. All this for only 8 days work!
|
Another day another chunk of wall. The maçons were laying about 600 'parpaings ' a day.
|
The end of our second day & it really is beginning to look as if we will have a real house. Here you can see the window openings for the living room & two smaller bedrooms.
|
Our bedroom will be double aspect. The whole form is a modern 'take' on a traditional longere with added garage.
|
The view from the living room. Stunning views of the chicken shed whose roof collapses more on a daily basis. It has a demolition order but no-one knows when it started! Quick-growing Poplars seem a good disguise option.
|
The doorway to the right is the front door & that to the left is access to the garage. The kitchen will be located in the corner to the left beside the door to the garage.
|
End of day on Thursday 13 July. Most of the house has now reached roof level. Reinforcing rods & concrete now have to be put in the 'U-shaped'parpaings around the top. In august we hope to see some of the roof structure.
|
Watering duty by Chris, otherwise known as 'Farmer Giles'. Unfortunately he lacks the very old fag end & the flat cap as per our very kind local farmer!
|
'Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!' Well nearly. yours truly on 'Chardon' & bramble killing duty. Chris has had enough brushcutting to last a lifetime! That backpack isn't half heavy when it's full!!!
|
Progress has stopped when we visit in August but it's not bad for about a month's work. Next comes the roof.
|
September 2006. Yes I know it's not the house but I thought you'd like to see how we spent 2 days - shifting 8 tonnes of gravel mulch!
|
October 2006 and this is the sight that greeted us when we arrived. What a thrill, it's a house now!
|
A view of the back of the house where all the main living accommodation is.
|
The whole width of the back of the house. Our bedroom is dual aspect and the window on the far right is the one which looks the whole length of the garden.
|
We stood & looked at the roof structure for ages. All custom made - no prefabricated roof trusses here!
|
Every slate has been carefully shaped at the edge to give a beautiful finish.
|
Nice little detail over the front door giving a small 'Auvent' to shelter from the rain.
|
The 'couvreur put in the stainless steel'tuyau' ready to receive the flue from our poêle.
|
Looking at the house from the east you can see the funnel-like chimney & the access door to the garage
|
The view from the west shows the patio door from our bedroom. We intend, eventually to have a small patio there so that we can enjoy the morning sun in summer.
|
This is the house as seen from the gateway. We rather like the way it has an almost hidden door. Most of the living space looks out over the garden at the back. Eventually this part of the garden will be our Acer garden as it will be quite sheltered.
|
Finally finished! We now have somewhere to store a few hand tools for use in the garden. Up to now we have had to bring them to & fro on every trip. We felt it necesary to tie it down using ground anchors & wire rope threaded through between the roof panels & the beams.
|
The view of the kitchen area. The green walls are waterproof pasterboard
|
View across the living area. The view will improve as all the shrubs & trees we have planted grow to obscure the chicken shed.
|
The garage with the ubiquitous sliding door. At least Chris will have somewhere for a workbench at last!
|
A view of our bedroom taken from outside the ensuite. It's somewhat foreshortened as the room is quite long. You can just see the other south-facing window which looks over the main garden.
|
La piscine Olympique! Not actually, just the pit dug for the Captor Grid for the geothermal heating.
|
This shows how big the pit is compared to the house. A 'deep loop' would have been tidier but much more expensive.
|
As you can see our 'Piscine Olympique' now has all the Captor Grid pipes for the heating laid out now awaiting the arrrival of the final digger.
|
The size of the white 'Pompe à Chaleur' came as a bit of a shock as did the size of the 300l water tank which was still awaiting the dict from the kitchen which would allow it to recoup waste heat from the house to increase its' efficiency. Good job it's a double garage!
|
We thought it was really good that there was space left around the 'Pompe' & the pipes which means there won't be any access problems if repairs arre needed.
|
OK I know pipewark is quite boring to many of you but I put this in because we were so impressed with the parallel pipes & right-angled bends.
|
Last time we saw this part of the garage wall it was a complete 'mare's nest' of wires. It's hard to believe that they could all have been accommodated as neatly as this!
|
Just to prove that it really is nearly finished here's a picture of the basin in the Ensuite. At least we'll be able to wash.
|
