Sunday, 12 July 2009
Floozie2 is For Sale
Yes! You have read it right. It just goes to show what a difference a few months make
I know it’s been a absolute age since I updated the blog and one hell of a lot has happened since including a trip to Mauritius, Paris and London, life in France, a health scare and most importantly a change in life direction.
I’m not dwelling on the health scare, which was me for a change and has now passed, mostly. The trip to Mauritius was truly brilliant, the holiday of a lifetime to celebrate our forthcoming vows ceremony and Amanda’s 50th birthday. We also spent time in London and Paris, falling head over heels for the latter and enjoying the vibrancy of the West End in the former. Finally, after 15 years of owning the CD, we went to se Les Miserables and we were totally blown away by it. I was so overcome with emotion that it was 20 minutes before I could talk to Amanda, knowing full well that if I tried I’d dissolve into tears. YES! It is that powerful and beautiful.
Paris is just glorious with more highlights than we can shake a stick at, but one of the best was dinner on the ‘Bateau Mouche’ on the Seine (very romantic) and seeing all our favourite impressionist artists’ paintings in the flesh as it were. Being big fans of Monet and Renoir, it was a joy to see them. Also Van Gogh, whose work is extraordinary.
The photos posted on the blog give a pictorial view of the past few months.
Last week’s events however do need fleshing out a little bit. After eighteen months of planning our weekend of celebrations to renew our vows and Amanda’s birthday came to fruition in perfect style. The weather was kind, remaining dry and overcast; perfect for the ceremony in Reeth Community Orchard. As our guests arrived, the brass band played and after their introductory piece, Deep Harmony, we were both in tears. That kind of set the tone for the rest of the morning although Amanda held it together far more than I. It was delightful to let the emotion of the day take us up and let the joy flow. And the tears!
Our friends Liz and Karen did readings for us, the band played some more and we read our vows to one another. We also planted two climbing roses in the garden as a memory to our day. Then the champagne flowed, we chatted and we laughed and just had fun. I forgot to give Amanda her eternity ring during the vows bit – neither had written it down on our running order and if it ain’t written down, it don’t get done! Still, most people were still there, so they got to witness me finally putting it on her finger. The ring was custom made in Rochechouart, our new home in France and is a band of white gold with diamonds and amethyst set into it. Simple, elegant and beautiful.
From the orchard, we went up to Overton House Café where Jill and Adrian surpassed themselves to produce the most wonderful lunch in French style. Thanks guys, it was perfect.
Two working groups went from the café; one to clear up the mess in the orchard, the other to decorate the hall for the ceilidh. Then back to the Burgoyne for a rest before hitting the dancing.
The evening was great although not so many people turned up as expected, so the fish and chip supper turned out quite expensive. It was however a roaring success and great fun. The band were in fine form, Hillary getting everyone up and calling some great dances. The whole place rang with laughter. Truly brilliant.
Last thing at night, we let two Chinese lanterns into the air from Reeth Green. They are remarkably beautiful to watch ascending skyward. A perfect end to a perfect day.
Sunday. Amanda’s 50th Birthday. She was centre stage and enjoying every second of it – deservedly so. The Burgoyne crowd enjoyed a large leisurely breakfast and morning; some walking off the night before, some just lounging. Emma and MM came up in the late morning and sat with us until we went through for lunch. Derek and his team did us proud yet again on the food and service and Amanda was in fine form looking fabby. She did have fifty candles on her cake and needed the help of little Katie and Oliver to blow them all out, with some effort!
The afternoon was spent in the sun in the garden overlooking Reeth green. Our friends gradually drifted away, heading home and by teatime there were just eight left; my family. We scooted off to the pub for yet more food (albeit small portions) and a beer.
It was a brilliant, brilliant weekend and thanks to all our friends and family who travelled far and wide to be with us, especially cousin Mark and Carlos who came all the way from Barcelona. Seeing you all there was a true joy to both of us and we will treasure the memories always.
By the way, thanks to all of you who donated to the Swaledale mountain rescue team in lieu of gifts - £180 is going their way. If anyone forgot or would like to donate anything, let me know. They do stirling work, all voluntary and save lives every year.
Our new home in France.
The news you’ve been waiting for! It became apparent that whilst life on the road was fun and we had thought to have a few years out, there was something missing. A base perhaps or the need for a project. Whatever, we started looking in the Limousin when we returned there in the spring. Rather Amanda did; I found myself back in the UK trying to find out why my digestive system wasn’t working properly. She found some interesting possibilities and a whole load of expensive ‘refresher’ opportunities. Hmm. Interesting term that. Yes, as always, the estate agents were keen to encourage us numpty brits to part with their cash on seriously expensive money pits. You really do have to watch what you are doing out there.
Anyhow, just days before leaving on our grand holiday, we saw a house and barn near Rochechouart, being sold by our favourite agent John. The house was three beds and done, the barn big and sound and the garden adequate. Unfortunately, the house was attached to two other cottages in need of renovation and a barn, which the vendors intended to keep. Not interested. It was too close and made the house feel hemmed in. Then John said they might actually want to sell the lot. OK now interested! That would give us two Gites for income and plenty of space for studios for our hobbies and craft. He said he get us a price.
He did. Two hours before setting off to the airport. We couldn’t afford to miss the opportunity, made an offer. It was accepted half an hour before boarding the plane, on condition we gave them a deposit straight away. No bank details, no nothing with us, I managed to make some calls from London and scrape together enough to satisfy and the funds were transferred via a currency dealer whilst we were in Mauritius.
On our return a month later, we all met in the notaire’s office and signed the Compromis de Vente, a document that sets out what’s being bought and once the cooling off period has passed, is a binding contact. We sign the final ‘acte’ before 31st August and then the place will be ours.
So what have we bought? In the hamlet of La Besse (or Labesse), just off the D10 ten minutes for Rochechouart, we have bought a fully renovated three bed house, with big windows, oak floors, beams and a wood burner together with two cottages (gites) to renovate and two very large barns, together with about half-an-acre of land. The house gites and one barn are together in a long terrace, whilst the second barn and the land are across the road. There is also a decent bread oven at the bottom of the garden. It ticks all the right boxes.
The two cottages are fairly compact but so full of character. They’ll be about 250 years old with huge beams running through them. One has floors, the other needs starting from scratch. I hope to get both done over the winter, but we’ll see. Certainly one will be! The end barn started out life as a house and could be 400 years old. Anyway, check out the photos.
More later, I need to get this posted.
I know it’s been a absolute age since I updated the blog and one hell of a lot has happened since including a trip to Mauritius, Paris and London, life in France, a health scare and most importantly a change in life direction.
I’m not dwelling on the health scare, which was me for a change and has now passed, mostly. The trip to Mauritius was truly brilliant, the holiday of a lifetime to celebrate our forthcoming vows ceremony and Amanda’s 50th birthday. We also spent time in London and Paris, falling head over heels for the latter and enjoying the vibrancy of the West End in the former. Finally, after 15 years of owning the CD, we went to se Les Miserables and we were totally blown away by it. I was so overcome with emotion that it was 20 minutes before I could talk to Amanda, knowing full well that if I tried I’d dissolve into tears. YES! It is that powerful and beautiful.
Paris is just glorious with more highlights than we can shake a stick at, but one of the best was dinner on the ‘Bateau Mouche’ on the Seine (very romantic) and seeing all our favourite impressionist artists’ paintings in the flesh as it were. Being big fans of Monet and Renoir, it was a joy to see them. Also Van Gogh, whose work is extraordinary.
The photos posted on the blog give a pictorial view of the past few months.
Last week’s events however do need fleshing out a little bit. After eighteen months of planning our weekend of celebrations to renew our vows and Amanda’s birthday came to fruition in perfect style. The weather was kind, remaining dry and overcast; perfect for the ceremony in Reeth Community Orchard. As our guests arrived, the brass band played and after their introductory piece, Deep Harmony, we were both in tears. That kind of set the tone for the rest of the morning although Amanda held it together far more than I. It was delightful to let the emotion of the day take us up and let the joy flow. And the tears!
Our friends Liz and Karen did readings for us, the band played some more and we read our vows to one another. We also planted two climbing roses in the garden as a memory to our day. Then the champagne flowed, we chatted and we laughed and just had fun. I forgot to give Amanda her eternity ring during the vows bit – neither had written it down on our running order and if it ain’t written down, it don’t get done! Still, most people were still there, so they got to witness me finally putting it on her finger. The ring was custom made in Rochechouart, our new home in France and is a band of white gold with diamonds and amethyst set into it. Simple, elegant and beautiful.
From the orchard, we went up to Overton House Café where Jill and Adrian surpassed themselves to produce the most wonderful lunch in French style. Thanks guys, it was perfect.
Two working groups went from the café; one to clear up the mess in the orchard, the other to decorate the hall for the ceilidh. Then back to the Burgoyne for a rest before hitting the dancing.
The evening was great although not so many people turned up as expected, so the fish and chip supper turned out quite expensive. It was however a roaring success and great fun. The band were in fine form, Hillary getting everyone up and calling some great dances. The whole place rang with laughter. Truly brilliant.
Last thing at night, we let two Chinese lanterns into the air from Reeth Green. They are remarkably beautiful to watch ascending skyward. A perfect end to a perfect day.
Sunday. Amanda’s 50th Birthday. She was centre stage and enjoying every second of it – deservedly so. The Burgoyne crowd enjoyed a large leisurely breakfast and morning; some walking off the night before, some just lounging. Emma and MM came up in the late morning and sat with us until we went through for lunch. Derek and his team did us proud yet again on the food and service and Amanda was in fine form looking fabby. She did have fifty candles on her cake and needed the help of little Katie and Oliver to blow them all out, with some effort!
The afternoon was spent in the sun in the garden overlooking Reeth green. Our friends gradually drifted away, heading home and by teatime there were just eight left; my family. We scooted off to the pub for yet more food (albeit small portions) and a beer.
It was a brilliant, brilliant weekend and thanks to all our friends and family who travelled far and wide to be with us, especially cousin Mark and Carlos who came all the way from Barcelona. Seeing you all there was a true joy to both of us and we will treasure the memories always.
By the way, thanks to all of you who donated to the Swaledale mountain rescue team in lieu of gifts - £180 is going their way. If anyone forgot or would like to donate anything, let me know. They do stirling work, all voluntary and save lives every year.
Our new home in France.
The news you’ve been waiting for! It became apparent that whilst life on the road was fun and we had thought to have a few years out, there was something missing. A base perhaps or the need for a project. Whatever, we started looking in the Limousin when we returned there in the spring. Rather Amanda did; I found myself back in the UK trying to find out why my digestive system wasn’t working properly. She found some interesting possibilities and a whole load of expensive ‘refresher’ opportunities. Hmm. Interesting term that. Yes, as always, the estate agents were keen to encourage us numpty brits to part with their cash on seriously expensive money pits. You really do have to watch what you are doing out there.
Anyhow, just days before leaving on our grand holiday, we saw a house and barn near Rochechouart, being sold by our favourite agent John. The house was three beds and done, the barn big and sound and the garden adequate. Unfortunately, the house was attached to two other cottages in need of renovation and a barn, which the vendors intended to keep. Not interested. It was too close and made the house feel hemmed in. Then John said they might actually want to sell the lot. OK now interested! That would give us two Gites for income and plenty of space for studios for our hobbies and craft. He said he get us a price.
He did. Two hours before setting off to the airport. We couldn’t afford to miss the opportunity, made an offer. It was accepted half an hour before boarding the plane, on condition we gave them a deposit straight away. No bank details, no nothing with us, I managed to make some calls from London and scrape together enough to satisfy and the funds were transferred via a currency dealer whilst we were in Mauritius.
On our return a month later, we all met in the notaire’s office and signed the Compromis de Vente, a document that sets out what’s being bought and once the cooling off period has passed, is a binding contact. We sign the final ‘acte’ before 31st August and then the place will be ours.
So what have we bought? In the hamlet of La Besse (or Labesse), just off the D10 ten minutes for Rochechouart, we have bought a fully renovated three bed house, with big windows, oak floors, beams and a wood burner together with two cottages (gites) to renovate and two very large barns, together with about half-an-acre of land. The house gites and one barn are together in a long terrace, whilst the second barn and the land are across the road. There is also a decent bread oven at the bottom of the garden. It ticks all the right boxes.
The two cottages are fairly compact but so full of character. They’ll be about 250 years old with huge beams running through them. One has floors, the other needs starting from scratch. I hope to get both done over the winter, but we’ll see. Certainly one will be! The end barn started out life as a house and could be 400 years old. Anyway, check out the photos.
More later, I need to get this posted.
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