Well, we got the keys for our new home in France on Sunday 6th February, and the sun was out and the views over the fields were just amazing. A huge thank you to the owner M. Jean Michel Rault who allowed us to live in the house whilst the lawyer pissed off ski-ing on holiday and delayed signing the papers from the original date of the 7th until the 17th!
We have spent the last 2 weeks having great fun stripping off wallpaper, painting doors, cleaning windows and buying lots of lovely new furniture for our new ‘maison en France’. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty mixed, but it was just as well, as there was no time for enjoying the sun!
The little toilet has been stripped and re-papered and given a new lease of life with a new toilet seat! We kept the original dark navy wall tiles that were there, as they were so French and in beautiful condition. We then tiled the floor with beautiful cream polished floor tiles, which we will eventually continue throughout the hall in a slightly darker, camel colour. I say ‘we’, but what I really mean is Jim. I am a good labourer though!
We had plenty of time for shopping and saw some lovely bedroom furniture on sale in Atlas in Blanzy and were amazed at how easy it was in France to buy something straight from a showroom. None of the, ‘oh you will need to wait 2 months until we order it in’, it was paid for and collected in 2 days with them dismantling it and wrapping it and helping us load into our wee red van.
Same thing happened when we saw the corner suite for the Salon we wanted in Monsieur Meuble’s showroom in Montchanin. Arrived at 11.55am, told them we wanted it, came back at 4pm after buying 18 rolls of wallpaper and 11 boxes of tiles for the hall in Chalon, and it was ready and waiting. Into the van, job done!
Now opening a bank account is a completely different story……2 hours that took – paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!
All in all it has been a really productive 2 weeks for our new venture. I am now back in our Paisley home, having had 2 weeks ‘holiday’ which was harder than being at work! and start back to work on 21st. Jim is staying on in France. He hopes to get the hall ceiling painted, then the doors glossed, then the wallpapering done, then the tiling done…..a tall order to say the least. He has worked like a Trojan these last 2 weeks and has been absolutely amazing.
We are taking it a step at a time and will eventually both move there permanently around about June.
Jim is back in the UK mid March for a few St. Patrick’s Day gigs, before heading back to La Brulerette early April with our new kitchen loaded into the van, which will be his next task ……
We both feel so at home already in France, the little village of Marly Sur Arroux is tiny and quaint and we had a lovely celebratory dinner after signing the papers for the house, in La Petit Auberge, and had the restaurant all to ourselves. The drive home was hilarious in dense fog, well I say hilarious because we got home safe and sound, but if we had ditched the van, it would not have been so hilarious!
We are very close (5 mins driving) to Gueugnon which is a main market town with fabulous shops, a cinema, plenty pattiseries, and great food shopping with Lidl, Intermarche, Ed, Auchan to name but a few, so we are spoiled for choice.
Our neighbours are David and Amandine who seem lovely, David is an electrician (handy!!) and Amandine is a school teacher. On the other side we have Jean Paul, Daniel and Noelle. Everyone is so friendly and look after you if you need help. Most of them cannot speak English, but our French is getting much better (well mine is….) and we can understand much more than ever before.
Ginger Grouse II is well and sitting happily in Chalon. We stayed over on Valentine’s night, and had a lovely dinner in Chalon. We hope to get some sailing done at some point in the summer, but that depends on how the housework goes! There is always next season…….
More updates to follow soon….
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