10th July 2011

La Maire is feeling very quiet this afternoon after saying goodbye this morning to Clive and Sue and the girls and Mum and Dad. They all arrived last Sunday, along with Daniel and we have had the most wonderful week. It has been great to have the house full for the first time and of course to be able to spend the week with them all, as it doesn't happen very often!!

We spent the week eating, talking, swimming, relaxing in the garden, playing table tennis, walking and visiting local towns and villages. Everyone helped so the catering was never a chore!!

On Friday evening we had our eagerly awaited party to celebrate finishing (well, almost!!) work at La Maire. The weather was perfect - calm and warm. Our guests were a mixture of French and English friends and it was great to get everyone here together. Jean Paul's band 'Shaker' played for us after the buffet for a couple of hours and were really fantastic.

I would like to be able to put a video up - but will have to make do with some photos - here they are....
http://picasaweb.google.com/lesleyolver/TheFamilySVisitAndAPartyJuly2011

2nd July

So - July has arrived! This was always our deadline to get everything completed in time for Mum and Dad, Clive and Sue and the girls arriving tomorrow - and of course Daniel as well. We have just about made it - just the grouting around the pool stones to finish, and banisters in the attic, otherwise we are all ready!!

Lucy and Andy arrived last week and joined us for a couple of lovely evenings with visitors Ceri and Peter. We then enjoyed a few days with Andy's family before they left on Thursday to travel on to Andorra and Spain. We now have our first French visitors here for a couple of nights - they stayed for dinner last night and we had a very enjoyable evening. Lucy is doing remarkably well with her French!!

The pool has been a real treat! A bit cold still at times but it soon warms up when we have some hot weather. Lucy has been in most mornings for a pre-breakfast swim!!

21st June

At last!! The pool is full! Unfortunately this was followed by 2 days of rain, but Dave has now been in and I have had a paddle! We just need to lay the coping stones now and tidy up the surroundings - but it has been well worth the wait.

Friend Helen from Maidenhead has been to stay with us this week and we very much enjoyed her company. Despite the 2 days of rain, we have had some very warm and sunny days as well, so were able to get out and about, including a lovely climb in the Pyrenees on Sunday morning.

We also had an evening out with Helen to a small local town to see Jean Paul's band 'Shaker' in concert. They were really excellent and Helen and I had a good bop!'Shaker' will be playing for us here in the garden on 8th July for ourSummer party - so we will look forward to that.

More photos of the pool and the past week can be seen here
https://picasaweb.google.com/lesleyolver/LaMaireJune2011#

12th June

Well, I spoke too soon! The thunder storms turned into about 2 weeks of unpredictable, wet and cool weather. So we had to delay the pool liner fitting yet again. The latest arrangement is for this Wednesday and the forecast is looking favourable -so we are crossing our fingers yet again!

The weather turned out to be too wet at times even for gardening so we have been finishing the Suite (see above) and also fitting the small bathroom suite in the attic. We have also set up my mountcutting table so I am back in action! It feels very satisfying to know that the house is just about completed for now. No doubt here will always be a few finishing touches needed, but for now we are happy to say it is finished!!

It was great to have Linda and Ivan here to stay for a few days this week (see photo above). We also had guests from Hemel Hempstead here for 3 nights. It was lovely to have a house full and we both really enjoyed all their company. It was a shame to weather wasn't a little warmer for some al fresco meals, but we did manage one lunch outside. It always surprises me just how much nicer food tastes out of doors.

We are being well looked after by Odile at the farm this week as well. They killed a few ducks just recently so we have been given one for the freezer - and were also shown the next lot of ducks coming along. They were just a few days old when we saw them - very sweet and fluffy!
Odile also gave us a bowl full of cherries from their tree and some delicious home-made pork pate. They really do treat us - we are lucky to have such good neighbours and I must bake a cake for them soon to say thankyou!

30th May 2011

After several weeks of almost perfect weather, it seems we are in for a few days of thunderstorms and heavy rain. Unfortunately this means we won't be able to have the pool liner fitted on Wednesday as planned as it needs to be warm and sunny, but we have re-arranged it for next Tuesday instead - so fingers crossed!

On Friday evening we were delighted to welcome the McCloughlin family to La Maire -our first B&B guests. It was a real pleasure to meet them and to share dinner with them as well. In fact for us they were perfect first guests. They assured us that they really enjoyed it as well - so that was a relief!!

May has been a wonderful month - lots of colour in the garden and constantly changing light. The cloud formations over the Pyrenees are also quite stunning at times.
See here for some photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/lesleyolver/May2011ImagesFromTheGarden

Jobs for this week include tiling the kitchenette in the 'suite', more pool tidying and finishing the plumbing and furnishing in our 'bolt-hole' in the loft. Other than that - just gardening....and soon (hopefully!) relaxing by the pool!

Friday 19th May

The blog is a little late this week - but I wanted to include a photo of the pool, which is now ready to have its liner fitted on 1st June and then filled with water!! A local gardener with a digger came to move the mounds of earth for us, then Denis from the farm came down with his tractor to smooth it all out. This was a very satisfying day for us as the mounds of earth around the pool have been a bit of a blot on the landscape since November, and we can now see the end of the 'pool project' in sight! We now need to get some grass planted asap!

We have also made further progress with the Pyrenees Suite. The shower room is ready and the room is all furnished and ready for use. Just the kitchenette to finish off this week.

We enjoyed having Marilyn and Peter here to stay for a few days. They were lucky with the weather and were able to get out and about a bit as well as helping us in the garden. It was even warm enough for a barbeque one evening, and a breakfast on the terrace one morning.

8th May 2011

Neither of us wish to see the inside of a van cab again for some time to come, but having said that, the 'Berkshire Van Hire' truck served us well over a week. We flew back to Maidenhead to sort out the garage and 'framing room' and get everything that we hoped to bring back to France packed up and ready to load. We had a day to pack the van - at first it seemed to swallow up all the boxes and equipment, but we soon ran out of space and ended up balancing our favourite Lloyd Loom chairs on top and squeezing as many plants in as possible before deciding that there was really no more room to spare. We set off early and drove through France on Friday 29th April - I was sorry to miss 'the wedding' but had regular updates from Lucy and Mum and Dad.
We arrived at La Maire before midnight - so not bad going! Because the van was loaded, we had to travel as freight with Eurotunnel, which meant leaving the van in the open and joining the truckers in the seating carriage for the crossing. Unsurprisingly, I was the only woman there!!

We had four days here to unload and cut the grass. We also managed a large Ikea shop with the van on Tuesday, before setting off to drive through the night back to Maidenhead. The night drive was better than we expected. We both managed to doze a bit and were surprised just how many lorries there were on the motorway - at least it kept us alert. I was also surprised how hungry we were through the night - breakfast of juice, coffee and a couple of fresh pastries at the tunnel terminal building was one of the best I have ever tasted! That evening we also drove the van back to Gatwick to collect Daniel and 4 bikes from his Prague/Vienna bike tour with 3 friends-so the van did serve us well!

So now we are back here at La Maire for the final push to get everything ready. We have spent the weekend assembling furniture and working on the garden outside the Pyrenees Suite. The aim is to finish it by the end of this week -so hopefully by next weeks blog...................

The weather yesterday was very blustery, but today has turned calm again, and also very warm. We didn't eat until 8.00pm but sat outside as it was warmer than inside the house. It was so lovely to just sit and enjoy the peace and quiet apart from birdsong - and a tractor in the distance.

The photos above show the van (before unpacking), then the Pyrenees Suite so far - still quite a few finishing touches to add, including putting pictures up, but actually looking like a proper room at last! The final photo is of our lovely climbing rose at the front of the house - quite a picture!