Half Term Break

Had a break from the build and went back to London for friend's wedding. It was about time the two tied the knot - at the tender age of fifty they have finally come to terms with commitment. The wedding was at a charming old Church in Friern Barnet -the recpetion at Monken Hadley - near to the site of the Battle of Barnet - let's hope this theme doesn't rub off on our newly wed friends!! Food was amazing - caterers from Oxford who are friends of the groom - flowers very beautiful. The bride's bouquet consisted of Australian sturt desert peas and sprigs of bottle brush to refelct her Antpiodean roots. But the breathtaking moment was taken by the arrival of the cake which nearly eclipsed the beauty of the bride. So taken were the guests by the superb orchid clustered cake of Fransiska Hooson that many were compelled to ask for her details. It not only looked wonderful - it was delicious. There was a live band to finish - this occasion nearly made a fine comparison to french fetes - it ended at four am but didn't beat the french record for us of a fortieth that finished at 6 in the morning.

Wedding Cakes By Franziska
Stunning wedding cakes created by international medal winning designer Franziska
of London.

Digging Out on Valentines day

Was taken away from yet another superb book. This one 'The Shadow of the Wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. As it was Valentines Day thought there might be a bit of a respite from hard labour - but we decided to dig as much as possible during the day and then celebrate in the evening with a meal out at Choucas - a super restaurant in the medieval part of Chauvigny. We decided to hand dig out about six inches of stone and soil from the grange and level it out ready for the foundations. It is the kind of job you could imagine being given out as a form of punishment. Its unbelievably hard to lift the stone - some individual pieces weighing up to thirty kilos. The decision to do it by hand is related to cost - it saves us about 1000 euros - so digging is what we are doing. The worst part is trying to level the ground, especially when there is so much stone - but we now have some resemblance of a flat surface. Whether it is flat enough for the foundations we do not know. Levelling it out is a never-ending task. The meal out was well worth all the hard work. We started with a cocktail of fruit juices mixed with cognac. First course was salmon profiteroles, followed by lobster in a fabulous balsamic dressing. Duck was the main course with a puree of artichoke and sweet potato shaped into cubes. The cheese course was deep fried camembert with a damson plum sauce on salad. Dessert was literally a dreamboat - a praline boat floating on a sea of merangue creme with soft fruits. Coffee and chocolate for the finale. We were spoilt with some great wines from the local area - an Ampiladae sauvignon and a red from Marigny Brizay's Haut Poitou vineyard. It was a great compensation for a hard and unromantic day.

Going, going, gone!

Going, going gone! - today was torn away from excellent book - 'The Story of Lucy Gault' by William Trevor (recommended writer on Middlesex University MA Writing course) to help with some tree felling. Hoped to get some advice on this before - perhaps from http://www.helpwithtrees.co.uk or some such other information source as we were low down on tools - had only a woodshark chainsaw with a blunt chain and some nice genteel style secateurs. Strange how some trees seem to have what can only amount to shark like teeth on them. This is for removing some of the trees and debris in the ruin which will eventually be a small two bedroom gite. The ruin will accommodate two to four people and will have a modern contemporary feel with some farmhouse character. The stone here is mined from Chauvigny - the ruin has some excellent facing stones with a rose colour in them - very lovely when the sun sets and the last rays of light are on the stone. The tree seemed larger and more daunting once it was felled - took ages to conserve the parts we wanted for our own use in our open fireplace and make the rest compressed enough to take to the dechetterie. Two down - only three more to go.