After a long winter, we finally returned to our peaceful retreat where we were greeted with sunshine and a once again overgrown garden.
We got to work straight away, with Magali mowing the lawns on our ride on mower, Jean-Guy doing the bigger bits on the tractor and myself doing some weed-whacking. It’s amazing how much cutting the weeds and grass make the place look so much tidier already.
The next day was a day off from work already where we went to Lake Vioreau with friends and randomly bumping into some family while there. It was a glorious day in the sunshine, just eating, drinking and catching up. We went to see more family in the evening before heading back home to Le Boulay. Josette and Gilbert were visiting in their campervan so they parked in an area on the property, we had our first guests!
We woke early, well Magali woke early and told me it was 10am so we got up to have coffee, it wasn’t until we finished breakfast that I realised it was only 8.30am. I wasn’t happy as I was really tired, but it was very funny and it meant we got to start earlier! We got ready and set to work while Gilbert and Josette had breakfast in the garden before heading out on a bike ride. We focused on the front area by the garage which we had worked on last time, removing the quick growing weed and cutting back trees to give some sunlight to vines that Jean-Guy had planted for us. It was hard work in the hot sun but it looks so much better.
We stopped for lunch in the garden with Josette and Gilbert before they left to drive on to their next stop and we went back to work. Not long after Melanie and Thomas arrived to lend a hand with more weeding around the hangar. Jean-Guy also arrived, along with Dominque and Julien for a look around before helping Hubert with the hay along the road. After we had finished for the day, we got ready and went to dinner at the nearby creperie, Crêperie de Saint Blaise. After we had ordered, Dominque and Arlette arrived with some friends unexpectedly so we joined tables to enjoy the meal together, which was very yummy. Afterwards, Magali and I strolled to see the stunningly beautiful Étang de Saint-Blaise from above, where you could also see La Mine Bleue, before heading back to Le Boulay.
We woke early to have breakfast before getting ready to spend the day at the birthday party of Monsieur le Maire, our Uncle and neighbour Hubert. We had a great day and night, celebrating his 70th birthday with family, friends and neighbours.
In the morning, we did a little work before heading back to the hall for more celebrations and an unfortunate incident with a tick making its way onto my leg and having to remove it with Chanel perfume as the alcohol. We stayed until evening when we headed back to Le Boulay for a nap before going to Chateaubriant for the night.
It was raining in the morning so we spent it at the house before doing a bit of shopping and ran some errands before going to see a few different friends in the afternoon and then spent another evening in Chateaubriant with Jean-Guy and Catherine. In the morning, we headed to Le Boulay for some more work. We tried to purge the heaters but the water just kept coming, so we gave up and did some gardening outside in the sun before going to an informative appointment about the house. We were parked in a car park of a church where we randomly bumped into Marie-France, Magali’s Aunt, it already seems so small where you bump into family and friends everywhere, or maybe it's just that Magali's family is so big! We had a quick chat and we left to do some shopping before heading back to catch up with more friends and heading home for dinner.
Wednesday morning came and it was already time to leave, the week had gone so quickly. We got up and set to work, firstly in the garden to finish off the work we started yesterday and then to clean the hangar we had emptied the first time we came. After having some lunch, we started tiding the house more, trying to empty the rooms more and giving us more space. It looked much better and we felt much better too. We finished up, packed and left our lovely house once again.
We achieved quite a lot in the few days we were working, so we’re feeling confident we’ll be able to start the works on the house soon. First step is to get an architect which is top of the list for our next visit next month. Can’t wait!
