It’s almost November, we’ve changed the clocks so the mornings are brighter but the evenings are darker. It’s colder each day, we can feel winter closing in on us. It’s also now been a year since Magali left Daylesford and made the move to France, we can’t believe how it can be that long already.
The good news is that we’ve finally moved into the house! We’ve brought inside all our London boxes and we’re no longer living in a campervan! You have no idea how good it feels to be out of that van…
We made the decision to tile the other wall in the shower and we’re really happy we did. It was a bit stressful though, because we used the last two tiles in the box and we had to cut them so there was no room for error as we'd have to buy a whole new box just to finish it! Luckily for us, Magali was now a professional cutter and withstood the pressure to make perfect cuts without any breakage. We used the leftover tiles as skirting boards and for shelving inside the bath surrounding which really makes use of what would be an empty space. We feel pretty proud of the bathroom, our hard work paid off and it looks quite professional even though it was our first time tiling.
We’ve oiled all the wooden floors (with a natural oil called Oleobois) after the woodworkers sanded them and they're looking pretty good for old floors. We’ve also started oiling the windows outside but as the weather hasn’t been the best, it’s made it quite difficult as we haven’t had many days where it’s been good enough to do it.
We’ve finished sanding all the skirting boards we will be reusing as well as taking all the measurements to make sure we have enough for the rooms. We’ve filled all the holes from their previous use so now we just need to sand that back, paint them and install them. Once they’re installed, we can start unpacking and bringing in the bigger pieces of furniture so we're hoping to do them as soon as possible and live in a properly finished house, without plasterboard falling apart!
We've been painting some old lights to install in the house and Jean-Guy installed them today, they're looking great and make it another step closer to feeling like a finished home.
The woodworkers returned to add in the ventilation to the windows as well as doing the finishing touches on the doors. We also had the gathering of all the workers plus our architect for the sign-off on all the works they’ve done. We’re super happy it’s finally done but we still have so much more to do ourselves.
We’ve been collecting nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts and chestnuts) from our trees, it’s been a bumper year even with the squirrels taking their share. Uncle Dom helped us chop up the trees that fell during the summer storms so it's tidied up the property a lot.
Magali has developed a worrying obsession with mushrooms since we've got so many different varieties growing everywhere over our land. She's taking lots of photos and spending hours researching them to see if they're edible. We have eaten some but you can't seem to shake the little voice in your head that you may die (or have a bad case of vomiting) if it's toxic to be able to really enjoy eating them.
Martina came to visit us, she was our first guest in the house and we moved in the day before she arrived, talk about perfect timing! We picked her up from the airport in Nantes and stopped in Ancenis on the way back for the afternoon to look around and have a nice drink at Maison des Vins. She helped us in the garden when the weather was ok, and we harvested all the tomatoes from one of the beds as there were still a lot for this time of year. On Wednesday, we went to the market in Segré but as Magali had to work for the lunch shift, Martina and I visited the town and had a lovely walk along the river before heading to Magali’s restaurant for lunch. Once Magali finished, we went on a tour of the surrounding countryside and towns, visiting churches and chateaux along the way. In the evening, we went to Auberge de la Diligence for dinner which was absolutely stunning as always. It’s such an experience going there and the food is exquisite, we’re so lucky to have such an amazing restaurant so close to us. We also walked to Bourg D'Iré from our house and showed Martina the church and old washhouse, even on a rainy day, it's a picturesque little village. The time flew by and before we knew it, it was time for Martina to go. We had such a great time with her and we're so lucky to have her as a friend. We wish her the best of luck in Costa Rica and thanks for all her help with the garden.
The other exciting news is that I had my first interview! It went well but they started by saying that they think they've found someone already. I still tried my best and it felt like we got along, even though I most likely won't get that role. But more good news, I have another interview on Thursday so fingers crossed it goes well. It feels great to be getting interviews, my self-esteem is rising already!
We’ve set up a Kickstarter to help launch our Tiny House project, if you’d like to support us in our project. If you could also share the link with all your contacts and ask them to share with all their contacts, that would be amazing as the more people who know about our project, the more likely we will succeed and if they all give a pound or two, we can reach our target.
Thanks for all your support and see you soon.
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