Is it any Wonder That Brittany is Such a Passion?

For seventeen years now we have been to-ing and fro-ing between Worthing in Sussex and our house in Brittany. It's fair to say that we've had our money's worth. And, since it cost us £12,000 just 10 weeks after we first saw it, then each visit has cost us just £125. Brilliant! Mind you the cost of the ferry crossings would buy the house twice over and on the way to a third! Eek! And then there's Cost of the renovations...

Well I don't suppose we have spent more than a total of £75,000 including the purchase price. And the joy we get from each trip is immeasurable... from simple walks along the towpath of the Rigole to the Son et Lumiere at The Abbey of Bon Repos (it's an annual must to see if I can improve on the previous year's photographs). Even in December we have eaten lunch in the garden...on the magic bench ... Evenings having had dinner or barbecuing fresh sardines under the tenty thing in the courtyard and probably having just a little too much to drink is always a very pleasant way to spend an evening (can't wait for May or June - for being outdoors I mean) well it's been great.

Poking about under the chestnut trees in October or November, looking for the pick of the crop to roast on the wood-stove. Which reminds me... we go for a walk along the Rigole after nights when the wind has been more noticeable. It brings down the dead and dying branches; ideal for burning without the need for two years drying in the barn. If the wind's been particularly punishing we don't even bother to walk, but go out in the truck, because we know we will find enough to fill the pick-up back without walking too far along the towpath. I have been designing, in my mind, as we rummage, a transom, barrow or trailer that we can easily pull, push or trail behind the bike(s) to make the job more interesting and leisurely. But then there is the Wheelhorse! That's got a tow-ball... I bought this mini tractor with it's mowing bed, from a couple who were selling up and returning to UK. It was spluttering a bit when we first saw it - needs a bit of a carburettor service - but I have that in hand and, I must say - it was 200 Euros well spent. I would feel a tad conspicuous on this though. It does make a bit of a clatter and, as round our way you can usually hear a pin drop even during the day, it might just attract more attention than you would want it to when what you're really after is peace and quiet...

 

There are so many latent projects around this house and its land... At the lane end of the courtyard is a building we call the Baby Barn (Micki made a stained glass window for this little gem very soon after we took over tenure) and, attached to the rear of it, but with only exterior access, is a bread oven (above) ...   Its roof is long gone and its chimney, badly in need of repair at the top - just a couple of the many elements  that need sorting out. Merely keeping the domed brick roof above it free of weeds is an arduous and thankless task... the weeds, it seems, have a special ability to reappear fully during the periods we spend back in the UK. I have rescued some terracotta Victorian pavers from outside the back door of our place in Worthing and some 250 year old slates from the time13 years ago when the back of the house was re-roofed and these are the materials that will give the bread oven new life... hopefully! Rest assured I will be boring the crap out of those who stumble across this blog-space when the first loaves, rolls and pizzas are served at the Chez Slade 'Bread Oven Cook-Out'. Micki said she wants to fire it up on our next trip but I'm thinking that the only fitting time to do so is when the whole thing is back to the way it was in 1765 or so - with an al fresco dining experience to match the cuisine of the day the oven was used for the first time... so pizza is definitely out - but maybe a touch of hog-roast will go down well. The drink of choice in those days would have been cider to wash it down but, for me, the amber and dark beers originally brewed for the coal miners of the Pas de Calais is the only ale worth drinking... Thank heavens these days it's imported into Brittany.

When we first saw the place...

 

...You'll notice that the garden was a wee bit neglected... Madam LeRoy was unable to handle the quarter acre behind the barns after her husband died... and, in the years since she stopped keeping the courtyard under control, nature was beginning to move back in with a vengeance. In fact there is a barn in the photo above right that, at the time, only really needed re-roofing in order to begin the claw back to become a cottage. Sadly it didn't make it and, once the roof timbers collapsed, the plan had to change and now we want to have it as a sheltered vegetable patch. There is a cart in there which because it hasn't moved in 30 years or more has had a tree grow round its wheels and spokes. I still  haven't removed it. But the garden is a delight and you can bet, even before we unlock the front door on our arrival from the docks at St Malo, that Micki will be dead-heading and weeding as the unloading of the truck is in progress and before the water is switched on and the first cup of tea is made! And then, of course, if it hasn't recently been done she will mow the grass!

 

 Is it any wonder that Brittany is such a passion?