Slow down - Speed up

The last couple of days have been slow for me but incredibly quick for the workmen. I went to Clermont yesterday morning to buy some different wallpaper for Suite 1. I got some but I am not happy with it and having shown it to a few people (Emily’s parents) I have decided to stick with the red paper that I showed you in an earlier post. This seems to be a popular decision with a number of people that I have spoken to since.
The afternoon disappeared because Emily’s parent returned from their European tour with their Aussie cousins and so I showed them around the place and we chatted about their adventure. So it was a bit of a slow day for me and I felt like I hadn’t achieved much.
Today has been a bit better but not much. I woke with a start when Em’s Parents came back at 7.30 having dropped the Aussies of at the airport at some ungodly hour. I have started to receive forwarded mail from England now so I don't feel so unpopular anymore - it was half full of junk mail! I also received my Broadband pack from Wanadoo which I connected up straight away but sadly the line hasn't been upgraded yet so I still have a while to wait before I return to cyber civilisation. I had to answer lots of questions throughout the day as the plumbers started to position the actual bathroom furniture into Suite 2 and 5. I can’t believe how quickly these 2 rooms have come together. So I thought now was a good time to take some photos to show progress:
This is suite 2 bedroom when we moved in last October
This is Suite 2 bedroom now which the plumbers have converted into their workshop – tidy aren’t they!!? In the corner you can see the new bath that they put into position today. This is Suite 2 shower room which has taken shape in the last 48hours. This is Suite 5 Bathroom which is probably going to be the nicest bathroom as it feels modern and spacious. There is no point showing you a before photo because the room didn’t exist before! This is Suite 3 Bathroom when we moved in last October This is Suite 3 Bathroom now. The tiles are up (no grout yet) and the rest of the place has been prepped for decorating.
This is Suite 4 Bathroom now – totally stripped and nothing else done yet. These are our new 200 litre tanks – one for each bathroom. We won’t be running out of hot water that’s for sure! This evening I moved into the Napoleon wing. I cleared out the first floor room, heated it with the space heaters and have made it reasonably cosy. Looking forward to bed now!

Variable Progress

Slow Progress
I had a busy day today but it was all very bitty so not much to report. I spent a lot of time responding to an enquiry that has now resulted in a provisional week long booking for the start of August. I also got another booking for the 2nd week of August confirmed so the availability chart is looking a bit more healthy now.

I also spent a lot of time choosing colours for the staircase and for suite 2. I have quite a few Farrow and Ball tester pots and so I was trying these out all over the place. I have made a decision for both and so Mr Laine will be ordering up the paint tomorrow. Em and I had a long discussion about the wallpaper I had bought for Suite 1. Neither of us were sure about it and though we felt a little happier after seeing this photo of it hung in situ we have decide that I should go back to Clermont to see if there is anything closer to what we had originally imagined so I will be doing this tomorrow. Poor Joe was a little upset that I had left him alone 2 days in a row on the weekend and has been following me around all over the place, that is until I tried to take a photo of him. He hates the camera and as you can see from this photo he looks very unsure as to what it is for other than scaring him with the flash. Fast Progress
After a nice long walk with Joe I set to work on the Kitchen. Emily’s parents are coming back from a European tour tomorrow and I didn’t want the place to look a shambles for them. So I got to it and have managed to clear over 50% of the boxes which I was really pleased about. My new space in the back store room now looks great with everything unpacked and stacked neatly away. I’ll take a photo tomorrow when I have done the other 50%.

Vichy Surprise

A day off to spend with friends
I completely messed up this morning. I got up nice and early (or so I thought!) had a bath in my new favourite room – suite 1 and walked Joe. It looked like this from my 2nd floor window so I decided to take him through the wood.
It was a lovely warm day and I was walking in short sleeves. The wood looked absolutely beautiful. We went on a different route and typically, on a day when I had little time, we got lost and ended up walking for an hour. I got back to the chateau and Em called me and we chatted for 30mins. I thought it was 10:30 so I said that I had to go because I was due at my surprise location between 11 and 12 and it would take me an hour and a half to get there. Em told me it was 11:30 – ahhh! I am cut off from the world here with no TV and radio presenters I don’t understand, how was I meant to know the clocks had gone forward. I called my friend who was helping me with the surprise and naturally he was none to happy because he had to make some mad story up for those that weren’t in on it.
So I jumped in the car and raced up the autoroute. I arrived, as expected, an hour and a half later. I rang the doorbell with a bunch of flowers, bottle of wine, box of strawberries and a dozen British chicken and ducks eggs laid in France.
Claudie opened the door and was so surprised that she almost didn’t recognise me. It had worked and Eddy had kept them all in the dark brilliantly well.
I had a fantastic time at Claudie and Eddy’s. They all made me feel so welcome that I didn’t want to leave – so I didn’t! We had a really long lunch with multiple courses and I chatted with Sophie who is going to sit some really tough exams in Paris this week. She had to leave after lunch so the rest of us – Claudie, Eddy and Caitlin – went for a walk around Vichy to meet Amandine and her friend Cybil (not sure how you spell this name). The 2 of them were bonkers and ran around like lunatics. We took these pictures near a zip wire that they were riding.
Vichy is a beautiful city with lots of Bourgeois properties. The most impressive is the opera house where I took lots of photos. Amandine and Caitlin took me to see there school which was fascinating (sorry, I have to tease Amandine a lot as she has come to expect it from me). When we got back to their house they fed me again! I showed Eddy my blog and Amandine showed me a “young person’s” blog which, of course, was much better than mine!
I eventually escaped/kicked out of the house but not before Eddy sneaked some of his delicious chocolate cake into my bag just in case I was hungry on the way back – as if!

Wallpaper

No more ponging
I had the best start to the day I have had so far this morning. I had a hot bath in Suite 1 in the old Victorian bath that came with the chateau. They finished fitting the hot water tank the previous evening. After 2 days of no washing I was starting to hum a bit so having a bath was great but having it in our newly retiled bathroom was even better. I normally struggle to stretch out in baths but this one is huge and I could have stayed there all day. I should explain the photo some more. Mr Laine has tiled the bathroom with Limestone and re-boxed in all the pipe work on the left of the picture which goes to the basin. The bath is yet to be repainted and the floor needs attention too. The plumbers fitted the new taps, generously supplied by Watermark PHS Ltd (they’re in Oakley near Oxford and come highly recommended if you need a new kitchen or bathroom).

Clermont calling
I let the chickens out for their last day of freedom. I was going to close them in from today but I had run out of pellets so I let them out so that they could go foraging for food in the undergrowth.
After giving Joe a nice long walk I set off for Clermont to find wallpaper and lights. I was successful too. I checked out quite a few stores having been given a huge list by Eddy. I was quite surprised because the nicest stuff was in Castorama which is the equivalent to B&Q but it is a little bit smarter in France and the staff are actually quite helpful (I noticed other people getting lots of help!). They stock Graham and Brown wallpaper. You probably know but this is very fashionable wallpaper that you find in magazines like…well, “Wallpaper” (stupid name for a magazine isn’t it) and Elle Decoration etc. I picked out one for Suite 1 that I was not sure about. It has a great print on it but I wasn’t sure if it is exactly the right colour red. I risked it and bought 4 rolls.
Having seen it in situ since I think it will work.
In Suite 2 we want to go for bluey silvery colours and I came across this one and I immediately knew it was right:
The photo doesn’t do it justice because the blue is so subtle that unless you see it for real you can’t make it out.
I also bought some lights for Suite 3’s bathroom and I found this light which I want to use as bed side lights in Suite 2.
I think they are great because the have the right mix of contemporary and classic looks that we are striving for all over the chateau.
Snails in a tin
On my way home I popped into Leclerc’s for some food. The one in Clermont is huge and has incredible choice. I probably spent too long in there but it is all research! The most fascinating thing about French supermarkets is the importance they give to canned and jarred food. It is incredibly popular and you find many more gourmet products that have been jarred or canned in France than you do in England. The Jar aisle is massive and I couldn’t resist picking out a few classic French things once I’d watched what the locals had been choosing (stalker!). Here is a photo of my strange selection:
From the left: Chateau de L’Hospital Bordeaux wine; Mackerel in Dijon Mustard; Puy Lentils; Twinings Tea (you need some home comforts!); Petits Pois and baby carrots in a jar; Camembert (I have eaten this stuff since I was 6); Hot Chocolate; Coffee; Escargots de Borgogne (I am looking forward to this one – its snails in a tin!); Grilled Peppers in a Jar; Brussel Sprouts in a Jar (I couldn’t believe it when I found these so I had to have them); Pate; Sausages and Lentils in a tin (they had loads of different varieties/makes of this, I think it is their equivalent of Baked Beans (which I couldn’t find unsurprisingly)).
Good Intentions
When I got home Joe was all over me. Think he got a bit lonely on his own all day. The chickens and ducks wolfed down the pellets I got for them. I got all the shopping in and with all of my new food products I was keen to sort out the kitchen because it currently looks like this:

Yep, it is covered in boxes and these are just the ones for the kitchen (I have a silly amount of cooking equipment). I knew that the Kitchen had to be gutted by Mr Laine so I didn’t think it was wise to unpack it all in here. So I went into the store room at the back and spent a good hour clearing out more of Mr Martin’s stuff. Here are a couple of before and after shots:

I fully intended to put up our metal shelves and unpack everything into this rear store room. However my Dad rang and I spoke to him for ages (I am normally really bad at talking to people on the phone but I have got verbal diarrhoea out here due to the lack of human contact). Then Em called and then I took all the photos of the wallpaper etc and then it was 11pm and time to write the blog before going to bed. So I will try and do it in the morning before I go on another big journey which I can’t tell you about because it is a bit of a surprise so you’ll have to tune in again tomorrow!

Bird Flu

Papier Peint (Wallpaper)
I got up pretty early again today and went down to check my email first thing. Changes are happening at Vn and I was keen to see if there was any news from Em. There wasn’t. However, Mr Laine and Mr Faye joined me soon after. Mr Laine had rung Mr Faye the previous night to ask him to come back (we had previously asked him to stop working until we had his quote for the work). The quote was fine and I wanted him to connect the new hot water tank so that I might be able to take a shower soon. Mr Laine is pestering me for colours and wall paper so I promised I would have it all decided by Monday. So we had a look on the internet for shops that may sell the sort of stuff I wanted. It was good trying to work out the results of French Google with the 2 artisans, they were very helpful and are keen to improve my French.
Bird Flu Precautions
I took Joe for a walk down the village and it wasn’t long before I was halted by a neighbour who was keen to shake my hand and welcome me back to Savennes. It was Mr Turner who lives next to my Dad’s cottage. He has a large flock of chickens and had noticed that I had brought chickens and ducks with me. Daviid, our cockerel, maybe the only gay in the village but he has a manly voice (for a chicken) and so I think he gave the game away. Anyway Mr Turner was asking me lots of questions about how I was keeping them etc. I managed to keep up but was struggling with the point of the conversation other than just friendly banter. Then Boris turned up (as he tends to out of nowhere) and got involved in the conversation. He told me about the notice that had been put up in the town hall and that everyone owning a chicken would have to have them locked up indoors by the 1st April 2006. After this the Gendarm were going to come around and ensure that there aren’t any outside. I think Boris and Mr Turner were trying to wind me up slightly but I knew it was a big deal and so I went to look at the notice. Sure enough, he was right, and I also have to have my enclosure inspected by a vet to make sure that it is suitably protected from wild birds. So I will have to get this organised in the next few days.
Chicken Run 2
So as it turns out my efforts yesterday in constructing the chicken run were wise after all. However I realised that it wasn’t going to be good enough for my birds to be stuck in such a small room. So I decided to upgrade them to the suite next door. This was full of junk that Mr Martin had left behind too:

So I cleared it out and moved the run into it. When night fell they found their way inside and made themselves at home. I checked on them an hour later and both Vichy P and Daviid had climbed up into the nesting box (the old rabbit hutch) and were looking very comfortable. The ducks are too stupid to work out how to get up there so I put some wood shavings on the ground so they could sleep below.

Broadband is on its way
I spent the rest of the day responding to emails and moving boxes around. By evening I had cleared away enough so that there was space for Joe to join me in the restaurant where my office is. It is nice and warm in here and I am tempted to get it totally cleared and set my bed up too so that I can almost totally live out of one room (seems a bit silly when there are so many other rooms!).
The best news of the day was from Eddy who called me this afternoon to organise my broadband connection (they simply call it AH DE S ELLE here). He had set up a 3 way conference call from his office at France Telecom with someone else from FT who was had all of my account details. FT have a new product that allows them to extend the reach of their ADSL even further so the Chateau is now within reach whereas last year it wasn’t. This is great news because I am really fed up with Dial up so I can’t wait to have it connected. It should all be done within 2 weeks.
The bad news of the day was that the Plumbers and Mr Faye managed to blow up (literally – there was even a small fire!) one of the electric water heaters. They tried to sneak it out of the building without me noticing because I think they were a little embarrassed about it. They had replaced it by the end of the day so it was no big deal.
Workshop heaven
A man has to have a shed but if he doesn’t then a workshop will do.
This evening I completely cleared out the workshop, swept it and made it look very pretty. I have stiff competition because Eddy has the most amazing workshop at his farmhouse down the road and so it is going to be difficult to impress him. I will take a picture of Eddy’s workshop next week when they are visiting – you’ll be amazed! This allowed me to finally unload the trailer (which was mainly filled with the contents of my old shed) so the workshop now looks messy again (hence no photo yet) but fear not I will get it sorted and one day may even put Eddy to shame (unlikely!).
I am glad that job is finally done because tomorrow I have a big day ahead of me and need to drive off in the Land Rover. I am going on a Wallpaper, Lighting and general decoration reccie in Clermont Ferrand. I am hoping to find some brilliant wallpaper for Suite 1 and 2.
Wish me luck. I’ll let you know how I get on and if you’re lucky I might even get around to photographing the progress that is being made on the suites.

I've arrived!

Saying “Goodbye” to England.
After a mammoth week I am finally in France. Looking back now I am amazed that it has actually happened!
This time last week I was pretty drunk to be honest. I decided to have my Video Networks leaving party the day before I actually left, which was wise in retrospect because it meant I got no work done at Vn on Friday (you’re not meant to work on your last day are you!?) instead of getting nothing done on Saturday which would have been disastrous because there was so much to do.
I must say another thank you to everyone at Vn who signed my card, contributed to my fantastic presents and came out and gave me a great send off. Special thanks go to Jane, Pauline and Emily for organising the presents and the people! But I have to single him out – Dave was brilliant, he gave a really great and emotional speech and personally picked out all of my presents which I am so grateful for. I will miss seeing my x boss everyday – he’s the best friend I have got!
The rest of the weekend went to plan and Em and I got everything packed up ready for the removal men on Monday. They turned up late with what looked like a lorry that already had too much in it (I was meant to have 6/7ths of the lorry and it looked at least a 1/3 full to me). The removal men were great though and amazingly fitted nearly everything in leaving me just enough to fill the horse trailer. We had a lovely last meal with Mike and Lucie at Fontley and borrowed a mattress from them because I had stupidly forgotten to grab the blow up mattress before it was loaded onto the lorry earlier on in the day.
Tuesday was a complete disaster. I was meant to pick up the trailer first thing after it had been serviced but the garage hadn’t even started the job and I didn’t get it back until the afternoon. This set me back massively and I had to forget about visiting my Dad in London to take stuff out for him and for me (sorry Dad!).
I didn’t finish packing the trailer till 8pm and it all only just fitted. We then went out for my final meal in England with Dave in Hertford – we ate Thai! I was shattered and was almost falling asleep at the table (sorry Dave and Sian!).
Wednesday started at 6.15am. We loaded all of the last bits and pieces into the Land Rover then Joe, Vichy P, Daaviid, Padama, Fontley’s child and I set off for Dover at around 8.15am. Em and I said our goodbyes and that was it – “no going back” as they say on the TV programme that didn’t want us – fools!

Saying “Bonjour” to France
The chickens and ducks enjoyed their pit stop on the eurotunnel as I stuffed food and water into their cage. I got a lot of strange looks from everyone else on the carriage!
About 1 hour into my journey from Calais I was exhausted and was having to stop every 30mins to recover which Joe was pleased about because he got lots of walks. I finally made it to Paris after what seemed an age. However, it was now 5pm and the traffic was terrible. It took me 2 ½ hours to get round it whereas it normally takes under an hour.
Things started going well then. We had our final chicken and duck refuelling pitstop before nightfall then al the traffic cleared up and I was on an empty straight autoroute and feeling wide awake. At around 10pm the tiredness hit me like a wave and I couldn’t shrug it off. I had to stop every 30mins again to prevent myself from falling asleep at the wheel. Finally, 16hours after I set off in Stevenage, I arrived in Savennes at 2am. Of course I was wide awake again then and couldn’t wait to see the chateau. I got the chickens and ducks off to bed, got some heating on and after a quick sneaky look at Suite 1 I went to bed exhausted but happy.

Saying “Wow” to the Chateau
Today has been full on. I got up soon after 7. I was so excited about the day ahead that my tiredness didn’t affect me. I won’t talk about the work that has already been done to the suites till tomorrow (give you something to look forward to!). Needless to say it is all looking really good and you won’t be disappointed when you see some photos tomorrow.
Joe and I went to see how the chickens were getting on. They were scared stiff of me after what I put them through yesterday but they seemed to like their new home. I was about to make it a whole lot better.
The plumbers are really nice and because they keep coming down to the bar where I have set up my office I chat to them (very poorly!). They normally eat lunch in the kitchen because they don’t like eating out and were really humble this morning when they asked if it was alright to sit there today. Of course I said it was fine and that they should make themselves feel at home (or at least I would have like to have said that but I think they got the idea).
The removal men turned up late having struggled to get up Auvergne’s mountain motorways. With 150 tonnes of our stuff in the back they could only get into 3rd gear on the inclines. They were brilliant fun again and, like everyone who has come here so far, totally blown away by the Chateau and what we are doing. Later that day they were meant to drop off the rest of their load somewhere else in France before getting to Barcelona at 5pm. They didn’t leave Savennes till 3pm! I helped them with the unloading which may have ended up costing more time – I had really bad verbal diarrhoea having spent the morning struggling to remember any French when talking to Monsieur Laine and the Plumbers. Speaking English was light relief and they were keen to know our plans for the place and offer their advice.
When they left Joe was already in the front garden and was racing around in circles as they drove off. He had a mad five minutes when he was doing that crouching thing, watching you for a second and then sprinting towards you. I tried to encourage him to hurdle the little box hedges on the front lawn but he kept refusing like a horse. Then we both ran at them together and when he saw me jump over them ahead of him he followed. It was brilliant! (for those of you that don’t know Joe, he is the opposite to a collie in that it is virtually impossible to teach him to do anything – to put it into perspective I was awarded a cup at the Hitchin dog training club just for getting him to sit!!). I said hello to Boris who was watching from afar. He was all smiley and very pleased to hear I was staying for good this time.
It was a lovely day here and really warmed up as it went on. The outdoor temperature was reading 20 degrees! at one point though it was a chilly 6 degrees first thing this morning. It was clear and sunny and you could see the mountains. I have got all the doors open everywhere so Joe can come in and out as he pleases wherever he is. He absolutely loves it here.
Going through all of our plans with the removal men got me so excited about finally being here that by the time they left I was keen to do something constructive. Ok, it perhaps wasn’t the best idea seeing as I not only had a chateau full of workmen’s rubbish but also full of boxes that needed unpacking. After responding to another enquiry that we received today (from someone I don’t know!) I decided to go and construct the chicken run.

Saying “Cluck Cluck” to the chickens
I didn’t really say that but I was probably going a little mad at this point due to lack of sleep. I had unceremoniously dumped the chickens in the concrete shed at the back of the chateau and by this time I thought they might be a bit bored of the inside which was full of junk. So I fixed up the fence around the outdoor run and let them out.
The run is covered in about a foot of leaves and so they were in heaven when they started scratching down to the surface to find loads of little shoots from plants that were about to come out for the spring. I then cleared out the shed so that it looked like this: I then constructed a perch using an old palette and put the rabbit hutch on top for a nesting hideaway. As you can see from the photo below that they haven’t quite worked out how to get up onto the perch yet so I will make a ladder for them tomorrow.
Saying “Je l’aime ici” to my new life
As you can tell I am loving it here and even though it is now midnight French time I still don’t feel like sleeping. I have set up a really cool office in the bar in the Napoleon wing with all of my new toys that I bought from PC World just before I left. I have got my music playing and am connected to my blog and could probably go on for another hour but I won’t bore you any longer.
I haven’t really had time to take in what I have done and where I am. In a way I hope it stays this way for a while because the energy I have at the moment is massive and really positive. Thinking negatively or being sad about people I miss isn’t allowed at the moment. More to follow tomorrow evening with news about how the renovation is going i.e. I might actually get to the point!

Feel free to post any comments you have. I would especially like a new name for the female duck who is currently called Fontley's child (cos she was born at our old house, Fontley Lodge). Something to do with or sounding like Fontley would be good or she could just be another little britain character.

The artisans are here!

My first blog!

I am not actually living at the Chateau yet but things have started moving on the renovation front so I thought now was the best time to start blogging.

I just spent the weekend at the Chateau with Emily, her family and her Australian cousins, Rick and Tracy who have just flown in from Adelaide for a grand tour of Europe. I had driven down to Savennes in Em's Parent's company van to deliver all of our bathrooms. We had a bit of a nightmare because the next day after the drive down the van broke and we had to get it fixed at the local Renault Garage in Ussel. However, I was due to drive back on monday but they said it wouldn't be ready till Tuesday. It actually ended up being Wednesday when it was actually ready.

Anyway, this turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise because on Tuesday all of our tradesmen (or artisans as they call them out here) turned up at once to discuss the impending work. Monsieur Laine is my main man - he is the decorator and plasterer and has the most work to do out of all of them. I get on really well with him and he is very patient with me and my woeful french. Monsieur Huin is the plumber and he is crucial to the success of the renovation. He needs to work closely with Mr Laine to coordinate when things get done. Monsieur Faye is the electrician. He turned up with the Mayor and his daughter who introduced him to me for the first time.

We walked around the chateau together confirming everything that needs to be done - which is a lot! They all left by lunch time - midday on the dot of course!

Monsieur Laine returned in the afternoon keen to get on with things and by the time he left at 6 he had already stripped all of the wallpaper off of Suite 1's sitting room.

The next day they all turned up at 8.30 and Mr huin brought along a couple of his assistants too. I was still in bed! I didn't get a shower because they not only turned the mains water off but they ripped out the shower too!

By 1oam Suite 1 was gone. The bath, basin, shower and wallpaper from all 3 rooms. They work damn quick. And much to my surprise Mr Faye was back and, having only been introduced to me the day before, he had started work and had already stripped out all of the lights, sockets, switches and wiring from the whole suite! We haven't even got a Devis (quote) from him yet! I asked Mr Laine about it and he said it was Ok and he would make us the devis "rapidement". Its a bit of a worry because we haven't budgeted for it.

Mr Laine kindly gave me a lift to Ussel to retrieve the van. We chatted all the way - luckily I had my dictionary with me so I could keep up.

Mr Huin wasn't there in the afternoon and so I had to tell one of his assistants about changing the position of the water heaters on the ground floor. I hope he understood me! I am sure he did.

I eventually left them to it at 3pm and set off on my marathon journey back to England. I hope they will be Ok for 3 weeks without me. They had a lot of questions on the first day so I can't wait to get back there just in case there are more decisions to make.

I eventually got home at 3 in the morning after driving for 12 hours (I had to go to Oxford to drop off the van and collect my Land Rover). Needless to say I was knackered, but I had pleasant dreams safe in the knowledge that the work had started and we are well on our way to opening the chateau for business.

My next posting will be on Thursday 23rd March which is when I arrive in France for good!

Introduction

On the 28th October 2005 Emily and Tom Wallis became the proud owners of Chateau de Savennes. It is located in the small village of Savennes in the Auvergne within the department of the Puy de Dome.

History
The chateau was built between the 16th and 19th century and for the last 18 years was run as a chambres d'hotes and restaurant by Monsieur Martin, the previous owner. Before that, as far back as the 60's, it was run as a holiday camp for Algerian children. One of the wings hadn't been touched since these times and there were still dozens of beds with Algerian rugs on them. We do not know it's history before this but the earliest photo we have of it looks to be from Victorian times (from the look of the clothes of the man in the bottom left corner). Monsieur Martin would only let me take a photo of this photo hence the bad reproduction.

What was needed
When we took ownership, the chateau was in a mixed state. The main wing at the front was in good condition however it needed redecorating because Mr Martin has quite quirky taste. It also needed the 3 existing bathrooms to be replaced with new and to have an extra 2 bathrooms added to make 5 luxurious suites. Downstairs there is a huge living room and a bar, both needing redecoration. The main kitchen needs quite a lot of work because it has a horrible false ceiling and lots of flaking wall paper. What we call the Napoleon wing, (because that was when it was built), hadn't been touched since the 60's. It needs loads more work doing to it than the rest so we decided that this is where we will live and we can do it gradually over a number of years.
The chateau has an old but perfectly serviceable heating system. Gas is piped around the house to individual radiators that have their own burners. They do a good job and the chateau gets really warm. However, they are not in every room and so there are cold spots that tend to make it difficult to heat the whole place. Ideally we need to replace this before we accept winter guests.
The electrics are fine in most of the rooms but some of them are old and need replacing except in the Napoleon wing where the whole lot needs to go!

Meeting the neighbours
Emily and I feel incredibly privileged to be part of the community of Savennes. Our new neighbours have been so welcoming they are all encouraging us to develop Chateau de Savennes into a wonderful venue for holiday makers. All of our nearest neighbours came out to introduce themselves to us within the first few days after arriving.
Boris lives closest to the Chateau. He is originally from Russia but he came to France when he was 8. He must be in his eighties now and so you couldn’t find a more typical French man if you tried. He invited me into his house at 10am and insisted I drink Ricard with him. It was the first time I had tried it and so I left feeling just a little light headed.
Marie-Helene and Madeleine are two sisters that live in the house facing the Chateau. They have lived in Savennes all of their lives and must be in their eighties too. They have lots of incredible stories to tell, I can’t wait till I understand them better!
The kindest and most generous of all the residents of Savennes are Claudie and Eddine. They own a farmhouse in the village that they have spent the last 5 years renovating it from a shell. They live in Vichy so come to Savennes for weekends and holidays. We were so fortunate to meet them straight away. The news that English people had bought the Chateau spread like wildfire through the village and so they came and introduced themselves the very next day. They both speak excellent English and I have no doubt that we wouldn’t have been able to complete the renovation project by June 2006 if it wasn’t for them. They provided us with the names of all the tradesmen in the area that helped them with their farmhouse. Claudie even went as far as ringing them all up to get them to come and do estimates. Claudie and Eddine have become some of our dearest friends and to this day their continued generosity and help amazes me.
They have also introduced us to their good friend Phillipe who owns the Dairy farm on the other side of the village. He is also very friendly and enjoys reciting English phrases in an incredibly authentic English accent. We get our milk and eggs from him too. The milk is so fresh that it is still warm in the bottle and we have to boil it before we refrigerate it.

Meeting the Maire
When we first came to Savennes we knew it was really important to meet the Maire. So Emily sent me off to make our introductions. Sadly he wasn’t there, which was a relief for me because my French was so bad at the time that it would have been embarrassing. Instead I made sure that his secretary knew that I had made the effort to come to the office and greet him.
Then, in the new year, we went to Madame Peirrot’s bar in the village for lunch. The Maire was there and he introduced himself to us. He is a very down to earth man with no airs and graces. He asked if he could come and look at the chateau to see if he could offer us a grant to help with the renovation. Of course, we accepted and again we were amazed at how kind everyone was being to us. Clearly some of the bad luck we had when we were going through the buying process was now reversing and things were starting to go our way.
A couple of weekends later he visited the Chateau with the Mayor of Messeix who is the conseiller général for the area (the man that controls all the money!). They decided that we needed new central heating and new electrics and asked me to get Devis (quotes) for them so that they could see if we could have a grant.

Getting the Devis
Mr Laine the plasterer and decorator came round first. I think he was a little overwhelmed with how much there was to do at first but he came back a second time to measure up and eventually provided us with a very detailed Devis for every room. The total price was eye-watering but Claudie and Eddine had told us that he was very professional and we won’t be disappointed.
We had 2 plumbers come round. The first left within 30mins. We think he was scared of the amount of work that needed to be done. Mr Huin came 2^nd and he whizzed round the place with huge confidence. We liked him a lot and though his Devis took a long time to come it was actually quite reasonable.
For both Mr Laine and Mr Huin we were very fortunate to have Amandine, Claudie and Eddine’s daughter, as our translator. She was great!

Starting the work
Once we got all the Devis finalised we went back to the bank to extend our loan to do the work. They have been very helpful and agreed to the loan. We decided that some of the rooms were simple enough for me to do myself. So it was down to me to paint the Living Room and the Bar and some of the easier bedrooms.
I came out for a weekend at the end of January, bought some great Farrow and Ball paint from a specialist shop in Clermont Ferrand and got on with it. Of course I didn’t finish it all but it was great to see that we had finally started. Now I can’t wait till I am at the chateau permanently at the end of March so that I can finish the Living Room and get on with the other rooms.