Our News

The Dairy has been enhanced with the addition of a private hot tub.

We can offer our three gîtes to larger groups, up to 10 people, with exclusive use of the swimming pool. We still have a few dates available this summer. Please email amanda@lesgranges.com to inquire about dates and prices.

We are pleased to announce that our third gîte, Le Fenil, has received 3 stars from Sarlat Tourisme.

Le Fenil, our third gite, is now complete and can be booked from August 8th. It has a spacious living/kitchen/dining room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. It is equipped with a dishwasher, air conditioning, a washing machine, a private covered terrace and access to a large communal swimming pool.

We've been really busy this month getting into the renovations and as a result my blog is a little behind schedule. As I write I am currently back in the UK. Our visas finally arrived, allowing us to reside in France, so we had to return to the French consulate in London to collect them. As it's almost Christmas, we'll be staying until the new year.

In our last blog, Graham had started knocking on a door between the two rooms of our little barn and I was still pointing at the front wall of the house. Both works are now complete. Graham was ready to dig the floor of the little barn. It meant he could finally get his hands on a mini digger. Therefore, we hired the mini excavator and a tipper. As he dug the dirt floor, he filled my dump bed and I then dropped it off in front of our large shed barn. I was unhappy with this arrangement as there were old shoes and all sorts of trash among the dirt. It seemed like we were just moving the trash around rather than getting rid of it. Graham ignored my protests and said everything would be fine. Another job we started doing while we had the mini digger was trying to clean up the mountain of straw left in the wooden shed. It was difficult because the slope from the barn into the field was too steep for the tipper. We ended up adding straw to the trash heap.

The newly pointed front wall. The contrast to the floor upper that wasn't pointed shows how much the pointing has improved the wall.

Graham on the mini digger.

Now that the ground had been dug, Graham had to build walls. One was to support the beams where the stairs were going to be. The other was at the front of the barn where he had removed the wooden wall. The first wall was relatively simple and soon completed. However, the second wall had some obstacles in the way; a wine press with a large concrete base, a rainwater drain and a support beam supporting the roof. After some consideration, we decided to move the wall back a little further, which meant the beam was in front of the wall. The juicer was not so easy to solve. First, he removed the press, setting it aside as we intend to use it as a feature. The concrete base was the biggest challenge Graham had faced so far. We were hoping it was hollow, but it turned out solid. Luckily, we were having the septic tanks installed that week and one of the workers lent him a jig pick. It was still extremely hard work and created dust that got into the house. He was unable to remove the entire base as it contained large pieces of metal. The remaining piece isn't in the way of the wall, so we'll make a bench out of it later.

Graham with the jigger pick removing the wine press.

The rainwater drain also became a challenge. As Graham was digging for the foundations of the wall, he discovered the clay pipe that removed rainwater from the roof of the house and the yard. As it was raining at the time, we realized it was broken and water was leaking out. He decided the best thing to do was to replace the hose. However, local DIY stores have been closed. He found a pipe in one of the barns so he could make a temporary repair. He built a dam to keep water from reaching the broken pipe while he was fixing it. He had just finished cementing the smaller pipe when suddenly his dam broke, water surged towards him and whoosh! The pipe had disappeared. He had no choice but to leave it until the DIY stores opened the next day.

The dam before it was broken and washed away by the pipe.

While Graham was dealing with these challenges, I also started working in the little barn.This was a relief as the weather was much colder and wetter than it had been. I sanded down the beams that would support the bedroom floor because we're going to keep them exposed. Many of them have already been infested with the Capricorn beetle and the wood was soft in places. We intend to spray them with a woodworm treatment before oiling them. Another job that I started was the pointing of the central wall that will divide the living room and the kitchen. As this is an interior wall, it does not require insulation so we can keep the stone exposed.

The newly sanded beams, a pointing plot and the new door.

In France, the distances between places are too great to allow public sewers. Only if you live in the city will you be connected to the city sewer system. If you live outside of town, such as Les Granges, you must have your own septic tank.When we bought the house a report had been made which stated that the current septic tank was not up to code. As part of our planning request, a government agency, known as SPANC, conducted a survey to inform us of the system we should install. As we will eventually have four or five apartments, we had to have three septic tanks. The guys came in one morning with their big diggers and started tearing up my garden and yard. Of course, this was the week when the dry weather we had had since arriving in France ended. There was mud everywhere. When they had finished all the work, they had knocked down a large part of the garden and part of our field. However, they put the earth where we had put garbage and pressed it. This left us with a flatter surface. It's ideal because this area will be a parking lot, so they buried all the trash.

One of three septic tanks.

When we arrived at Les Granges the yard was green with grass and weeds. Underneath, there were limestone gravels. It was good to hike at first as it was dry. As we experienced wetter conditions the yard got more and more muddy. With two dogs, it was not ideal. So, I started to make my way. I scraped the ground and the weeds. On the side of the house was a pile of limestone gravel. I put them in my path which gave us a better surface to walk on. However, it was slow as I only walked a little bit each day. Eventually I created a path that went from the house to each door of the van and to the hot tub. The following week the septic tank guys arrived and my path was history. It was also the wine press base's rainy and dusty week. The house was dirty (again) and I was surrounded by mud. However, the house was cleaned and Graham ordered six tons of limestone chippings. It was hard work to move all that gravel in a day, but we transformed the yard.

The path I created.

Our courtyard looks much better with 6 tons of limestone chippings.

Once Graham had built his wall foundation, we were ready to do the concrete floor of the little barn. We used the wacker to press the limestone chips, then the sand. We now needed insulation, but as we had problems getting it before we got back to the UK, we left the floor and moved on to another job.

Preparation of the ground in the small barn.

The new job was to remove the first floor of the large barn as it was rotten. Many more trips to the chetterie were required. For the first time, we could see up to the roof of this barn. The beams are very attractive, which leads me to rethink the layout so that more of them are exposed. The soil we removed was completely covered in straw – yes, more straw! Luckily we found an old pitchfork and I started rolling it to where I was going to have my vegetable garden. It took all day, and you couldn't tell I had moved on. That night we thought about how we could move the straw faster. Then I had the idea to fill the back of the van and drive around the field. It moved a lot more chaff, but we're still not done.

The attractive beams revealed after removing the barn floor.

The next few weeks of our renovation will (hopefully) start to see our little gite take shape and I can't wait to get back and keep going.

One of our straw mounds.

After a month back in the UK, we finally returned to Les Granges. Had the spiders enjoyed their time while we were gone? Of course they had, but I had come equipped. A chair and a handheld vacuum were my weapons, so I got to work. I think I won this battle, but it wasn't over yet. A week later, the feather duster was out. A much shorter battle which I won again.

It wasn't just cobwebs we had to contend with the bathroom was filthy, the windows looked like they had never been cleaned and we lacked a kitchen. So before we could even think about starting the renovations, we had to make ourselves a home.

I started in the bathroom where I managed to bring a level of cleanliness in which I could wash myself. The bathroom window was covered by a cardboard card. I pulled it down to find other spiders hiding with some of their half-dead prey. On the window itself, there were a few small animal prints. A cat maybe? I'm afraid we'll never know.

Who was trying to enter?

The only parts of the kitchen that remained were a sink and a wall unit. Graham had spent a few hours cleaning both, but I still wasn't enthusiastic. I looked on Facebook market to see if anyone was selling used kitchens. I found one complete with a sink and hob for free! However, we had to dismantle the kitchen. With my translator at the ready, I managed to communicate with the French seller (or donor) and we arranged to pick up the kitchen a few days later. However this was not the case, the seller sent a message the next day saying to leave it until the following week. I asked what day but never heard from her again. At that point, I was ready to compromise. The sink and wall unit could stay, but I needed a new faucet, worktop and shelf underneath. It's not pretty, but it's functional. We're still short of a stove, and I'

The kitchen is not pretty but it is functional, just.

It took us a few days to sort out our house and I'm still making blinds for the windows, but eventually we started cleaning the barns. Graham started with the two cabinets in the open barn. They were full of garbage, and we were concerned about what was in them. We were right to be concerned. In a wooden box he found what we both thought were explosives. He dragged them away from home and we discussed what to do with them. Graham went to ask the lady we bought the house from because she lives next door to us. She told us that they were ""paragreles"". As she does not speak English, she could not tell us more but managed to make us understand that we had to inform the town hall.We googled ""parahail"" and learned that the explosives were used to create a chemical cloud in the sky that would prevent hail from falling on the vines and damaging them. Graham went to the town hall office to inform them. He comes back with Cyril, the gardener who works for the Town Hall. Cyril was worried and called the gendarmerie, the French police, who arrived within the hour. Three guys, who looked too young to go out without their parents, carrying guns, watched the explosives. They told us not to touch anything else we could find and cordoned off part of the land with red and white tape. They said someone would arrive to take them away and took our details. Two weeks later, they are still there.

The explosives found in the barn

The police arrive

Restricted zone

Graham continued with the clearing of the barn, which resulted in him removing one of the cabinets as it was rotting.Now we had to get rid of the garbage. We drove on a Sunday to find the dump which was only ten minutes away. The next day, we filled the van with chemical bottles, rotting wood and piles of twenty-year-old newspapers. They took it all! That week we came back almost every day with more trash. Imagine how much that would have cost us in tippers in the UK. Waste disposal in France is very good compared to the UK. We do not have bins outside our property, they are at the end of the lane. As we come across them every day, it is not complicated to take our garbage. These are huge garbage cans shared with our neighbors. Non-recyclable waste goes in black bags in one bin while recyclable waste goes in a yellow bag in another bin. Card, plastic and metal all go in the same bag, making it much easier to throw away. The glass is a little more complicated because there is no bin for the glass. However, there is a glass bin at the lake where we walk our dogs.

Some of the rubbish we had to clean up

The cabinet is not only cleared of garbage, it has been disassembled

While Graham was cleaning the barns, I started clocking in on the house. He gave me a big hammer drill and told me to get the cement out of the walls. We owned a stone house in North Yorkshire that had been pointed with cement. When we were selling, a surveyor pointed out that the cottage was damp in places. We had a report made and discovered that the dampness was caused by the cement preventing the stone from ""breathing"". It was therefore essential to remove the cement which not only filled the joints but completely covered the stone in places. As I removed the old pointing, I chipped away some of the cement that surrounded the arched window. We then had a decision to make if we should fix it or remove it and reveal the stone. We decided to remove it because we could always override the rendering. My dream was for a yellow stone property with blue shutters. Our house looked grey and horrible. However, I overlooked that and focused on the impressive stonework around the arched door and window. So my mission was to create the dream house. One problem – I'm terrified of heights. I started on the ground floor and was just about ready to start punching when Graham came across a cheap scaffolding tower. I made it to the top of the gate with this, but I don't know who will go above because it won't be me.

The house looks messy although the doorway is impressive and the arch gives character

Under the arched window, the wall had been covered with cement

After cleaning the open barn, Graham moved on to the small barn attached to the house. This was going to be our first project. He cleared it of trash, including several pairs of shoes. No more trips to the kennel. Then he completely removed the floors as they were rotten. We could now see the first floor of this barn, which we had never done before. In the second room, which was to be the living room, we decided to remove the entire floor. As the roof is not very high there, the first floor is not really useful, so we thought it would be better to have a high ceiling in the living room. He has removed the wooden 'wall' from the front of this room and has now started to remove part of the stone dividing wall where the stairs will fit. Therefore, we are now left with a shell. It can only get better from here. I hope!

The wooden wall of the small barn has been removed.

Removal of part of the wall to adapt the stairs

Finally, we decided to add some luxury to our new home. Once the open barn was cleared, we put our hot tub, outdoor sofa, and patio heaters in place. I added fairy lights, and now we have an outdoor chill-out area. We really enjoyed the rooftop as the first time we decided to use the area we had heavy rain.

Our outdoor space where we can relax even in the rain.

We don't feel like we've done much in our first three weeks at Les Granges, but the only thing we've done is make a home for ourselves. Now, let's focus on the renovations.

Our brand new gîte La Laiterie has received 3 stars from Sarlat Tourisme. For more information and to book, visit lesgrangesmarquay.com.

This blog will follow our journey as we begin our new life in France. Above all, it will tell how we will transform an old farmhouse and dilapidated barns into a welcoming holiday complex and a comfortable home.

The story began fifteen years ago after watching a television program about a young couple who started a new life in France. They bought an abandoned barn, turned it into a comfortable home, and made a living from the adjoining fishing lake. I was fascinated by the affordability and beauty of French ownership. Our new dream life took shape in the following weeks. We could retire early, run a few gites and just enjoy life – with better weather as a bonus. A few issues held us back. First of all, I had never been to Disneyland Paris and I didn't know where I would like to be in France. Second, we had three teenage children.No question of me dragging them to France. Five days at Center Parcs was bad enough. Don't worry, the dream could wait. The children would grow up and leave the house. While waiting for this to happen, we were able to visit different regions of France.