More Changes

Every year we try to make some improvements at La Dancrerie, and usually manage to have some fun whilst we are at it. After Christmas 2003 the Bells stayed long enough to help demolish an unsafe stone outhouse with us. Amazing how quickly one can make a mess with so many helpers!

We were also working on the inside, painting and cleaning up, and by the following summer we could finally afford some carpets for all those bare boards: boy did that make a difference! Now the house seems cosy even in the middle of winter.

We have also gradually tackled the garden. There was a lot of plastic and rotten wooden fencing to pull down, and endless weeds, so we had plenty of bonfires in the first few years. Most recently we have opened up the back of the lean-to at the back, so that we can enjoy eating out looking at the lovely view, and BBQ under cover if necessary

We also ended up having to re-roof the old piggery and stables, which cost us money rather than time. Still, a good job done, and they were able to re-use most of the heavy old tiles. All of the barns have now been swept clean of the layers of old manure and straw, and we can use them for games and shelter. I can just picture the piggery as a summer kitchen, opened up to give those lovely views across the fields...maybe one day !

For now, the stables are home to darts and our much-travelled Fooseball table (bought in Oregon from a colleague of Martin's who was emigrating to Australia, kept in Hampshire and now in Normandy).