Well firstly let me apologise to my followers for my delay in writing a Blog. For those who live in France or have been following the weather here will know it has been wet, wet, and wet. So all my blog would have been about was how horrific we have been having it. Anyway we made it, and I believe it may be spring, or so the flowers are telling me. Darren decided to barricade himself inside and refused to come our until the weather improved. This only meant one thing. When he did finally submerge it was the end of Feb and he was way behind with his chores plus we had our first guests arriving April. Despite having a massive list of jobs we expected to achieve before the start of this season we refused to be defeated. Booking 3 weeks off work I joined Darren and we started at the top of the list and worked our way downwards. Our first issue was a mower and trying to keep on top of the grounds.
Since moving here in 2016 Darren has managed to burn out the motors of 2 sit on mowers. Trying to cover 13 acres of hilly land twice a week is just to much. This only meant one thing......we had to go bigger. Much to the delight of Darren. So we managed to find a fabulous little tractor in our very small budget and get it delivered ASAP. This has now enabled Darren the chance to cover all the grounds in an afternoon instead of 3 days. Fantastic. After 3 days of mowing, washing, polishing and making a nice little parking space for his new toy we were ready to move to number 2 on our ever increasing list.
Number 2 was a huge ask and one that near killed me. If you have been following our blogs you will be aware of Shady Rest, our large hanger barn that we are turning into a social area for use by the guests. Last year Darren added a spiral staircase and mezzanine which is home to our gymnasium and reading room. We now needed to focus on the downstairs to be able to locate our relaxation area which will home sofas and chairs for relaxing out of the days sun or on an evening. Boy this was a large task. If we had the money we would have liked to have had concrete delivered, instead we decided to do it by hand. Yes, it wouldn't be as perfect as if it was delivered however it was good enough for us and a damn site cheaper. Plus we can say, we did that. Well we made it over the week, and I must say it does what we want it to do. Unable to upload photos yet as we are saving to buy some furniture for it plus we do want to add some Astro turf and plants here and there to make it feel like an inside garden. For now it is home to our table football, Darts and Pool table. We are due to have a garden party in May so lots of photos to follow.
Well we are proud to say we can now move to number 3 on the list and that is the grounds, all 13 acres. This will be my next blog as we have so many ideas plans. Our first was to become an LPO Refuge which we achieved early April.
Anyway for now I will thank you for listening. More to follow on our LPO plans and developments. For now I will leave you with this years Spring flowers. Thank you and à bientôt
