A man's barn is his castle
Apr 7–8 in France ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C
By Tuesday with a continued forecast of temps over 25 degrees, I determined it was no longer appropriate to hang around the house and terrase in my bra and knickers, so we had an expedition to the Kiabi store in North Limoges where I managed to pick up a pair of shorts for €5. We also started the day at the Tayon winery as we'd decided to purchase 6 bottles of the delightful cremant that our hostess had left for us. It must be popular, as when we pulled up, a large articulated truck arrived a little white van so synonymous with France pulled into the shed, and another well dressed couple also walked in. We were obviously in the right place.
A stop of at Grand Frais, heralded a large fresh food store, specialising in meat, fish, bread cheese and specialty items including fresh tumeric, coriander and lemon grass which obviously met the needs of the locals. Standing in the queue at La boulangerie, chatting in English as we do, a delightful little boy, about 5 years old, looked up at me with the biggest smile. I guessed he knew some English so I said 'hullo'. He replied 'hullo' in perfect English and his smile turned into the biggest grin. I then told him he spoke very good English and he skipped out the door with his mum. Such are the simple things in life.
We stocked up with some necessities for the rest of our stay and then headed home to our four legged friends, who had safely guarded the house. There is no such thing as locked doors in this neighbourhood, but we did take our passports, tablet and laptop with us in the car!
Our 400 year old house needs some introduction. Some would say, it is old and almost crumbling away and there could be an element of truth in this, but it is essentially very comfortable, full of character, has its quirks (exposed power outlets and dodgy light fittings) and the dining room and living room floors are not exactly level but the huge nails have been there forever, so its not going anywhere. And there are some huge old English floor rugs and homely furniture to give it a very lived in and loved appearance.
The barn and other out buildings are a completely different story. Christine's husband, Nigel builds and restores old Landrovers - its his 'business' and he takes it very seriously, apparently. We didnt meet him as he had left earlier to make the funeral arrangements in the UK, but we had a little poke around the genuinely crumbling barn. Apart from the wood storage, which showed signs or orderliness, the rest of the spaces were absolutely full of half built Landrovers, parts of LR's and piles of miscellaneous nuts, bolts, bumper bars, windows and junk, so much so, that I would be hesitant to purchase said LR from Nigel, for fear it would collapse in a heap if it went over a bump! Each to his own I guess, but I've got to hand it to Christine for putting up with all his crap!Read more