It has been over two months since my last post and that one was some time since the one before. I am finding myself doing what I used to secretly accuse bloggers of and that is no longer posting or simply stopping altogether.
As you will have read, I have moved and it has been so traumatic and ongoing that I have no time for myself and what used to make me tick.
My relationship with the last house degraded and in the end it was a nightmare with me packing and sorting in the middle of legalities, doing everything alone, seeing my craft room and refuge being boxed up for goodness knows how long. I felt that my emotional backup had gone and I felt disraught and sad, something I am not victim of, being a really happy person most of the time.
I will not get into the number of trips, driving over 500 kms each time and sometimes there and back in one day. Our first trip to actually see the house, sign the lease and deposit stuff took us over 10 hours in the truck then six hours back. Each time it took me over a day to recover then we had to start over with only me packing the truck and trailer with what I could fit in. I am lucky in having some great friends who helped but in the end I had to lose quite a few things I loved and all my garden has stayed put or ended up in other gardens after years of caring for my plants.
I am posting some photos of the house before the mess came in to give you an idea of what I am dealing with. The house is in the Dordogne region which is very mild and even quite hot in summer, I hadn't actually realised just how much! I had never been to this region before if you can believe that. People ask how I ended up here and I reply ' well it seemed like a good place to be'. I have said the same thing in the past when I moved to Brazil, then China, when I got married in India, when I moved to the south of France, I just went for it each time, why not!
The first photos are off the garden, something that was very important to me and the dogs. The garden was bigger before but had been shortened four years ago when the owners died. The children tell me that their used to be a herd of gazelles in the upper garden and a wild pig in the middle. At the upper end there is a huge caged in section that held other exotic animals at one point.
The fountain that used to work, under the metal plate there is a twenty foot water well!
The mysterious statue, very similar to a miniature one I had for Ramsay house.
There are a few small building here and there, all overgrown. This one would make a great little summer house as it has windows and french doors on the side.
This is where the wild pigs used to live and then became a play area until nature took over and the low shrubs became huge trees and ivy crept all over it. I am going to cut down all the surrounding cypress trees and turn the end part into a green house with raised vegetable plots beyond it. I think that once cleared and painted and lights hanging from the roof it can be a lovely spot.
This was a gorgeous old bench, it is now falling apart but with some care it can be lovely again.
The next three photos are of the living room with built in cupboards and a huge fireplace although the photo doesn't show the scale of it all.
The floors in most of the house are of stone.
A neighbour lent the garden furniture the first day so we could sit and sign all the papers.
This is one of the bedrooms, there are 6 in all although I have made the main one my workspace and another into a dressing room.
All the fireplaces in the house are gorgeous.
This wing of the house was added in the 70's and they found a huge cabinet to set into the wall. You can get an idea of scale by looking at the height of the door.
The kitchen has a large country style sink in the same marble/stone as the floors and bathrooms. The windows give onto an inner courtyard that I have filled with plants.
There are gorgeous sturdy stairs going up three floors. I don't count the top floor which has a bedroom and two other large rooms as it has to be modernised in the autumn.
On my list of things I couldn't live without was a fireplace, a garden, a good kitchen and a bath! The bathroom is great but the bath is quite intimidating to get into.
This was the main bedroom which had a repaint and is now my workroom. The light is great and it overlooks the garden. There are acutally 3 bathrooms, a shower room and 3 washrooms.
A fairly large washroom is off to one side with amazing 1930's washbasin and bidet and lots of cupboards to put all my paints and products for crafting.
This wonderul ancient chateau is nearby down a long alley of trees, it also has a 4 km2 botanical park which can be accessed for free and has lovely picnic area, dogs are allowed.
The house is now disturbingly full of boxes and bags and furniture and is not quite ready to be photographed but as soon as I get things sorted out I will let you in and show you around. Today I cannot move as I have thrown out my back and can only walk bent over and of course it's Bastille Day and doctors are not on duty!
I'm not sure that this is a very interesting post but I felt bad about leaving you all with no news. I do hope that this is the last time I will move house until I go into the pine box but in life you never know. I have lived in over 30 homes in 30 years. Today I feel that I have found peace despite being sad about my miniature world taking back stage over real life.
Wishing you all as much joy as the present situation allows.
Hugs xoxoxo
