The dappled light through the poplar trees plays on the rippling water, as the bright turquoise flash of a kingfisher startles a heron who lifts himself gracefully into the air and glides off along the river with long beats of his elegant wings... Yes, it is that peaceful most of the time but sometimes being … Continue reading Oh, the romance of an old water mill – not!
From the initial exploration of the fabric of the building, it didn’t look as if our home was more than a couple of hundred years old. However, one quite important thing to know if you own a water mill in France is what droits d’eau, water rights you have, if any. As Colin was quite … Continue reading Mapping the past
It's a dull December Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting in the kitchen with my sewing machine in front of me. Yards of pale blue Toile de Jouy fabric lie in folds around me and the log burner is crackling away merrily. I haven't had the time or the inclination to sit down with my sewing … Continue reading Just a Saturday afternoon spent sewing
Although sitting doing nothing isn't normally in my nature ( I drive Colin mad by endlessly compiling and working my way through self-inflicted lists of 'things-I-just-have-to-do') I did spend some time this Christmas just kicking back, reading books, catching up on interesting websites I'd bookmarked about the local area and I fell to pondering. This … Continue reading Part of history
For some people it’s crosswords, for others it’s Sudoku. Apparently problem solving keeps the old grey matter in tip top condition and keeps you young. I can always do with some of that, but our latest brain-teaser was a bit more involved. One large tree trunk + unusually low river levels = severely damaged water … Continue reading If at first…
Only two weeks to go until we jump on that ferry and drive down to La Tourelle for the last time; two weeks before signing those magic papers and handing over the keys to our buyer and picking up the keys for our gorgeous mill. Or so we thought until yesterday. Although the notaire had warned us … Continue reading In SAFER hands?
They say that moving house is up there with death and divorce in the stress rankings and while no one I know has yet popped their clogs there has been plenty of house-move stress and marital disharmony. Not between me and Colin I hasten to add. On Tuesday afternoon we turned up as planned at … Continue reading Compromis de vente
We’re back through the wormhole – a few hours driving and ferry and we are suddenly back living our parallel existence. It’s quite a weird feeling. A familiar home, with everything as we left it, the daily routines, a lovely circle of friends and neighbours – but all quite different from those we were involved … Continue reading Les Grandes Vacances
