7sRWild Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac92/7sRwild/20121215_122855.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 Very nice, congratulations on a job well done. Now, let me tell you a little secret, I'll have to whisper as we don't want everyone to know..... .... It's never finished, just enjoy it as it is. Is that an old chapel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 Just showed HM the pictures and she ran into our lounge to make sure you hadn't nicked her carpet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 OK, good morning all. We had a really bad night with very heavy rain beating down on the Velux windows. But it's bright and sunny now and the temperature is supposed to be 13 c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7sRWild Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Damn! You guessed, it's actually two old churches, the one on the pic is now 110 years old, the second one was added to the south of this one in the 1950,a when the congregation outgrew it. Well send you a pic of the other one.....sorry about the carpet! Will bring it back after Christmas.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 That's OK, you can borrow it. So, a new church then. Our first house was just pre-war, 1936 I believe, second was 10 years old when we moved in. We bought it to get our daughter into the local school. Third house was 3 farm cottages which had grown into a pub. The pub was closed by the council as they didn't have proper toilets. When they were digging out the foundations they found a Celtic cross, which is in the Church at the top of the hill. The cottages were built in 1860, the pub closed in the 1970's. Now were in a 1850's house which, like a lot of French property just got expanded over time as the family grew. If you look very carefully you see that it was 3 separate buildings, one add to the next over time. But we also have the original house, which was built pre-Napoleon , so about 1750. It needs renovating but that's not for me, far too big a job at my age. These old houses may be draughty and not quite straight, the doors don't fit properly (we only have 2 internal) and the windows have gaps around them but they have character and sort of wrap themselves around you. The upper level was a hay loft and had an oak door for lifting and lowering the bales of hay. The floor was laid with hand cast clay tiles called Tomatz (not sure of the spelling). We have a few hundred in stock and sold some from upstairs to Jacob. The new porch will have a Tomatz floor. We also inherited 3 pallet loads of Spanish Terra Cotta tiles from Richard. I'm planning to lay them outside as a patio. Just don't ask when all this tile laying will take place. ed to add that it would appear the reason French rural property expands as the family grows is that under French law you cannot disinherit your children. So they just build the kids a new part of the house as they grow up and marry. There were probably grandparents, parents and children living in 3 separate parts of this house. The same applies to the original house which has 3 distinct rooves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7sRWild Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Wow! Makes our place seem positively young by comparison. You are so right about the building wrapping itself around you, we do love the character of this home, every creak and groan of the floorboards. And yes, the doors that don't close right, depending upon the climate. It's been a real torment at times to continue on with the never ending upgrades and repairs,but,I really do love this joint.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 I know exactly what you mean. In fact when I laid the wooden floor over the tiles that wouldn't stick down* I didn't leave them in the house to dry out. We actually like creaky floorboards but I think they were wetter than I thought as they have shrunk down and now have 5 mm gaps between each board. I took the old kitchen door off it's hinges and laid it on trestles outside with the aim of stripping all the paint off. It was outside for about 9 months. Eventually I finished stripping umpteen coats of lead based paint and rehung it. IT wouldn't shut but we weren't that bothered. Now it's dried out it won't shut. It's full of digs and marks. We love it. However the best bit of our structure is probably the newest. The roof frame has a name and date (1942) scratched in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7sRWild Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 When we bought this place there was no bedroom on the main floor,so, we decided to convert what was the pastors office and also the baptismal tub room into a bedroom...they had one of those huge walk in tub things, kind of like a sheep dip tank! Anyhow, when I started to demolish one of the adjoining walls,so broke thru the lathe and plaster and out fell a wide brimmed straw hat, it could only have got there at the initial construction of this place. It's hung on the wall. Character eh! If only walls could talk... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 Sounds brilliant. Better than a large dustbin load of owl pellets. We still have streaks of owl poo on the beams in the bathroom. I cleaned it all off the beams in the bedroom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7sRWild Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Could have left the bedroom ones and conjured up some amazing tale as to what they were!!!!!! ;-) ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 Tales? To whom? Only me and her in there normally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Nuts Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 BUONASERA from a mild, sunny and christmassy Brum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 Bon matin Shindha from a nice warm (well 11 c ) sunny France. Good morning all. it's also very, very still outside. Scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Nuts Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 It's 4 c here Norman so sounds like France is the place to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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