Pipes for the heat converter from the geothermal heating which will be buried outside.

The kitchen looks like it will be a light room!

View out of the 3rd bedroom door, with the piping going down.

One of the windows in the third bedroom

Pipes going into the baunderie for water?

View up the new chimney in the salon

The walls before and after re-rendering

View of the barn from the field across the road.

View from the front of the barn

The patio outside the kitchen has been cleared and leveled.

View from the road towards the kitchen side of the barn. It is starting to look really solid now. We also have chimneys for the cooker extractor and something else?

The end of the barn has been re-rendered and is complete - only another 3 walls to go.

View down the lane with the Barn on the left

Another view of the barn without render.

Render removed from the outside of the barn. Ready to be re-rendered

View from the salon through to the kitchen. The space between the two upright beams will be filled with a wall and the cow "creches" will be put back to make the separation between the salon and the dining room.

The builders have taken out all of the straw and horse hair filling from between the beams. These gaps will be filled again and re-rendered to give the same effect as before.

View of the salon, the lowest beam will also go eventually

View down the kicthen/baunderie/bedrooms

New window in the kitchen - needs a couple of stone blocks to keep the lintel up. They are re-using stone from elsewhere in the property!

New doorway that will be part of the corridor from the kitchen through to the bedrooms.

The master bedroom

View from the 3rd bedroom towards the kitchen. We have discovered a spurious chimney that appeared in the middle of where the hallway will be... Think we need to talk to the architect to find out what it is for!

View from inside the pig sheds, we think that we'll convert them into a small appartment with a bedroom, large bathroom and kitchen/sitting area. We will open up the end wall and have patio doors out to the pool area.

New roof on the pig sheds, they are using traditional carpentry techniques

The cow bits are still there. We will be re-using these as a headboard in the master bedroom.

end of the barn render almost all gone. They will re-render afterwards with sand mortar

almost done.

.. and starts to be dealt with.

Gravel and sand arrives for the sub-floor

I am not sure who this kid belongs to. I hope that isn't a can of spray paint!

The next day and the rainwater run offs are almost done.

comet investigates.

The cellar has been blocked up - it was tiny anyway. This is in the master bedroom.

more ditch

ditches around the pig sheds. They have blocked up the holes for the pigs. I don't suppose we will need to reinstate them..

....

more ditches

The ditch is for the run off water from the roof. We are not having gutters on the roof as the architect says "it will ruin the aspect of the building" - who are we to argue? The water will run into these ditches which will be gravelled and have drains in.

Another machine! The inspection pit that was used when the barn was a farm has been filled in. We couldn't think of a use for it in a bedroom.

Kitchen, bedroom and baunderie also leveled

The dining room and kitchen have also been leveled. They have removed the bits for the cows temporarily.

The gravel has been used to level the floor in the salon

View from the front of the barn. They have removed all of the concrete facade from the building to expose the underlying stones. This will be re-rendered in a light coloured mortar, leving most of the stones exposed to some degree.

View from inside the "little barn" as Didier calls it. (the pig sheds)

Tha back of the pig sheds with render removed. Never new that the walls looked this good under the old render.

This wall was just concrete before - looks like it might be stunning now. not sure what they plan to do with it though. I'm thinking that we should maybe reinstate the door...