We managed to get about 20 boxes of tiles into each car load. This is the first load.

Beverley came through!!! Her lodger Jeff is building a house nearby and his joiner was over this weekend. They turned up at 11am with two cars and we decided to shuttle the tiles up from where the arctic was parked (abandoned) in the lane. The drivers of the truck were great! They helped us unload the 435 boxes (20 kilos each) into the boots of the cars, which were driven up to the barn and unloaded by hand.

Well..... I went down on Friday to France to be met with 3 voicemails from the man that sold us the tiles! PLEASE CALL ME, the tiles are in Bergerac. We were supposed to get at least a weeks notice so that we could organise men to unload the truck and perhaps a forklift. 7 tonnes of tiles would take a lot of unloading, especially if I was the only one unloading them. Lucy was coming down on Satruday afternoon. Anyway. I couldn't get hold of anyone we know in France to come and unload the lorry (which was an extremely large arctic lorry) on Friday night. After many phone calls between the Moroccans driving the truck and Noureddine (who sold us the tiles) I managed to find the lorry (which was parked out somewhere on the outskirts of Bergerac) the drivers agreed to sleep one more night in the truck. I agreed to meet them at 10am the next morning, where they had parked the lorry. After leading them through the town, they wouldn't drive the lorry up our lane. This is as close as they would go (after 20 minutes of tire spin).........

The tile saga continues......


After phoning Habibi Interiors every day to find out where the tiles are, we have finally located them. The tiles have now left Morocco! (yippee) They are now stuck in Cadiz in Spain (boo). We need to get a copy of the architects Carte Nationale and VAT certificate to get the damn things into France. Of course, Didier is very difficult to track down. Maybe I'll manage to track him down tomorrow. If not the tiles have to stay where they are.

We found a fantastic kitchen manufacturer in Wales at the weekend. Alan Parkin. He doesn't have a web site (or email for that matter), but his kitchens were excellent. After several fax exchanges we have come to a great design (not this one, this is one of the early ones). He is making us a solid wood kitchen, painted in cream, with solid oak worktops. We are still finalising the design, hopefully we can agree the kitchen and price tomorrow. He also knows a local who re-sells Rayburn ranges, we are after a wood burner as a back up in case the power goes off.

Our gardener was supposed to start this Monday. Not sure that he has been around yet.

The kitchen wall of the house - no progress here either...

More plaster man photos. still no progress.

Beverley went around today to see the massive progress that has been made over the past few weeks.......

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING was the response.

When she was there though the plasterer turned up in his 4x4. He is delivering the material to create the partition walls on Friday and the work will begin on Monday. I'll wait to see what happens.

More of the floor. The windows are inset as there is an inner wall to be built to insulate us from the external walls. The new wall will then be plastered with a traditional rough plaster.

The second last layer of floor to go down (apart from the tiles). The windows look as good on the inside as they do on the outside. I am impressed with the amount of light in the barn.

Well, finally we can see inside the barn after the doors went in. The door fitters had hidden the keys somewhere on the plot and Beverley has only just managed to find them!

The next layer of concrete has gone down on the floors. This will have the underfloor heating pipes laid on it, then a final layer of liquid cement that will be tiled.

As for the tiles.... They have been impounded in Casablanca as a container that was going to be on the same ship was found to have 7 tonnes of cannabis in it. We have no idea when our container will be released. Allegedly today or tomorrow.

Note to selves : Never order anything from Morocco again.

The 2nd bedroom patio doors and windows on the front of the barn

The living room door. There is still some flooring to be put in, that's why they are suspended.

The dining room door

Kitchen and dining room windows

These are the kitchens patio doors and windows.

The patio door for the 3rd bedroom

WE HAVE WINDOWS AND DOORS!!!!! at last.

I met with our new gardener when we were down over easter and have found out we have a lot of things that we didn't know we had. We have now identified the following edible things in our garden (if I remember correctly).
15 Walnut trees
2 sweet chestnut trees
1 lime tree
2 fig trees
1 peach tree
15 grape vines
1 cherry tree
2 plum trees
1 hazelnut tree
lots of mint and rosemary

We have to cut down 6 trees as they have had a good life and it is time for them to go...

The windows REALLY exist! I just hope they come back and fit them some time soon. Didier wants to paint them as it is traditional. Staining or varnishing is definitely the way to go so I suppose we will cross that bridge soon enough.

Just two hours before we are due to leave after going down to visit at easter, the window man turns up in a van, two of them actually. They take one of our windows out of the van, dissapear into the barn for a minute, reappear with the window, get back into the van and drive off. They didn't come back beforewe had to leave, but I snuck a look into the van to see what the windows looked like....

A sunset over the field.

Mum and dad in front of the fire in the farm house.

The kitchen side of the interior wall. The corridor to the bedrooms will start at the far end of the doorway in the wall

This is the interior wall of the salon and dining room. It is pretty much finished apart from sockets and switches. The floor will be a further 14 cm higher after the layer of screed that goes over the pipes, the underfloor heating pipes, the layer of liquid concrete that is going over the pipes and then the final layer of tiles.

This is in the pig sheds where the heat exchanger and geothermal heating pump will be located. The pipes go to the rest of the house.

The water distribution pipes have gone down (the blue and grey pipes going through the doorway) The lead to the pig sheds where the geothermal pump and heat exchanger will be.

The builders have re-done the wall between the second bedroom and te ensuite bathrooms as the door was in the wrong place. All of the bricoux and wood is new.

The columbage is now renovated completely, including wiring where needed. This will be the final look, but they will put a sealant on to stop any of the sand plaster mix coming off when touched.

The 300 litre rainwater tank has been put in and connected to the guttering. We have decided (under strict guidance) to have a traditional pump rather than an electric one. I wholeheartedly agree...

The true state of the new wiring. We have assurances that it meets all of the relevant safety regulations and that EDF will be inspecting it.

some idea of the size of the main room of the barn..

mum and I outside the kitchen patio doors. We will be putting a wall up between the patio and the road eventually.

putting the barn into context - mum standing outside the master bedroom window

My parents have come to see the place for the first time. They had found it very difficult to imagine the place as I only ever take photos of the minutae. Here are some pictures to put the project into context...

no more piles of rubble outside

more tidying up around

more tidying up outside

The builders have been tidying up outside....

another photo of the wiring in the bathrooms

Just spoken to Didier.

Electricity is done for this phase.

The doors and windows will be fitted next week. I've told him that the tiles will turn up from Morocco at the end of the week and he says don't worry, they will have at least one room secured with a locking door by that time (but should have the whole lot finished). He will talk to Mr Roumagere and Mr Vende to see if they can lend us a couple of workmen to help unload the tiles when they arrive, I need to send him the exact day so he can arrange.

He has not had time to do anything more on the little house roof. He will "keep it in his mind"….

He has spoken to Mr Magnieu (window man), who is getting him the model of the external doors today, so we can choose the correct internal doors. They are between €400 and €500 each door - so what we were expecting.

The master bathroom pipes have been moved already prior to the electrics going in - good.

He has only had one pool quote back so far out of the three that he requested. It is for €35k, we'll wait and see what the others come in at. He is mailing me this later today with the door model.

Didier is taking his gardener to Bellevue on Friday this week to get a quote for the pine tree and the bamboo. He wants to get a separate quote to do the rest of the land properly.

The new pig shed floors - the pool equipment and the heating pump will be in here.