Chez nous: August 2009

Le Fournil in the spring of 2009 - and later

A long time ago now, in 1987 Harry and I came to France for the first time together. We spent some time in the Loire, and then moved on to the Perigord (Dordogne) and fell in love with it. Like many kinds of love, it wasn't too rational - we hadn't seen much of the rest of France.

But we knew that we wanted to spend as much time as possible there, and very shortly decided that we wanted to move there. By fall 1988 we had made the decision, thinking we would be in France within 6 months. A few realities like a declining property market in Toronto delayed us, but by the spring of 1990 we knew we wanted to buy a house, even though we hadn't yet sold our Toronto home.

We came with high expectations. Lots of property, a stream, a tower, a Renaissance staircase. Forty houses later we realised that this was perhaps not realistic, and picked one of the only two houses we felt was worth buying. A nice property, with not too much work to do, in an attractive village.

And finally in June 1994 we were able to move here and start our new life in France.

We've now been in France at Le Fournil in Carlux for many years, with no regrets at the move. In fact we still often wonder how we came to be so lucky. We've spent a lot of that time working on our house, which was not meant to require any, but 200 year old properties seem to be like that.

This is a record Le Fournil as it is in spring 2009, with notes on some of the many things we have changed over the years. And of course since I began this blog, we've continued to work on the house, and particularly on the garden.

For instance, summer 2014 - interesting but faded and splintering old shutters replaced by new aluminum ones. Big advantage - no more removing/painting/re-installing.

Le Fournil, approaching from the village below

Le Fournil, approaching from the village, with the chateau behind.

March 2014

Further up the road, the entrance

Further along, the gate and pathway leading up through the lower garden, and then the driveway entrance, with garden above.

And inside the courtyard

Finally, through the main gate, with wisteria growing over, into the courtyard. The house now has new doors, windows, roof - and a place to sit when we're not working.

Our view, and visitors

The ruins of the chateau date from the 12th century. The chickens are a little more recent.

The kitchen

One of the first things we did - the old one had torn vinyl tiles and cheap cabinets. So, on to walnut cabinets and ceramic tiles. Nice, but in fact not very practical, and so, after almost 20 years, in Spring 2014 we did it over. Work was by the Atelier Bretel Pere et Fils, master carpenters near us. Colour is French grey (appropriate) by Farrow and Ball. Countertop is black granite, leather finish.

1995

2014

Dining room and living room

We always say that this is the area we had to do least with - but still replaced doors, windows, lintels, and sanded and refinished the floor.

And upstairs, the twin bedroom

More work upstairs, taking up ugly carpets, and sanding and staining the floors. Not to mention lots of paint and decorating.

The guest shower room

Formerly beige fixtures with brown and green walls - really needed a change!

The den

The master bedroom

A bit of Canada here, with a quilt made by my mother.

And the master bathroom

Hoping that this will be the last bathroom we do, we thought we would make it nice.

Upstairs again, to the attic

The attic when we came was untouched for 200 years - the first year was spent cleaning the debris and stripping the beams. Then, with help, laying the floor and installing the plasterboard.

Now it's the office, photography studio, sewing room, and oh yes, the original purpose, a storage area as well. We spend a lot of time here.

And another part of the house - the apartment, where we lived for most of 10 years.

Before we moved to France, we had discovered that renting the house to people on holiday was much easier than providing bed and breakfast, as we had first planned. That left one small problem: where would we live ourselves, if other people were in our house.

Harry looked at the adjoining stable/workroom, and issued those now famous words: we could live here, it would only take .....

'Only' ended up involving a major construction project, begun before we arrived, and continued in our first months here. After a new roof, floor, staircase, pointing of stone walls, and lots more, we ended up with a cosy and, we think, stylish apartment.

Inside the 'Ecurie'

And upstairs

The stairs lead up to the open door to the attic - very handy

Even somewhere for dining

Our gardens(s)

When we bought Le Fournil, it included some land in front of the house, but very little else. All of that has been re-worked, with inappropriate trees and plants removed, a pond and lots of roses added.

Over the years we have managed to buy more, which has ensured our privacy, and given Harry scope to indulge his gardening fantasies.