{"id":9453,"date":"2025-01-05T16:43:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T16:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/?p=9453"},"modified":"2025-01-05T16:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T16:43:09","slug":"sunday-5-january-2025-happy-new-10-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/sunday-5-january-2025-happy-new-10-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 5 January 2025 \u2013 Happy New (10) Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bonne ann\u00e9e \u00e0 tous !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apologies for not posting a blog last week.\u00a0 In my previous blog<\/a>, I said that we hoped to relax and enjoy Christmas to the full, evidently I was too busy relaxing to write a blog!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hope you all had good Christmases and have started the 2025 happy and healthy.\u00a0 We tried to be a bit healthy on Christmas Day and walked around, a very low, Lac Du Drennec as they do some work on the barrage.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t look the same without water!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We had David\u2019s Dad, Roger, with us for the holiday period and he, and our last New Year g\u00eete guests, left us yesterday so we have now officially unwound!\u00a0 This morning was very lazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Roger was here we managed to get out and about to do some Christmassy things.\u00a0 These included visiting the pretty towns around us including Morlaix and Quimper, both of which had Christmas lights and small Christmas markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We ate in a number of his, and our, favourite restaurants and revisited one we hadn\u2019t eaten in for about 8 years but which has undergone some major refurbishment since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quimper was lively and attractive as ever, although they were recycling the animations on the front of the cathedral that have used for the last 4 years so we had seen some of them before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The revisited restaurant is called Chez Max<\/a> and is hidden away very near Quimper cathedral.\u00a0 We stumbled across it on 26th<\/sup> December 2015, our first Christmas at Kergudon, and really liked it so we went back a couple of times with family when they were visiting.\u00a0 We then didn\u2019t eat there for a few years and the last time we tried it had closed and there seemed to be lots of work taking place that took a number of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing it has reopened and we would be in Quimper after Christmas, we reserved and loved it again.\u00a0 We always recommend guests visit Quimper as it is a beautiful, small, city, and we have added Chez Max<\/a> back on the list of places worth eating at while there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Roger\u2019s last night we returned to Landerneau, less to see the lights again, although it was dry but very cold, but to eat in the Comptoir de Landerneau<\/a>, a family-friendly brasserie-style restaurant recommended for carnivores!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My last, or first, blog of the year is generally a review of all that we have achieved in the preceding 12 months, principally to remind ourselves what we have done!\u00a0 We are very guilty of only focussing on what is outstanding \/ hasn\u2019t been \/ needs to be done and less of reflecting on what we have achieved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading back through my 2024 blogs, I am alarmed at just how few \u2018big\u2019 projects we have managed to complete.\u00a0 We have started a number of things, and finished some, but another of the things we (I) am guilty of is starting new projects before finishing the previous task but I do have a niggling feeling that 2024 has been one of the least productive of our time here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year hadn\u2019t been helped in any way by the weather, and indeed at times it has positively hindered by creating more work.\u00a0 Meteo France tells me that 2024 was among the 10 wettest years ever recorded<\/a> across the country and, being in the west and subject to Atlantic weather systems, we have had a wetter than average year too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we haven\u2019t had anything as disruptive as Storm Ci\u00e1ran of November 2023 which felled a number of trees, many of which we have not had the opportunity to clear away completely; one large, and extremely close, thunder storm at the end of August<\/a> caused problems for us by damaging some electrical equipment that then needed to be replaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest changes aren’t ones that David and I achieved ourselves.\u00a0 Hayloft\u2019s roof was finally replaced 12 months after we hoped it would happen; and the pool project has progressed but at a considerably slower pace than we\u2019d hoped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The poor spring weather meant no progress was made on the pool for months at the start of the year and we are now probably 6 months behind where we\u2019d have liked to be. Most regrettably, the team who will lay the terrace, the essential next step before anything else can progress, have now said that they won\u2019t be able to start until at least March due to the wetter and colder weather at the start of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At present, we don\u2019t expect the whole project to be complete for the start of the summer but we do still hope that we will have a pool that can be swam in even if the pool house will still be a shell.  We will be helped if the landscaper returns in the next couple of weeks as he needs to dig a new trench for the electricity supply (long story \u2026) and hopefully can level the lawn so it can recover in the spring and resemble more of a lawn for the summer than the field it was last year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I won\u2019t write a summary of last year’s achievements, perhaps we can make a comparison of where we are now in January 2025 as to where we were when we arrived at Kergudon in January 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We highlighted that summer 2024 was our 10th<\/sup> summer season as owners but it isn\u2019t until next Wednesday (8th<\/sup>) when we will hit our 10th<\/sup> anniversary of living here.  We had hoped to celebrate the milestone with a pool party \u2026!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back, we are very happy with what we have achieved.  However, whether we would have even embarked on the journey had we known then what we know now regarding the exceptionally poor state of the buildings and just how much work, time and resources they would require.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first 6 months was spent getting the accommodation to a state that we were at least happy to allow guests to stay, knowing that we would revisit each g\u00eete when time allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first major major project was building Grange \u2013 the garage, games and store room which we started in 2017 and, with my comment on starting new things before finishing others, we (I) still have work to do to get this properly finished and able to be used as intended.  That is high on the 2025 list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"new-ballon\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Garage<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"North<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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To give some idea of what we have achieved in the g\u00eetes I have added some images the previous owners provided of the buildings when they were here – I hope you can tell which the old ones are!\u00a0 These pictures were their own marketing shots so probably show how it was around 2005 and very little had changed, certainly not improved, between then and our arrival in 2015. I have tried to provide a recent picture from roughly the same place as a comparison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Priory had the first most significant changes which started in January 2020.  We had hoped to take 4 months for the work but were impacted (helped?) by the periods of confinement and travel bans caused by the COVID outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, when finished, we had replaced the kitchen; created a second bathroom; re-wired and refurbished the entire building and made it the amazing, modern, holiday cottage it should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Priory<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"Priory<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Granary followed in 2022 with its second new kitchen since we arrived, a brand new family bathroom and also a full re-wire and re-furb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stable has had 2 refurbishments in our 10 years:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Stable<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"Stable<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hayloft was the first g\u00eete we refurbished in 2015 and the first to welcome guests under our ownership, it has been an exceptionally popular g\u00eete over the years and is due to be refurbished this spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The gardens have slowly developed both by our hands and those of the wind (Storms Zeus in 2017<\/a> et Ci\u00e1ran in 2023<\/a>).\u00a0 We have planted a few hundred yew, holly and griselinia plants to create new hedging and replace lots of privet which is slowly being killed by honey fungus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Priory<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Griselinia<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The only building which hasn\u2019t seen major change (although desperately needs it) is our own house.  In time \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years in and it would be nice to say that we are where we want to be but we have plans and projects that will take at least the next 10 years too \u2013 when we have the resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our own house aside, when I write a similar blog in 2035 I hope to be able to say that the garage has been completed and is in use as it was planned; that we have completed new terraces we have planned for Priory and Stable; that we have extended the garden and created a terrace for Granary; we have installed new windows for Priory and Granary; that we have much improved the driveway and built a pond and waterfall; and maybe, just maybe, by then the pool will be finished!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coming week looks awful weather-wise (evidently a continuation of 2024) but I will focus on taking down all the Christmas decorations so it can be an indoor week.\u00a0 However, I can\u2019t do any worse than last year as, re-reading my blogs, it seems that I didn\u2019t complete the derigging and putting away until the first week of March, so I already have somewhere I can improve!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenavo.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bonne ann\u00e9e \u00e0 tous ! Apologies for not posting a blog last week.\u00a0 In my previous blog, I said that we hoped to relax and enjoy Christmas to the full, evidently I was too busy relaxing to write a blog! We hope you all had good Christmases and have started the 2025 happy and healthy.\u00a0…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ben-and-daves-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9453"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9455,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9453\/revisions\/9455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}