This week’s blog will be fairly short as it has been focussed entirely on one task, building the wall on the east side of the north gate. The photos will look more impressive if compared to last week’s images.
It has proven to be a slow task for a number of reasons but, other than a day off for poor weather and another changing gîtes around, I have managed to make a little progress every day. Our neighbour was kind enough to allow is to collect a trailer-load of soil on Monday which allowed me to start. I had hoped that a single trailer of soil would be sufficient but evidently wildly underestimated the volume needed because, this morning I finished a second trailer full and we still need a little more to finish the job.
Another reason that it is taking a little longer is that, amazingly, it is getting harder to find the right pieces of slate needed to build a strong and stable wall. Up to now, I have principally been using pieces which were previously an ‘L’ shaped dry wall built to form a wood shed that I demolished to build Grange. We understand that before these stones were used to build a wood store they were part of an old stable which was behind Granary. The advantage of these is that had been cut to provide at least 1 smooth face and were generally a fairly regular shape so stacked easily.
Unfortunately, with all the walls that I have been building, I have now nearly exhausted my supply of these convenient shapes. As a result I am having to use more irregular shapes and need to be more imaginative in how to stack them.
However, while it is being quite slow we are very pleased with how it is turning out and should, hopefully, only need another day’s effort to complete.
We are delighted that again, all of our gîtes are occupied. This weekend we have been hosting a group of guests, including the bride and groom, of a large wedding that took place in the village yesterday. Will make for a busy day tomorrow when they depart and we welcome new guests in 2 of our gîtes but as we are enjoying some lovely late summer sun, hopefully our new guests will also have a great time.
Next week for me is finishing the wall, finally, and hopefully cutting some wood and starting to clear the large piles we have been accumulating in time for when the cold comes!
Kenavo.