Well, since my last blog entry, we've made two more trips to our temporary future home in the Vendée, both times remembering some of the reasons why we're moving to France in the first place, after the windswept shiver-fest of the March visit described in a previous entry.
At the end of April, we hired a van and took the bulk of our possessions over to store in the adjoining barn for the summer. After the poor overloaded Land Rover broke down on the last trip before we even reached the ferry, the use of someone else's wheels was a huge relief, and worth every penny of the rental cost.
After unloading at the other end, we embarked on a frantic five days of painting, decorating, gardening and hole filling, as on the fifth day God created.....no, no, on the fifth day the Brittany Ferries rep was due to inspect the farmhouse in readiness for the summer letting season. The discomfort of long and tiring days, compounded by the suffocatingly acrid stench of the muck the farmer next door started spreading halfway through the week, was offset by the sense of achievement at the end of each day, and the feeling that the second helping of naughtily creamy gratin dauphinoise was entirely justified. Thankfully, we managed to straighten everything out in time and got the all-clear, and as I type this the first guest of the summer should be enjoying life with the lizards, swallows and Derek the buzzard (more on him in a moment).
So, all in all a very successful and rewarding visit, and a huge step towards our final move, although the relief of knowing that almost all of one's belongings are in another country may seem strange! After a month back in England, in a very sparsely furnished Gloucestershire cottage (I could possibly describe it as fashionably minimalist if the minimalism didn't consist almost entirely of unfashionale cardboard), we were back in France for the half term holidays - this time with no painting and decorating commitments. In three visits over barely more than two months, we seemed to have experienced three seasons: a Siberian winter in March, a temperate spring in April, and a scorching summer in May. Temperatures into the thirties saw me stride confidently into the just re-opened pool, and promptly regret it. The March weather still lurked in those waters, reminding me to leave it to warm up for a few months until we return, this time as 'residents', in October.
Without the burden of DIY this time, we were finally able to explore the village and its surroundings, discovering an area of hitherto unknown (to us) rural beauty, as peaceful and idyllic as one could wish for. We marvelled at the aerial acrobatics of our nesting swallows, and prayed that they wouldn't be too grumpy at the imminent arrival of a summer full of Brittany Ferries customers. On meandering walks looping round the village into the undulating surrounding countryside, we saw buzzards (including the one patrolling our garden, now named Derek), hen harriers, otters, heron and more breeds of cow in a few square hectares than I've ever seen in England. By the end of the five days, I felt that I was ready for everything winter 06/07 could throw at me, safe in the knowledge that I could wrap up warm and stride out into this natural playground any time I wanted.
So that's it. The farmhouse is now occupied until we go back in October. I've booked the one way ferry ticket for the Portsmouth - St Malo overnighter on the first of that month, which felt exciting and daunting in fairly equal measure. We then drive down to the Pyrenees on October 4th for a week or so of househunting. In the meantime, I'll be asking the many experts among you, via this blog, for tips on what to put in an English food box before leaving (don't you dare suggest marmite), and lots of other things besides. So far, the food list reads something like:
tinned ravioli
teabags
cheddar
baked beans
English mustard
curry paste
I've tried to get some inspiration from the end-of-aisle 'English' selections in French supermarkets but some of the items considered typical are somewhat bizarre!
A bientot x