The Hornet's Nest

Good luck COYH!

 

Morning all

Very dull and damp down here. Mrs H is entertaining 4 old school friends for the weekend so I'm banished to friends in Northamptonshire. Unfortunately she needs the car, otherwise it would include a Saturday afternoon in Coventry.

View attachment 1674 very welcome.

 

Morning all,

SandyHornet and Hornette_TID - Not 606 has become a bookmark in my mobile browser!! It is great what you can do with mobile phones these days (jeez I say that as if I am an old man who has just learnt how to use one!! I sometimes wonder whether I really am 24...)

 

Morning All, just

Late start today, still having to catch up after my building extravaganza. I have plans to extend my shed to provide housing for my generator, but when I mused out loud on the subject discovered that Mme has already got me down for trellis work so that she can grow some climbers.

 

oldfrenchhorn - Excuse the potentially invasive question; but, what exactly is it you do?!?

It sounds like you have my ideal life!! (although I would maybe swap France for somewhere a bit more Scandinavian.)

 

BBW I gave up my share of "corporate madness" and moved to a tiny hamlet in the middle of nowhere 4 years ago. The cottage that we bought had been unoccupied for 10 years and needed a great deal of work to enlarge it and make it comfortable.

We also have some fields that were loosely described as orchards, but in fact were no more than bramble patches. There were dozens of self-set saplings growing, but they had become completely lost under the 3 metre high brambles. I have now cleared 85% of them and am just starting to get the area under control.

It is very peaceful with the only traffic being associated with the working farm in the hamlet. The neighbours by and large are very friendly and help me out with my French when required. They are very pleased to see the buildings being put to good use again; far too many rural properties are abandoned and left to fall down.

One of my out buildings was the village forge many years ago, and part of the on-going work is to make sure that it will still be a reminder of how life was once lived when the population was much larger than it is now.

 

I think this could be an expensive day for you COYH. Three footy tickets and a hammered credit card.

 

OFH, sounds the perfect life. We contemplated moving to France five years ago but still have family ties here and so opted to cross the channel 2/3 times a year instead. That way we get to see all corners of France and don't have the large bramble patch to clear! We did end up escaping to the country though and after decades of city life are finding it an absolute pleasure.

 

That really does sound ideal oldfrenchhorn. I am extremely envious!!

So how are things progressing with the refurbishment? What have you got left to do?

I can't wait till I get to the stage in my life where I can do what you are doing!!

 

Afternoon all.

OFH - just looking around my desk and piles of paperwork and feeling very jealous of your lifestyle. Although you will have worked very hard to achieve it.

 

What have I got left to do?

Most of the work to the cottage it's self is completed. The old goat shed has been converted into a kitchen, the grenier converted into bedrooms and bathroom. Windows and doors have been changed to double glazing and central heating installed. However the building is of an unknown age, at least several hundred years old, so there will always be work to maintain it. Seeing as I am the tradesman and labourer all rolled into one, I do not anticipate being without a job.

Only necessary work has been done on the outbuildings, they have been made watertight but little more. I have plans in my head for them, but they can wait until my work in the fields is a little further on.

I do feel extremely fortunate to live as I do. My work gives me pleasure, but then if I don't feel like doing it I am not forced to do so.

 

OFH - you followed the path we almost went down.

I gave up "corporate madness" in 2008 and we started to research a move to France - the area around Limoges became our target but Lennietta had a heart attack at the start of 2009 and we decided our rudimentary French would not stand up to phone calls etc about heart medication

We turned our attention to the UK and took several short breaks trying to find what we were after - went down to the West Country, the Cotswolds, Yorkshire, East Anglia - you name it. We were just booking up for one in South Wales when for a laught I applied to go on "Escape to the Country" - and you know the rest

Difference is that in France we would have had a lot of structural work to do like you have but here the buildings are fine and it is the farm land where we spend a lot of our time.

 

How close do you live to Cahors - my best mate - also a Hornet of course moved there in 2003

 

Cahors is about 160 miles due south Leo, so in French terms not that far away.

It is quite odd how Hornet fans are around the area. Yorkie is not that far away, Ollie Phillips of course.

I think an evening in one of the bars in Limoges talking football could be a great night.

 

my parents used to own a cottage in Menoire, a tiny village about 50km from Limoges...trying to remember the name of the nearest town but it escapes me at the mo. my dad loved the peace and quiet, the sound of the sheep and chickens, my mum missed the noise lol...can't please everyone all the time i guess, which is why they kept a house here too and split their time between the two. Though they were here far more than they were there.

 

We thought of doing that Hornette - as I have 5 kids dotted about England we though of having a place in England and a small "get away from it all" in France

 

getting up at 4:15 and going 40 km to the airport to work I too am envious of OFH `s lifestyle! At least I only have about 35 hrs at work a week (and another 35hrs at home)

 

Menoire is in the south of the Corrèze departement hornette, a part of the Limousin. It tends to be very hilly and very wooded in the area.

 

I dream of French wine, bread and cheese - and if Lennietta would allow wom...

 

Still think New world redwine is better than the french stuff!! However would love to pay french prices!