Our little slice of heaven

in Writers Inc8 months ago

In the Dordogne/Corrèze part of France.

If you've followed my ramblings over the past few years, you may know that I now live in South-Western France. We chose this property for only a couple of reasons:

1 The property comprises 28 acres or 11 hectares - 14 acres of grassland and 14 of woodland.

2 The property was ready to move in to - a very fortunate part of the whole purchasing process as it turned out.

3 The property has a pool.

Yes, those really were the three criteria we requested.

We wanted land for the horses - we weren't quite sure what work 28 acres entailed, but we now have a fair idea of how much work it is! We have enough land for grazing/resting and hay-making. The woodlands are an added bonus as we cut down dead trees (and 'harvest' fallen trees) for firewood and more recently, woodworking projects.

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The reason we're here

We started our move to France by looking at properties we could renovate and eventually move to when we retired. The diagnosis of cancer I received just 16 days after completing the house purchase gave us reason to think we had 'dropped lucky' when we upped our budget and went for a house that we could live in and do light renovation and improvement work at our leisure. We would not have been able to make the move if I had to live in a renovation project while recovering from the operation to remove the tumour.

The pool is self-explanatory.

We have been working on the property since moving in, we’ve had some help from friends and we’ve learned a lot.

So far, we have plans to build a balcony along the back of the house, put in a new kitchen and change the old kitchen to an en-suite bedroom as the main bedroom. This will look across the valley to the back of the house and afford us wonderful views every morning.

I’d like a she-shed at some point, so I can sit and write and I’d love a tree house too, but I’m also aware of the work we already have to do as day-to-day running of the homestead.

We have fenced off a third of an acre for my vegetable garden (with greenhouse, shed and chickens) and we are building raised beds for the veggies.

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View from the top

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Looking up the slope

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Starting the mow

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Almost finished!

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Filling the new bed

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Yes, that really is how steep the slope is

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The beds filled with leaves

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More leaves

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So many leaves!

We have repaired and renovated the field shelter that was here when we moved in. It was too low, ramshackle and in desperate need of repair and this year, in late winter/early spring, @s0u1 and our friend Tommo did the work of re-roofing and making the structure sound. Our son dug out the floor last September and things moved from there.

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New roof!

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The four of us

We have planted 30 fruit trees in the orchard and gardens and we have a few peach trees to plant soon.

Just cutting the lawns is a mammoth task, not to mention the main field needs regular cutting so the grass can win through the weeds. Some of the weeds are dangerous for horses – ragwort can kill, buttercups and docks are noxious and prolific.

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This field takes more than an afternoon to cut

In the late winter, our friend Gail mowed the tree line to collect fallen leaves for the raised beds (Gail and Tommo are married and live on a boat in Greek waters during the summer).

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Gail having a moment with Tora and the chickens

Tommo and @s0u1 made a base for the greenhouse with off-cuts from the local woodyard, saving a small fortune on buying an equivalent structure from a store.

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Substantial base

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Work in progress

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Finished!

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Big sky!

In the gardens we grow apples (some new trees, some old and in need of pruning), pears, cherries (also old trees, plus wild cherries in the woods), plums, peach, and some citrus trees in pots as I need to protect them from cold.

We have 7 established hazel trees, a wild plum/cherry that is beautiful in spring, and a few established ornamental trees – Japanese maple, beech, sycamore, cherry laurel, ‘Red Robin’ (photinia) etc. The majority of the woodlands is made up of oak, some pine/fir, birch, cherry, sweet chestnut. There is also the problem of Scottish broom, an invasive, non-native (if beautiful) bush that needs taking in hand as the seed pods spread across a wide area, it has no nutritional benefit for domestic or wild animals and the dried, woody plant makes wildfires easier to start.

We have grapes too. The plan is to train the vines up and over a trellis and network of wire supports, to create a living sunshade over the patio area. The field across the road was a working vineyard back in the 1950s and some vines still grow in the woods that sprung up when the vineyard failed.

I have three wisteria seedlings grown from a pod I found on a visit to one of the local towns. I have high hopes for those. I also have three passion flower vines. They are currently growing up some home-made trellis and I have plans to move them soon.

One of the many delights for me is collecting seeds and planting them in my own garden. I have a few ‘free trees’ that I’ve discovered and I’m leaving them where they sprouted (at least for the moment).

The views to the front and to the back of the property are wonderful. To the front, we get the sunrise (which I don’t often witness) and the sunsets across the back are breath-taking.
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Moon at the front of the house. There's a lot of sky over there!

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Sunset over the valley to the back of the house

Thanks for reading my roundup of gardening adventures. I hope you enjoyed the pictures too.

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That truly does look like heaven, Michelle! I'm so happy for you both!

Eric, it really is a dream. Thank you. Your invitation to visit stands, just in case you'd like to visit this beautiful corner of our wonderful planet.

Thank you so much for the invite! My wife is working through some health challenges now that are preventing us from traveling but as soon as she's back on her feet I will be in touch!

I'm so sorry to hear that. Please give her my love and I do hope she's on the mend soon x

Thank you Michelle! I certainly will pass that along.

Hello, @michelle.gent!

It is so good to see how well you both adapted to what in the beginning was a "forced" choice, and it turned out to be just perfect place for both grow wiser!
I loved the idea of the she-shed project, and I can't wait to see the beginning of that construction :)

So good to have great news from both of you!

Thank you! We're getting on with it all, as we always have. It's a pleasure to be here, living this new adventure.
The she-shed is not a priority, unfortunately, we have other things to do before we can start on things that aren't desperately necessary. I'll keep you up to date on it all.

Wow! What a lovely place that is!!! France is a great country of course, with quite a few hidden gems!

Thank you! The history is amazing. The war is still commemorated here and we try to attend the services (not religious). There are bridges in use that are older than any in England.

Love those bridges!!! And the war things... Actually, I live in Belgium (so we often visit France), right next to the canal, where the canal & bridges have had quite a big impact on the development of the war! You can see some of these bridges in my photos.
Anyway, nice meeting you! 😉🙏
!PIZZA
!ALIVE

Ah, it's not difficult for you to take a trip over here then. I lament the stupid decision the UK made with Brexit. It was so much easier before that.

Yeah indeed, a lot of impact on a lot of people. We also went to the UK “regularly” before, but now these days, I can’t even think about going there anymore. So more France it is :-D

PIZZA!

$PIZZA slices delivered:
(10/10) @borniet tipped @michelle.gent (x2)

!ALIVE
!LOLZ
!PIZZA