Once again the valley is clagged in and drizzle persists. Another indoor morning playing with plasterboard and filling the joints.

By Lunchtime we have run out of filler but completed another quarter of the roof space in the main area. Half way there!!!

And when we went outside to prepare lunch, the clouds have parted and the sun has made an appearance. Sid the snake is happy basking in the hot box again. Fill the solar shower and lunch on the top terrace.

In the afternoon we heightened the scaffold and set about wrestling insulation and putting up more plasterboard.

An early HOT shower under the tree and some chill out time before Breezy prepared a beautiful Hot Thai Beef Salad which we ate outside.

At 8am we could not see the other side of the valley. Considering it is only 600m away that is not particularly good. Heavy Drizzle too.

After the usual internet session and breakfast it was back to the top floor of the barn. I realised that there is 1 lighting circuit that I have completely forgotten to wire in. Mainly because it is one that has a pull cord switch in the middle of the room and so is not attached to any of the switches we have fitted. It is for the light above the stairs and there is still a lighting feed cable exposed so it can easily bee resolved when we get on to the higher bit of ceiling.

Needless to say, we did more insulation and plasterboarding. We even went that little bit further and started filling the joints in the boards which begs a question. In France the builders merchants sell you some white plaster filler (either premixed or powder) and a roll of paper tape about 5cm wide. The paper tape is not adhesive.

• Is one supposed to fill the cracks in the first application and use the tape in the the second application?
• Is one supposed to use the filler as glue for the tape in the 1st application?
• Is one supposed to soak the tape before applying?

If I don’t hear back I shall ask the village hunters on Saturday as we have been invited to the Mechoui (whole roast lamb) for the 14th July at the Maison de Chase.

For the time being we are using glass woven tape that was left over from building the Slaughterhouse in the UK. It seems loads easier that trying to fathom out the French way.

Finished up at about half six, so set the alarm for 7am tomorrow so that we can finish earlier and have a bit more chill out time in the evening. Follow that logic?

Oh, almost forgot, Breezy is going to put up some of the salad dressing recipes we have been using recently in the “Recipes bit”. It is so simple to mix a different dressing and makes such a difference.

Would love to get away from the barn and go for a walk in the mountains but the cloud was down this morning and the forecast is not good until Friday so we crack on.

Started off digging compost out from underneath the top terrace to fill the raised bed. The compost is left over from the first year we had the place and we dug out the main barn. 90m square 40cm deep in years of cow and sheep shit makes pretty good compost.So pleased with the result we set about marking out and making the next bed.

I had made a leek and potato soup yesterday in anticipation of grim weather, which was rather good for lunch. For entertainment we watched a huge snake (probably grass snake) inside the hot box outside the outbuilding. Most likely enjoying the warmth from the odd spells of sunshine. Tried to take a photo but just got the cloud reflected in the glass.

Another coat of wood preserver on the timbers for the raised bed and then removing turf ready to set it in place another day.

Enough digging, so we went for a short forage up the back of the barn. No notable fungi but loads of alpine strawberries for tomorrows breakfast.

For the last couple of hours we ventured indoors to continue with the ceiling insulation and boarding. Planned to BBQ tonight but think that the oven will get some action as now a steady drizzle.

Now Monday is not a great day to head down the valley to St Girons. A surprising number of places are closed. We have however, run out of plasterboard. By the time we had been for a short shrooming hunt, had breakfast, done the usual internet stuff and had coffee we would not have had time to get down and get supplies before the noon lunch 2 hour break that is normal.

Instead Breezy started digging out compost to add to the raised bed while I finished off the last of the lighting wiring for the 1st floor. We then made a sandwich each and headed off to get the supplies we need to continue. As the plasterboard sheets have to go on the top of the van we need to get them, transport them and unload them on a “good” day. Success!

As we have also managed to restock the fridge we have prawns and BBQ fish for sups.

We had a little lie in before Al did the honours with a great Sunday brekky, fresh fruit for the healthy start and then an enormous cepe omelette, twas delicious and could have fed an army but we somehow managed to put it all away. Always better when most of the meal is free!!!

Since it was foul weather we decided to crack on with the plasterboarding. We really seemed to make good progress and had a late Hot Caesar Salad with another new dressing at about 330pm once we had finished the bathroom side strip.

Not wanting to stop since we were in the swing of things with scaffolding up, scaffolding down, clear an area move into it etc etc.  move out of it clear another area, we cracked on and finished at 7pm ish once we had run out of plasterboard. Great we now have nearly 2 strips of the barn done and it seems to be transforming the place. Al has been a wonder with the electrics and only a tiny bit more to do tomorrow then all of upstairs is wired and ready for power!!!!

We were not hugely hungry so we made a small pizza to share with a Greek style cucumber and tomato salad with mint and dill delicious. We had not played scrabble for a while so had a game of that before dinner which was fun.

The sun shone and the wind blew.

Once we had got going we set off with a couple of pocket knives and a basket to search for mushrooms. Now shrooming is an art form for which we are rookies. There is something about sun and rain and early morning starts. Add to that terrain and foliage, cycle of the moon, time of year and whether you get there before anyone else and we really don’t stand a chance. We do however know is what we are looking for, assuming it is the right time of year. We got back to the barn at lunchtime with 2 shrooms and a load of alpine strawberries. Not a great achievement but one of the shrooms will feed both of us.

After lunch we put the sides of the raised bed together and then set about putting plasterboard up in the main area of the top barn.

An early shower and time for a game of checkers and a wine before heading down the valley to meet Alison and Peter for dinner at the Auberge in the village. A fabulous evening catching up with them over great food. When we got back up the valley we sat out on the bench and had a night cap before retiring.

We woke to a dry but low cloud day and quite cold. So the usual clear up with washing up, internet and healthy fruit breakfasts before we set to with the DIY.

We were quite keen to get the wood prepped for the raised veggie beds so we had a bit of a chopping and preserving of wood morning, using some of the decking. It stayed dry so we could at least do this all outside as the preserver really stinks!!!

Beginning to make more progress with the electrics before we get the ceiling up in the main barn. Al prepped where the light switches would go and drilled suitable holes for cables and the sous chef followed with chisel behind. All 4 sockets are now ready to accept switches and one is all wired up for action.

We had arranged to meet Irish Ian and see how his new pad is progressing so we had quick showers before lunch and then headed down towards Seix. We stopped in to see Scottish Annie on the way who has put her barn on the market and is hoping to move towards Mirepoix.

Sadly the nursery was closed as we wanted to get some plants for around the terrace area so another time. We then trundled up to Ian’s new place to have a guided tour a year down the road. Big progress and it is going to be lovely. Converting barns into houses, yoga studios and all sorts. We managed a couple of aperos down in Seix before we headed our own ways.

Al busy prepping chicken stir fry for supper tonight so looking forward to that and the sun forecast for tomorrow is now storms, I do hope they are wrong as we were planning a good yomp up to the tops, we will see what the weather looks like in the am and make a plan.

The mornings had developed a bit of a routine. The alarm is set for just before 8am. If we didn’t do that we would oft still be in bed at 9; outrageous! Put kettle on and a pan for washing up water if it hasn’t been done the night before. Odd ablutions, washup, make coffee for me and a cordial (yes Breezy is off the diet coke) for Breezy. Then internet before breakfast.

The internet is our main communication these days, especially here in the mountains where mobile reception is so limited. With Ski Breezy it is impossible to ignore emails for more than 24hrs at this time of year with fresh enquiries for the chalet coming in each day. For me it is doing the blog, pictures, seo stuff for Ski Breezy, sorting out materials and general emails.

After breakfast we crack on with the list. Today was forecast rain but started clear so we profited first off with some outdoor work. Siting the new compost bin and starting digging a raised bed.

Once the midges got too annoying and the drizzle started we headed indoors for a bit of wiring prep before plasterboarding the bathroom ceiling.

Bit more internet before curry night in the outhouse; my turn to cook.

Once again the sun is streaming in the window when the alarm went off so definitely a day for working outdoors.

Cleared the ground between the two terraces for planting up together then I got back on the roof with a bucket of tools and attacked the leaks while Breezy started carefully taking forklift pallets apart. When I was done with the mastic I joined Breezy. The aim was to make a compost bin similar to my Fathers using the boards of the pallets. Each board is notched to slot into the one below. Managed to complete the bin before lunch; or at least as much as we could with the wood from 3 pallets. It is amazing how low the bin is with that much wood, but at least it is free and dead easy to add to once further pallets are gleaned.

After lunch we set about lopping branches off the big fir tree behind the barn; lifting the foliage with a view to building another terrace. All that we lopped off we burnt along with the grass we had strimmed before. Further plans for that area include some raised beds for vegetables at some stage this year ready for use next season.

Finished the day making a kitchen roll holder, showering and sharing a bottle of Blanquette on the top terrace before trout salad supper.