Charlie & Becks were due for about lunchtime so the morning was taken up with odd jobs and preparation. I shifted the sand left over from the window openings round the back of the barn with the Mucktruck; bringing back logs to fill up the log store outside the outbuilding. Once the sand was clear we both set about filling a couple of car tyres with compost in the veggie garden in preparation for planting next season. Breezy sorted out bedding and towels for our guests and generally cleaned up.

All the swelling on my leg has now disappeared from the wasp sting though it still itches a little.

Before preparing food we managed to get in a quick forage for brambles.

Charlie & Becks arrived on foot up the piste with a small rucksack each. They were starving having got an early flight with Ryan Air and driven over from Carcassonne.

It was warn enough to have lunch on the terrace. Salad with pate & cheeses washed down with rose wine. Charlie had bought fresh bread.

In the afternoon we took a short walk around the estate before scaling the platform in the trees. The gap in the boards is not especially large but the bottle of fizz was enough to coax Charlie to squeeze himself through.

As we came down from the trees a little rain started to fall so the paella burner was set up just outside the outhouse door and the log burner lit for the evening.

The day started as per yesterday but with the addition of rain. We did not get the washing up done from last night and, as the washing up table is outside, we have added the breakfast things to the pile.

Chores started with shifting the big cast iron fire plate up stairs with the assistance of the chain hoist. Once in place on the wooden subframe the Colonial stove was next. Then slip over the outer wooden frame and we are set for a chimney (next year). All sounds fairly simple but just takes time, it is all very heavy.

Then onto making frames for the picture we got printed onto canvas and varnishing them.

By 4pm the rain had abated and patches of blue sky appeared. The kettle went on for a cuppa tea and the washing up got done (having added lunch stuff to it as well). Once we could see the tops there was obvious snow down to about 2000m.

All tools were packed away and we went foraging for brambles for breakfast. Shopping tomorrow for Breezy’s brother and sister in law arriving on Friday so menus and food stock check before supper.

Mornings have developed a set theme. First one up puts the kettle on so that I can get my fix of coffee. Then one of us gets stuff out of the fridge in the main barn for breakfast. Having the fridge has definitely transformed living in the mountains. Generally I light the wood burner and Breezy does some of the chores like heating some water for washing up and filling the solar shower bag (though at this time of year the sun has little impact on the temperature of the water). Breakfast then the inverter gets switched on to boot up the satellite internet. Check emails and sort out any enquiries for the Chalet in Chamonix, sort out the blog and work on websites to promote Ski Breezy. Occasionally there are odd words that we need to look up in online dictionaries which we are not sure what they mean. They have usually cropped up in crosswords which my parents save from the newspapers and periodically send out to us by post. This morning it was “elucidate”.

Once the sun hits us just before 11am we start ticking things off the “to do” list. This morning it was more coppicing; this time out the front of the main barn. There is a large copse with one large beech and an oak tree in it. Ideally and weather permitting we want to get shot of the copse and just leave the large trees. If we don’t manage it this year we can always continue next year.

A late lunch of salad after which mu leg was quite sore. I got stung by a wasp yesterday on the shin and since then my leg has continued to swell up. By lunch my foot had started to swell as well and I decided to rest it for the afternoon while Breezy got in with weeding, foraging and odd small jobs about the place. I had forgotten what it is like to put your feet up and read a book. It all seems to be go go go when we are here. It is a beautiful place to just sit and read.

By the evening my foot had swollen some more so we trundled off down to the village to consult Anouk who used to be a pharmacist. Sufficiently reassured that swelling is normal we headed back up to the barn for supper and an episode of Spooks before bed.

Well it was a disturbed night sleep. We had planned for an early night so tucked up in bed by10pm. By 11pm the sheep bells were getting closer and louder. I had a quick look outside with the torch and a couple of hundred sheep had got loose and were all over our land, trashing anything in sight. We both got up and rescued solar panels which was our main concern and decided nothing else to do till the morning.  Not much sleep as each sheep had a bell and what a noise they made, we were non too impressed.

So we were up when we heard the shepherds and it did not take long before the sheep dog had done his job and rounded them all up and headed them off down the piste.

 

So breakfast time and then we had put aside the morning to finish once and for all the end of year accounts for Ski Breezy which took us till lunch time.

We had some curried courgette soup for lunch made from Alison and Peter’s large courgette and some apple and bramble cake for afters with their apples and our brambles delicious.

Fresh air needed so a quick forage no luck with the mushies but lots of brambles still.

Afternoon plan was to get the kitchen sink unit in place and plumbed in as such even though we have yet to get water into the barn!!!! Not too much faffing and the job was done and the skirting boards were trimmed to fit the wall too so all neat and tidy.

We had loads of boxes in the bathroom with kitchen stuff so in an attempt to make some space in there for when we leave we filled the kitchen units with pots, pans, plates etc etc. Beginning to feel like a home. Al dismantled one of the beds to make some more space too in the main living area.

It was then a quick heave ho to get the second fire plate in side and jobs done for the day. Just in time for hot showers before pork curry for dinner, a bit of a curry day!!!! ideal for a wet day like it has been here today though.

Another morning with no alarm, I could get used to this. I think that we shall be back to the normal wake up calls on Monday though. We still have a long list of things we want to get done.

Speedy breakfast and straight onto the computers again. Breezy took a booking and sorted out more enquiries for the winter chalet in Chamonix. I updated the blog and sorted a few things on Clive’s website.

Before we had finished Alison and Peter called in for coffee. It was the first time Alison had been up this year so the changes were quite impressive. Managed to get Peter to give me a hand to get the cast iron fire plate out of the van and onto the mucktruck. This is the fire plate we salvaged from Clive to go under the Godin Colonial stove. It has been outside his house for several years so needed a good clean up. After an hour or so with a hammer, screwdriver and a wire brush and Breezy had it ready to paint. The paint only just stretched and even then we had to thin it out but I think it will be perfect (as long as the floor holds the weight).

Made a sub frame and used floorboards to make a frame for the outside. All that is left is to get it in place and connect a chimney to it (which will have to wait until next year now).

Saturday morning and no alarm. Wall to wall blue sky and not too windy so after a short internet session we gathered tools and started coppicing.

Worked all morning and then another hour after a late lunch. Now we are starting to see the impact as the area outside the entrance to the main barn is opening up. At first yesterdays fire was sluggish in relighting until Breezy tore up a cardboard box and fed the pieces into the ash.

The log store is starting to look healthy again too.

I had just started to reseal the stove in the outbuilding when Anouk and Rene came by for a cup of tea having mountain biked over Port D’Aula, into Spain and back via Port de Salau.

Finished the stove, showers and a tidy up before heading down into the village to pick up Rene & Anouk and head into St Girons for supper at Olivier’s (donkey man). Great food and company and a lot of French which is good for us.

Back at the barn at 1 o’clock in the morning. Good job we remembered a tourch.

Some random pictures from the last few days for you.

Another glorious day but the fire now goes on every morning to take the chill out of the place, no shortage of wood so not a worry about that.

A little bit of internet, Ski Breezy work always on the go…. before starting work with fitting the wood burner. We managed to get the framework for the steel plate made a bit ago but we still wanted to face it. So Al set too measuring and cutting whilst I got the scaff ready and created space for the wood burner. It is going to be a tight fit but should work!

The stove is so heavy and my back was not feeling great so Al made a quick trolley we could put the stove on and wheel it over to it’s new location. We got it all level and looks like it will fit in well in it’s new spot.

Sadly when we came to getting all the bits and pieces together looks like we have one wrong piece of tubing which does not fit so sadly no more progress till we exchange that. Al is planning a speedy trip to St G tomorrow morning and all being well will be back with the right piece and we can get it installed, we will see.

A lovely smoked salmon salad in the sun and a quick forage before afternoon work. Successful the birch bolettes seem to be appearing and so had a couple to make a starter with tonight and a good load of brambles for brekky. We like free food!

Then we attacked another couple of clumps for coppicing, all went quite speedily and looks good, but it just takes time. We are seriously thinking about some Help Ex folk next year for a couple of weeks coppicing so it is on the list to look into.

Al got rid of some weeds/berries at the back which seem to be taking over and the donkeys don’t seem to like and I attached the final outdoor shutter attachment which keeps the shutters held back rather than flapping around.

Quick showers as sadly the shower  bag has ripped and is making showering a dodgy experience, another attempt of glue tomorrow before we have to revert to bucket washes!!!

Al was chef tonight so we had a delicious starter wild mushrooms on a croute followed by roast chicken, marmite potatoes always a winner and roasted cabbage fresh from the garden which really worked well and was delicious.

An episode of Spooks and an early night.

An early start for a trip to St G. A quick brekky and then we met Henri on the way down, plus all the donkeys from the otherside of the piste are now on the piste so think we will be seeing Olivier later.

It was raining in St G and sunny up in the hills makes a change.

Very little to do a bit of DIY shopping, laundry and food shop then home.

A quick chat to Clive to arrange a RDV for website stuff.

Laundry on the line, food in the fridge and we heard it was rain later so we went for a quick forage before lunch. A load of brambles which we are really enjoying and at last a mushroom albeit just one a nice orange birch bolette!

Delicious prawns in the sun for lunch before we started the Ski Breezy accounts which have been looming for a while but need to hand them in when we are back in Chamonix in 2 weeks time. Sat up in the main barn for most of it until we needed the internet and moved down the hill to the log burner and the warmth! Would be good to get the other wood burner in upstairs so we can huddle around that on chillier days with more space….soon to be.

Olivier popped up to find his straying donkeys, and then the storm has just begun so it is inside for us, fire on and fish for supper.

The sun hit us about 10:45 while we were still on the internet in our little cabin. I was still catching up on the blog while Breezy was sorting email enquiries for the winter at Ski Breezy. We had got up early and had a fried breakfast with a huge Parasol mushroom and eggs.

Top of the list of jobs for the day was coppicing. We had already decided that cutting the woods back about 10-15metres by the gable end of the barn would make a significant impact. Having said that we could start coppicing anywhere as there is so much and always will be so much to go at. So choosing the areas that are going to make the most difference to us is as good a criteria as any.

We did stop for lunch, Breezy had some fruit and yoghurt (normal breakfast) and I had some terrine and bread.

The afternoon started with me sealing one of the stoves while Breezy made a cheese board from the sink cut out when making the worktops for the kitchen.

Then back to coppicing. No pictures as it would be a little like spot the difference. “In the 2nd image the small trees are missing.” We do have a small mountain of ash though. That will get spread on the garden later once it has cooled down. Any wood that will make logs has been stashed in one metre lengths in the wood store to season and anything else is burnt. We work well as a team leaving everything neat and tidy as we go.

Duck salad for sups and shopping tomorrow!

Today we have finished the light fitting made from the walnut Ian gave us. We found out that Ian was given the walnut that was in a barn when he bought his new house at Seix in exchange for him doing some architectural drawings for the vendor. As there was a whole tree planked in the barn Ian gave us a piece.

In suspending the plank in position some more salvage came useful. This time some old cables and rigging from a yacht.

We finished the day with an hour of coppicing before a bucket wash (solar shower has a leak and is being mended) and an omelette salad supper.