Demolishing things is very cathartic !

I'm sure that if I spoke to others in the same position as us, they would say exactly the same - how satisfying it is to demolish parts that are ugly and not needed !!

In our kitchen we had a 'dividing wall' that apart from giving a little protection from the front door, had no other use - it was ugly and painted DARK BROWN ( we did put a coat of white over it temporarily, but it was never pretty!) - mind you, the whole kitchen was painted dark brown when we arrived. I think the previous occupier had a job lot given to him ! We would have demolished it sooner, but it had the only plug socket and light switch on it, so we had to be prepared with replacements.

Like all other building projects, many jobs need to be started before one can be completed. However, it was so worth it - the kitchen has opened up, and given us a much more user friendly space.

We had a lovely visit from Ryan at this time. He actually came back from the UK with us, after our trip for my Dad's funeral. We utilised his strength to the max, and he dug out the concrete from in front of the kitchen window. We had thought about using this area as a herb garden, but decided that with the traffic being so close to the house at this point, the herbs wouldn't be as tasty as we might have hoped for, and instead plumped for a graveled, slated area with a few rockery plants - as with all work here, the problem was sourcing the slate - however, we found a very friendly quarry not too far away, and the result was great.

I know this is an old picture, but needed to remind you what this looked like before !

We decided that we were going to go another step further with animals and arranged to have some sheep - a ewe and her twins. At the last minute, we agreed to have an orphan lamb too - unbeknown to us, this was a mistake - but more on that another time !

It was a lot of work, to prepare for their arrival, but very satisfying to receive them into our household. We deliberately didn't name them, although the orphan did become 'Lara' (after Lara Croft) as she escaped so many times !

  The sheep weren't the only addition to the family - we had a new Grandson - Henry James was born ! Our third grandchild - that officially makes us old now I think ! How exciting, and what's more another visit home to plan, to see and cuddle the new arrival !

Why Inkerman ?

It's a question that pops up regularly....why have you called the house 'Inkerman' ?


Well... Craig has a military background having been brought up in a military household, and being in the army himself too. He has strong connections to the Guards regiment, particularly the Grenadiers, and this was one of the regiments involved in the 'Battle of Inkerman'.


This battle was fought during the Crimean War on 5th November 1854, between the allied forces of Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), against the Imperial Russian army.


The Russians had approx 42000 soldiers and 134 guns, whereas the allied troops had just 15700 soldiers and 56 guns. Despite this, the Allied forces held their ground and defeated the Russians. 


Inkerman was an iconic battle for the Grenadier Guards. The Grenadiers were the only regiment to take their colours into the battle and they were very apprehensive that the Russians might capture the colours of Queen Victoria’s premier Foot Guard regiment. The Grenadiers suffered more than 100 dead in total and casualties of 9 officers and 225 men.


One of the regiment’s companies, in memory of the battle, carries the title “The Inkerman Company”.


The Grenadier’s Captain Percy received the Victoria Cross for his conduct in the battle, in particular extracting 50 men of his regiment from the midst of the Russians.


Craig is very interested in the military history surrounding the Grenadier Guards, and felt that the name for the house should recognise this, and the combined efforts and talents of the British and the French together. Hopefully a way to show the union between the two countries.


We were lucky enough to find a local stonemason who was able to produce a fitting sign for the house with the name and a traditional Breton/Celtic symbol.

New Year.....New Experiences.

2012 started as 2011 ended, with plenty of rain. When it's wet here, it's wet !! It can be quite depressing, as many of the buildings are granite and  grey, so a rainy day with a heavy sky means that everything is grey. Craig hates this weather and this time of the year, so we try either to keep very busy, or curl up in front of the fire with a DVD.

One of the first jobs this year was to tile the roof of the smaller extension. The larger one was finished to keep the furniture dry, so we wanted to get the other one as watertight as soon as possible. This would enable Craig to work inside in the dry - a bonus at this time of the year.

He managed to start on the inside too....

As we live on a slight incline, the water runs down the road when it rains. We had a problem with the water running straight into one of our buildings, so had a chat with the Maire, who arranged for a gully to be dug out to allow the water to flow more freely. We do smile at the work rate here - start at about 9.00am, stop for lunch at 12 on the dot, return at about 2pm, and then off again at 5.00pm. The obligatory lunch break - in the UK, sometimes you'd be lucky to get 30 mins - but here it stretches out beyond belief, and often involves copious amounts of liquid. In fact, we have seen Policemen in the bars, and then driving patrol cars afterwards. It amazes us too, if we are out and about before 8.00am, maybe on the way to the ferry, to see the bars open, and customers inside. Craig made a journey by bus to Morlaix early one morning, and at the terminus, the driver stopped in the bar for a coffee and a.n.other drink before the return journey !

We had housed the rabbits up until now in wooden hutches that Craig had made, but discovered that these hold the wet, and after a while start to rot and smell. The French use a different system called 'clapieres' - they are concrete and come in multiples, like small blocks of flats. I wasn't very impressed with them when I first saw them, but to be honest, they are much more hygienic, much easier to clean, and although not so 'pretty', much better suited to multiple occupancy. We heard through the grapevine, that there were some for sale locally, so visited to view, and made an offer. This was accepted, with the proviso that we dismantled them ourselves. It was a good idea, as it meant that we knew how to reassemble them again. The old lady that we bought them from however, insisted on standing over us while we worked. She was quite friendly, but it was a little off putting !

Once cleaned etc, they looked considerably better !

After being so long without a cooker, some neighbours offered to lend us a spare one they had. We fitted it in the utility room, which meant that we could use the oven, but that I had to go outside to take things to or from it. It often involved a short run to make sure that the food stayed warm, but was another slice of normality, and a more adventurous diet too ! We could have a roast dinner - what a bonus !

We had our first visit to the abattoir about now too - we took the ducks there, left them and then collected them the following day. We have decided that this, for us, is a much more cost effective way - the time taken to pluck etc a single bird, as amateurs far out ways the ease of letting someone else do it. When we collected them, they had been plucked and gutted, and to be honest, looked like a bird that you could have bought at Tesco's ! The amount charged is very little, and something that we feel is justified. The abattoir we have found deals just with birds, so the rabbits etc, have to be dealt with by us (that is the Royal 'us' - I mean, by Craig of course).

Quite early on in the year, we had the sad news that my father had died. He had been ill for many years, and in and out of hospital numerous times, more and more frequently as time progressed, but once more it brought home the distance between us and the family. I was very grateful that we had spoken only the day before. Despite being nearly 90 years old, he spoke to us via Skype, and did his shopping on line ! Work ground to a halt as we prepared to return to the UK ....

The New Year brought with it good and bad times as always....

Christmas Time

IT ARRIVED !! Our furniture, that is...... HOORAY !! The drivers (as have other visitors too) rang us from the commune town/village, and I drove to them to guide them in. Bearing in mind, it was December, we were relatively lucky that it stayed dry for the time it took to unload our possessions - just about two hours - and that we only discovered a couple of damaged goods at that point. The drivers stayed for lunch, and then headed back to the ferry, and it was left to us to renew our acquaintance with our worldly goods. The thought that sprung to mind though, was that we had managed for over 7 months without these things, so.....did we really need them ! If I was brave enough, I suppose this was the ideal time to de-clutter...but I'm not ! It did (and does) mean though, that there are several items that we have doubled up on, as we had in effect, two houses for several years.

A huge bonus of having our furniture arrive was that I now had a washing machine, although the regular trips to the launderette would be missed. I spoke to many people, helped numerous people use the machines and understand the instructions, and also had time to shop, walk the dog and read ! It took Craig two days to drill a hole through the wall into the Utility room - the wall proved to be nearly a metre thick - to take the electric cables, and also for the waste pipes and water inlet...but it was so worth it...and like a right pair of idiots, we stood and watched the machine as it started its first cycle !

A factor here, as we are so isolated and the area is sparsely populated, is that a lot of the electricity cables are over ground, so a mixture of high winds and heavy rain is often accompanied by a power cut. Trees fall down, hit cables etc etc. We suffered our first cut about now, and rediscovered the quiet and darkness that we had slowly forgotten about - no phone, no computer, no lights...We had candles and torches - which we always make sure are available now - and tried to make the most of an unfunny time. I think this first one lasted about 18 or 19 hours, which does seem to be about average for us.

It was my first birthday here too - not my 1st birthday of course, but my **nd one !! That was a hard time - away from family, and thoughts running through my head, about why we were here when we'd had a warm comfortable home before. It was lovely though to speak to the children, and grandchildren, and have messages and E Mails galore. We went for a nice meal as a treat too in the local town.

The next milestone in our new life was to be Christmas. Our first Christmas here 2011, away from family, and not in an ideal situation regarding creature comforts at this time either - a gas hob, a grilling machine, and a microwave, our sole cooking means. Luckily, some friends took pity on us, and invited us to their house for Christmas Day. It was really nice of them as this time of the year is for family, and we didn't want to intrude, but nevertheless very welcome. We offered to provide and prepare the vegetables, as they were providing the home produced turkey, and also took lots of little treats to be shared. We had a lovely day, and came home very full, and very tired.

We took Arthur the dog to the beach the next day to blow some of the cobwebs away, and walk off the over eating. Boxing Day isn't celebrated here, so shops were open, and everyone was back at work. Arthur loved it. It was the first time we had taken him - there are many beaches here running for miles, but not all accept dogs, so we have to pick and choose. Many are closed to dogs in the Summer months, and some just between certain times. They are often deserted though, and Arthur was exhausted - he chased the birds, who seemed to leave it until the last minute to fly away, which he found very frustrating, and ran towards the water, but wasn't quite brave enough to go in !


We can now look forward to another new year, 2012, and look back to our progress over the last one. What a change from our old life eh ?