Harriet's House

There is something about being outside. The confines of houses, however comfortable, cannot compare to the feeling of raw nature and the freedom of the great outdoors. What I am trying to say is that I have been more than a trifle lazy over the past weeks when it comes to working on the house and have been playing about in my new garden. Hearing the birds singing and watching the red squirrel defying gravity by springing from tree to tree is far nicer than fixing cupboards to wobbly walls.

The garden at Harriet’s House is large and above the house, nestling only a few metres from the walls of the chateau. I have seen an ancient photo when it was all ploughed and cultivated, but latterly the charming garden has become overgrown in places with brambles and with rampant ivy invading the mature trees. Just the excuse needed for big fires and lots of hacking about, which this overgrown schoolboy enjoys as much as anything. My big Allen scythe made short work of the brambles, and then it was time for sending all the old wood to heaven with a hell of a fire. I had learnt when first coming to France that care is needed with bonfires when I nearly burnt not only the rubbish but nearly the house itself, and the number for calling the fire brigade had completely eluded me! So all fires are now lit in an old oil drum with holes in the sides. It works very well, and when the ashes are cool they can be rolled out onto the vegetable patch through the holes.

We have had a few dry weeks lately and the soil was just right for digging. But digging is a bit like hard work, and takes ages, so the rotavator was put to work and in no time there were three long vegetable patches where the rough grass used to be. I’ve even managed to plant some early spuds and broad beans before the rain came today.

The land next to mine consists of a large old house and huge garden on two levels. It had been empty for several years but has recently been bought by a lovely local beef farmer and his wife, to move into when he retires in a couple of years time. The boundary between the two gardens was indistinct to say the least! But after a very pleasant discussion with Jean Louis, we decided where the line should be and defined it with the rotavator. How I love that great big Italian machine, but helping it up a steep slope was like shoving a bull into a trailer. And I didn’t have any beer handy afterwards. A fence and hedge was needed, and after seeing what grew well here, I have planted over seventy Hornbeam saplings, in an almost straight row. The posts for the fence came from the wood at the present house, and the chainsaw only broke down after the last one was cut!

It all looks pretty good at the moment, but will need looking after for the first year at least.

It hasn’t been all garden though, the kitchen now looks a bit like a kitchen!

I am at present living in a little hamlet deep in the French countryside. Last evening the dog was agitated by a strange noise outside, and it was a real pleasure to hear the strange hooting of hundreds of migrating cranes in the skies above. It was too dark to see these magnificent birds, but we have done in the past, and it is just one of the bonuses that living in the countryside offers.

Also last week our two sheep produced three lambs between them, and they are all thriving, despite the loss of their father, Hercules, who succumbed to old age on Christmas day.

So why am I leaving this idyllic spot to immerse myself in the constraints of a little town? Well I guess being sensible and thinking about future needs has a lot to do with it. I had always wanted a few acres of land and some woodland, but land needs looking after and livestock demand attention. Fences fall down and animals die. The eleven years spent here have been a wonderful introduction to French life and one of the regrets will be leaving all the friends who have been so welcoming, but being relatively isolated has its problems. Especially as I may be losing my driving licence, but that is another story. No, it will be a real delight to be able to walk a few metres to the bars, restaurants, boulangerie and all the facilities a small town has to offer. And to have lots of neighbours will be a nice change; the town is small enough for everyone to become familiar with each other and their is nothing better for improving one’s French than chatting to the locals! Going into the local store and being greeted by “allo Roger” is so much nicer than the impersonal attention of the supermarket! When all this Covid disaster is behind us we will once again be able to sit in the market square outside one of the bars and enjoy a nice cold beer or two in the warm sunshine. Actually that can be several beers, as I will have only less than a hundred metres to stagger home!

And then there is Harriet’s House. The garden is large, and although having sheep is not feasible, there is plenty of room for chickens and a large vegetable plot. I really do feel lucky to have ownership of a very old and interesting property which needs lots of love and attention. What could be nicer than giving love and attention? Yes, better it be given to someone rather than stone and mortar, but who knows what the future may bring? I remain forever the optimist!

I guess a house which has been standing for maybe six hundred years should have some secrets. Harriet’s House is full of them!

I am trying to find out more about the history of our village, but there do not seem to be any books on the subject, and even the local Town Hall could not help much. The Chateau is, of course, very well documented, but all the old illustrations of the building fail to show the surrounding houses in any detail, only that they were there. One neighbour, who has been working on his second home here for over forty years, has helped, but really only to tell me that our houses are the oldest in the village, and that ancient tunnels run from the Chateau under them, and were used as an escape route in times of emergency. And that brings me to our very old and interesting cellar!

As well as the main house entrance, I have two doors which open from the road. One is the entrance to a large room, very dark and dingy, which corresponds to the area of the main house above it.

On the far side is a large fireplace with an old cauldron, which I am told would have been used for cooking various French delicacies. More recently it was used as an annex for the local florist, and utilised in some of the plays put on by a local theatre group. Eventually this will be my workshop with stairs going up into the main house above.

But much more interesting is the cellar beneath this cellar! Another very ancient and in poor condition door leads down some very worn stone stairs to what was obviously the entrance to one of the escape tunnels. Getting down the stairs was itself a challenge, so one of my first efforts was to weld together some old railings to make a banister. I can’t imagine how many footfalls were needed to wear the old stones down so much, but the passage was certainly well used! The steps lead to a beautifully vaulted room, with two arches, one leading into a soil lined room, and the other which has been blocked up with rubble and a stone wall.

Now both of the arches are well built, but the one with the rubble is particularly robust, and there are the remains of an old door frame, in stone, beyond it. There is also a metal grill which protects a well shaft, the opening of which is in my garden. There seems little doubt that this was a well used escape route very many years ago. (pun unintended!)

All this fits in very well with the layout of the rest of the old house. The kitchen block was obviously an afterthought although it is from around the same era. It was added on to the original building, as witnessed by the obscured window on the gable end, and by a blocked window which is now inside. The addition is a strange shape, and abuts into the road leading up to the chateau. From the window inside the building there is a very good view of the road below, including the entrance to the escape cellar, and from the other side of the room, the now blocked door would be easily visible from the chateau walls. I am convinced that this was once a strategic building for the defence of the great fortress in times of attack.

Looking up the road to the chateau, the two entrances to the cellars are the furthest away and the lookout window is obvious.

Maybe an informed historian will nonsense all these thoughts, but I shall hang on to them until it happens!

For a grey haired old chap, though still fit and active, this is a big project! The main house needs to have all the floors above the cellar removed, three rooms made into one, and the roof space made into a bedroom and bathroom. Working mainly alone it will take me years, but what better to keep the ailing body and mind in pristine condition?

One of the buildings in the garden had been converted into a garage with a bedroom above. Itself old, but less ancient than the main house, I think it was a dwelling downstairs with a hayloft above. It had a chimney, which has been removed to make the garage entrance, and two doors which indicates two downstairs rooms. This seemed much easier a project to convert, so I decided to make this my new home until the main house had been finished.

I do love all the planning! Little drawings on odd bits of paper, and lots of thinking. Having lived all my adult life in large houses it was going to be fun to have just essentially two rooms; less to clean and less to heat! Various friends came and gave opinions, but it is lovely to be able to make decisions unilaterally and often contraversally. So the upstairs will have a relatively large bathroom at the end of the building and the downstairs will have a combined lounge and kitchen area.

The inside of the building was rough. Here the old houses are built of
the local stone, the renowned Silex or flint for which the area is
famous, and any old bits of chalk laying about. It can look pretty but
bits were falling out of walls and I decided to cover them up with lime
rendering….which is another story! The kitchen area was the first to
be attacked, a very awkward stone mini wall was covered with render and
then old tiles used to make a useful flat area. Being aware, and
disapproving, of our throw away society I intend to use any bits and
pieces laying around from previous efforts in the gites, and although
some may not look appropriate, this will be a temporary dwelling and
certainly a bit different! Space will be at a premium so the area under
the stairs has been made, after much cussing, into cupboards. Nothing is
square, and old bits of wood are never straight. And I do find that
cussing helps: nobody around and only the dog to give disapproving
looks. The world is divided into cussers and non cussers, and I am
firmly ensconced with the former party.

Now all this began several months ago, and to summarize, new windows and
a floated concrete floor have been fitted, the walls have been
rendered, and the bathroom wall is in place. All this after the ground
works for a new electricity supply, water and drainage. Oh, and I have
built a woodstore which will double as an outdoor kitchen in summer, and
a large garage, re roofing an area in the garden which had three intact
walls from another old building. Lots and lots of fun, and it is only
just beginning!