19/08/2007 by Bob and Di.

Its the 18^th August and we have enjoyed a lovely lunchtime BBQ with the 8 people currently staying on site. The weather was perfect and our guests spent the afternoon exchanging travel experiences while sipping their wine or beers! We’re now enjoying a warm sunny evening, a good opportunity to sit and write this addition to our blog.

Since our last entry, we have received authorisation for the changes to the chalet to turn it into a sanitary block, and we are preparing to go out for estimates for the building work needed – a new wall with windows and door to the front, and renewal of the roof. We are planning to do at least some of the work ourselves during the winter, but some aspects, not least the electrical side of things will need to be signed off by a professional.

Erecting the internal partitions is something we can do though, and we’re looking forward to putting up a new ceiling – one of those lovely dirty jobs especially as we’ll hopefully be putting in the lighting at the same time. The plan is to have the block ready for next summer, and that’s going to mean a lot of hard work. Timing will be important, as we really do not want this to be delayed.

In the meantime there is plenty more to do. The electrician starts work on the upgrading of the power supply at the beginning of September (after the French 2-month holiday period), and hopefully EDF will do their bit soon after. And we’re hoping that clearing the tree-stumps from the area into which we are extending the campsite will take place in time for us to sow the area with grass seed before the winter. Whilst no two years are the same, we were outside in shorts and T-shirts well into November last year, so at present we have time in hand.

We have enjoyed some great times with our neighbours

We are delighted to have enjoyed the company of so many visitors this year, our first since the visit of the sub-committee on 31^st January was the official authorisation that we needed. At present we have three RVs, one couple here for the first time, one for the second and one on their fifth visit - and they have delighted us by saying that they will be back in December for a stopover en route to Spain.

Tomorrow (Sunday 19^th August) we will be welcoming back the very first visitors to Parc Verger. They are heading south for the winter and Parc Verger is a convenient ‘stop-over’ for those going to such warmer climes as Spain and Portugal, not least because we are just a days drive from most of the channel ports, and just off the free motorway towards Toulouse and the border with Spain.

At the start of September we are to welcome back Mike and Carol, who spent last winter with us here, and who will be looking after Parc Verger for us whilst we go to the UK to have our new roof fitted. We’re booked onto the ferry on 9^th September, and hope to be returning two weeks later. More on our life at Parc Verger in due course.

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13/07/2007 by Bob and Di.

 One of our local chateaux - at Montbrun - for sale for a cool 20M Euros

The long and the short of it… 

These two visited Parc Verger at the same time recently, one 6m and the other 12 m!  Both couples were great company.

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13/07/2007 by Bob and Di.

Well, the signs are up on the road each side of us, the flags are flying at the entrance of Parc Verger, Di’s gardens are looking colourful, and the sky is blue.  In fact with temperatures in the 30s today it is much too hot to work outside, so here I am, sweltering inside to update the blog!  Not long and it will be into the pool for a refreshing dip.

We had a pleasant surprise just before lunch today when Mike (he with the Harley Davidson we had stay on site a while back)  turned up in a white van; he’s helping friends to move furniture to the south of France, and they were on their way back to the Channel for a ferry tomorrow lunchtime.  It was a delight, not least because he and Lynn confirmed that they will be with us for the Cidre et Cochonaille (Pork and Cider) day in October.

     Last evening we enjoyed a soiree with some of our neighbours to celebrate the second anniversary of our arrival here (yes, it really is two whole years since we moved to France).  We have received permission just this week to convert the small chalet on site into a sanitary block, and that is a job for the winter months.  By the time we have estimates for the building work, and booked time with the chosen mason, arranged for the digging of the drains and all of the other 101 aspects of the work it will be late autumn, so we will probably start work early November - late summer here of course, says he hopfully!

We now have a date for our trip to the UK to have our new roof fitted - we’re arriving in the UK on Sunday 9th September, and driving to Gloucester to deliver Columbus first thing Monday morning.  The repairers have promised to do all that they can to finish in two weeks, so we expect to collect Columbus by about Friday 21st, and we have a ferry crossing booked for the Saturday evening, so arriving home here late Sunday afternoon.  Our friends Mike and Carol will be welcoming our guests here whilst we are away, and will be staying on for the October festivities.

We hope that you are all enjoying life, and look forward to seeing you sometime. 

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18/06/2007 by Bob and Di.

So here we go.  No more individual emails with news of our activities - you can get the latest news by logging onto our blog - and you can let us have your comments too. So how are things progressing here?

We’ve had a succession of visitors, numbers ranging from one to five at any one time, but rarely none.  Everyone seems to have left happy with their experience here, and as a result we are seeing people arrive as a result of recommendations, always the best form of advertising.  Parc Verger is looking good, the light gravel on the pitches  contrasting with the grass and trees.  Like everywhere in Europe, it seems, we’ve had an unsettled spell of weather, generally warm or hot though with showers and some spectacular thunderstorms.  Fortunately this is a well-drained site, so even though the pitches are level, water drains off them vey speedily.

There are several items occurring in the near future.  The signs for the main road (which we had to pay for, of course) have been delivered to the local authority who have to install them, hopefully soon!  We are just about to accept the electrician’s quote for work needed to upgrade the power supply on site, and that should mean that the work can be done before the French holidays, which are normally interminable!  Third job is to clear the extension to the site of treestumps (and everything else).  This involves another estimate being prepared, this time by the groundwork contractor, and our aim is to get him on site, with all his heavy machinery, in early September, so that we can get grass sown later that month.  This should give it a fighting chance of growing before the winter, though whether the ground will be firm enough for caravans next summer we’ll have to see - should be OK for tents, though.  Whilst the machinery is on site we’ve a couple of other jobs for it, one of which is to change the slope of the bottom of the drive, as motorhomes with trailers are grounding due to the change of slope from the road to the drive.

The final major task, for this winter period, is to convert the small chalet we have here to a sanitary block.  We’re still awaiting the necessary permissions, but it seems hopeful that these will come through soon.  There will be some digging needed, for drainage trenches and a modest extension, so we’ll get this done when the contractor’s machinery is on site , and then we’ll get on with the internal work.  Should be fun!

It is fair to say that starting this enterprise was effectively an act of faith on our part.  We knew what we wanted to achieve, and there was a good rationale behind it, but how would it turn out in practice?  Well, we’re now 18 months (from the time the detailed planning permissions were received) into what we estimated as a three-year project, and we’re thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.  We have met many marvellous people, a number of whom have become firm friends.  We are looking forward to the next eighteen months with excitement as we move towards the completion of the work here.

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