Well it’s turned hot so out comes the masonary gear, sand buckets and rubber mixing tray. The girl likes to live dangerously!

So first job, tackle silly top of Little House wall in prep for converting room to a cold room to hold food, preserves and such like. The original builders didn’t finish to top of the wall under the beam so for our first two years here we have had ants marching in and making a cosy home.

Last year I did the other wall and it stopped the blighters getting in, plus it’s as rough as a badgers arse (excuse my French) and collects dirt. So time to make a slope. Took me half an hour so very pleased with myself. Two to one mix, sand to concrete, water and up the ladder, slope it on. Job done!

Next task is limewash the walls, ceiling, build shelves and paint the concrete floor. The sink needs retiling too. Tucking these little jobs inbetween the bigger renovation works.

Tony spent all day plumbing in the new septic tank, so with some of my excess cement being used for that work, I decided on my madness to tackle the mole mound issue on our garden entrance steps.

So far the gravel had kept the weeds at bay and concrete underneath in some parts worked even better. But it’s hard work and we couldn’t afford to do the whole area. Then Mr Velvety Mole turned up. Dug through and spread earth everywhere. The weeds thought lovely, just what we love and that was it. The place looked a mess.

So in the hot sun, cursing and sweating and my back screaming, I dug out the hard clay, shovelled gravel aside and mixed concrete. Luckily I found six concrete blocks. Installed these to make in impervious weed barrier, poured concrete round the edges and then raked back the gravel.

A whole day to really end up just as it was before. Ok yes minus weeds but if you drove past at anything over five miles an hour you probably wouldnt notice.

So here is the finished terrace. Just needs a little metal cafe table and some pots. The edge is made from old terracotta floor tiles and the steps from old train sleepers. It used to be a rough old slope but with a few days grafting I built a retaining wall, steps and area to sit.

The other part of the entrance has a rockery that also needs renovating. Mr Mole did his job well there too. The concrete planter needs to be filled with earth and planted out. This belonged to our neighbours grandmother. It sat unloved in one of the cow fields. Now it will be planted with pretty flowers and warn the fast French drivers that there is a house here and hopefully they will slow down!

A good day. Tomorrow we are off to Aubusson to look at chickens who need re-homing. Chicken maths tells us that we don’t have enough. Twelve is ok, but more is better 🙂