With most of the work done on the inside of our house, the crew left us for a couple of weeks to rebuild a collapsed roof somewhere. It was pretty quiet here for the time they were gone, and although we enjoyed the peace, we kind of missed having the guys here every day. I had become used to having a crew here with every conceivable kind of tool at the ready…they were always available to cut a piece of wood or hang this or that for us. It all looks so easy when the proper knowledge and gadget is at hand to complete a task.

Now they are back, and work has begun to replace the render on the exterior of the house. What is render? I had to look it up. It’s a premixed layer of chaux (lime) and sand. This is a big job, and not something with which we were at all familiar. In the U.S., our houses were either some type of siding or stucco and when it was time for a refresh, they were simply repainted. Not so in France. Here, the old render has to be chipped off by hand and replaced. All I can tell you is that when you are inside the house, and there is a crew on scaffolding removing the old render, it’s not very peaceful. For several days we’ve endured the tap-tap-tapping of hand tools and the grinding of a jackhammer-type thing as the chunks of old render were chipped out of every nook and cranny. But as with the work on the inside of the house, the beauty of the original stone is being revealed, and somehow the house seems to be breathing a big sigh. This is only the beginning, as it’s a good-sized house and they’ve just begun on the front. We’re hoping that when the time comes to apply the new render, we’ll be allowed to have pierre apparent, which is where pieces of stones are visible, similar to what we have on the interior. Being so close to a château means we have strict rules about how the exterior of the house looks. We really like the way it looks now, with all the stone visible, but it’s not practical. It must be sealed with the render substance to keep it weathertight and in sound condition.

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Once the bulk of the render was removed, it revealed some areas were missing stones and had been badly patched over the years, so those will have to be rebuilt with new stones. Today I went out to check on the status of the removal of a big bulge that had been visible on the upper level. All the stones have been removed in that spot along with bits of cement and filler that had been used to patch it. And they found a good-sized squirrel nest inside the wall cavity with a number of walnuts that some enterprising squirrel had stored there.

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This job will take two or three months to complete. The wet weather this time of year is also a factor, so it will be some time before the finished house is ready for its big reveal moment.

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The back yard.

Our giant back yard served as a construction storage area for the past year.

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Recently it’s been cleared of all the tools and rubble, and the landscapers got to work. The large area has been divided into several zones: a smallish vegetable garden in the rear which is bordered by a row of grapevines, a large central grass area surrounded by a small hedge, and planting areas for perennials on either side, including a row of climbing roses and honeysuckle. In the upper yard, we’ll have two kiwi vines and a Williams pear tree, which is similar to a Bartlett pear, a nod to my mom’s heritage. Her maiden name was Bartlett and family lore includes a story of the first appearance anywhere of a Bartlett pear was when our ancestor exhibited his pears at a county fair in Maine.

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Hopefully a haven for a hedgehog.

As is common here, we now have a compost bin set up in the back corner. And near there, we’ll put a hedgehog house a friend made for me as I’ve become obsessed with the adorable and gentle creatures that are endangered and protected animals here. This is not a photo of our hedgehog house, but it’s pretty similar. The little creatures need a safe and warm place to hibernate so I hope somehow one will find its way to our yard. Maybe next year.

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A few framboise (raspberry) bushes are now growing along the low rock wall, a myrtille (blueberry) bush is ready to be put somewhere, and there’s even an area for asparagus, something I’ve always dreamed of having in my garden. It will take a couple of years of patience before we will have any asparagus, but what an exciting day it will be when we can cook our own home-grown asparagus.

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It’s looking a bit sparse now, but soon things will be popping up in this yard and it will be fun to watch it come to life.