Making a start

I have had enough of cutting trees and clearing undergrowth for a while so have made start on the decking area at the top of the slope down to the stream.

Although the structure was pretty stable I have added cross braces in both directions to make sure there is no movement. The bases at the bottom of the posts are made of heavy duty plastic and are in two pieces with a screwed insert allowing adjustment of height.

I have now decided to modify the decking, originally I had it in mind to encircle the group of trees directly in front of the end but I now realise this will probably make it all to large. In addition I would have to attach the decking to the trees. I noticed in heavy winds there is some movement in the trees which would have put a strain on the decking structure.

I am going to extend the end with an octagonal section and stop it just short of the trees. After coming up with this idea I had a look online to see if there was anything similar and came up with a couple of photos nearly exactly what I have in mind.

photos cpopyright http://simplicitydecks.com/

A new project for the New Year

I always like to have some project or another underway at any one time and now we are into 2016 here is the start of my latest one.

I have a lovely area at the bottom of my field below my garden that drops away to a lovely stream

It is my intention to form a decking area/viewing platform that will run horizontal from the top of the bank on the right hand side to a point around 2-3 foot above the stump in the middle of the picture and encircling the trees with a summer house at the top right.

It's a bit difficult to describe exactly and to be honest I don't know what the final job will look like until it gets under way but first things first and I have to clear a few of the trees away first.

I'm actually doing in effect several jobs at once, all the wood I am logging and splitting for the wood burner I already have enough put by until the winter of 2017/18 so this lot will be used for the winter after that. All of the twiggy bits behind will be shredded for mulch for my back to Eden garden

Stay tuned for updates!

I'm back!

I cannot believe how long ago it was that I posted on here, I really don't know what the problem was but I seemed to be running out of ideas and once you have to force yourself to write it's no fun anymore.

Well it's Jan 2016 and I'm going to resurrect this blog and see if I can't keep it going this time, I used to have followers on here, I don't blame any of you if you have just disappeared but any who are out there, a word of encouragement would certainly be helpful.

This is short as it is just something to start me off.

How about this that I found in the garden today!

Can you believe it? Asparagus in January, whatever is happening to our weather.

It feels good to be back :)

Spring at last

Spring at last! Well it's still early March but what a difference a couple of weeks make. I only seems like yesterday that we were all obsessing about the continual incessant rain that we seemed to have day after day and now we are out eating our lunch out in the sunshine on the decking area.

We have been out in the garden most days and it is beginning to show. The ground had a real "wintery" look about it.

Unfortunately as the area was close to a strawberry patch and also has a huge rock just under the surface in one place I had to hand dig it. However it is now all done and have already put in two rows of early potatoes and sown a row of parsnips. There is also room for a couple of rows of carrots which will go in during the next few days.

I have also cleared the main planting area and ploughed and rotavated it all as you can see from the next few pictures.

Avril has also been as busy as me in the fruit plot weeding out the raspberry canes and strawberry plants and mulching them with old leaf compost.

So we are all set up and ready for the planting season in the weeks to come, I'm going to concentrate on the things that I know grow well in the soil which unfortunately is quite acidic.

Writing out a cheque in France

I have come across a number of people living here in France who have never made out a French cheque as they are afraid of either making a mistake, getting it wrong or just not sure where to fill things in.

French cheques are laid out differently than in the UK in that the position for writing the name and amount in words are in different positions, also it is necessary to fill in the actual location of where you had written the cheque ie: town or city.

It is all fairly simple once you know so to this end I have provided a sample below that should help anyone in this situation.

Going to the cinema in France

Perhaps, one of the few things I have missed about the UK since moving here to Brittany is the fact that we used to visit the cinema on a fairly regular basis. This is something we haven't done at all since moving here, the thought of watching a film all in French is just one step too far!

That has all changed now though, the key is to look for the French abbreviation VOST as in the photo below.

The actual French for the abbreviation, VOST, is "version originale sous titree" or Original version with subtitles.

On Monday night we went to our local cinema which is actually walking distance from our house ( although we didn't walk due to the weather ) we are very lucky indeed to have a cinema in a village of under 1600 people and so close. It is not your average "Odeon" or "Vue" as you can see from the photo. And certainly no Popcorn and Cola at inflated prices!

We watched "The wolf of Wall Street the latest Martin Scorsese film with Leonardo DiCaprio which premiered on Christmas day.

The cost of a seat at the cinema was 5 euros or a little over £4 so a real bargain, in addition we were given a loyalty card which means that every tenth ticket is free, making it even more of a bargain. The cinema, although small ( around 80 or so seats ) was a lot more modern than I had expected with comfortable seating and a good view of the screen from everywhere.

Happy Christmas

A very Happy Christmas and all our best wishes for 2014 to everyone