17 November 2016

A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR THE OUTBUILDINGS AND THE ROLLING STONES

opportunity9dopportunity9e

One of the things we really liked about our house when we first saw it was the number and size of its outbuildings.  To the side of the main house at the front are a large barn with good big doors, a smaller barn that looks like a little house and an even smaller barn at the other end that looks like it was added on later.

This tiny end barn was the first one we tackled in the sense of making it more useful.  It was known by the previous owners as the potting shed and indeed there were many discarded plant pots, wooden shelves and other garden related stuff in it.  The big problem was that you couldn’t actually stand up in it!  The height of the upper floor was the same height as the door, at about forehead height.  You could only get in there by stooping, which made it just impossible to use, so we solved this problem by knocking out the ceiling and cutting off the beams that formed the floor.  Now it is perfect as the wood shed, just the right size and opposite the new side door so that wood can be fetched into the house from just a few steps away.  Nick has improved it even further by putting a light in it. 

opportunity6

At the back of the house there is another building that was added to the end of the house more recently (in the twentieth century, judging by its construction) which has been divided into two sheds with outer doors, no windows and feeding troughs.  No doubt some poor hapless animals were kept in there at some stage, when the land behind the house was still part of the property.

All of these outbuildings came with a certain amount of discarded junk, to which we have added in the course of our various projects.  They are great storage facilities and our furniture has been in and out of the barn more than once as needed - to make way for the builders to get on with their work.  It was time for a proper tidy up!

Early autumn was the window of opportunity to do something about it.

opportunityopportunity2

In order to make order out of chaos we needed fine weather. The summer was too hot but the fine, dry weather we had a few weeks ago was ideal.  To reorganise the space in the large barn we needed to be able to take everything out, sort through it and put it back in again, in an organised fashion.  The building of some extra shelves helped.

opportunity3

The little house used to be the wood store but is now mainly used for storage of garden stuff.  When we moved in it had the problem of the floor becoming a river when it rained heavily.  This was solved by fitting guttering to the back of the building so that rain water runs off into the field instead of down and under the walls and across the floor.  The usefulness of the space was improved immensely for what was really very little effort and cost.

opportunity7opportunity8

The animal sheds at the back are less useful because the access is difficult but they are nice and dry.  So, having removed various items of junk we now use them to store stuff we might need one day but not very often.

opportunity9aopportunity9b

You can’t beat a bit of tidying up and clearing out.  The whole process is both cleansing and fulfilling and gives a huge sense of achievement.  During the pleasant and sunny days of mid October we were able to knuckle down and more or less get the job done.  Lunch outdoors in the sunshine most days made the hard work quite pleasant.

opportunity9c

The wonderful weather was never going to last forever, of course.  On the evening that we went to see the Rolling Stones in Descartes it rained as we came out and it has rained on and off ever since.  It’s now cold, wet and distinctly Novemberish but we’re okay with that.  We have had an amazing summer and the early autumn was gorgeous.  With so many of our outdoor jobs now completed we’re happy to batten down the hatches in front of a log fire and relax a bit.

As for the Rolling Stones – they were actually a tribute band called “The Fortune Tellers” who performed at a little bar in Descartes a couple of weeks ago.  They were fantastic.  They reminded us very much of some of the better bands we used to see at motorcycle rallies and we had a great evening.  Not only that, we paid nothing to park the car and nothing to get in - so very French.  Amazing.

12 comments:

  1. "The whole process is both cleansing and fulfilling and gives a huge sense of achievement..."
    I shall remember these words when we finally get round to sorting through 34 years of our possessions! I'll let you know whether this works in our case. :o)
    Lovely catch up post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gaynor, I know exactly how you feel, bon courage!

      Delete
  2. Do I see Gorm in one of those pictures....
    or Sten as it is now called, I believe...
    or is it a BricoMarché special?
    We are slowly getting sorted.... I found something that would be useful... the other day... as you do.......
    but now I want it.... I can't find the box it is now in!!
    Well done you two!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's now called Sven, or something like that. Not quite as sturdy as Gorm but does the job well.

      Delete
  3. You did a fine job with tidy up. Brava

    ReplyDelete
  4. Reading this post is so familiar with what we are going through with our transition from our rental to finally into our new home in the next few weeks. BUT, I think we may needs a barn or two for storage - love your stories.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The problem with all that space for storage, which is not living space, is that it fills up, gets dusty and webby, and then has to be cleaned all the time. Our "stuff" ends up owning us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a very good point, we sometimes feel that about all our stuff, but getting rid of it isn't easy.

      Delete
  6. You are lucky to have out buildings. We have one barn which is full mostly with car. We rent a second barn across the road from us which the owner now wants to sell. We would like to buy it, but not at the price he is asking, we hope that nobody else will pay a stupid price for it either! It is really only useful to someone local as there is no ground so I cannot see it being sold to anyone else in a hurry. Keep well Diane

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Keep your fingers crossed - Leon

      Delete
    2. Diane, I hope so too. Around here buildings such as empty houses get sold for storage, as long as they're not expensive and they have a good roof. Maybe if it hasn't sold you could make a sensible offer.

      Delete
  7. Welcome back, I missed you. Sorry to hear about Spain. What fun to have all of the space to work with over the coming years.

    ReplyDelete