Well we are about to fly out to the mill to check out the latest renovation phase, this time though we will not be driving down from Calais but flying into Poitiers and then hiring a small car from Budget Car Hire at the airport.

There is an advantage or two in doing this, the first is that the flight is quick and we land refreshed rather than the 12 hour trip door to door that we are usually faced with. The second is cost, you see we can fly into Poitiers or La Rochelle for perhaps £20 and then hire the car from Budget for a hundred Euros, this is less than the cost of going through the Eurotunnel and the added cost of all the petrol for the journey both ways.

We have had a number of trips where we have hired a car from Budget at the airport and the added bonus here is that both Poitiers and La Rochelle are only just over an hour from the mill. In the picture below you will see the latest progress, the outside of the West wing has now been rendered, there is still some sand blasting to do so the over spray will be removed at that point.

The finish is a colour that was hand picked to match some of the large Granite corner stones, up close there is a definate synergy between the natural material and the coloured render.

West Wing rendered to match the Granite cornerstones

With the flights now booked and the hire car also booked we will be in France for the first week in October, it should still be sunny and so I hope to get some really good video footage. The picture above shows the bread oven fully renovated too, this is one of the best heritage bread ovens in the South West of France and we are currently getting it dated.

So what can I say other than I am excited, the car hire option that we have means it is easy to make a quick trip and get things done without too much fatigue and of course returning the car to Budget at the airport is also very convenient going home.

Bon Voyage!!!

Why build a lake at all?

Why buy a JCB?

Well there are a number of reasons one of which is enjoyment, secondly value, digging a lake will add value, then there is the aesthetic view, how lovely would a natural lake look in the shell behind the trees.

Of course a huge benefit to diversity and wildlife too, we have many wild animals including deer and boar and the chance to see more of these animals will be exciting.

To dig the lake we needed to purchase a JCB, the need to purchase is great because there will be many more projects coming up that will need the JCB, due to the high water table we now know there is no need to use a 360 heavy excavator so once the last part of the drive is done the excavator can go and be replaced with a permanent JCB 3CX machine.

In full flow the JCB starts to dig the lake

The machine above is the JCB model we wanted, it will help massively with landscaping and the front bucket will be invaluable to us.

See more of our plans and use of our JCB as we expand the JCB page in the coming weeks and months, I hope to show how valuable and well worth the money this digger will be over time.

It was great news to hear that the bread oven at the Moulin has been secured, we have one of the finest original examples of an outside bread kiln or bread oven in France. Our builder said it was the best example he had seen and was pefect and complete.

During the renovation there was a lot of ground activity, heavy plant, machinery etc and there was a worry that this could displace some of the internal oven bricks. To counter this we refilled the oven with sand, this did the trick and the major renovation work has finished with a fully intact French bread oven.

To keep the oven preserved for all time and also in a usable condition we have put a blockwork fascia on it which ties in the whole structure , this will have a further natural stone facia applied to it at a later date.

Here you can see the pictures of the Bread Oven – These shots are before any restoration work

Bread Oven from Afar

Closer Inspection from the Front

French Bread Oven - Moulin

A Shot from Inside – This will be updated with better pics very soon.

Inside Our Amazing French 'Bread Oven'

One of the biggest projects on the Moulin was the roof, it needed the assistance of large mobile cranes, patience and dedication to come up with a solution to keep the original beams which are massive but yet deal with the rot at the ends.

Even with the decay at the beam ends it was amazing how the original Moulin roof managed to stay in such good condition after  50 years of neglect, the Timbers themselves were in reasonable order despite the slates being in really bad shape and for many years the water just ran underneath and down the Oak Timbers.

The mobile crane was a godsend because once the roof was stripped off we were able to raise the whole roof structure to enable access to the ends of each massive beam. Once the crane inched the structure up it was supported from below before our chosen restoration method was used.

To keep the timbers we decided we would have to either create unsightly bulwarks so once the decay was cut out the span was narrowed or an idea we had was to create huge Steel shoes to fit on the end of each timber, we opted for the shoes.

These were created and then they needed to be fitted and painted Matt Black, they looked magnificent and so the mobile crane was again hired and each timber was carefully lifted so the shoes could be fitted.

The result you can see is below in the pictures and we are absolutely delighted with the choice we made, in all there were 8 shoes created and fitted.

Here are the pictures of the roof from the inside before work was carried out.

old Moulin roof

Moulin Roof From Floor 2

Here we have the pictures of the shoes prior to mobile crane work

Here is the Beam Shoe made from Steel

The Beam and Shoe Sitting back on the Plate

Showing the Roof Beam from Below

Moulin Roof Beam Shoes

Now the mobile cranes can go home and the roof can be finished!

What mode of transport should I use now that summer is here…

All three would grace the grounds of the watermill, perhaps classic rather than modern….

This

My gorgeous Porsche 911 Turbo 'S'

Classic and Beautiful - My Kawasaki Z900

This

or This

The 'Devil' My Suzuki GSX-R 750

Work is still too damn busy but am hoping to crash down in the turbo or maybe the GSX-R 750 depending on how my licence feels

• The Watermill – Looking Good

• From the back -

• The old roof –

• The new roof

• First floor stripped

• Lovely new first floor
  

• How big is this kitchen???

Still it is their loss, this is one of the biggest projects for renovation in the region and because there is an internal mill race it is also one of the rarer and more important renovations.

Still not able to get the Moulin blog in order but just wanted to share a couple of pictures so p[eople can see why I am excited at the French Water Mill renovation.

Here is a couple of before and after pics

Here we have the latest look and doesn’t she look incredible now!!!

Its Moulin de Bonnemort 2010

Here we have the front door to the mill as it was in 2003

Now in all its glory here we have the main entrance door in 2010

I have so many fantastic pictures of this renovation project, taking it from a shell to almost habitable, it is full of history and mystique, I have massive desire to learn more, old pictures and stories, things like the reputed gun stash from the German occupation of the town, the whereabouts of old tools and maybe the mill wheel.

As a story this will be brilliant as it maps out two men who took a chance on the whim of a single Internet picture and in a week visited then bought and in the middle of that secured the French bank account to make the circle complete. Planning, building permissions, Architects and builders, everything has been like clockwork and this is the perfect case history for anyone wanting to do the same.

An element of ‘devil may care’ attitude has been needed and also patience as after truning around a purchase so fast it was 7 years before we started renovating due to pressures of business, that said we did what we needed… secured our dream property first and dealt with the rest as we could.

The French Watermill is breathtaking and wonderful, it will be a stake in the ground for anyone daring to follow their dream, purchased for only £45k  (60,000 Euros at the time) with a healthy investment of money and love it will be the dream come true.

Even our insurance for the mill has been fantastic value too.

Capstone Mortgages are currently forcing clients to have expensive home insurance, even signing people to the policies without them knowing, once that is done they bombard the client with threats until they give in and pay for home insurance twice.

In France things have been much more simple and the only mistake we made was to not move all of our UK money to France before the pound collapsed against the Euro.

Work is progressing well and now that my wedding day has been enjoyed and a total success I will be able to start creating this blog into a proper archive of how to buy and renovate a large French project. Regarding Capstone then if you want to read more about how a UK mortgage company is getting away with pressuring people into taking out two insurances then read on here.

At the same time we need to keep the renovation going at full momentum, this means our trusted builder Mark Sabastini will be able to work right through the summer and into the Autumn. If we are able to keep this momentum the the Moulin will be completely renovated externally before the Winter and that will leave us the second fix inside.

The other major works of importance will be the construction of the lake, I want the Moulin to have a good quality and very beautiful lake that is natural and shaped around trees and land countours. It will need to support some high quality Carp and possibly a few Catfish but of course the Lake will need time to naturalise first.

That means I need it dug asap so the natural process of insect life and plant life can begin and the lake populated with a really high quality wildlife hierarchy.

I am awaiting the feedback at present from the architect who is discussing this with the authorities and I am quite excited about this aspect, who knows maybe we will find the stash of Napoleonic guns that are rumoured to be buried in the grounds……..