Wood Burning Stove

We have now had the wood burning stove fitted in the living room area.  As I've mentioned before, this is not something that will be of interest to summer visitors, but will improve comfort for us in the winter months.  The chimney was originally a source of cold air when the open fire wasn't lit, and when it was, most of the heat went upwards rather than out into the room.

We did use it one evening - just getting the hang of it.  We will probably be using it properly towards the end of the year.  Will update then.

Easter at La Matha

We've just come back from Easter Weekend at La Matha.  Bits and pieces of DIY to be done, but despite working, it's always great to be out there.

One thing we were keen to see was the progress on the refurbishment of the swimming pool.  Visitors over the last couple of years will have seen the problems our pool maintainance men have had in keeping the pool clean.  They concluded that the cause was the deterioration of the surface of the lining.  We've owned La Matha eight years, and the pool had been there for at least 10 years before we bought it - the lining was getting to the end of its life.  The deterioration was allowing fungal growth, which was proving difficult to keep at bay.

In order to resolve this, the pool has been emptied, the mosaic tiles removed around the sides and the paint sanded down.  Here is a photo of the progress so far:

In the coming weeks, BLM Piscines will clean all the sand and dust, and coat it with a polyester lining.  This should last around 20 years - crystal clear water again!

Au Fil De L'Eau

Last Saturday we had lunch at Au Fil De L'Eau - a restaurant in Port-St-Foy, just over the river from St Foy La Grande.  Out on the conservatory covered terrace, we had a fantastic view of the river and St Foy on the other side.

We had been to this restaurant before in the evening and had enjoyed it, so I feel a bit guilty for not going more often.  There were three set menus - two of them fish based, and the other very much perigordine.  We both went for one of the fish menus - the food was just superb.  We will definitely use this place more often, and thoroughly recommend it to visitors who want a "good" meal out.

January Trip

Last weekend we had a flying trip out to La Matha - we could only do one night due to work commitments, flying out early on Saturday and returning on Sunday.  It was a lazy sort of weekend - a good lunch on each day: Au Fil de L'Eau on Saturday and Chai Pascal in St Émilion on Sunday and a nice dinner at the house.

There was one thing that we sorted out - the problem with the fire.  When we were over for a few days in December, we realised that a lot of the heat generated by the central heating was just going up the chimney.  Also when we had the open fire working, most of that heat was going up the chimney as well, and not much came out into the room.  This clearly won't be an issue for our summer guests, but clearly it is something we need to sort out if we are going to be spending more time there.

As a result, we've organised for a wood-burning stove to be installed, and that will happen at Easter when we're over for the long weekend.  I had been resisting this for a while, but I had bowed to the inevitable.

Pip took this photo to mark the end of the open fire.

December Break

As we aren't going to be spending New Year at La Matha, we decided to pop over for a few days at the beginning of December. This morning was cold and foggy and we decided to go over to somewhere we haven't really spent any time at - Perigeux. 

On the way over, we drive into glorious sunshine, which stayed for all the time we were in Perigeux. Lovely town. A small market was there just by the cathedral; we managed to buy some meat even though they were starting to pack up. 

By the Fois Gras and Truffle market place - not open! - we found a delightful small restaurant of only 20 covers, called Jour de Marché. We had s fantastic menu of the day - warm prawn salad, stuffed pork loin and a pine nut tart. 

Got back home, where it seems as though it's been foggy all day. 

Autumn at La Matha

We're currently here enjoying some glorious weather in November - early 20c temperatures and lovely sunshine!

When we arrived, we were very pleased to see the results of the work carried out at the rear of the house.  It used to look like this, with oil tanks, a water butt and an unfinished, scruffy lean-to.  The wall of the house had not been renovated like the other walls to the house had been.

In early October, we got a mason to sort it out, removing the oil tanks etc.  We will be getting a new plastic oil tank to go in the lean-to.  As you can see, it's a vast improvement!

 

Another Season About to Start

We've just had a lovely weekend over at La Matha - sorting stuff out for the coming season.  This is also an opportunity to post some "before" and "after" photos for the work done in the utility room last year.

The utility room was originally intended as a new kitchen extension to the house, but has always been little more than a shell. This post http://la-matha.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/well-that-went-well.html shows the "before" photos, and some "after" ones are here:

We have also had a sink and taps put in - here are before and after photos:

I continued painting the fence around the pool - 50% done now, the remainder will be done when we're over at the beginning of June.

We put a bit of decoration up in the terrace: