Sold - Subject to contract

Looks like we're going to be homeless again soon. The couple who'd viewed the house a few weeks ago returned on Tuesday and after a quick look round & a few questions answered they retired to the estate agents car. Within 5 minutes the agent returned with an offer & after a couple of further trips the deal was done and we agreed on a price! They're very keen to get things moving and by 3:00 the surveyor was booked for Wednesday at 10:00 and we had an appointment with the Notaire at 9:00 on Thursday. Phew, I've never known things move as fast in France. It now means that we will have to get things moving pretty quickly in the barn & visits to the Regourds, Thierry & the window manufacturer were now a priority. My aunt is visiting us for two weeks at the end of July, our buyers want to be in by the last week in June so let's hope she doesn't mind sleeping in the back of a Land Rover.

The surveyor turned up as scheduled on Wednesday morning and set to looking for asbestos, lead, woodworm, termites & damp with a device labelled 'Radioactive'. I'm pleased to report he didn't find any & also gave us a 'glowing' energy rating with his only concern being that the railings on the terrace could do with being filled in. In France the Notaire acts for buyer & seller so on Thursday morning we all sat in her office, along with the estate agent to help with translation, and went through the Compromis de Vente, a 19 page document, all pages of which require a signature. Our buyers now have 7 days to change their minds & pay a 10% deposit so it's fingers & everything else we can think of crossed. In the meantime we have a bit of admin to do getting all the artisans invoices together & matching them up with bank statements in the hope that we can minimise the amount of tax we'll have to pay. We felt we deserved a coffee after all that legal stuff and called in to the bar in Najac where we got talking to a couple from New Zealand. They were visiting their daughter who was a nanny in Paris and were taking the opportunity to visit what seemed like the whole of Europe. They'd already been to Greece, Turkey & Egypt & were scheduled to visit the UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Croatia & Portugal and had managed to take over 1,500 pictures.. We exchanged email address' & were told that if we ever make it to New Zealand we were to drop in & see them. We'll have to make sure it's not on the night they're having an evening in showing their friends the holiday pic's.

Let's hope it's not a bit premature but on Saturday night we decided to celebrate the weeks progress with a meal at the 'Le Four à Pain' a new restaurant that opened in Najac last week. The village has been lacking a good eatery and we had high hopes as the chef used to work at one of the local hotels & had a good reputation. We weren't disappointed and although the menu was limited in choice the cream of nettle soup with snails in a crispy herb pastry served with a garlic velouté followed by lamb diablotin with pistachio marinade served on a bed of chickpea purée & semi dried tomatoes was a tad different to the canard & aligot which has become our staple diet when eating out. Judging by the number of people dining the restaurant is proving a great success and we look forward to returning soon.

The weather has taken a dramatic turn for the better and as I reported a couple of weeks ago the wildlife is out & about. We had a tiny lizard in the house earlier in the week & this morning I managed to snap this visitor to Chez Hill. PS; Get in touch if you need some petrol, there's plenty here!

Roquefort & Millau

Bit of an easy week this week, resting in hopeful anticipation that Thierry will be available next week to help lay the new floor in the barn. As always there's a few minor jobs to be done & with the second visit of our potential buyers scheduled for this coming Tuesday it was out with the paint and strimmer and although it is still a little early for them there is now a colourful display of geraniums in Lagarrigue. Let's hope they're a bit more enthusiastic than the couple who asked for directions on Saturday afternoon. They were booked in to one of the local gites and were struggling to find it 'in such a remote location'. Barbara was immediately on the defensive and pointed out the local attractions of Najac & La Fouillade. 'Well I hope they're better than Villefranche, that was a dump'. They'd obviously only driven round the outskirts of the town and hadn't seen the medieval centre. I'm sure after Barbara had finished with them a visit would be on their list of 'Things to do when visiting the Averyon'. We bid them bon journée and wished them a happy holiday – some chance!

We collected Matthew on Monday & used the week to do a little sight seeing with him. On Wednesday we headed over to see le Viaduc de Millau that crosses The Tarn at Millau. Designed by Sir Norman Foster, something the French tend not to mention, it is the tallest vehicle carrying bridge in the world. It's an amazing spectacle and often referred to as 'the bridge in the clouds' but we certainly picked the best of days to visit, the sun was out and we could see the bridge in all it's glory. It's only approximately 10 kilometres from Millau to the village Roquefort, home of the world famous cheese which has been around since 1411 and judging by the smell there's still some of the original batch available in the shop. Despite the delights of the Disney like presentations we decided to pass on the tour, we'd done that a couple of years ago, and headed for a spot of lunch at the 'Roq n Bar' café where you are welcomed by a guitar playing ewe. Sounds strange but the food is reasonably priced and as long as you like like salads & cheese there's something for everyone on the menu. On Thursday Matthew was treated to the delights of VDR's weekly market followed by a long and leisurely French lunch. A belated birthday present but one I know he enjoyed, the meal part of the treat that is. There's been as much interest here in the Olympic Torch tour as there appears to have been back in the UK & there were several people demonstrating in the market place in VDR. We must have missed the torch's procession through the town but we were invited to a festival promoting an independent Tibet.

Things are getting a little busier and this past week there's been a significant increase in the number of UK registered cars on the roads. Let's hope they're all here looking for a beautifully restored French farmhouse to buy 'cause I know where there's one going at a very competitive price. In Najac the Sunday market is back but still has a long way to go before it reaches the dizzy heights of the world famous market in Bury, Lancashire; there's currently only three stalls none of which are selling black puddings. There's also a couple of new restaurants opened which we'll certainly be trying out in preference to The Salamander which I 'reviewed' in April last year. I'm hoping I don't bump into the owner as someone had accessed the blog via a Google search of 'Salamander in Najac' and read my comments! Watch out A. A. Gill.

An aperitif

After 3 more days hard graft digging out & barrowing away the barn's old concrete floor we're now ready to fill it once again with yet more concrete! We'd dug it out to a level approximately 30 cms below what will be the finished floor level and now had to wait until Thierry was available to give me a hand to lay the new floor. Hopefully we won't have to wait to long because if we have another thunderstorm like we had on Thursday we're going to need a pump to get rid of all the water. We saw a few storms & heavy downpours last year but none were as dramatic as this one. The area in front of the house was like a river & I was relieved to have finished the drains that take the rainwater away from the house. As we weren't ready for a swimming pool in the cellar. Just prior to the storm there had been a distinct rise in the ambient temperature & we were hoping that it was the start of a long hot summer with the only downside being the re-emergence of the serpents from their winters hibernation. The joys of being a ophidiophobic & living in South West!

On Wednesday Philip & his wife had called in with a pile of old Land Rover magazines & it coincided with a visit from Guilbert's son-in-law who called in to ask if we would be happy for him to put the vache back in the field? Of course we'd be happy, we thought he was doing us a favour. Last year he'd asked us to visit his farm and we took the opportunity to ask Philips' wife to translate for us. We apologised for not calling in and said we weren't sure whether it was the correct etiquette to just drop by. He said he would speak to his wife and ask her to telephone and arrange a rendezvous. She rang that night and we were invited round for an aperitif on Sunday evening at 6:30. They had a beautifully restored farmhouse that had been in the family for many years and as we walked round their home it turned out that we'd both used a number of the same artisans all of whom had gone to school with Dominque. We were made very welcome & left with a bottle of the local wine & a tranche de veau produced from the vache that had been on our field last year and were told that the meat should only be cooked for a very short time & at a very high temperature. I'll let you know next week how good it was.

Things are still progressing slowly on the house selling front & we've had another enquiry from the advert we placed on the 'Green Acres' website. The couple who visited the week before last and who were going to make an offer have now exchanged contracts on their house in the UK and have arranged to come back for a second viewing on 22nd April. We're keeping our fingers and everything else crossed. G & J have continued to work on their house this week and it's been strange hearing other English voices drifting across from their house. They set off for home on Monday and plan to return in early June when they hope the building work they're having done will be completed. I've offered to take photographs of the progress and email them with all the action. Let's hope I've got something to send them. It's off to Rodez airport again on Monday, to collect Matthew this time.

Fête de gout in Najac

It's been another busy week with two & a half days working with Thierry, digging out the barn floor & selling houses. Last week we'd called in to the local plant hire shop to arrange for the loan of a compressor & pneumatic drill and after a bit of negotiating on the price, which is very expensive here, we booked the equipment from Thursday to Monday. I collected the compressor & drill on Wednesday evening and it was straight on with the work as soon I was back at the house. It's the first time I'd used such a tool and at first progress was pretty slow but after a quick phone call to P for a bit of advice it looked as if I'd be finished with the drill in time to return it on Monday morning. Once the concrete was broken up it was time to load it in to the barrow & dump it out of the rear barn door. It was nearly as much fun as going to the dentist but it did mean we both got a good nights sleep. On Tuesday I'd just finished my 3 hour lunch, we do work until 7:00, when a car with GB plates pulled up at the house next door that Thierry had renovated & was trying to sell. It turned out they were from the North East & were looking for a home in France that they could live in full time once their daughter had finished school in England. They were most impressed with the property & when I mentioned the owner would be calling by in a few minutes they were keen to meet him. Thierry gave them a detailed tour of the houses and they were interested enough to arrange a further visit when they could view plans and photographs of the property before it was renovated. So fingers crossed for Thierry & yet more English in the hamlet of Lagarrigue, poor old Guilbert. On the subject of selling houses we had another visit last week but don't think we'll be getting an offer from them. They thought the gutters ran upwards! The couple who were going to make an offer are still in the picture & are still awaiting exchange of contracts on their UK property at which time they will make an offer on ours, hopefully one we can't refuse.

We had a surprise visitor over the weekend, Rebecca. She'd been able to pick up a cheap flight into Rodez & had decided to spend a very short weekend in the beautiful south of France. Fortunately on Saturday the weather was glorious & she'd be able to return to work on Monday with a very slight red tint. On Sunday there was fête de gout in Najac and Rebecca enjoyed wandering around looking at all the various food and wine stalls & it's just a shame she couldn't take any goodies back with her. Seeing all the duck & other delicacies it reminded me of the van that visits La Fouillade on Tuesday mornings and sells live chickens, rabbits & ducks. We like our food fresh but haven't yet purchased anything from him. We also had another rare treat this week, a curry. G & J who own the house next door arrived on Wednesday & prior to driving down had rang to see if we wanted them to bring anything down with them & I'd said that apart from a couple of jars of Branston a take-away curry would be nice. They'd brought all the ingredients over with them and on Friday we tucked into a lovely chicken jhal fraizi with all the trimmings. It was a great night despite two of the plastic patio chairs they're using while they renovate the house collapsing. No surprise I was in one of them!