La Citadelle
News from La Citadelle - October, 1998
NEWSFLASH!
All the doors
and windows are in, and the news
is that the builder is sandblasting the
outside stonework to finish off! (December 7)
We have just returned from La Citadelle. The
weather in October has turned changeable and cool, so we had to call in the
plumber to resolve the strange controls to turn the central heating on. The farm
house is nice and warm now, and Malcolm will be popping in while we are away to
check it. We have plenty of fuel left in the underground tank from our delivery
in May. This may be needed because Matthew is talking about holding a New Year
party there for his friends, who will all fly out for two or three days from
Bordeaux
We "persuaded" Jean-Marie the
builder to return to the site of the Owl Barn and recommence work. As his first
task was to collect all the pre-cut stone for the doorways (6 tons of it), he
will now probably work more or less flat out until the work is finished and he
can bill us for it. The joinery and double glazing are sitting ready to be
installed. We actually saw a bathroom window temporarily in place the other day
as the masons checked a new opening for size
Yves, the
plumber and electrician came said that he had nearly understood the letter I
sent him in French. He can complete the wiring as soon as the building is
secure, and he wanted us to choose bathroom and kitchen fittings. We took away a
catalogue and said that we needed to think about it. We might have to take basin
and WC with us from England to get what we want. We have bought floor tiles for
the downstairs bedroom and bathroom, and have chosen beautiful hand-made
"antique"terra cottas (viellis) for the main barn and veranda. These are made
locally at Le Fleix (see right), and although more than we wanted to pay, cost
less a third of the same quality in England. We need such a vast number that we
were able to negotiate a discount, and local delivery costs are
insignificant.
Malcolm has been working hard on
extending the lawns as far as the eye can see, and we made a start on some other
landscaping. We planted some trees and shubs at carefully-chosen points where
they have an effect on the long distance views. We have also identified one or
two additional trees we want, like a ginko, a liquidambar and maybe an Americal
red oak for the autumn colours, and we have one or two places where we want
extra large trees, like on the two far roadside corners of the garden, and a
blank spot just on the other side of the pond on the south lawn. The trees in
the woods all around had only just barely begun to turn colour when we left in
the middle of October.
The climate here must be kind to
plants, because the lovely 25 foot tree on the front lawn is an Albrizzia
(Constantinople Acacia), which is reckoned to be tender even in France, and we
have transplanted a few of the many 2 to 3 foot seedlings from it. We have 7 or
8 catalpas (Indian Bean Trees), the biggest one dwarfing the house. The canna
lilies which I raised from seeds gathered in the car park of the local
hypermarket last September and planted out in front of the farm house in May
have flowered already, within 12 months of sowing. I have gathered a lot more
seeds because cannas of all colours are very popular in France in municipal
plantings. One of Malcolm's tasks for the winter is to finish uncovering the 20
foot fig tree on the south lawn which is smothered by brambles (15 foot
ones!).
As well as
looking after the house, Malcolm will be keeping the garden tended, and working
steadily throughout the winter in clearing plastic, metal, stone and wood from
the shrubberies and hedges, and extending the lawns. This will fill his time
together with the days each week on which he works for our "next door" neighbour
in the hamlet of Barradis just out of sight beyond one of our woods, and the
work on the house some way away which he bought about 10 years ago and which he
is now renovating for sale. La Citadelle and Barradis are no more than two miles
from where Malcolm and his family live, but it is a 60 mile round trip to his
own property!
In the house there was no wear or damage to be made good, so I was able to spend some time putting up curtain poles in most rooms. This is not easy with walls as hard as ours, but curtains, even though not essential with fully-shuttered windows, do improve the appearance. In the spring I shall have one bedroom to paint, but we should otherwise be able to concentrate fitting out and furnishing the Owl Barn, in the hope that we shall be able to live in it ourselves from time to time next summer.
We were here through the vendage
and, as well as the tractor hauling loads of grapes past to the local wine
co-operative, we were quite startled one night by the sight of rows of tractor
headlights moving along the rows of the vineyard opposite. We are in the
Montravel sub-district of the Bergerac wine region, adjacent to St Emilion (see
left). Montravel is made in dry red and white, and sweet white.
We have a lot
of new photos of the Dordogne - Ste Foy-La-Grande, Bergerac, Perigueux, and
Castillon-La-Battaile, as well as street markets and other autumn scenes - ready
to scan and put here on the Internet. We also have photos of the progress being
made by the stone-masons on the Owl Barn. We hope to return to La Citadelle
twice more for flying visits via Bordeaux International Airport before we go
back again to stay for a longer time next May.
