Splashing about on the water.

Having got the gear, with some idea, we decided an afternoon on the gravel pit was called for so that the kids could be let loose to enjoy the new toys.

We headed for the swimming area at Wraysbury, a regular haunt for ther family during there many years in the village.

Although a little bit on the cold side, the water was crystal clear with the sun shining down on us. We were joined by Sue and Sian and also our friends Steve and Laura.

The afternoon was exceptional fun with Steve being the first to capsize followed not long afterwards by an intentional fall out by Joshua. The kayaks were incredibly manouverable, a lot different ot the ones we've been used to in the past.

The afternoon went so well that we're hoing to do the same again this Sunday.

Now for the fun bit!!!!

Well, the motorhome arrived on 14-04-07. You start to realise the scale of the beast when it's parked in your drive and there's no room for anything else.

Seems strange being a household with 4 cars and only 2 drivers.

Spending 6 months living out of a motorhome, looking at houses and enjoying the scenery is all great, but I have decided to add a little spice to our adventure.

Today I'm off to collect 2 kayaks along with all the gear so that we can have some fun on the 1000s of miles of french waterways, inland lakes and coastal resorts.

This will be like a return to my days with the scouts. Hopefully I can remember how to roll one of these, otherwise I'll be getting very wet. For the kids it should prove to be an exciting new hobby for them to take up if they enjoy it.

What to do with the furniture

When you've lived in a house for 10 years, you tend to hoard stuff that really you should throw away. As the years go buy, you fill the holes under the bed, the airing cupboard becomes full of boxes rather than towels and the loft is groaning under the weight of all the aquisitions stored away up there. All this combined with sheds, garages and workshops amounts to an awful lot of stuff.

My dad always used to suggest that people should be forced to move on a regular basis in order to get rid of all this unwanted baggage. Well our time is now.

We've purchased a 20' second hand container, unfortunately not as bright and cheery as the one in the picture. This was delivered to the farm on 12-04-07 and the task ahead of us now is to pack it in such a way that we can retain as much of our rubbish as we can.

We've taken the option of buying a container as it means that when we finally find somewhere to move to, we can ship the container whole without the rigmarol of having to unpack it all again.

Moving the workshop.

Well, with the wheels in motion for selling the house and moving, I decided to spend the Easter bank holiday weekend moving the workshop. This was no mean feat, possibly as severe as packing up the house when we get to it. For those not in the know, my workshop was 24 feet by 12 feet and packed solid with tools, timber and other stuff that was too good to throw out but not good enough to have in the house. Friday was spent packing up and sorting rubbish. Saturday was spent progressively emptying and starting with the dismantling. Sunday saw the start of the reassembly at Robs house and Monday saw the finishing touches put to the roof and walls. All in all a very successful mission however it was exceedingly tiring and I do believe the hardest Rob and I have worked in years.

So, What to do next?

Well, with the idea lodged that we should spend some time in France checking out locations, I came up with the cunning plan of a motorhome.

The research continued as we looked into all sorts of different motorhomes. Ranging from the enormous American Winnebagos to the more manageable VW campers. Visits to various dealerships took place as we started to hunt around for what would be most suitable. Finally a trip to the NEC helped us to make the decision. Hundreds of homes were on display and our governing factors bought us down to just a few.

Something not to disimilar to this was our final choice and, after a few minutes of contemplation, we signed up for our biggest ever expense barring buying our house.

What's It all About Then

Well, if this is you first visit here, you may want to know what this blog is all about. Back in December 2006 whilst sufing the WEB on my lunch break, I came across a chateau for sale in Brittany. Now any other day of the week I'd have just glanced at it and said "oooh, that's nice" before moving on to find something else to pass the time of day. This property was different though. Firstly we could afford it, secondly it ticked all the right boxes in what I'd dreamed of as an ideal property, and finally, my Dad was interested in coming with me to view it. A few e-mails to the estate agent and a couple of phone calls later and it was all sorted, we were off the following week to go and view it and, we'd hopefully put down a deposit. If only property buying was as easy as that. On the morning we were due to sale out on the ferry, an early call from the estate agent shattered my dreams. In a matter of moments my whole world had fallen apart and the chances of another property like this coming on the market at the right price seemed like nill. Christmas was soon upon us and Jane and I spent a lot of time carrying out a post-mortem of events before deciding it was time to move on. When I say move on, it is meant in the litery term as we made the decision we would sell up our longterm homestead in Lawn Close and move to France. Months of research took place after this, looking into the ins and outs of French Life, property buying, locations and properties. We were overwhelmed with the options available to us and, although finding lots of potential properties, we were not happy to commit to any of them. Like a shot from the dark, a friend of my mums had suggested renting before we considered buying anywhere as they had had an unpleasent experience with property in France. This seemed a very logical approach however it still didn't resolve the issues of where to buy.