Three weeks inn France Part 5

Wednesday

Jerome and Yvette duly arrived around 10:00 last night after a rainy drive down. 

A morning spent doing more jobs for 4 hours - the name plaque has gone up at the end of the drive and the lockboxes for the keys have been attached on a wall in the garage.  J and Y have a lie-in

We are joined by Dave the estate agent just after lunch for a visit to see Jerome's possible barn purchase.  On the way, we are delayed by the closure of a village while the entire front section of an aeroplane is moved through it.

Jerome's barn is better than I remember - huge potential if you have the time (which they do) and the money (which they don't).  The location really is stunning.

What a view (from the back of the barn)

Later we call in at the Emmaus near our house to consider the sort of things we might try and purchase for our suggested brocante business

Then in St Jean to look at possible painting sites, visit the cave for 2 litres of merlot, and the brocante shop to compare prices with Emmaus.

Dinner is at Le Cabanon in St Jean which has re-opened under new management - not bad but they don't do the kidneys flamed in the cognac that the previous owners did, and which is one of my all-time favourite dishes

Thursday

The penultimate day of my three week visit - still lots of important stuff to do

We have the cleaners in today to do a preliminary deep clean before the rental season kicks off.  There are two of them but it will still take them two days this time.

Meanwhile Jerome has been set to work to demolish furniture, while I moved the garden stones.  The garage is now full of broken up stuff and yet another trip to the dump is required.

Dinner is at Le Scorlion - St Jean's finest.  I treated us all to a bottle of St Emilion with the meal - my all time favourite wine

Friday

Last morning - still lots of small stuff to do.  For instance, there is a lot of picture hanging to do, such as the landing upstairs. 

One last general tidy up by me and half a day's work by the cleaners and we are done for the trip

As always, it is quite tough to leave - there is a strong sense that the last three weeks have been among my happiest of the last few years.  Roll on next winter and perhaps another 8 - 10 weeks of work down here.