Following our gentler week I spoke about in last week’s blog we have started to ramp up the pace again and turn our attention to completing Granary gîte.
We said goodbye to our Jersey clients yesterday and their lovely dog Bently. They left us with some fantastic comments about the state of our accommodation, the local area and activities they did (not to mention a card and, very generously, a bottle of fizz). Most encouragingly they, as all the guests we have had so far, have said they would definitely recommend us to their friends and family and visit us again in the future.
The focus of the week has been the first floor of Granary which includes the living room, master bedroom and en-suite shower room. All these rooms had become a little tired in their decoration over the years (lots more pine lambris) and, since we arrived and have lost ‘storage’ space by completing Hayloft and Priory gîtes (how inconvenient!) they had become quite full of ‘stuff’.
On our first ever visit to Kergudon when we were house hunting, we stayed in the cottage we have now named Granary and we were able to see that it needed a bit of work! The en-suite bathroom had the feeling of being installed at least a decade ago when complete shower cubicles were evidently popular (and to be fair still seem to be in France). The bathroom had a blue glass version with lots of jets and nozzles which would have provided an invigorating shower experience – had any of them worked!
Over the last week we have stripped out all of the old fittings in the en-suite and started the process of re-installing a new shower and fittings. We have also emptied the living room area (which had become a dumping ground) and started to strip off the old, bubbling, paint work. Thankfully, while there is a lot of work required in this room, and the master bedroom, much of it is simple. Once we have stripped off all the peeling paint and filled where necessary it will only need 3 or 4 coats of new paint before refurnishing and re-carpeting!
Even as I write I think you’re already going to be thinking – one small en-suite in a week, that’s not much! I did only say we had started to ramp things up, not that we were at full pelt! In the week we have explored a little of Morlaix (where we had to have our cars tyres and brake pads changed – ouch!); discovered Quimper (a beautiful city) as David started his First Aid course; re-cut the hedges around Kergudon to help their recovery and thicken them out; volunteered with the Assomniak team who have now raised all the cash required to buy their hangar and have started the major clean out (see my earlier blog for the details); and attended a number of ‘Fête de la Musique’ events.
Fête de la Musique, is a France-wide event where every city, town, commune and village hold musical events which are generally free to attend. It has coincided with the Fête de la Saint-Jean (festival of John the Baptiste) which is celebrated with large fires. Last night we visited the neighbouring commune of Commana for their music and fire before returning to our own pub where Kathy had an Irish band playing and this evening we went to Chateauneuf Du Faou as 2 class mates of Dave’s were playing in a local bar – all great fun. Commana’s fête was good – but Saint Cadou’s is, unusually, next Saturday and I have no doubt it will be bigger and better!
Next Sunday is also the ‘Tribreizh’, Brittany’s triathlon which takes place in and around our local lake, Lac du Drennec so there will be many more pictures to show. Not so many this week, but more puppy pics – we collect a week on Thursday now – so excited ….