JULY
Well we have our Barn in the Haute Vienne, and we've moved in. Well Sort of! This time the saga of the electricity connection, so onto part III of the story...
Getting an electricity supply.....
As explained last time the French man who bought the barn and did the conversion work had not finished off any job. He had installed all the wiring for the lights and sockets but there was a BIG problem - no electricity supply to the Barn with no wires connecting us to the outside world and no meter. So our first stay there was like camping out but under a roof.
On our first trip we took with us a 2 burner camping stove and lots of candles and all the rechargable tools we had. The idea being to complete some work but more on that later. You want to know about the electricity.
After signing the paperwork, the notaire told us to visit the Mairie to arrange the electricity supply. The officials stamped the appropiate paperwork and directed us to the EDF office in the town. We found this to be closed and a sign saying to phone the engineer in case of difficulty. So, back to the Mairie where they insisted that this was the place to go and that it was open. Was this a sign?
A big problem in all this was communication. It can be hard enough to explain problems when you speak the same language but when you don't it makes everything a challenge and the French lessons I'd been taking only prepared me for booking a table and ordering food. Oh well!
Anyway, we decided to take a trip into Limoges and visit the EDF office there. We found the leaflet explaining how to get a brand new supply and details of the distances required to determine whether this would be an ariel supply or underground. We spoke to the receptionist who seemed to think we had a disconnected metre and kept asking about the type of supply even though we showed her the leaflet. We tried in vain to get our message across and finally saw someone who spoke some English who said they'd arrange a visit once the holidays were over. But still we heard nothing.
In the meantime we employed Peter, an Englishman in the Cruese, to finish off all the electrics in the barn in preparation for the new supply. So, we had lights and sockets but no power!
I tried phoning from the UK, which really tested my language abilities, and arranged a visit from an engineer on a specific date next time we were over there. But, yes you've guessed. They didn't appear! So we phoned again and, joy of joys, they promised that someone would visit the following week. The downside was we were back in the UK by then. Peter, our electrician, agreed to be there for us and within a couple of months we finally had a working supply.
We still don't understand the system for obtaining a new supply. According to the documents we are supposed to have a certificate approving the work before the supply will be connected. But, we all failed to work out how we could test it without a supply. Anyway, I suppose as it all works and they send us bills we don't need to worry for now.
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MAY
Following on from last months story relating the saga of finding the Barn in the Haute Vienne, this month will provide details of the floorplan, pictures of how it was and work needed to make it habitable. So, part II of the story...
Floor plans and work to do.....
You left us becoming the proud owners of our barn and its 7 hectares of
land all sounding very ideal. Our first stay there was not quite the pleasure we hoped for, more of an adventure. The French man who bought the barn and did the conversion work had not finished off any job. He had installed all the wiring for the lights and sockets but there was a BIG problem - no electricity supply to the Barn at all. We negotiated with him to complete this but finally accepted the reduction in cost and the need to do it ourselves. This lack of power was quite a challenge and I will explain more about this in future months.
 As you can see from the Elevation Plan the living area of the Barn was only approximately half the available space. The possibility of extending up into this unused space was one if the reasons we decided to buy this property. So, in time and once the ground floor work has been completed we hope to apply for permission to convert this space into bedrooms and bathrooms.
Other major uncompleted work was the central heating. Again all the internal pipework was in place, as were the many radiators and the costly boiler. However, there were a couple of rather important issues; one being the lack of a flue and another being no oil supply, and again more on these in future months.
Below is the layout - select an area on the floorplan to see a photograph of how it looked when we bought the Barn.
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APRIL
In the months to come this section will tell the story of our place in France with progress reports, pictures and plans including layouts of the building. It will also cover the design process and how we have reached decisions when creating our second home. But to start...
How it all began.....
As a self-employed Interior Designer who needs to be available for clients and suppliers at most times it is difficult to take holidays for more than a few days at a time. Along with my husband, Andrew, I therefore decided to find a holiday home on the Continent where we could get way from it all but not completely and still keep in touch from across the Channel.
We had always loved France with its lifestyle, countryside and culture not to mention the wine so began exploring the country in our search for the 'perfect' property. Almost 4 years after we began we visited friends in the Dordogne and loved the area and the properties but not the prices! We finally settled on the more affordable Limousin area nearby and began our search in earnest.
 After many hours of searching internet sites, shortlisting properties in the Haute Vienne and Creuse regions and visiting up to 15 places each time we travelled over for an intensive few days of viewings, the search finally began to bear fruit. Having initially planned to buy
something 'cheap and cheerful' to renovate from scratch we shifted our search to part renovated properties to avoid the potential difficulties
of managing an extensive project from a distance. After seeing a number of unsuitable properties in various guises we were on the verge
of calling it a day when we happened on a partly renovated Barn. Not quite what we had originally envisaged but with great potential and a lot of space inside and out. With no electricity or central heating it was somewhat overpriced but we decided to rise to the challenge and after negotiations with the owner we eventually found ourselves toasting our purchase with Champagne in 2006 .
Since becoming the proud owners of our beloved barn and its 7 hectares of
land we have steadily taken steps to make it our own. Join us on the journey to realise our dream....
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