The Trip Down

The last two weeks have been the most stressful of my life! We have been like mountaineers who, having climbed one steep slope, look up to find that they're not even half way up the mountain. We had to:

1. Find a home for our two cats because the woman who was going to look after them cancelled on us 4 days before we were to leave the UK.

2. I had to pass my driving test - first time - three days before leaving the UK

3. We had to pack the house, then move it all into storage the day before we left.

4. We then had to drive to the place we're renting in Brittany, via Calais.

5. Plus, I had to have leaving drinks with work the night before moving - although this was not much of a sore trial to be honest...

We're off - all missions accomplished.

We accomplished it all in the nick of time, but found that we needed twice the storage space we thought we needed, and what should have taken half a day took all day due to the layout of the storage place. Still, we did it, and collapsed exhaused on the deck of our friend's house the evening, then walked to the pub to drink the last pint of English beer I'll have in a long time. Then it was up at 6am, breakfast and goodbye to our friends and I drove to the Eurostar. I was a bit worried about the wieght of the car as we had packed enough chutney, tea, grain (for our mill - I shall rant about this later), and dried goods for the winter, as well as books and clothes, and my ukulele. We stayed at a very nice B&B in Normandy called Les Blotteries, and were bloody glad of the rest. Then after a nice breakfast of coffee, egg, toast and jam (home made thank God) we arrived at our home for the winter.

Les Blotteries - very nice jam.

We've spent the last few days on holiday, but from Monday we're doing what we're here for: looking for our own place, learning French, working on farms voluntarily, and sitting by the fire with good books.

So, next week we're looking at properties, cycling, walking, reading, and planning what we're here for - which I'll go into in my next post.

A new life beckons...

YAWN.

This will be the last time I sit in an office. I've spent the last 10 years working to pay the rent and dreaming of living by and working in woods, fields and water and finally it's coming true, thanks to K, who I met last year and wants the same thing as me.

Lewes High Street...

...which has a brewery down the end, which is the height of civilisation.

The UK is too expensive by far, where we live in the south eat is too crowded, is drying up (although you wouldn't believe it judging from this summer), and we are sick of living in debt. So we're off to Brittany because it's wetter, less expensive, less populated, the place is beautiful, the people are nice and they all seem to keep pygmy goats. We also have some family and friends there so we won't be totally in the deep end.

Ideally, we want about 5 acres with a small house on it, a couple of sheds, it's own water supply and some people nearby who have the same thing so we can all help each other. We will then slowly develop the place, about half an acre a year, until we have the whole place being farmed organically and well, with as much of what we need food-wise coming from it. Should keep me fit!

We're from Lewes in sussex, where they "enjoy a good burnin" as someone said in the pub once when he was trying to get me to join one of the bonfire Societies:

For some reason the previous day is spent boarding all the shop windows up...

The priests on the right have their backs turned because the crowd is throwing fireworks at them. Health and Safety? Ha!