Latest update

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Work is progressing as planned. In brief:

• Floors throughout the ground floor area are at various stages of completion: concrete has been poured or is about to be poured in various areas on the ground floor; rock still needs to be removed in one spot. It is not clear what's happening upstairs; likely not much yet until the roof is completed.
• Not surprisingly, in the North East corner of the living room, situated slightly below ground level, provisions will need to be made to keep moisture away. "Not surprising" because we still recall seeing, on one of our very first visits, water pooling in that area - enough to attract a frog and for ferns and moss to grow there! So, it was expected and planned for since the beginning and we're confident that once everything is in place (culvert in back of the barn, eves on the roof, drainage trenches all around the house, etc.) and with the floor and wall in that area being built accordingly, there will be no moisture whatsoever in the house.
• Beams and trusses are being assembled and roof tiles have been delivered.
• The carpenter is starting to work on the door and window frames.
• Lintels are being raised above all doors. As in most traditional dwellings, to keep heat loss to a minimum, doors were built to about 5'5" height. I'm already looking forward to being able to walk around the place without bumping my head now and then. It was either that, or having to wear hard hats at home, but we couldn't find any in the right style and colour.

Our next trip is all planned for the February 21-25 week. Can't wait.

Auriac-du-Périgord

On our last trip to the Dordogne, six weeks ago, we explored Auriac-du-Périgord, the nearest village to Gaulejac. It is a pretty little medieval town, definitely worth a visit.

Auriac is located about 1.5 kilometres north of our place, over the ridge that separates the two small valleys. With a population of just over 400 souls, it doesn't have the resources of neighbouring Montignac, 4.5 km to the south-east (see September 30, 2009 posting below). With its weekly market, two banks, post office and four boulangeries, and a population of more than 3,000, Montignac will be our main town.  But Auriac makes up for its more modest profile with considerable charm.

This time, we only drove through, as the weather was cold and rainy. But we liked what we saw and look forward to visiting it on foot in the spring.

The bridge at Auriac-du-Périgord, over the Laurence river (a stream, really). This is the road which leads to the back of our place. (Photo courtesy of the Auriac-du-Périgord website.)

The drive is short, but not for the faint-hearted. It starts out well enough. Driving out of Auriac,  the road is narrow and soon ascends steeply, twisting between houses on the outskirts, then through the woods, but at that point it is still well-paved, as in the photo above. Soon, however, as it levels out and crests the ridge, it makes a sharp turn to the right, and changes to an unpaved rural path.

Then begins the descent into "our" valley, and for most of the last two or three hundred meters, it is a narrow and deeply rutted track, more like a logging road than a highway. I half expected our rental VW Golf to scrape bottom or worse, get stuck. But we made it safely to Gaulejac after all, relieved and rather pleased with our adventure and discovery of this new destination.

We'll think twice before repeating the driving experience. But we're looking forward to the hike.

Check out Auriac-du-Périgord's lovely website at http://auriac-du-perigord.fr/fr/village/index.html. I recommend the slide show: look up to the left of the screen, under "Visite guidée en photos", and click on "Haute définition".

Demolition continues

It's official: the bats have received their eviction notice.

Demolition work is in full swing. The kitchen floor is gone, and so is the roof. Below are some rather dramatic photos from the latest site update. 

Plunging, 2-storey view from the kitchen into the "cave" (cellar), resulting from the removal of the kitchen floor. The old wine press vat is now fully exposed, as is the dividing line between the kitchen's plaster-and-paint wall and the cellar's bare stone below, that will be visible until the new floor is installed.

In the living-room area, the ground has been dug down to achieve required ceiling height and floor depth, as can be seen in the two photos below.

Our future living room. The hillside contour, where stone meets rock, is clearly visible on the wall opposite. And the old stairs, awaiting removal at right, lay where the passage to the powder room and the new stairs will be located.



Judging from the light filtering through the boards of the second floor (soon to be rebuilt), the roof is gone indeed.

According to the architect's latest report, tarps cover the entire roof structure for the time being. The carpenter is working on the roof frame, combining existing and new beams, and the roofer is awaiting a shipment of new tiles we selected on our last visit.

Next, the ground floor is to be built up and the plumbing contractor will then lay the heated floor's network of pipes.