Campsite construction

Don Ricardo's crispy bases

2008-05-29T15:02:00.022+02:00

Ok get ready everyone, this is Sophie and I'm DOING THE BLOG! The only problem is I only got back a month ago so let's just forget about February, March and April... this is what's been happening in May!
So when I got back it was already looking pretty good, there were plants all over the place (not necessarily in the ground, but you know, pots are good too), and we'd received these huge crazy 1000 litre rainwater butts that are hooked up to the shower block drainpipes and are currently very very full.

To be fair the planting was actually well underway by the time I got back at the end of April, and now almost all the hard-standing pitches are planted up, with some nice new trees and loads of shrubs and grasses in between the pitches. I have been planting grassy things in the bank between the road and the hard-standing (the photo on the left helpfully shows the bank before I'd started).
The conversion of Chalet 5 into "La Cabane de Don Ricardo" was also going well, and at the beginning of April the pizza oven arrived in a big lorry, along with its friend the dough mixer. Paul helped Don Ricardo set it up in the chalet, and then last week the rest of the equipment arrived. Don Ricardo was keen to try it all out, so last weekend we had a pizza tasting night. Everyone agreed they were the best pizzas they'd ever tasted (in the whole of Navarrenx) and a few people came back for more on Tuesday, the official opening night. Seriously though, I've eaten a lot of pizza in my time (oh yes), and they really are very very good. You can even come and marvel at his dough-spinning abilities while you wait, and chuckle inwardly at his (possibly) Italian-style pizzaiolo cap (from which he draws his amazing pizza-making skills).

Earlier in the month we also had a bit of a mad moules-frites night to try out the new chip fryers, and this weekend it's the paella dishes' turn. So the marquee's seen a lot of activity so far, and hopefully there should be more action during the summer!
Other excitement includes the construction of the recycling area at the entrance of the site, where you can now choose from a colourful array of bins depending on your mood (and what you're throwing away, technically).

Well there's a quick update for you, I'm leaving the campsite this weekend but hopefully the blog will be resuscitated this summer (it might help if you moan at my parents... give it a go anyway). I leave you with a photo taken by Bruce on one of the innumerable sunny days we've had since the beginning of May...

Preparations underway

2008-01-28T16:56:00.000+01:00

Well, apart from a list of about 50 things still to do we are just about ready for the new season...

We had a lovely break in Lisbon over New Year. The weather was mostly lovely and we had a great couple of stopovers in Salamanca on the way down and back - what a fabulous town.

Since then we have been doing a lot of work in our accommodation to make the new part habitable. The wood burning stove went in before Christmas and has proved to be wonderful. We have tiled the floors of the lounge, hall and bedroom and are now in the process of doing the walls of the new bathroom.

Meanwhile the solar panels were finally put in place a couple of weeks ago - just in time for the end of the Eco-Camps project. The panels on the top block are operating and at the moment we are taking full advantage of the option to redirect the water into our house. We have had a few really sunny days and we now have 1,500 litres of very hot water just for us!!

The end of Eco-Camps was marked by a final meeting in Bordeaux. We drove up at 6 a.m. last Thursday and took the tram into the centre of town to the Regional council headquarters. We did not look at the detailed programme until just before lunch, when we noticed we were down as speakers in the afternoon session!

The following day a coach brought a group of people from the meeting to visit one of the other pilot sites and then Beau Rivage. Unfortunately it was not one of the sunny days and the coach party was running late so they only had about 40 minutes here before heading back to Bordeaux. Still it all went well and our adjoint Mayor and Conseiller General kindly came out to give us some support.

The final fixes are finally being completed on the new chalets so that should sort out all the minor problems with them.

This week we are awaiting delivery of all the trees and shrubs so that we can get on with the new planting schemes.

Richard is talking to lots of salesmen before choosing the equipment for the snack bar and doing battle with the electricity companies to try and sort out what supply we need.

An afternoon off on Saturday took us over the col d'Osquich to climb up to the Chapelle St Antoine and enjoy the spectacular sunshine and views of the Pays Basque and the mountains.

A couple of our campers with caravans in storage here have decided to buy new vans and are hoping to sell the old ones - if anyone is interested we are happy to pass on the details.

Season round-up

2007-10-31T11:59:00.000+01:00

Well, having closed the site a couple of weeks ago we are now planning for 2008!

Apologies to those of you who came in the early part of the season that the blog has not kept you up to date with the progress but we had a great season once the work had finally come to an end - it wasn't all finished by any means but at least we were able to let people enjoy their holidays without the accompaniment of heavy machinery.

The pool was a great success - now we just have the terrace on top of the pool house to complete - and made a huge difference to the site in spite of the pretty awful weather. The hard-standing pitches proved very popular but will be much improved next year with a finer layer of gravel on top and planting in between.

Talking of planting, we have just had a quick trip down to Girona to a nursery specialising in grasses and managed to fit nearly 500 plants into our new trailer to start us off!

It was a long trip but well worth it and we stopped off on the way back to get a couple more paella dishes!!

The solar panels were all delivered a couple of weeks ago and the work should start to fit them later in November so we can then finally work on insulating the shower block roofs.

Today is a big day as Sophie and Paul are setting off on their 5 month trip around the far-East (see link on right) and Chloe and Jeff are signing the final contract on their house between Thouars and Bressuire - the sparkly is in the fridge ready!

Coming together

2007-06-19T18:36:00.000+02:00

The rally was a great success in spite of a couple of good storms. The entire group were so cheerful and positive that we enjoyed it as much as they did. I had a great day out with them on a coach trip to Lourdes, Cauterets and the Pont d'Espagne and we both went for the final meal at Audaux, which was a great evening. The food was as good as always and the atmosphere was just lovely.

After a tricky spell with the gate the pool fence has finally been completed - the gate is managing to confuse some people a good deal older than the five-year-olds it is deigned to keep out!

The gable end of the house has now been finished and we even have shutters on the new part.

Much to our surprise the gardeners decided that they could sow the grass this morning and a team of youngsters worked all day in the sweltering heat. They have done a terrific job on the parts they have managed to sow - we just need the other parts to dry out and we will soon have the place looking great.

Just a quick P.S.
After one of the storms Mary and Lynne were obliged to ask their fellow campers for help in propping up their broken canopy. I don't think Adrian's offer was quite what they had in mind!!

Transformation

2007-06-09T14:20:00.000+02:00

It has been so incredibly busy here the last few weeks that I have not had time to keep the blog up to date but here are the latest pictures to show the results of the last amazing push to get everything ready for the CSMA Rally on 5 June.

Having asked our road-layer if he could find a slightly lighter coloured gravel he turned up on Monday with some beautiful pale gold stone from Toulouse and promptly set about transforming the site.
Our poor campers were incredibly tolerant as they watched lorry after lorry of gravel being poured in front of them but the effect on the look of the site was truly amazing.
Our digger was used to level the groud off between the pump house and the shower block and then on Tuesday that too was gravelled and suddenly turned from a mud-pit into a clean and tidy walk-through.
The rally members had to dodge the lorries as they arrived but they brought glorious sunshine with them which has made everybody feel a whole lot better.

The front of our house extension has now been rendered and the gable end will be completed on Monday.

The four new chalets are now in place and the first one is complete (apart from a patio door that needs to be replaced) and is occupied from today!

After an enormous amount of help from various campers all the serviced pitches are now operational, door and shutters have been painted, gravel moved and we now have a long list of the things we need to change to get it right for next year!

Teamwork!

2007-05-19T18:22:00.000+02:00

A few days of dry weather and sunshine had us all believing that things were going to change but it was a bit short lived. One big advantage of the dull weather has been that the campers find themselves with time on their hands - which they have been putting to amazingly good use!

Patrick arrived on Friday to complete the spreading of the gravel for the hard-standing pitches and Sophie has been fighting for a turn with the compacting machine.

Unfortunately the landscape gardener arrived optimistically on Tuesday morning ready to sow the grass but the ground was once again sodden and unworkable.

Still, the electricians also arrived on Friday and connected the posts for the central pitches and John Dirix and Owen White spent a great deal of time getting the water pipes adjusted to allow the water to flow properly through the taps.

As this was all being completed George and Pat Rickman arrived and volunteered to be the first to try out the new pitches. Adrian Snell rushed round with the compacted to prepare the chosen pitch and they were soon happily installed.

Having brought all his their water and drain connection pipes with them, Owen and Pauline white quickly followed and are helping to see what adjustments we need to make to the pitches.

Meanwhile, the first of the chalets have arrived for the bottom field and a team of three have managed to get two of them mostly built in three days. The next two will follow on Monday so it is beginning to take shape down there at last.

Any excuse for a party...

2007-05-10T15:25:00.000+02:00

An early start yesterday as the chap who had arranged to erect the chapiteau had driven overnight from Strasbourg and was ready to start at 8 a.m. Richard had already left to get some equipment in Oloron so we had time for coffee and a chat before Paul and Ben arrived to make up the team.

The frame was very quickly put together and aligned and the feet fixed firmly to the ground.

In what seemed no time at all the roof was on and the sides up and we were ready for the team photo before lunch!

This seemed an ideal opportunity to thank all our valiant campers who have been trimming hedges, raking cuttings, laying textile, rescuing toads and generally being incredibly helpful, so we decided a small chapiteau-opening party was in order.

We had a good mix of Brits, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, German and one lone Frenchman to toast the new addition and a very pleasant evening was spent over a few glasses of bubbly.

Update

2007-05-07T13:27:00.000+02:00

The amount of work going on lately has not left much time for updating the blog so this is just a quick note on progress.

A resolution to the problem with the pool pump house was finally found and the extension was quickly constructed. Early on Wednesday morning last week the filters were lifted into position and the roof was built over them.
The pool technicians have started work today on connecting all the pipework so we should soon be able to fill the pool (the incredible amount of rain we have again enjoyed over the last couple of weeks has saved some time there!) and get it operating. The terrace slabs will be delivered this week so it will soon all be complete.

The weather has again delayed the sowing of the new pitches so we have decided to put hard-standing on all the lower pitches to make these available for use as soon as possible. Patrick has completed the cutting out and the gravel will arrive later this week.

The tiling of the top shower block is now well under way, the chapiteau will be erected on Wednesday and the first four new chalets in the bottom field will be under construction next Monday.

The weather is due to change tomorrow so we should then see some very fast progress and it will be all finished before we know it!!!

Sophie has connected a router to our computer so we now have wifi available in a limited range for those of you wishing to keep up to date with your emails.

A bit of sun makes everything look better

2007-04-21T17:02:00.000+02:00

The weather here has finally caught up with the rest of the country and we are basking in glorious hot sunshine at last. The few campers we have here at the moment are making the most of it and the barbecues are coming out!

This week has seen more setbacks with the pump house - we were under the impression that everything had been resolved at a meeting on Thursday evening, only to find on Friday afternoon that this was not the case - to be continued...

Patrick is here today and he and Richard have finally finished all the drain connections for the existing chalets. It appears that the water board have been and connected the drains at the bottom field - Richard just needs to fit taps on the pipes and we will be able to test the system - just in time for our first arrivals in the refurbished Tilleul chalets.

Patrick has also finished clearing the site for the chapiteau - the gravel base will go in next and the chapiteau is due to be put up on May 9.

Richard has managed to cut out one hard-standing pitch and Patrick is now levelling off the back row of pitches - sowing grass is now urgent before the weeds take over completely!

Richard took a whole load of bits to the dump this morning and returned with great delight to show me what he had salvaged. Two elderly ladies had been disposing of a very old bicycle which Richard decided would be ideal for using around the site. We had sold the tractor yesterday so at least this takes up a little less room!

On the building side the plasterboard has now been put up to divide the rooms in the extension to our accommodation. We now know who to go to if ever we are in need of advice on any subject under the sun...

Moving on again

2007-04-16T15:18:00.000+02:00

I haven't brought the blog up to date lately as I didn't just want to list the crises and disasters of the last few weeks so I have been waiting for some positive news - and here it is!

The swimming pool now has a liner and the bottom has been flooded to test the seals - all seems to be well and good. The liner is sand coloured - imposed by the Architect de Batiments de France - which gives the water a lovely pale turquoise colour (that may be more blue when we have some blue sky to reflect in it!)

One of the ongoing problems at the moment is the fact that the pump house is not high enough to accommodate the filters - the filters arrived today and are sitting like two forlorn giant chess pieces with no board to play on. We have had numerous solutions proposed over the last ten days but nothing has yet been suggested that suits all parties involved.

Meanwhile, the chapiteau (marquee) arrived last week but we had not yet managed to move chalet 3 out in order to free its designated space. The chapiteau is laying down in bits just inside the entrance waiting its turn.

The heaviest rain we have ever seen arrived on Wednesday evening - just as Richard had finished rotovating the bottom pitches - and we assumed this would delay the planned move of chalet 3.
However our mason, who had found a method of moving the chalet intact, insisted that the machinery could cope with the sodden ground and they arrived on Saturday morning to begin.

It was an impressive operation involving steel girders lifted at one end by the mason's new Manitou and at the other by his brother's tractor. It took a lot of manoeuvring to get the chalet off its base, clear the path for the Manitou to follow through, turn the chalet onto the roadway and then finally to move it to its new home beside the bottom shower block.

It is now going to provide lockable storage for bikes to comply with the French Federation of Cyclotourisme requirements.

While the UK and the rest of France have been baking in unseasonal sunshine we have been enjoying occasional dry spell in between mist, drizzle and heavy rain.
Things seemed to be improving and we had a lovely hot day on Sunday which cooled down quite substantially by evening. At 4a.m. we were all rudely awoken (including one young girl and her dog in a very small tent on their pilgrimage to Compostela) by the most incredible storm. The lightning was constant and the rain, once again, torrential. This continued for well over 2 hours and managed to fill the swimming pool up quite a bit further.

As Richard had begun clearing the site for the chapiteau - it now looks as though it would be easier to move the swimming pool there!

2007-04-01T16:19:00.000+02:00

Since the last post things have moved on slowly but surely though very heavy rain has prevented too much progress.

The road to the bottom field is complete apart from the top layer of gravel, as is the access road for the middle pitches. We had hoped to get these middle pitches resown and planted but we will have to wait for the soil to dry out before we can attempt any work on them.

The builder timed the cement lorries perfectly for last Wednesday morning and the swimming pool terrace was laid in perfect conditions before the rain started again.
The finished base is looking really good and we can appreciate the size of it all now.
Once the tiles are on (a few weeks for the cement to dry first) it will look superb.

The filters, pumps etc. are to be installed from tomorrow so we are nearly there!

The base for the new bin store beside the entrance was poured and levelled at the same time so we now have to organise the sides for that.

The windows are due to be put in the extension this coming week so that work can then begin on the inside of that and we will actually be able to use it sometime in the not too distant future!

Taking shape

2007-03-18T12:14:00.000+01:00

A slow start to the week suddenly developed into manic activity and the shape of things to come is suddenly emerging from the mud.

We have had the plumbers reconnecting the gas supply, electricians finishing off laying the main cables, carpenters putting up the roof edging, pool suppliers completing their pipework, massive machines to build roads and the builders preparing the terrace of the pool.

The last three weekends have been non-stop trench work and the bulk of the drain and cable work is now mercifully complete.

The giant machinery has now been brought in to create the road to the bottom field and will then tidy up the rest of the roads on the site - which have disappeared under a layer of mud.

The site is now officially open and we have one motor-caravan (without electricity as we are waiting for the electricians to solve a problem) plus some brave members of Richard's family here to help out.

The temperatures are due to plummet from tomorrow and we are finally promised snow!

New arrivals

2007-03-08T10:25:00.000+01:00

Much to our delight we have seen the first of the Beau Rivage Brood this morning.

The bantam has been steadfastly sitting on her eggs through glorious sunshine and horrendous gails - fortunately she chose a well-sheltered spot and we have seen two of her chicks today.

We shall watch with interest to see how many finally hatch - all great excitement.

Parking?

2007-03-06T09:05:00.000+01:00

Richard assures me that it is perfectly normal to park the digger like this - I'm not so sure...

Action stations - at last...

2007-03-03T16:14:00.000+01:00

The builders have been plastering the inside of the pool this week and they have done a superb job.
There were a few changes to be made when we saw the size of the top step (much too small!) - a quick recalculation by the pool suppliers and everything was soon looking much better.
Another hold-up when we found the water inlets would not fit as planned - back for another check with the suppliers and our very adaptable builders have made it all look perfect.
It was a long slow job but definitely worth it and the pool company will be here next week to fit all the pipework - which is all here waiting for them.

Thursday was a day of total chaos as the EDF arrived to bury a cable to replace the one currently hanging over the swimming pool. We had lorries and men everywhere.

There are very strict rules on the depth of the required trench and we were not allowed to cover the cable until the work had been inspected but fortunately it all went pretty smoothly. Our new entrance has been destroyed again in the process but we are getting used to this game!

The original cable will apparently be taken down on 19th of this month so that could be an interesting day.

As soon as that work had been dealt with Patrick started on the trench in the bottom field.
We had marked out the position of the chalets that will be going down there and Patrick re-checked the levels for the drains.

It now seems that we will not be able to connect to the existing drains on our land so Richard phoned the water board and I quickly filled out the necessary forms to apply for connection to the mains just the other side of the gate - fingers crossed they won't take the 45 days it says to expect on the form!!

Hopefully we will soon have something a bit more interesting to show than trenches but it is amazing to see all these cables and pipes being laid.

Luckily Patrick has called in reinforcements and they worked from 7.30 yesterday morning until dark last night. They were all back at 7.30 this morning and will continue until nightfall again today.

It is certainly looking a lot more hopeful than it was a week ago - we will get there yet!

A fraught time (to put it politely)

2007-02-23T15:26:00.000+01:00

I'm afraid I haven't really been in the right frame of mind to update the blog over the last couple of weeks!!!

One week without workmen on site had been expected. This slowly slipped into two weeks - weather, sickness etc. - but we were assured that everybody would spring into action once more last Monday morning. We were up bright, early and expectant but as the time wore on it became clear that it was all rather too quiet. We eventually managed to track the builder down on the phone and had - how can I put this? - a few stern words... The workmen arrived Tuesday morning.

Last week we were invited to a big Eco-Camps presentation in Le Teich, beside Arcachon. It was designed to give an update on how all the campsites in the project are progressing - we, ironically, are one of the most advanced!!

The new website was also launched http://ecocamps-aquitaine.fr
Unfortunately it is only in French at the moment and is pretty much covering the technical side of the environmental building standards - the English version should be out later in the year.

The meeting took place at the Maison de la Nature, which was fascinating as they have a huge concentration of storks nesting in full view of the building.

This was followed last Tuesday by our second audit for the HQE building standards which all went very well - we learn something new from each of these meetings.

Richard started work on the trench to bury the electricity cable running over the pool site but found that our digger is not heavy enough to cope with the solid clay and rock lying not very far beneath the surface. Patrick, the terrasseur will have to bring back the heavy machinery...

Our order for the necessary pipework and protective tubing for the main supply trench has arrived so we now have an impressive stock ready for when any work finally gets done!!

The local technique(pump house) is now taking shape - Richard has been helping speed things along this afternoon.

On a lighter note - we had put all the palms under the cover of the second shower block and now have one of the neighbour's bantams sitting on at least ten eggs in one of the pots so we are hoping for a campsite brood before too long!

Yet more digging

2007-02-03T16:22:00.000+01:00

Another busy week has flown past.
The carpenters finished the roof on the extension and then started on the velux windows in the shower blocks. Richard was not convinced that these were going to make a significant difference to the amount of light in the blocks but has been very pleasantly surprised at the effect they have. Even with low winter light this week the difference is enormous so we are extremely happy with those!

Work on the pool this week has involved putting in the top row of blocks and fitting the skimmers as well as making the first of the steps in the pool.
We are a bit confused about the height of this step at the moment and think some changes need to be made in the overall design of the steps but I think it will be a while before the builders get back to this. They have been moved onto a big job elsewhere in the coming week so it seems we will have a bit of a lull in the progress.

Another early start this morning (Saturday) as Patrick (the terrasseur) and team were back to dig the hole for the pump house. This is to be partially buried at the end of the pool, along with a rainwater storage tank. The top of the pump house will provide a low terrace overlooking the pool (in theory...)

Patrick had a little time left so decided to dig out the access to the new garage and open the entrance onto the road - I think we need to organise some gates now!

Richard is now working on the trenches for the electricity supply to the posts on the lower pitches so that we can get the access road to these pitches gravelled.

It does seem that as soon as we get one part of the site slightly tidy we then have to dig it all up again - I'm sure it will all come together in the end!!

A bit cold for swimming

2007-01-27T14:34:00.000+01:00

Despite some appalling weather this week the works have made huge progress.
The poor builders and carpenters have been outside in snow and freezing temperatures but have remained remarkably cheerful and good-natured.

The roof of the extension has now been completed on the road side and is almost finished on the site side.

We had to get the carpenters to bring extra tarpaulins on Monday evening as water was pouring into our lounge. The workmen couldn't see the problem as it wasn't bringing the ceiling down but they did get it all secured before they went home!

The pool foundations went in on Monday but rain and snow on Tuesday stopped all play. Walls started to go up on Wednesday and it just remains for the reinforcing at the top to be completed next week.

Two concrete mixers arrived on Friday and the base was poured and raked - anti-freeze was put in the mixture as the temperature dropped below freezing while the work continued.

Today is bitterly cold but beautifully sunny so Richard decided he had to be the first to try out the pool!!

What a difference a day makes

2007-01-20T16:55:00.000+01:00

Friday morning and everybody suddenly sprang into action!

Cementing work on the gable end of the house was completed, the carpenter arrived to see what he could do on Monday morning, the electrician arrived to organise the ordering of cables and at 5.15 the terrasseur arrived to start digging the pool!!!

Piles of gravel were quickly cleared and the edges marked before the first scoop of soil was taken out.

The light was soon beginning to fade so headlights were switched on and work continued until about 8 p.m.

Engines were started up again at 7.45 this morning - today with two tractors and trailers to move the soil away.

There appeared to be a very short break at lunctime but otherwise digging continued solidly all day.

The tractors have been dumping the soil down in the bottom field, over the bank behind the chalets into the wood and at the back of the bottom pitches to level these out.

All this has resulted in an incredibly neat and very large hole - the builder has reassured us that the pool will not be quite that big!

The last of the soil was scooped out just before 5 this afternoon and as I type the terrasseur is levelling out the mountains of dumped earth before the rain arrives!

Mid-week break

2007-01-18T12:32:00.000+01:00

We have had a couple of days away to visit a trade show in Zaragoza, northern Spain. We went via the Somport tunnel - a useful route through the Pyrenees - 8.5kms long and designed to take heavy goods vehicles.

It was the first year for this particular camping show so it was small and not very well attended but the exhibitors were extremely friendly so all was not wasted.

It was our second visit to Zaragoza and it really is a lovely city - just a 3 hour drive from here. Sophie, our eldest daughter is living there at the moment so we had time for a quick catch-up.

The picture shows the Basilica del Pilar - a place of pilgrimage for the Spanish - and no, we don't know what the dinosaurs are all about! The city is gearing up for Expo 2008 next year and lots of improvements to the transport system are being made.

We set off yesterday morning in thick fog and decided to come home via Pamplona. Luckily the fog lifted just before we got there and we spent a lovely couple of hours wandering round in glorious sunshine.

Pamplona is much bigger than I had imagined and both the new and old parts of the city are well worth visiting. There has obviously been an enormous amount of money spent on the town centre recently and the work looks as though it is just about finished.

Trying to get out of Pamplona is a bit of a nightmare as they obviously feel that sign posts would be too much of a distraction! After a good twenty minutes we finally found the road heading for France and set off towards the mountains. To say the road is winding would be something of an understatement but there are some very pretty villages along the way.

We stopped off at Arneguy to see the state of the building work at the border tax-free shops and, as you can see, it is all finished and looking very nice. For those of you who saw the work in progress - the accro-props have all moved on to a new home!

St Jean Pied de Port was busy with tourists as usual and the views as we came over the col d'Osquich shows how lovely the weather has been here recently - it looked like a glorious spring day.

Unfortunately we got home to find that no builders had been while we were away - we have meetings tomorrow.....

Happy New Year

2007-01-12T15:56:00.000+01:00

Sorry it has taken a while to get round to posting some new pictures but there hasn't been much photogenic work going on lately.

We have had some lovely warm, dry weather and the terrasseur was able to come and spread out the piles of soil across the bottom pitches to give a nice even surface. Richard has been digging a trench along the top for the lighting cables. He has taken down the overhead lamp from the centre of the bank and some new smaller ones will be going along the edge of the road.

Meanwhile, we now have steps going up to the new terrace - a bit dodgy to stand on at the moment as there is nothing on the edge - and the gable end of the house has been built up. The carpenters have been and removed the edge of the existing roof to allow the builders to finish the walls and lintels and now it is over to the carpenters.

Richard has also been working on the insides of the existing 5-bed chalets - taking out the cupboard and making room for a toilet. Once everything inside had been removed we decided to move the kitchen area so it is turning into more of a refit than we had originally intended. The relaying of one chalet floor is almost complete so it is moving along well.

We have finally ordered the 4 new chalets to go in the lower filed this spring - all is still subject to final planning permission but that is another very long story...

Holidays

2006-12-16T09:47:00.000+01:00

The last couple of weeks seems to have been devoted to endless meetings but we have finally been able to resolve the difficulties over the chalets in the bottom field.
A meeting with the mayor and the architect responsible for overseeing the work around ancient monuments resulted in an agreement of the type and style of roof we can put on the chalets and the new application is being presented next week by our architect - at last!!
The first four chalets should now be in place in May - if all goes according to plan.

Meanwhile the building work on the extension and the shower block has been continuing apace. The builders just have to come back next week to complete the lintels before they hand over to the carpenter who, in theory, is due to start the roofing work at the beginning of January.

Meetings with the swimming pool suppliers also finalised the details of the pool project and the plans are now being prepared for the builder so the hole can be dug in January - hurrah!

We have been busy knocking down internal walls and then spending hours trying to get rid of the dust!!

Although the weather has been dry and sunny lately it looks as though the mud is staying with us until the end of the project.

We have had a few frosty mornings lately so we have been tucking all the palms under cover before we head off to Jersey for a Christmas break.

We will be back here to see in the New Year so will bring this up to date then. Wishing you all a very happy Christmas - see you soon ...

Moving on

2006-12-01T15:14:00.000+01:00

The workshop/extension has now reached ceiling height and the builders are busy making concrete beams ready to support the next part.

Meanwhile Richard has, at last, found himself another tractor. It is not as old as the the Massey Ferguson - 5 years younger - a 1963 this time - but is not in anything like as good condition! We have someone coming to clean the injectors so hopefully the smoke level will be somewhat reduced. It is a Someca (Fiat) and even came with a tin of paint!

Richard has spent many hours on the digger this week digging out the new access road to the bottom pitches - we now need to move some of the soil across to level out the pitches and fill in the old gravel entrances before creating the new hard-standing. It all sounds so simple!

Rained off

2006-11-22T13:45:00.000+01:00

We had a short break in the rain this lunchtime to get a couple of pictures to show the state of play here today.

As you can see the pool is creating itself at the moment - or we could just move it down to the bottom pitches!!

The builders have very sensibly moved indoors and are working away very noisily inside the shower block.

We are off to Avignon tomorrow to have a look at chalets and other goodies at a camping exhibition so we will be back with news on progress next week...

Progress

2006-11-21T09:56:00.000+01:00

Things have moved on more steadily these last few days and the workshop is starting to take shape. The gas pipe has been removed and the walls have started to grow.

The terrasseur came back last Friday and tidied up the access to the wood. On Saturday he and Richard work solidly all day and finished cutting the bank above pitches 40 and 41. Taking out the electricity post was quite a job as the cables were so deep but they succeeded in the end. The access to the bottom field has now been widened and evened-out though it is now just a mud-slide.

Richard had dug out all the gravel from the entrance roads on the bottom pitches so once the terrasseur had moved them to one side they started cutting the new road. Unfortunately the rain has now arrived with a vengeance so it will be a while before we can continue with that! At least the new pitches are starting to take shape.

We need to clear a large tree out of the way for the exit from the new workshop so Richard was playing Tarzan when our neighbour from the top of the road offered to help.

We were measuring door openings in the shower block yesterday when we heard a chain saw at work. We came out to find our (elderly) neighbour cutting branches. For some reason he had decided that another of the trees should be cut back to give us more light and had started on that one!

Between the two of them (I couldn't watch) they took the tops off both these ash trees and got the one to be removed down to the main stump. Richard and I then worked until long after dark clearing the wood onto the site ready to be cut and stacked.

Work has begun this morning on blocking the old entrance to the shower block so this is getting quite exciting!

2 steps forward, 1 step back...

2006-11-15T09:24:00.000+01:00

It is pretty miraculous that either of us has any hair left at all after such a frustrating week!

The terrasseur left us with a very neat hole criss-crossed by an electric cable, a cast-iron water pipe and a large gas pipe. The electrician came and disconnected the cable, which had been supplying the chalets, and found that the main supply cable had also been damaged in the digging.

We contacted the local water company to find out where the water pipe was leading to and from and on his arrival the water man was most concerned as the cable alongside the pipe had been pulled apart and he was awaiting a phone call from someone to say they no longer had any water! He was most indignant about our choice of place to build and suggested that we move the extension elsewhere!! He went away to consult his plans and returned to tell us that "in principle" the pipe was no longer in service and we could remove it if we wanted to.

After several phone calls we eventually got the EDF to come and sort out the main supply cable but the gas saga just went on and on. Our plumber does not have the equipment to deal with the electrically-soldered joints so Richard had many bizarre conversations with the GDF. Each call to the call centre puts you through to a different person and each person had a different answer - one even told us we no longer had an account with the GDF! - so Richard just kept calling back until he got someone to say they would send somebody out - the following week!!!

We decided we needed to get out of here for the sake of our sanity and went for a walk up on the plateau beside the Marie Blanque - the weather was stunning and it was lovely to look at something else for a couple of hours.

Meanwhile the builders had arrived and completed all the preparation work in the hole for the foundations - busily working around the offending gas pipe. The GDF man eventually arrived and informed us that the GDF no longer deals with that type of work - it is now sub-contracted.

We began working through the list of sub-contractors but nobody wanted to know - obviously too small a job for them to be bothered with. We couldn't find a plumber qualified to deal with it so, after a dozen fruitless phone calls we called the builder in desperation. A couple of hours later he arrived with news that he had found a plumber with a solution - hurrah!

At the moment the builders are still working around the offending pipe but have managed to put in the concrete base for the foundation wall and work is continuing.

Great excitement

2006-11-06T19:12:00.000+01:00

The terrasseur arrived first thing this morning with his digger and began by clearing all the concrete bases of the fence posts that Richard had dug out. He has buried them under the road to the wood so that will have a good solid base!

While waiting for his trailer to arrive he started work on the bank around the pool area. This is being made smaller to give more room for the pitches at the bottom and to provide soil to fill in the roads where we need it.

It all looks amazing already though the pictures don't really show clearly just how much space it has given us. The first picture shows what was pitch 41 and the new flat area that has been created behind it. The next shot shows the beginning of the re-designed access down to the bottom field - I know it just looks like a lot of mud at the moment but it will look quite different by next spring!

The next job was to dig the foundations for the workshop and extension to the house and all went swimmingly until the digger found an unexpected gas pipe and a very strange jumble of wires providing the main supply! We had to go to a meeting with the Mayor and have returned, had tea, it is now very dark and they are still working out there...

No going back

2006-11-05T09:01:00.000+01:00

After closing the site and dashing about visiting pool builders, plumbers, joiners etc. and a quick visit to Zaragoza work has finally begun - hurrah!

The builder has given us a start date of 13 November but has kindly lent us a concrete cutting disk and some jack-hammers so we (well, Richard to be more exact) could start taking down the walls in the shower block.

The electrician came in on Friday and disconnected the necessary wires and Richard set to work that evening with the disk.

On Saturday morning he started with the jack-hammers and progress seemed to be very slow to begin with but seemed to get faster as the day wore on.
The builder popped round to borrow one of his jack-hammers in the afternoon and finished knocking down the inside wall with a lump-hammer (as you do) while he was here!

We have now started shovelling the mess and taking it down to form the base of the road to the wood so that will keep is busy for a day or two...

Work begins

2006-09-26T14:20:00.000+02:00

Hurrah! We have finally cut down the first hedges to prepare the area for the swimming pool.
After a week of rain and dismal grey skies the sun has come out and inspired Richard to get out the chain saw.
One of our very few remaining campers, Peter Sowerbutts, wanted a time trial to see the difference between cutting the hedges down first and then removing the bases with the digger and heaving the hedge out, roots and all, with a chain attached to the digger. The second option proved too messy but once the digger was in action our other remaining British camper Dave Baggaley, wandered over and demonstrated the difference that years of practice in a digger cab makes. Within minutes the hedge roots were up and the holes all neatly covered.

We had to have an early lunch as Sophie was on her way to take Paul to the station and we ate to the background music of indefinable graunching noises.
A quick peep out of the window revealed the lime tree beside the shower block having a lie-down on the bank.
Sophie wanted to rush out and replant it - fortunately the train timetable put paid to that idea!
A few minutes later and the plane tree was also taking a rest and Richard decided he had better get outside and cut down the rest of the hedges before Dave decided he had had enough fun for one day.