Make a decision today that could change a life.  There are thousands of lost souls out there after either being abandoned, mistreated, or their owner have died or hospitalised. The reasons are numerous but they all have one thing in common – they need our help.

We adopted a 10 and 1/2 year old German Shepherd – Rex in April 2011.

Rex our big Fluffy Dufus RIP 2-12-11

Rex lost his owner suddenly and was faced with being put down.  We rescued him via the HOPE association.  We had him 8 months then unfortunately he developed heart failure and he died on 2nd December.

Rex taught  us so much about patience and understanding and he gave back with oodles of pleasure and endless moments of laughter.

Younger dogs generally get rehomed much quicker and the older dogs get left on the heap.  Consider an older dog, they tend to be much calmer, obedient if they have come from a loving home and they are great company.

We are looking for a replacement and will get another older rescue.

Check out the doggy links to the left of this page to find your perfect friend.

Wishing everyone as Merry Christmas.  After some very wet warm weather it came up trumps for christmas morning with a lovely white frost.

Lovely crisp white morning on christmas day 2011

Here’s remembering how lucky we are to  have such a perfect day – well almost.  We lost our lovely dog REX on 2nd December and we went on one of his favourite walks.

Rex big fluffy Duffus RIP 2-12-11

Also remembering those who have lost loved ones and those who cannot speak at the SPA in Limoges.

17th Century cottage set in glorious, undulating, countryside with beautiful views, nature and birdlife contributing to the tranquility and comfort that the cottage is famous for. Sleeps 6 (3 Bedrooms).

The cottage is set in a lovely rural hamlet in the hills of the Correze. It offers a beautiful blend of old and contemporary design with every modern day comfort. Understated luxury is tempered with simplicity to make the most of the tranquil surroundings. Comfortable rooms with soft colours throughout. Wifi; iPod speakers/dock; a more than fully fitted kitchen; TV and a good selection of DVDs and books are also provided. There is a beautiful inglenook fireplace with an open fire; and the house is fully heated. The garden is on two levels with two terraces: one is south facing for sunbathing and perfect for breakfast; the second is a deck set amidst trees for cool natural shade, and a perfect setting for lunch. An experienced cook, with an excellent local reputation, is also available. Right on the doorstep of The Cottage are some wonderful walks; there are lakes for swimming and two riding stables. Fishing, canoeing, kayaking and golf are other popular activities.

For more information, pictures, prices, and availability, please see the owners page on ownners direct here.

Available for holidays or longer lets… a stunning, modern barn conversion, sleeping up to 12, set in a charming, traditional hamlet. Situated about 10km north of the quaint “Fleurie’ town of La Souterraine with its surrounding Roman wall, traditional restaurants, twice weekly market and Medieval church.

A beautiful barn, set in the green heart of France, it is a great place to recharge your batteries or for a couple of families to come together for a relaxing, country break. Beautiful rolling hills, incredible wildlife and a tranquility second to none, mean that La Creuse is a magnificent haven and it is easy to understand why the idyllic, surrounding countryside inspired great artists like Monet. This countryside is just ideal should you wish to read, walk, paint or simply soak up the sun.

In the hamlet there are riding stables and less than 5 minutes away you’ll find the ‘Etang de Chaume’ where you can swim; it has various leisure facilities available during the summer, and is also a renowned course fishing lake. For the more adventurous holiday maker, close at hand at Eguzon, you will find canoeing, sailing, wind surfing & water skiing. The cycling in the area is simply awe-inspiring, both on and off road; there are numerous fishing lakes & trout rivers close by.

Culturally, the region is rich with places to visit such as Oradour sur Glane; Aubusson, world renowned for its tapestries and carpets; Argenton sur Creuse located on the river with it’s beautiful river houses & narrow, cobbled streets; the Brenne lakes, home to the Marsh Harrier; Eguzon, famous for it’s school of painting due to Monet’s love of the region; the ruins of Crozant Castle give breath taking views across the Creuse Valley and of course, Limoges itself, is very famous for its porcelain.

A stunning, modern, 5 bedroom, barn conversion

This beautiful, 18th century stone barn has been recently converted, maintaining many original features. It is situated in the heart of a quiet hamlet yet close to all amenities. The open-plan living/dining area has a large wood burning stove; upstairs there are 5 bedrooms, sleeping up to 12.

For full details of facilities, and great pictures of the interior take a look here.

Photo Gallery

The Limousin is known as the Lake District of France, because of its abundance of lakes and superb scenery. Take a look at the photo gallery and see for yourself.

Local Information

Limousin – the Lake District of France. Super for a relaxing, tranquil holiday; for the more active holiday maker, try water sports galore, mountain bike through beautiful valleys, enjoy a game of golf or visit cultural places like Aubusson-famous for tapestries or the picturesque, town of Gargilesse with its art galleries and Brocantes.
Limosin is known as the Lake District of France due to its many large, beautiful, natural water sources. Many of these large lakes are extremely popular locally for swimming, water sports, lounging in the sun on the well-thought out, man-made beaches (there is always a children’s playground within sight) or sitting in the shade in the numerous cafes and restaurants that scatter the waters edge. These lakes often have large sections set to one side for fishing too (permits can be bought from local cafes and tabacs). Find out more here.

If you’d like to check availability, pricing, or get in touch.

You’ll find prices and details here. You can check availability here. Make contact here.

On Wednesday 28th December 2010 we had a new arrival – Chabal (pronounced “Shabal”). He is a 2 year old “Petit Griffon Basset Vendeen” or PGBV for short! He is on a 2 month holiday with us while his family are away in India.

After a few days learning the house rules – he settled in nicely. The first week or so, he would come and check up on us when we were in bed, sometimes two to three times in the night. Coming in to get us up around 8 o’clock in the morning. Now he is well chilled out and we don’t get any visits in the night and it’s us that wakes him in the mornings.

Chabal in Bed

We were told that he would probably escape from the garden. Initially we kept him under close guard when outside but over time, we have started to understand his behaviour.

Although a bassett he is much more like a terror – sorry I meant to say terrier! He loves nothing more than finding voles and it’s his ability to sniff them out and dig holes that gives him this character. So we have come to understand that it’s not that he wants to escape, it that he is ruled by his nose and if he escapes, it’s by accident rather than intention.

Chabal Digging

He gets walked every morning for about 1 to 1 1/2 and his favourite route is along the river bank and through the woods. We leave him in the garden when we are at home and can keep an eye on him and spends most of the time digging up voles. Although he’s making holes in the garden – he is actually killing them so we leave him to it.

There isn’t a viscious bone in his body – unless you are a vole, rabbit, squirrel or other fury creature. He twirls for his dinner and when he thinks he’s going for a walk. His bark is like a dog four times the size so a good alarm dog.

Chabal - Fluffy Head

His only failing is that you cannot let him off the lead during his walk. When he picks up a scent he’s off and he suddenly goes deaf. There is a lot of barbed wire and he has no road sense so we keep in on a lead at all times – although not a tight one he can go where he likes and generally does.

We have come to love our Chabal and he is now part of the family. He is allowed on the sofa in the evening when we sit on it and that’s where he sleeps. He loves attention and wants to be cuddled. Once in the house, generally very good but he will bark at anything that moves or makes a noise.

Chabal sitting by the Fire

So if you are thinking about a PGBV yourself here is our recommendation from our experience:

The PGBV has a very strong character and needs regular stimulation and things to keep it interested. Very loving dog but not sure how they would fair with other animals. Will run after anything that moves and cannot be trusted off the lead. Very sturdy and healthy breed.

Its’s the dog for you if:

- You can give him plenty of exercise and keep him stimulated
- You do not have a well kept garden – they will dig!
- You live in the countryside
- You can spend time doing some training and have a firm hand
- You have a barn that you want to keep free of mice

It’s not the dog for you if:

- You live in the town
- You work all day – they will get bored
- You hate cleaning a grubby dog
- You want to run or walk with a dog off the lead
- You can’t secure good fencing in your garden

Here are all our photos of Chabal

Winter is on it’s way again and the annual task of collecting wood starts in September. Storage has always been a problem chez nous. We tried storing it in the garage. This kept it good and dry but shifting meter lengths of wood from out of the garage to cut and
then reloading it back into the garage was hard work and made a big Mess!

Then we tried stacking the wood in a big pile on the grass next to the drive and covered it with plastic. It was a constant battle with the weather, preventing the cover from blowing off and battling with it in the pouring rain. Last year we had a disaster when the covering came off and the wood got soaking wet.

It was clear that we needed a better solution. The wood needed to be close to the house and kept dry with something more reliable. Although the garden is quite big there isn’t much scope for a large shed but we came up with an idea whilst clearing brambles between the conifers at the back of the house.

Meter lengths of wood can be kept dry by stacking as square as possible and placing something which covers the top only. It’s not necessary to completely cover the whole stack, in fact it’s more beneficial if you don’t, as air can cirulcate and continue drying the wood.

We decided to stack the wood between the conifer trees. It was dead space not being used for anything other than growing weeds and had the added benefit of the trunks supporting the wood either side. Each stack was covered by a piece of black polythene across the top
and planks to weigh it down.

So that was the storage solution for meter lengths but what about cut wood? Keeping cut wood covered with plastic is more of a battle as it’s difficult to stack squarely and if it blows off, you can’t burn it until it drys out – which is very difficult to do in the middle of winter.

So after considering forking out hundreds of euros for a fancy shed, I discovered a groovy blog about a couple from Nova Scotia who used old pallets to build their shed.

It hadn’t occured to me before. I’d used pallets for making compost bins but never considered making a structure out of them. We needed to store about 4 cubic meters of cut wood at a time so the shed didn’t need to be that big.

First then – get a shed load (no pun intended) of pallets. I often found the odd one or two at E LeClerc in St Junien and occassionally at Gamme Vert but I needed about 12 pallets. After putting a post on a French forum, I’d managed to get 8 roof tile pallets from a builder. Then I spotted a school being extended in the small village of St Cyr
about 20 minutes from us and asked the Mason if I could take some of his pallets.

Our chief engineer, designer and technician was Steve. The base was of course Pallets to keep the wood off the ground and air circulating all round. Using his trusty chainsaw, Steve cut small pieces off the pallets so that they would lock together at the corners to make the structure stronger. Pallets were put in place to start the structure.

Step 1

Then he hammered 3 stakes in the ground, this would support each side and the back.

Step 2

Once all the pallets were stacked into place, we used plastic zip ties to reinforce the joints and attach it to the stakes. Steve also fitted a piece of old Angle Iron across the front along the top for extra strength and also creating a handy hanger for my garlic!

Final Result

Now for the roof – 2 sheets of corrugated sheeting from Roberts in Rochechouart – much cheaper than UPVC or other plastic stuff. After designing a makeshift roof rafter from an old plank of wood to give a good angle for water run off, the sheets were screwed into place and the roof fixed on.

This was a good opportunity for collecting rain water. So using an old piece of piping with a slit cut into it along it’s length, was pushed onto the roofing sheets and then a piece of old inner tube was attached to the end and dropped into a barrel.

Guttering

Voila – the cheapest wood shed in France – €36 euros to be exact. The only adaptation we have made is to add a front using pallets again, so that cut wood and be thrown into it like a big bucket.