Thinning out the woods above Ropion

09/03/2014

It has taken a long time to get this particular project off the ground as it were, although we have wanted to do so for a long time.  We have realised that the woods on the "cliff edge" above the little house we know as simply "Ropion" were far too close for comfort and were likely to fall on the roof of the house in a storm.  So we arranged to start from the field above giving access to the tractor necessary to pull the trees with rope and cable in the right direction when felled.

13/03/2014

15/03/2014

15/03/2014

29/03/2014

30/03/2014

30/03/2014

07/04/2014

07/04/2014

07/04/2014

As you can see the process started finally in early March this year, the weather was just too wet to attempt it before.  There have been a number of small landslides from the hill slope above in the past and we wanted to avoid more happening when dead trees, or trees simply too close to the edge fell.  It's going to be a big change, but for the better in the long run and in the short term we have temporarily had to take down two sections of fence to allow access for the tractor and to avoid damage. 






You can immediately see the change in the view from above Ropion and how much clearer it is around the building.  We can now see over to the hills in the distance near Oyre.






















We were a bit worried about the last few big oaks which had to be felled and these were both "guided" with ropes from the tractor to help the direction of felling.  As you can imagine there was a mighty crash as each of these two trees (each weighing several tonnes) hit the ground.  But all was well, with the last one being a bit awkward to fell just slightly brushing one roof tile as it fell.

Both trees down on the ground by the slope waiting to be tidied up in due course, but not really in the way.  All the stumps have been left in the ground to help consolidate the higher ground.







Here you can see the (nearly) final result which gives us a much clearer space around the house and fewer fears for future storm damage.  Also, the increased sunlight should help to reduce the future build up of moss and lichen on the roof which has been causing problems with rainwater run-off.  Finally we will also in due course have an improved access to the track and the woods for future works in the woods once we add a gate to the re-erected fence in due course.  A satisfying result as well as a bit of firewood ready for future winters!

Renovating the swimming pool

La Polyphonie C'est Sexy dans le pressoir

As part of the plan of breathing new life into the buildings at La Côte, we organised a little concert last Saturday in the barn, otherwise known as the Pressoir because of the wine press which dominates the room there.  The wine press was transformed for the evening into a temporary stage and the group "La Polyphonie C'est Sexy" sang some wonderful unaccompanied traditional French and Quebeccois songs in beautiful polyphonic arrangements.  They really are a fantastic and accomplished group and we were so lucky to be able to host them for our first try at hosting an event of this type at La Côte (certainly not the last) - the Pressoir isn't huge but we still managed to welcome an audience of over forty people with a bit of room to spare!  Watch this space in the future....

Gravel in the courtyard

New layer of gravel for the turning circle

It doesn't look like much, but yesterday I put down about 450 kgs of gravel in the courtyard, that's six trailer loads from our local quarry in Dangé St Romain.  This is in order to have a slightly drier experience of driving to and walking around the house, with all of the rain that we've had recently and in the knowledge that we have several natural springs running down the hillside towards the house and down into the river valley of the Vienne.  In due course we are going to install a 'French' drain around the house to help as well (apparently nothing to do with France, but designed by a Mr French!).  And yes, we need to buy a bigger trailer!  Still it already makes a difference, even if my arms are hurting a bit today from all that shovelling.  Wow, two blog posts in one day - I'd better have a rest now ;-)

Scrub bashing near Ropion

Clearing scrub and small trees on the slope by Ropion

 Well I'm afraid that the blog has been very quiet recently, but that doesn't mean that we've not been working hard!  Recently we have taken advantage of some drier weather to start clearing some of the scrub and small trees, particularly the dreaded acacia trees - perhaps the most unpleasantly spiky tree known to man, whose thorns seem to cut through even chainsaw gloves!  As you can see we now have some bonfire piles drying out ready for a drier weather and we have also been starting to clear more wood from various fallen trees and branches on the slope, ready to make into another wood pile in due course.

Stones and pallettes - des pierres et des pallettes

 Now that we have finally secured additional pallettes for the area behind the little house we know as Ropion, we can finally get down to the serious business of starting to proper store and sort all of the building stone that currently exists around La Cote.  Some of the stone is from collapsed garden walls and more is from the other half of the Ropion house which collapsed several decades ago, but may date back to as early as the Fifteenth century with possible links to the Abbey of Saint Denis in the village of Vaux-sur-Vienne.

The stone varies from very soft tufau (limestone) which would originally have been quarried out the two caves which stretch back into the hillside nearby, to very hard lumps of flint (silex) good for making strong foundations or lower levels of walls/buildings.

 Although you can see that we have made a good start on moving and sorting the stone, there is still a huge pile from the collapsed other half of the old house (Ropion) on the left here.  This is already far clearer than I have ever seen it and masses of ivy and other vegetation has already been removed.  Interestingly from an archaeological/architectural perspective, evidence was also found of a former iron gutter and downpipe behind Ropion which suggests that at some point in its life it did indeed have a system for managing rainwater.

As you can see from the picture on the right, we have recovered large amounts of broken roof tiles which appear to have been deliberately buried in the ground behind the building.  We have kept these as useful building material as interspersed between the softer limestone blocks the can help the walls to breathe and let moisture escape.

bruce.howard's photostream

bruce.howard's photostream on Flickr.

Rebuilding the goat shed over a few of the hottest day's this summer has seen in France - hopefully it won't fall down now!