Mad dogs: and Englishmen

Forget going out in the midday sun. Steaming off wallpaper in 35° heat is where it’s at. Someone should tell Noel Coward.

That’s how we have spent the first week in our new property in Belvès.

The hard work started last Saturday – after we’d spent Friday evening drinking champagne and generally celebrating that the property we intend to make our cheese-and-wine bar is now ours.

I began by stripping the wallpaper in the top back bedroom. It’s the largest room and has the best view, so it’s one I’ll be looking to get finished first. That way, we can start to market our chambres d’hôtes.

Damon began dismantling the fitted wardrobe next door. It had to go.

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Importantly, we met up with a builder on Tuesday to go through our plans for the property. He’s asked us to draw some sketches of how we want to reconfigure the rooms and add in en-suite shower rooms.

Later in the week, we tackled the wallpaper in the other rooms and chipped off tiles in the bathrooms.

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We had a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce in nearby Sarlat-la-Canéda too. They had plenty of advice on setting up the business and happily shared their tips to help make sure that we didn’t fall foul of any legal requirements.

We came away from that meeting armed with information and with heads that hurt from all we had taken in.

We’ll finish up in the building today by bringing all the debris from our work down to the ground floor, ready to take it to a déchetterie next time we’re down.

Weather-wise, this probably wasn’t the best week ever to start work on the building. Hey ho. We reckon it’s done wonders for our waistlines.

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We did take a break from it all yesterday, though, with a meal at our favourite restaurant, le Vieux Logis in Trémolat. Shaded from the scorching sun, we relaxed and enjoyed a seven-course lunch. (Damon is pictured under the linden trees in their garden.)

We thought of it as payback for all our hard work this week: a very well-earned lunch.

06 Jul This entry was published on Sat, 6 Jul 2019 at 09:26. It’s filed under Places and people and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.

17 thoughts on “Mad dogs: and Englishmen”

  1. pedmar10 on said:

    Its a work of love should be ok. and we got the heat back here too going up to 28C!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Nadia on said:

    Damon does look pleased with himself😀
    We arrive in Dordogne on July 11 for 7 weeks. Will you be around then?

    Liked by 1 person

  3. onleighart on said:

    Methinks .. a wee bit of the sublime… to the ridulous… and the Muriel..is gawn! ..awwwwwe…

    Liked by 1 person

  4. onleighart on said:

    I am sure!

    I see you are not going to be in Belves until sept….no quick visit en train?

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Joyce Hopewell on said:

    You’ve done wonders with the ground work & it sure does need a makeover – but the vision’s in place now & up & running. Congratulations! I just went “ooohh” when I read where that restaurant you celebrated in is….Tremolat is not only very attractive, it’s the location of one of my favourite classic French films – Le Boucher – so your post took me straight back there. A whiff of the Dordogne this morning in damp Cheshire!

    Liked by 1 person

  6. junedesilva on said:

    I feel your pain! We’ve just returned to Castelnaudary after 6 weeks back in the UK and it is stonking hot. I cannot imagine what it must be like stripping wallpaper. My husband is currently retiling our guest room ensuite but we are lucky enough to have a pool, into which he has been throwing himself at frequent intervals! Bonne continuation et bon courage…

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Chris on said:

    Well done and congratulations the place will look gorgeous.

    Liked by 1 person

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