life, by me

Friday, September 28, 2012 | Posted by Hazel

So we've had a busy few days in the land of the French, mostly spent peeling wallpaper off the walls.  

On Sunday we went to Fougeres, a local town, and did a bit of exploring.  We saw a Chateau and 'tromp l'oeil' (an optical illusion of some buildings, painted on a building).

Chateau de Fougeres

Tromp l'oeil - Fougeres

Alex at her dream house

Public gardens (behind St. Leonards Church, Fougeres)

Whilst in Fougeres, we stumbled (not quite literally) across a dead bat on the pavement, here is a picture.

After finishing stripping one room, we have now moved on to another, stripped the wallpaper and prepped it for its first coat of colour next week.  (I am assuming you are interested in our decorating progress!)

Before we touched it...

Midway through the stripping...

The first coat of paint

The weather this week has been very random, switching from bright sunlight, to big grey clouds, heavy rain and violent hail stones.

We've also done a bit of outside work, clearing out a wood shed - where we found our friend, Mr. Toad.

Got a bonus dinner from Jon (whose house we're decorating) this week and booked to come to Paris, where we are now!  

We arrived last night and spent today in Versailles, mainly at the Palace - where we saw lots of gold things, some lovely gardens and a room with lots of mirrors.  

French teapot

Fountain in the Palace gardens

Lacey lion in the Palace (part of a contemporary exhibition)

Loving the lavender

Marie-Antoinette's pig (and Alex)

Chateau de Versailles

We now have the weekend to explore Paris!  I'm excited as I have never really been to Paris before (bar a couple of trips to Disneyland Paris) and Alex is excited to show me around as she is a big Paris fan!

Read Users' Comments (2)

Saturday, September 22, 2012 | Posted by Hazel

It is now Saturday, and our French adventure began on Monday.  Leaving Essex/Stafford behind, we headed for Dover, and for more 'French' pastures.  After a rather uneventful ferry crossing, we arrived in Calais.  

I drew the short straw of being the first driver on French soil (neither of us had driven on the wrong/right side of the road before) and started to follow our Aussie speaking sat nav west across France.

There were no major incidents during the road trip, we both successfully drove on the right side of the road with no mishaps.  At one point in the journey Alex accidentally posted her bank card through a gap in the car so it was stuck behind the radio, and I had to reverse 400 yards into a petrol station, but that is by the by, nothing major to report.

We eventually arrived at our lovely residence, La Plissonnais, about 5 hours later.  We were greeted by Jon and Henry (Henry is a dog) and shown our home for the next few weeks, Maison la Cidrerie.  It is lovely here.

La Cidrerie

Whilst we are here, we are going to be doing some DIY, gardening and decorating, in return for our accommodation.  We didn't start this until Thursday, so had a couple of days exploring our surrounding area before we got stuck in to the work.

The local market at Saint Hilaire du Harcouet was a bit of excitement on Wednesday, Alex loved the caged animals, whilst I was constantly tempted by the delicious smelling crepes.

Jellyfish at the beach, Alex enjoyed poking them with sticks

Land surfers on the beach

We bought some garlic from a lady at the side of the road.  Alex has been teaching me the health benefits of garlic and we have pretty much eaten it every day.  Neither of us know how much we stink as we are now immune to it.  Luckily we haven't seen many people yet...or maybe this is the reason why...

Work has now begun.  Our first job was digging out the weeds around the cider press in the garden...

Before we started digging (well, technically, just after we'd started)

After we'd worked our magic...

...followed by weeding around the crazy paving on the patio.

We have now moved on to the house, where we are doing some redecorating.  Our first task being wallpaper stripping.  Alex taught me a new, much more delicate approach, giving me the ability to now strip an entire piece of paper, whilst keeping it intact.  Amazing.

Before we started

The special 'Alex technique'

One wall down...

We have already experienced 'baguette mouth' (the sensation you get from eating too many baguettes/mild jaw ache) and excess consumption of cheese.  Hoping to visit Paris in the next couple of weeks, do some more exploring and crack on with the decorating!

Incase you're interested, the weather is pretty similar to the UK right now.  We've had a few sunny days and a bit of rain.

Au revoir.

Read Users' Comments (3)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012 | Posted by Hazel

So my blog has been on the back burner recently, but I have decided to try and revive it, so I can write about my forthcoming adventures!

I'll start by filling in the space that has been left since April.  I haven't actually stayed in any one place for more than a couple of weeks and have spent quite a bit of time touring the country - living the nomadic dream!

At the beginning of April I travelled to Tijuana, Mexico with a group of young people from Stafford, with a charity called 'Urban Saints'.  It was awesome.  Between the 20 of us, we made a house from scratch, it was an amazing achievement.  The family we were building the house for were so cute, Miguel and Esperenza and their 2 dogs.  This is the house which we built...

Miguel and Esperenza outside their new house

After my Mexican trip, I spent a couple of weeks back at Bivouac helping to get the next set of shacks ready for when guests arrived, and spent a bit of time working as a joiners assistant which I really enjoyed, got to test my practical skills out.

Getting the shacks ready for their first guests

I helped to make the reception desk...

...these railings...

...and collect wood for making a bench.

In May my friends, Alex, Joseph and I went to Scotland to stay with my granny on the Isle of Arran.  We celebrated Alex's birthday at the Distillery, with copious amounts of cheese.  It was, as Alex would say, amazeballs.  The weather wasn't great whilst Alex and Joseph were with me, but we didn't let that ruin our fun, having fires on the beach and trips around the Island.  The weather did however perk up when they had left and I stayed a bit longer to hang out with Granny.

Chilling out on Holy Isle

Granny with her crab which arrived in the post

June was spent doing various bits of DIY in both my house in Lincoln and my dads house in Lincoln  - I got to practice some of my joinery skills when building some shelves.  I was pretty impressed with myself.

I decided in July that I wanted to do an intensive TEFL course, so promptly booked on one which lasted the majority of August - it was definitely 'intense', possibly one of the hardest things I have ever done...mainly due to the sheer volume of work that was required in a short period of time.  I went from never having stood in front of a class of students, to teaching hour long lessons to non native English speakers, including grammar points I had learnt merely hours before the students.  Despite the hard work, I actually enjoyed the course, and slightly missed it when it ended...I think I had become institutionalised by it all! I passed and am now a qualified TESOL teacher, qualified to teach in a language school or abroad.  Exciting times.

Also during August, my sister Leah got married to Lorenzo, and I got to be Bridesmaid again.  I also learnt 'bacho', when shouted at an Italian wedding, means the Bride and Groom have to kiss, every time it is shouted.

Bancho!

So that brings me on to my current impending adventure...when in Scotland in May, Alex and I decided we quite liked the idea of going to France and came across the idea of house sitting.  Fast forward a few months and a few Facebook encounters later, we have lined up 3 months worth of accommodation in France from September to December.  Our first host will be Jon, who lives in Normandy.  In return for some of our painting and decorating skills we are going to be staying at his B&B for a few weeks.  After that, we are moving south to a small village, La Chambre, east of Lyon.  Here we will be house sitting another John's house, and hopefully improving our French.  We also have an offer of a house in the Pyrenees which we are currently organising.  We are doing our complete trip on a budget, and in my newly acquired Ford Escort Estate.

We leave in a week.

Let the good times roll.

Read Users' Comments (0)

Thursday, February 16, 2012 | Posted by Hazel

I can't believe it is Thursday already...this week has gone so fast...

My learning curve has again ascended this week, I learnt on Tuesday that my ironing is not up to scratch (when ironing jeans/trousers you should endeavour to iron the inside pockets, now you know), on Wednesday that oil based paint doesn't come out of hair easily and today (this was a reminder, I have learnt this before)...cooking with chillies comes with hazards.

Tomorrow is an exciting day at Bivouac...our electricity supply gets ramped up, let the good times roll.  In the meantime we have no electricity tomorrow, and neither do any of our neighbours...thanks to us 'upgrading'.

I always want to go on holiday, no joke, I always do.  If in doubt...go on holiday.  I am trying to decide where might be next at the moment, post April.

It is looking highly likely my next adventure will begin in April when we open and my volunteering time is done here in North Yorkshire.  I don't know what that might be, but that is quite exciting.  I genuinely feel as though I could do/apply for anything at the moment.  The big step was last year when I left my house/job/friends in Lincoln, so now I feel like I have the freedom and space to do anything I want.  The next step is working out what that is!  

Exciting times ahead!

Read Users' Comments (0)

Monday, February 13, 2012 | Posted by Hazel

Rubbishly, I haven't been very good at updating my blog.  It's crazy how busy it has got up here recently! I'll start with a small run down of my lifes events since November...

• My car died in the snow and cold
• I got a new car for my birthday - a Landrover no less
• I had a birthday party in my dads wood in Essex
• A tree fell down and crushed my friends Alex's car at the party
• Alex's car is now back on the road

Here is the tree that did all the damage...

In other news, I got myself a niece...Mila Owen was born on 13th December.  She's pretty cute. And has already started swimming lessons.  She's a good egg.  We got to hang out quite a bit over Christmas, and hopefully we'll get to catch up again soon.

At the beginning of January, myself and my friend Alex, the one with the smashed car, took an impromptu trip to Switzerland for a weekend to visit our friends Vicky and Steve, and to meet their new lodger, Felix.  

Our trip consisted of walks in the Swiss Alps, swimming in thermal baths and a lot of 'firsts' for Felix.

The Kaye family 

Alex and Vicky on the Swiss Alps

Felix and me, kicking back

In work related news, things with Bivouac have been storming ahead.  We have one yurt completed, and the others arriving in a couple of weeks' time.  The first shack is almost complete inside and out, the barns are almost finished, and we have started taking bookings!  It's both exciting and scary to think we open in 7 weeks' time!

Shack 1

Yurt 1

The bunk barn

There is still a lot to do before we are ready to open, but everyone on site is working really hard to get it ready in time so I have every faith we will achieve our deadline!  This week we get the electricity boosted up significantly and in a couple of weeks time (1 - 7 March) we are hosting teams of volunteers who are coming to help speed the process up!

Last weekend I had a couple of visitors who travelled up from London town to rural Yorkshire...Leah and Tom.  We had some adventures in the snow, went for a walk at Hack Falls, and had a tour of Black Sheep Brewery.

Today I did a bit of exploring of my own in the moors around the farm where I live, and here is just a little of some of the cool views I saw (shortly after I ripped my jeans on a barbed wire fence trespassing in a neighbouring field).

So, that's me pretty much up to date, give or take a bit of daily life, and I'm sure a few funny incidents I have forgotten for now (such as the village Christmas party I attended last night).  My aim is to attempt to keep this more up to date...let's see how that goes.

Read Users' Comments (0)

Sunday, November 20, 2011 | Posted by Hazel

So, it's been over a month since I last wrote a blog. Things have been upping the ante up here in Yorkshire. The barns have roofs on, the yurt bases are forming, and the shack team have just arrived back to continue building the rest of the shacks.

My part time jobs have evolved again slightly...I still work at the White Swan, but just a couple of evenings a week, and 2 days a week I do cleaning for some people in nearby villages, certainly adds a bit of variety to my week anyway...

You know you're rural when this is what you are greeted with on the road...

I've had a few visitors, my sisters, Anna, Meryll and Leah came to visit for a weekend in half term...

And a few friends from Lincoln, Christine, Joy, Paul, Fin and Ruth have also been to stay at the farm.

The fog has set in. Today you can barely see a few feet in front of you, very atmospheric, but I prefer being sat inside when it is like this!

We had our first potential wedding couple look round the site last week. It's hard to say whether they will book, they at least had imagination to look beyond the mud swamp across the current landscape. It was definitely good practice for myself and Beth and quite reassuring to see all our plans and ideas actually make sense (or seemed to) to people who are looking at our venue as a place to have their wedding!

On Bonfire night we piled up all our building scraps and a few donations from some locals, and had a big fire with some of the builders working on the project and local people which was fun, I love fire.

This week we also ordered wood burners for the shacks and yurts, so our guests can stay warm when it's cold outside. A shipping container arrived on Friday for us to store stuff in, we didn't quite get it in the designated place due to the large amount of mud that had been churned up by the tractors on site, that's tomorrow's job...attempting to shift a 4 tonne steel container with a telehandler and a tractor. Fun times.

P.S. In case you have forgotten, it's my birthday in a months time.

Read Users' Comments (0)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 | Posted by Hazel

So it's been a few weeks since I last wrote a post.  It has been pretty busy.

Firstly I now have another job, the cafe is a little 'too' casual for me, so I am now working in The White Swan, a hotel in a village a few miles down the road.  I am on front of house, which is scary as it involves serving food and I have to fight with my clumsy tendencies.  I am definitely strengthening my wrist muscles!  At the moment I am working in The White Swan 2 days a week, and at The Bivouac for the other 3.

I have had a few visitors.  Alex came to visit a few weeks ago and helped me look after Martha and Elsie when Sam and Beth went away for the weekend.  We entertained them by taking them to the sheep fair (great idea until they both decided they were scared of the sheep!) and had a trip to the park.  I think me and Alex were as worn out as they were.

The Dowells and Ruffwells came for a quick trip up the A1 and got to see some dancing sheep in Masham.

Last weekend my parents came to see where I am now living and experience a bit of Yorkshire as apparently they haven't ever been before.  We went to Harrogate and Fountains Abbey which was nice.  Here they are, nice to see dad dressed up for the occasion...

I have picked my annual batch of sloes, and the sloe gin is brewing.  I need to find out what other things I can brew now I am living in the country.  I'm considering making cider if that's not too tricky!

Even though I am now living way up North, we have still been able to appreciate a bit of good weather over the last couple of weeks, however it is now well and truly Autumn/Winter, with the dark nights closing in.

Last week we chose our yurt supplier and they drove up from Devon with a sample one so we can see what they are going to look like, here's a sneak preview of the inside of it.... we should be getting al ours early 2012, very exciting!

My role has evolved in to helping with wedding and event planning at the moment, and a bit of other stuff around the site that needs doing!  This weekend Becky is moving in to live with us too and help on the project.  The next couple of weeks should see the return of the shack team of builders, who will be coming to start building the next 5 shacks over the winter!

By the way, I also write some blogs on the Bivouac website, about what is going on here and slightly more work related, check it out at: www.thebivouac.co.uk/our_diaries/

Read Users' Comments (1)comments