update :)

...here's a few recent photos of the mezzanine in the barn (taken and emailed to us by the builders :)

... I can't wait to get back over!

French Food ... stamps

I was wandering around the Fete du Lac at Lac de Guerledan the other week and came across these lovely stamps... each one with a different French national dish on.... how pretty!

em... I don't normally collect stamps... ;)

Gouarec

A few pictures of Gouarec on a summer's evening...

Ruins

At the back of the cottage there are 2 small ruins...

.. the smaller of the 2 is hidden in the trees



























The larger has a very big chimney for such a small room and we've heard various possible explanations for the original purpose... from a tiny house or 'smoke house' to a 'cauldron room'... as used in Wales to cook up scraps for pigs.

More recently, in the 1950s, we know that it was used for pigs, while a small lean-to area at the front of the cottage was used to house a veal calf.

At some point, when the cottage is near completion, I'd like to renovate these little buildings. In the meantime I'm trying to prevent the chimney from crashing by the use of acro props...

Huelgoat

In a large clearing in the magical forest of Broceliande, 20 miles northeast of the cottage, on the eastern edge of Finistere, you find the beautiful wood, stone and water of Huelgoat 'the upper wood'.

crogloft

Just got some new photos of building work in progress in the barn...

 

They show the crogloft/mezzanine floor being built :) ... btw the Madonna is just behind the silver bubble wrap in the middle pic

...I'm presuming it is a kind of 'crogloft' which is 'a loft over half a cottage, furthest from the cooking hearth... used for sleeping in'... common in Ceredigion, West Wales (which is where Euros happens to come from!)

Madonna and cross

In the absence of any news on the building front... here are a couple of interesting pics..

.. a cross built into the eastern gable end of the house

.. and a Madonna built into the western gable end of the house (which is inside the barn)

This isn't unusual in Gouarec as many of the houses have niches and madonnas... but I think it's quite special