Dawned the morning and we had no reason to get up so - we didn't. Proper luxurious life, the only source of heat in our little Breton home is a massive open fireplace. We had very little by way of firewood so we made do with our huge supply of charcoal.
This was the first revelation of the weekend, one of the problems with the house is smoke. Light the fire and as the wood burns it slowly fills with smoke, unless you are very careful with how much wood is on there. Running the fire on charcoal, it was really easy to light, the room was warm and smoke free.
The fridge was sitting in the corner humming, we needed to deal with the moule issue and sooner rather than later too. A quick phone call and off we went to see Edit and Youenn two of our local friends in Brittany. The drive down required a stop in Leclerc in Quimper which in turn added a huge piece of steak to the fridge, at 5E it was unmissable!
A lovely evening with friends laid the ghost of a plan. One of the things on our to do list has always been to sort out proper heating for the house. Youenn mentioned how he had noticed that Brico Marche had a big promotion on log stoves. A plan started to form.....
The moule got cooked, not our usual way, with white wine, cream and loads of garlic, but with some Chinese herbs, making a lovely meal.
Home bed and another day when we didn't need to get up, so we didn't.
Well OK eventually we got all optimistic and decided to go and see if BricoMarche was open on a Sunday which of course it isn't and on we went to suffer a beer in the Ansi De Sordan on the banks of Lac Guerledan. I could really get used to this....
There is some comment somewhere else about the "revenge of the moule". Just occasionally a rogue one will slip through with effects that can be truly spectacular. When I say "spectacular" I am of course meaning when it's someone else, if it's you it's tragic and distressing.
The student, god bless her went down with Moule Belly with a vengeance, my was she ever ill, it was impressive!!
It made our trip out next day a hazardous little affair!!! Monday morning we decided to break with routine,do something different - we got up before midday, headed into Pontivy and Bricomarche. Prices were indeed quite eye watering, their "specialist" was a really helpful and knowledgeable guy who knew our house, from driving past it every day into work. We agreed how big a stove we needed (8 kwh) and settled on a Franco Belge Savoy at a price that represented about 300 pound off UK list price. About 30% off in fact.
Into the van and home, when of course the flaw in the thinking started to glare. The stove was 100 Kilos outside the house in the van, the fireplace was up a flight of stairs inside the house. Beer was the obvious solution, into town and the Trois Marchands, bought a couple of locals a beer and back to the house with some muscle. Four of us made short work of getting the stove inside.
By now i had a proper shopping list so it was back into Pontivy for pipes connectors, tiles and adhesive. We have a lovely professional grade tile cutter and by good fortune it happened to be in Britany too. Locked in the dungeon underneath the house, the key to which I forgot to ask Youenn to give me back....
As I sat there planning the operation, a list of necessary tools was forming. I couldn't help myself. I was drawn inexorably to the conclusion I needed a Green Goddess parked outside, everything I needed and more was in the lockers.
Of course we have to work with what we have not what we would like The Stove was going on a wood floor which was not really a good idea. So I got a few sheets of ply as a load spreader and a load of tiles. Conventional wisdom dictates that tiles are stuck down with grout which means hours sitting round as it goes off. The student (between events) stuck the plywood to the floor with quick setting glue, I got into the grate and cut the flue to length. A rockwool barrier went into the chimney Tiles were glued rather than grouted which meant that the stove was in position, connected and lit by Tuesday teatime.
Fuel is a bit of an issue for us. In Brittany pretty much everyone uses wood for heat so you need your local wood guys phone number. Buying wood in Bricomarche was an open wallet experience as all their wood is kiln dried, we noticed wood briquets from recycled mill waste were a lot cheaper so we threw a couple of packs of those on the trolley for good measure.
The Savoy proved very easy to light and generated realistic amounts of warmth, certainly more than we needed in a September that was quite mild anyway. A soaring success in the stove, but not on the ope fire were the blocks of recycled waste wood. 3 E a pack each block lasted a good few hours and generated tremendous heat. Best of all "Breizh Buches" (they have a website) were somewhere just up the road. Time for a trip out to investigate.
Into the village and the ZA proved elusive. Stop off in the local cafe to ask. When you are in Brittany and the Cafe / Restaurant is encircled by artisans vans of a lunch time it's usually a hint that the food is not too bad, noting that we made some more enquiries, got directions and vowed to return next day to eat.
Wednesday became another day of action, up in the morning ad break up the old sofa bed in our sitting room, put it, with a load of other junk, ready to go for recycling in the afternoon.
Then it was up to Breizh Buches where 75E got us 250 kg of wood. That all went into the van then into the village for a huge 12 E lunch.
The afternoon was a blur of unloading and a trip to the decheterie, meaning I didn't notice the call from Brittany Ferries. Returned their call in the afternoon and, at last it looked like we were booked on a ferry and off home.
The kids (oh yes I forgot about them) had been coping, this was a bit of an object lesson. We would never have thought to leave them on their own for this length of time, yet it was clear they can manage, meaning it's OK for us to go again.
That's something lovely to think about. The student and I can go away not for a rushed day but a leisurely couple of days, so we can and we will go again.
R
This was the first revelation of the weekend, one of the problems with the house is smoke. Light the fire and as the wood burns it slowly fills with smoke, unless you are very careful with how much wood is on there. Running the fire on charcoal, it was really easy to light, the room was warm and smoke free.
The fridge was sitting in the corner humming, we needed to deal with the moule issue and sooner rather than later too. A quick phone call and off we went to see Edit and Youenn two of our local friends in Brittany. The drive down required a stop in Leclerc in Quimper which in turn added a huge piece of steak to the fridge, at 5E it was unmissable!
A lovely evening with friends laid the ghost of a plan. One of the things on our to do list has always been to sort out proper heating for the house. Youenn mentioned how he had noticed that Brico Marche had a big promotion on log stoves. A plan started to form.....
The moule got cooked, not our usual way, with white wine, cream and loads of garlic, but with some Chinese herbs, making a lovely meal.
Home bed and another day when we didn't need to get up, so we didn't.
Well OK eventually we got all optimistic and decided to go and see if BricoMarche was open on a Sunday which of course it isn't and on we went to suffer a beer in the Ansi De Sordan on the banks of Lac Guerledan. I could really get used to this....
There is some comment somewhere else about the "revenge of the moule". Just occasionally a rogue one will slip through with effects that can be truly spectacular. When I say "spectacular" I am of course meaning when it's someone else, if it's you it's tragic and distressing.
The student, god bless her went down with Moule Belly with a vengeance, my was she ever ill, it was impressive!!
It made our trip out next day a hazardous little affair!!! Monday morning we decided to break with routine,do something different - we got up before midday, headed into Pontivy and Bricomarche. Prices were indeed quite eye watering, their "specialist" was a really helpful and knowledgeable guy who knew our house, from driving past it every day into work. We agreed how big a stove we needed (8 kwh) and settled on a Franco Belge Savoy at a price that represented about 300 pound off UK list price. About 30% off in fact.
Into the van and home, when of course the flaw in the thinking started to glare. The stove was 100 Kilos outside the house in the van, the fireplace was up a flight of stairs inside the house. Beer was the obvious solution, into town and the Trois Marchands, bought a couple of locals a beer and back to the house with some muscle. Four of us made short work of getting the stove inside.
By now i had a proper shopping list so it was back into Pontivy for pipes connectors, tiles and adhesive. We have a lovely professional grade tile cutter and by good fortune it happened to be in Britany too. Locked in the dungeon underneath the house, the key to which I forgot to ask Youenn to give me back....
As I sat there planning the operation, a list of necessary tools was forming. I couldn't help myself. I was drawn inexorably to the conclusion I needed a Green Goddess parked outside, everything I needed and more was in the lockers.
Of course we have to work with what we have not what we would like The Stove was going on a wood floor which was not really a good idea. So I got a few sheets of ply as a load spreader and a load of tiles. Conventional wisdom dictates that tiles are stuck down with grout which means hours sitting round as it goes off. The student (between events) stuck the plywood to the floor with quick setting glue, I got into the grate and cut the flue to length. A rockwool barrier went into the chimney Tiles were glued rather than grouted which meant that the stove was in position, connected and lit by Tuesday teatime.
Fuel is a bit of an issue for us. In Brittany pretty much everyone uses wood for heat so you need your local wood guys phone number. Buying wood in Bricomarche was an open wallet experience as all their wood is kiln dried, we noticed wood briquets from recycled mill waste were a lot cheaper so we threw a couple of packs of those on the trolley for good measure.
The Savoy proved very easy to light and generated realistic amounts of warmth, certainly more than we needed in a September that was quite mild anyway. A soaring success in the stove, but not on the ope fire were the blocks of recycled waste wood. 3 E a pack each block lasted a good few hours and generated tremendous heat. Best of all "Breizh Buches" (they have a website) were somewhere just up the road. Time for a trip out to investigate.
Into the village and the ZA proved elusive. Stop off in the local cafe to ask. When you are in Brittany and the Cafe / Restaurant is encircled by artisans vans of a lunch time it's usually a hint that the food is not too bad, noting that we made some more enquiries, got directions and vowed to return next day to eat.
Wednesday became another day of action, up in the morning ad break up the old sofa bed in our sitting room, put it, with a load of other junk, ready to go for recycling in the afternoon.
Then it was up to Breizh Buches where 75E got us 250 kg of wood. That all went into the van then into the village for a huge 12 E lunch.
The afternoon was a blur of unloading and a trip to the decheterie, meaning I didn't notice the call from Brittany Ferries. Returned their call in the afternoon and, at last it looked like we were booked on a ferry and off home.
The kids (oh yes I forgot about them) had been coping, this was a bit of an object lesson. We would never have thought to leave them on their own for this length of time, yet it was clear they can manage, meaning it's OK for us to go again.
That's something lovely to think about. The student and I can go away not for a rushed day but a leisurely couple of days, so we can and we will go again.
R
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