THE ENGLISH ARE HERE

Where  was. I ?     Oh yes in the fog.

We had contacted an English estate agent about 20 miles north of here and she was recommending two properties to view.

The first was situated on the banks of the Le Loir, a smaller river than the Loire, but extremely pretty. The house was in a beautiful spot with a small lane between it and the river bank and this was one reasons we decided against: the possibility of flooding.

After dozens of viewings during January and early February we were somewhat downhearted and not really expecting a great deal as we drove through the fog and drizzle towards Monkvalley

In addition the nearest village is called Le Sale Village which translates to the “dirty village”!

But, we were both quietly excited when we arrived and looked around the place.

Before I go further let me tell you that our criteria for a house in France was somewhere with a large dining kitchen, on the edge of a village, and, within walking distance of a boulangerie.

Well: Le Val aux Moines is on the edge of a village but, nothing else on the list matched!

We almost decided there and then that this was the house, but wisely the agent said go away and think about it for a couple of days, which we did. Well to be exact, and, after a very sleepless night we decided this was the place, and, the rest is history!

Once we had paid the initial deposit to the Notaire (Notary, responsible for all legal documents etc.) the agent gave us a set of keys for us to look around at our leisure, and, because our furniture was in storage back in the UK, we had permission from the owners to bring everything over, and store in the house prior to the final completion date.

Arrangements were made for the storage firm in Sheffield to make the delivery and they arrived on the due date in Gennes (or Jennies as they pronounced it!).

…..and, so it was on Tuesday 26^th February The large lorry plus large trailer pulled up outside of the house. The removal men decided that the side doors of the lorry needed to be facing the house, so they decided to reverse back down the lane for this to happen. Reverse! If I say Laurel and Hardy you get the picture!

Now I know how hard it is to reverse with a small trailer on a car never mind a lorry, and trailer, it was therefore no surprise when the lorry ended up at an angle of almost 45° in a ditch, and leaning precariously towards the telephone wires.

Sheila was despatched to a local farmer, who, it has to be said, promptly stopped eating his lunch, and came along, albeit with a smile on his face, his tractor was not strong enough, the mayor was summoned, and so again he left his now not so long leisurely lunch. Lots of gesturing, “we are going to need an exceedingly larger tractor”! The local garage owner was called, and, no, we had to wait till he finished his lunch. It was all in good humour, which is something we have found, time, and time again, the problem was sorted, and, it was one way of getting our selves known! People still talk about……”le jour où le camion de déménagement appartenant aux Anglais est resté coincé dans un fossé” lol!

The drive from our rented place to here took about 90 minutes, and, we did this approx 3 times a week. Our visits, including exploring around the area, showing visitors from the UK the house, and slowly unpacking our furniture. Each time we drove into the village a lady always used to wave to us, we never spoke until a few weeks later, since from then on we have been friends with Bernadette Cousin and her family.

The completion date and moving in day was Saturday 26^th May 2002, the weather was perfect and we prepared to welcome our first of many visitors.