Home is where the heart is

Since I last caught up with you we have been enjoying living in Kebourg and making it truly chez nous. We finally have all our clothes out of storage and in our new wardrobes and dressing area and we are slowly adding pictures and the little bits and pieces that make a house a home. Curtain material is bought although I haven't actually started making them yet.

 I am enjoying my office / work room though and at the moment it is my Christmas card factory. We are as warm as toast and really glad we invested in all round insulation.

Outside all the landscaping is finished and grass pushing through and we have two car parks and so no more mud ! Shrubs and trees are ready for planting and we are are enjoying making plans for developing the garden in the spring. We have a few finishing jobs but we don't want to be painting etc until the new year and we're using the winter to get everywhere organised and to truly settle in. The outside of the house still isn't pointed but that will be done in the spring too and then we will say our final au revoir to the workmen.

We love living here - we were happy in our first french house at Peyrenegre but it was always a workplace too and never felt like a forever home.  Here we like:

• the better views outside (and no pylon)
• the better views from inside, I can watch the sunset from my office and have views from every room - I especially like a  small original window in the salon that frames the view like a picture frame
• the free water from our natural spring,
• being in the village with people we love popping in,
• that it is such an easily maintained property
• having no upstairs
• being so warm with great heating and insulation
• the bigger, higher roofed terrace with closed ends to keep off the wind and to store our winter wood and house a summer kitchen
• the pool just for us and close to the house

This is a house designed to fit the way we live in France and suits us down to the ground - it really is home sweet home. I'll be getting the decorations down soon and finding a place for each of them to set the scene for our first Kebourg Christmas. The dogs seem happy here too!

Thanks to all of you for your help and encouragement during the renovations. We hope to have many happy years here and to continue to share this lovely place with friends and family.

The first Kebourg birthday