tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372566120850915672024-03-19T01:08:32.962-07:00Strawbale build in the CharenteThe ups and downs of building a strawbale house in Charente, Francenapcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637256612085091567.post-11688490849823723962013-08-20T08:02:00.003-07:002013-08-20T08:57:31.963-07:00The static caravanSince we are visiting a lot now that things are finally moving on our build, and we traditionally stay at least 20-25 minutes away I decided to see if I could get a static caravan. I found one on ebay, being sold by a couple who had done their place up 50kms away and who were now selling it on. We weren't the winning bidders but I sent an email immediately saying if the sale fell through for whatever reason then to please let us know as we would be keen to purchase it.<br />
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The sale fell through and we thought it was fate and meant to be. As proud possessors of a new (old) 3 bedroom static caravan, we haired off to France to check it out. It was sitting on a lovely concrete pad, all ready to go, and we thought, this will be a breeze to get out. We raced off to our local mayor to get permission to house it for a year, rushing through the request as we wanted to move it that weekend. We found somebody to move it and then when they came to look at where they were moving it to - disaster. They said there was no way it would get onto the land through the current access point (which was a tractor trail).<br />
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We had to organise with the previous owners to leave it on their land till we could get our driveway done. 6 months later, our driveway was done and we were ready to get the caravan moved. The guy who did our driveway knew a guy who transported stuff and he gave us a very competitive quote. Unfortunately that was the only good thing about the entire move.<br />
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We had put a new tyre on one side of the caravan but it wasn't properly blown up, and the other side was completely flat, so when they came to take it away they couldn't drag it. They decided to fill the tyres themselves but they couldn't quite manage it so decided the flat tyres would do the job and tried to bodily drag it.<br />
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The tractor they brought with them wasn't strong enough but luckily they knew the farmer up the road with a huge tractor who came down to give a hand (very kindly). Using brute force he managed to get the caravan off the slab, turned around and facing out onto the road but then they realised that they had to have their own tractor pull it onto the transporter as it had to go on first. They disappeared off home to get another tractor. Thankfully they were only 15 minutes down the road. Meanwhile the entry to the little hamlet had been closed off for most of the day and a little french couple thought it was high entertainment and spent most of that time watching the shenanigans.<br />
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Finally they arrived back with their own, larger tractor, pulled the caravan onto the transporter (gouging out the main road and pulling up all corners on the caravan while doing so), only to almost loose it off the side before they got it strapped down.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqKKz_4oMR4GxR3Q8I64yH1zPF14JRrbxdjrGYlv0he1yy-ceK7j-6_Co5uvNbGJbIDZ13hlU8NctlaCtCMvkQQMweFjbdx1bOkYhT830ViSUf6cUPZYhYqOsRRKgW0FSsUR0rHlmYUy0/s1600/IMG_1565.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqKKz_4oMR4GxR3Q8I64yH1zPF14JRrbxdjrGYlv0he1yy-ceK7j-6_Co5uvNbGJbIDZ13hlU8NctlaCtCMvkQQMweFjbdx1bOkYhT830ViSUf6cUPZYhYqOsRRKgW0FSsUR0rHlmYUy0/s320/IMG_1565.JPG" width="320" /></a>Meanwhile the next doors neighbours came out to demand that all the grass and soil that had fallen from the bottom of the caravan be cleared away from in front of their house. We set to using our hands and then moving to a space and fork that he provided. Just as well we did as a poor snake had been caught up in the bottom and had fallen out with all the grass and soil. I don't know who was more surprised. Probably the snake.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh71X3MrXPXptkjriO4NOgnvueZsbMgBKadM_AiA5Py0S3m7TGQ2IgXRhg7bax8JFOqAJsGNfVvwjmV1X_50K3qPHGOQe2YLvUcS61VqwxXBQNdp8QACo6tYbU-2hKxgTJluDJKcl1UqpA/s1600/IMG_1559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh71X3MrXPXptkjriO4NOgnvueZsbMgBKadM_AiA5Py0S3m7TGQ2IgXRhg7bax8JFOqAJsGNfVvwjmV1X_50K3qPHGOQe2YLvUcS61VqwxXBQNdp8QACo6tYbU-2hKxgTJluDJKcl1UqpA/s320/IMG_1559.JPG" width="320" /></a>We finally arrived out our land and got the transporter backed up onto it (breaking our brand new concrete culvert as they did so). As they tried to back the caravan off the trailer bed it came off the side finally and we had to call our builder, who was on his way to a party, to use his JCB to push it back on, causing the siding on the caravan to split when he did so.<br />
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Just as the sun was going down, so 11 hours after we got started, the van was finally on the ground, with a buckled tow bar, pulled up edges on four sides, broken siding and axel deep in the soft soil of our land. As it was getting dark we requested that they level it as best they could and we would call it a day and there it has stayed, getting more slanty it seems every time. They did say they would come back and fix the tow bar when we got new tyres so it could be moved into place. At the moment it isn't hooked up to the septic or the water as it is almost impossible to get under it. Plus most of the undercarriage has had bits pulled off while it was dragged around the countryside.<br />
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Not sure in the end if it was worth it, but waking up the first morning on the land was almost priceless :)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZB7Sl6wi_yF0xHAuXzEhKZazk2z2RselhRpZOvYbqooHaCjNGwfWrCKldX4uAPlPPlu3CJgzmigyMYscI6aQnJspI3mow9bT07UQexhMCmPebzDd0yYswUV_EGKbALdjvYf-wR7P-nrA/s1600/IMG_1564.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZB7Sl6wi_yF0xHAuXzEhKZazk2z2RselhRpZOvYbqooHaCjNGwfWrCKldX4uAPlPPlu3CJgzmigyMYscI6aQnJspI3mow9bT07UQexhMCmPebzDd0yYswUV_EGKbALdjvYf-wR7P-nrA/s320/IMG_1564.JPG" width="320" /></a>napcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637256612085091567.post-67592953035009998042013-08-20T05:51:00.002-07:002013-08-20T05:56:13.024-07:00Full steam aheadSo it has been a very long time since I last blogged - I did have a vague suspicion that perhaps my blogging wouldn't be that frequent. Anyway a whole lot has happened. I think the last time I posted anything we were trying to refinance our house and use the equity to build our straw bale cottage. Well that didn't happen. In the end we decided our best bet would be to save the money up and spread the build out over a few years. <br />
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This year we have focused on getting the infrastructure and utilities in. We have our driveway which means we can finally access the land by vehicle and start getting things delivered. The electricity and water has been connected to the boundary and just needs to be piped in. Our septique tank has gone in and we have a static caravan (a story unto itself) on the land now.<br />
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In a previous blog I mentioned that the only sticking point we really had with the planning authorities was over the eco sewage system we wanted to use. Because things have taken so long to happen, by the time we got around to putting our septic tank in, a new system had come onto the market. It is by a Canadian company and uses coconut hair as the filtration system. Because it is all natural, once everything has composted down you can, theoretically, plow it back into your land as fertiliser. It only needs emptying every 10 or so years, depending on usage and best of all, it doesn't need a leech field.<br />
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In a few weeks our hay shed goes up and as soon as that happens we will order our straw and get that delivered and start getting the doors and windows. It is tremendously exciting and makes everything seem much more in reach.<br />
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This means that the biggest cost next year (our new build date) is the roof and we will be saving like mad to make sure we have the funds for that.napcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637256612085091567.post-7634079775897247182013-08-20T05:48:00.001-07:002013-08-20T05:48:10.329-07:00driveway<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tkuech/8691212501/" title="Kuech 002 (2)"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8119/8691212501_00020a03b9.jpg" alt="Kuech 002 (2) by napcatkuech" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tkuech/8691212501/">Kuech 002 (2)</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tkuech/">napcatkuech</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p>Our new driveway is brilliant, finally allowing us access onto the land. It took ages to decide where to put the driveway as there was a fairly hefty bank up onto the land and there was a telephone pole right next to where the existing tractor access was. The solution - put the driveway on the other side of the telephone pole and fill in the tractor access.</p>napcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637256612085091567.post-7795855380191465362013-08-20T05:42:00.001-07:002013-08-20T05:42:30.465-07:00sewage system<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0; font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tkuech/8888183541/" title="Kuech 58"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2819/8888183541_83cd212c91.jpg" alt="Kuech 58 by napcatkuech" /></a><br/><span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tkuech/8888183541/">Kuech 58</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tkuech/">napcatkuech</a> on Flickr.</span></div><p>Coconut fibre sewage system going in</p>napcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637256612085091567.post-69137305679396783202012-08-25T11:10:00.000-07:002012-08-27T01:57:52.921-07:00Movement at the station (or the foundations have gone in)So I have been very silent for a while. We managed to get our planning permission through once we had resigned ourselves to having a normal fosse septique and put away our eco dreams on that front. That was the only thing holding it up. We went to SPANC near Chabanais and met with a very nice gentleman who spoke quite good English and with his help we got it sorted.<br />
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We decided to start the build this year as we only had two years to get started once we got our permission. The beginning of the year started well, with quotes coming in thick and fast. A lot of people hadn't heard of rubble trench foundations before so we ended up going with the most expensive quote we received but we thought it would be worthwhile as the builder was knowledgeable and very interested in green building himself. I have heaps of images which I will put in so you can see the progress of the foundations.<br />
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<a href="http://flic.kr/s/aHsjBEtkUL">link to pics of rubble trench foundation</a><br />
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Then came a blow - we couldn't get our financing so we decided we would postpone the cottage build and concentrate on the workshop/garage build but then we had another blow - we couldn't get any straw locally because of the drought the year before and obviously we didn't want to import straw, both because of the ecological and monetary cost. We had committed to building in June so we couldn't access the harvest from this year either. And even when we tried to organise straw after the harvest, bad timing and missed opportunities abounded leaving us in the same position we were previously, without straw.<br />
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We are going to try again for our financing next month and if it goes through we will try to get the barn built (where we can store our building materials) and purchase all the roofing materials and other things we find on sale, ready for the build next year.<br />
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Our new build date is now September 2013, after next years harvest where we have organised with a local contractor to get local straw, to our specifications which means everything should be in place, ready to go.<br />
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We have had heaps of people interested in volunteering and have had to put them off because of the various debacles that have happened. I will contact them all again next year and see if any are interested in coming then.<br />
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The silver lining to everything is that it has given me more time to decide on the hot water heating system and to get a bit more organised. I really think that measuring twice and cutting once is a maxim to live by and this gives me plenty of time to 'measure'.napcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637256612085091567.post-89792425682257971412010-06-02T12:52:00.000-07:002012-08-27T01:59:20.548-07:00How to determine roof pitch (in percent)The Charente seems to have a very unique way of determining the pitch of the roofs in this area. Once you know how it is done it is easy but until then it seems beyond understanding. It has taken us three goes, two meetings with government appointed architects and four forum postings but at last we have it figured out - we think!<br />
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In it's simplest form the roof pitch has to be 35%. To get this you measure one metre from the roof plate inwards, then at the one metre mark you measure 35cm up. The angle that is formed between the 35cm and the 1 metre is the pitch. The narrower your building the higher the pitch. I have attached a drawing to make it easier to understand.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLkWqlfgnoEYXwekJRKDwJWvK1Lx5WNCLkIk8hmG0O8qaZ4JOEVTcmWzz4gzGnfLUVp8s_phwV2kc8p6407uOZAZ2AWQAtEjPzzbxlcTFCr_sWb21yuwFpdE6sH5iBbIzgS8pcKaWP7Yo/s1600/roof-pitch-diagram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLkWqlfgnoEYXwekJRKDwJWvK1Lx5WNCLkIk8hmG0O8qaZ4JOEVTcmWzz4gzGnfLUVp8s_phwV2kc8p6407uOZAZ2AWQAtEjPzzbxlcTFCr_sWb21yuwFpdE6sH5iBbIzgS8pcKaWP7Yo/s640/roof-pitch-diagram.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
napcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637256612085091567.post-41446791682543653232010-05-25T02:39:00.001-07:002010-05-25T02:51:55.149-07:00Automated systemI have been away in Florida living the highlife and while I have been away the second meeting with the planning department has taken place and the most wonderful Murray (our architect) and our most wonderful neighbours in Jumeaux have dealt with everything. <div><br /></div><div>The first meeting with the planning department went quite well. Our neighbour in France, Adrian, attended on our behalf. They had four or five points that they raised, namely with the windows and the roof. It seems in the Charente you can only have a maximum of three different rectangular window sizes and we had four. Plus they have to be at least 20 cm taller than they are wide. This was a relatively easy fix. The biggest blow came when they described how to determine the roof pitch and the new pitch is low, very very low, which means that we no longer have a loft or a place to put my lovely cheap ebay round window.</div><div><br /></div><div>There were a couple of other small issues but on the whole it seemed quite positive and easily fixed. The next couple of days after the meeting were spent in a whirl of organising, translating and changing. We have had to put a proposal forward for our sewage system which was pretty involved and we also decided to put forward a proposal to keep the existing pitch on the roof. </div><div><br /></div><div>I got all the translating done but hadn't finished getting it checked before we set out on holiday so left Murray with everything which he got finished and sent off. Once he had made all his changes I also emailed the planning department to go with the hard copies we had sent to our local mayor's office (the mayor's office being the first point of contact on all planning issues). It was just as well I emailed the planning department with our changes and proposals as they had not received anything from the mayor's office and the second meeting was done with little A4 printouts of all our changes. </div><div><br /></div><div>Everything seemed fine in the second meeting except the roof pitch was once again a bit of a contentious issue. It seems that we still did not fully understand how to determine the pitch but after the latest meeting I think that has been resolved and we are going to redo the roof once again. Not as steep as we would like but not as shallow as first feared. I will put the exact details of how to determine roof pitch in the Charente when I finally understand them completely. </div><div><br /></div><div>We still haven't sent our sewage proposal to the right place but will get to that this week. </div><div><br /></div><div>On the whole the outlook is very good (oh we can't have a tin roof either and will have to go with local tiles which is not necessarily a bad thing but will require more preparation to make them adequate for water harvesting). We are now looking toward the finishing line - we hope - of the planning process! All I can say is yay :)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>napcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637256612085091567.post-7844577530790291702010-04-15T10:02:00.000-07:002010-04-15T10:09:09.131-07:00Two pieces of communicationIn this last week we have had movement on our application front. On Tuesday we receieved a confirmation of receipt of our application from the mayor's office in our local town. This gives us our application number and lets us know that things are slowly turning. This was a joyful occasion. We deduced that if we hear nothing else before the 1st of June then we would be home and hosed. Unfortunately today I received an email from the second line of defence as it were in the application process and they had a fair bit to say but they also had some solutions which is good.<br /><br />To put it bluntly the pitch of the roof is too great (it needs to be 35%, whatever that means), the window openings are not long and narrow enough, we have put in a fair few wide windows and it turns out that in this region the windows need to be tall and thin (like I wish I was :P), the garage needs to be simplified and we need to apply for a sewage something or other (this is where my google translate let me down).<br /><br />They also said we were missing two parts to the application, one of which was the descriptive notice. Now since that fell under my jurisdiction I know, without a doubt, that it is done. <br /><br />On the other hand they did give us a time and place to meet with a government appointed architect to help us with these problems so I am in the midst of trying to find somebody to attend the meeting for me as I can't really make it back and I don't think my French is up to it. Once I have done that then I can address the issue of the missing parts of the application and verify exactly what is missing and perhaps send it again. <br /><br />This may seem like bad news but I think it is pretty good as they seem to be quite keen on helping sort these issues. Will keep you informed!napcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637256612085091567.post-20220711327155330852010-04-06T03:47:00.000-07:002010-04-06T03:56:54.130-07:00Permaculture: saviour of the world that nobody can affordSo I have been sort of interested in permaculture for a while and reading bits and pieces but now that we have our blank canvas to create I figured it was time to really come to grips with it. Unfortunately while there are a million and one courses out there you have to be a millionaire to attend any of them.<br /><br />Permaculture is any system of sustainable agriculture that renews natural resources and enriches local ecosystems or the design, installation and maintenance of indefinitely sustainable human communities set in balanced ecologies, both urban and rural.<br /><br />This seems rather strange as most of the people who follow permaculture and are interested in this sort of thing are people who are concerned with the state of the world and want a naturally sustainable, barter system to become prevalent so that we can halt the destruction. All of this is fantastic in theory but then they want to charge you hundreds of pounds to learn. Obviously if this is their livelihood then they have to charge something but it really isn't accessible to the people who would probably implement it the most out of sheer necessity, so they are cutting out a whole swathe of the population who would help save the world because they don't have enough money to live the consumer type lifestyle we are all caught up in.<br /><br />I can tell you that when I finally come to grips with it I shall be extremely open with paying my knowledge forward!napcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637256612085091567.post-23058745110791761972010-03-31T02:48:00.001-07:002010-03-31T03:07:32.045-07:00Submitting the applicationAfter a week and a half of non stop work, mainly from Murray (our poor Australian friend who made the mistake of staying with us and then was roped into drawing everything and doing it in French), we finally had our planning application completely finished. It has gone through some iterations. First we were going to apply for every single building we might ever want or need in the one application. This included our eventual family home but then we came across another snag (just one more snag in a never ending stream of snags). In France, if you want to build a dwelling over 170m2 then a French registered architect needs to have done and signed the plans.<br /><br />You guessed it - our house was over 170m2 by a fair amount. So then we decided we might be able to get it under that amount as the final usable floor space can have items deducted like 5% for walls and anything under the roof that doesn't exceed 1.8m. This left us with an extremely pitched roof and one bedroom. In the end we decided to abandon applying for the house as well and just applied for the cottage, garage and american barn.<br /><br />Of course being a relatively rush job the morning I am about to send it I realise we haven't put the solar panels on the 3d render nor have we put the wind turbine on any of the plans so a frantic email to Murray once again and finally we were ready to post them off. Here is the end result (pretty spiffy if I do say so myself):<br /><br />http://www.scribd.com/doc/29219316<br /><br /><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/29219316">Open file</a>napcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637256612085091567.post-85805322213344315072010-03-30T08:43:00.000-07:002010-03-31T03:31:49.054-07:00Buying the land<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ28ZE6JLWkNj3RdLPA2Ofb_iBqLUoG-fmJ_dzU5vVuD9Qn7nTFJHGmPODqIy1aKuwvAvwIUGcYj8WpJvtGIynjMxvJFsadfxuYZ0S7LF9f22ATRr5XfZ-fAZ_Yd52ZxkT-EyWCDIV1lQ/s1600/land.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454743410893980642" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 269px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 180px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ28ZE6JLWkNj3RdLPA2Ofb_iBqLUoG-fmJ_dzU5vVuD9Qn7nTFJHGmPODqIy1aKuwvAvwIUGcYj8WpJvtGIynjMxvJFsadfxuYZ0S7LF9f22ATRr5XfZ-fAZ_Yd52ZxkT-EyWCDIV1lQ/s320/land.bmp" border="0" /></a><br />Once upon a time I worked for a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">humongously</span> large investment bank. Life was good, life was sweet. Without warning a tsunami of an <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">economic</span> downturn hit us and before I knew what was happening I was washed overboard. The company threw me a life ring in the form of a relatively <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">substantial</span> amount of money which I gratefully latched on to. To my great surprise I washed straight up into another job (though just a temp job) and it was like nothing had ever happened so I decided to use my windfall to change my life as I had grown tired of the incessant commuting to work and all day at a computer in an office, working for large corporations.<br /><br />To this end I decided that I would buy land somewhere in the European Union as that was the most affordable. Croatia caught my eye as it is about to join the Union and has plenty of rural land at extremely affordable prices. I announced that Croatia would be our future home and my siblings had a few qualms. By the time I had soothed their qualms I had managed to pick up a few of my own and one fortuitous day, when I was following links to different Croatian land websites I mistakenly found myself on a French land website instead and that, as they say, was that!<br /><br />Immediately a feeling of rightness settled over me, the sun shone, the angels sang and without even discussing it with anybody I started my search anew, this time in France.<br /><br />Almost immediately I found a few parcels of land that would suit so I grabbed my youngest sister, Boo, informed her we were doing an impromptu flight to the South-West of France and off we set. For two and a half days we looked at various bits of land in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Charente</span> and the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Haute</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Vienne</span>. The original piece of land we went to see was beautiful, with most of what we wanted but it was relatively small and had a bog smack bang in the middle. 'Don't worry about it, build a pond' everybody told us but that would have left us with even less land so wasn't really a viable solution.<br /><br />On the last day, just before we were about to head back to England, empty handed our <a href="http://www.immojr.fr/index.php?option=com_estateagent&Itemid=26">real estate agent</a> took us to see a big parcel of land (7+ acres) that might be available as the owner had decided he was too old to build and move to France.<br /><br />While not perfect (there was no running water or trees on the land) it did have a lot of potential and a CU (French certificate stating the land could be built upon after an application is submitted) and it was HUGE! We got back home, discussed it with our other sister, Kimmy, and decided we would go for it. A short while later our offer was accepted and the wheels of French commerce started turning.napcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-637256612085091567.post-44463411753856488562010-03-30T08:25:00.000-07:002010-03-30T08:37:50.060-07:00Virgin territorySo here I am, never having blogged before and never having built anything before (I don't think flat pack Ikea bookshelves count). My goal is to document the whole process - whether I will actually fulfill that goal is another matter entirely. <br /><br />The whole project is being undertaken by myself and my two sisters. None of us really speak French (which is perhaps a bit of an understatement), none of us have any useful sort of skills but we do have a dream of living in a strawbale house and many books to help us get there :)<br /><br />We have already purchased the land which I will talk about in more detail in its own post and we have just submitted our planning application which also needs its own post.<br /><br />Hopefully people will find this helpful and our network of strawbale mad friends and people wanting to participate will increase.napcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14679145821199330198noreply@blogger.com4