The New Roof.

Back on April 8th I showed our neighbour's roof having been totally removed. Their new roof is now advancing, and is looking great. I hadn't imagined that the end wall was going straight up to a point; previously it was a 'bonnet roof', but has now changed to a 'tall open gable'. It will obviously contain a few more rooms, and I think it'll look very good.

My good friend José used to refer to our tiny three house hamlet as the village's 'Riviera', on account of the fine 'original' vernacular houses, the perfect location, and its non-farming group of leisure-loving-residents.

Well, the houses have remained much the same (with one or two blunders), the location certainly hasn't altered, and none of us has yet taken to the plough. Our house is very typical of the area, the middle house has been changed into a holiday centre and reflects that, but the other house (above) is looking as if it'll now take over as 'The big house'; it'll become a little Manoire. And in a prominent, open, position too. All it needs now is a tall pigeon tower connecting the house to the barn, and we'll call it a 'Chateau'.

This is how properties evolve, and often how wealth is displayed. A tower here, or an extra wing there; that's how things work.

I now feel as if we're living in the 'gardener's cottage'; albeit a very nice one.