How our new house in Uzer evolved.

The living room in our 400 year old house in St Marsal

After twelve years living near Perpignan, in St Marsal, a small village at 750m on the Canigou, the sacred Catalan mountain, we decided for various reasons to move. After a visit to the High Pyrenees we discovered an area called "The Baronnies" near to Bagneres de Bigorre and within sight of another mountain the Pic du Midi, here shown as the background to the farm house we decided to buy and renovate.

WE FIND THE HOUSE
As you can see the farm house was in need of lots of TLC.

One of the previous owners repaired machines and used the sides of the fridges and cookers as replacement slate tiles!

The old stables, which are to the right and under the hangar in the picture below, had collapsed.

In the middle was an open garage and above it a hay loft.

Behind the farmhouse was a sort of lean-to.

The farm came with about 20 acres of pasture, ideal for our horses. We were also conveniently near to the town of Bagneres de Bigorre and schools for Manon. Yet outside a village and with views of the hills and mountains around us.

RENOVATION PART 1 "Le Gite"

Here you can see how we rebuilt the stables and converted the garage and hay loft into a gites. We call it that for easy identification but it is really the place where we house family and friends who come to visit.

When it was finished we moved in and started the renovation of the main house.






Below Anne-Marie does some painting in the bathroom of the Gite.

Michel Becat our builder, basically built the house on his own. He had a crane and Yves (below) came to help with the demolition/ earth moving as he had the machines. But Michel did the foundations, the brickwork, the woodwork for the roof, the slate tiled roof and the zinc guttering.

RENOVATION PART 2 "La maison principale"



The first job was to clear the inside and here is Yves on his mini machine starting work.

We all had turns as you can see. Manon is pictured below having a go.

Once the ground floor was cleared the floor was removed and the cellar floor levelled. 

Here we are in the cellar during the clear out.

 

And then we erected the concrete posts to take the concrete floor. This was part of the reinforcing that we had to do.



The photo above was taken on Saturday afternoon at about 5.30pm

THEN DISASTER STRIKES

A week after work on the main house started, at midnight that Saturday, the main house collapsed. A beam gave way in the corner nearest the gites and the result you can see. Anne-Marie was at the gite bedroom window (the small one) when we heard "crack and tinkle" and she saw the house collapse. It took les than 5 seconds.

Her I must sing the praises of our builder Michel Becat and Yves who within 4 days had arranged delivery of this huge machine and cleared the site.

 

During the clearance Yves recovered all the stone surrounds of the windows and doors as well as all the oak beams that survived the collapse. (There were quite a lot)

The two gable ends had to be demolished.

Manon finds this all fun.

The site was cleared by Yves, who started the Monday after the collapse at about 4pm and finished the following Wednesday evening. 

The foundations were being laid only four days after the collapse!

Left, the Pile of recovered stone. We were able to restore all the stonework of the windows and the front door as well as the lounge fireplace.

Fortunately we had a very efficient Inspector of Finished Works

The rest took shape quite quickly. In all the main house took about 6 months to complete.

One of the consequences was this: The old house main walls were 60 centimetres thick, now they were replaced by breeze blocks 20 cm thick. We gained 80 cm in the width and 80 cm in the length on three floors. That is the equivalent to 50 sq meters or 2 large rooms.

Unfortunately because the house was now 80cm wider inside, all but one of the ceiling oak beams were too short. We used as many of the oak beams as possible: in the kitchen (see end photos) and as window lintels. Fortunately the extra cost was not so bad as we no longer had need to have some fairly expensive concrete belts around the house and the house, reconstructed faithfully as it was, is new!

Here I am helping on the roof.

and Michel in his element

and Manon

and Anne-Marie

We topped the roof with this horsy thing.

And here Michel celebrates the finish of the roof of the utility room and TV room.

I did all the electricity in both the Gite and the main house. Anne-Marie did most of the painting in both parts. 

and here is (above) the front door and the brick surround.

and (below) as it was before the collapse.

The well, a hole in the ground, is 15 metres deep and completely faced with stone all the way down. Here Thomas, who did a lot of the interior work, plastering, plumbing and tiling, helps place the first part of the well's new dress. See the result below. And it pumps up fresh clean water too. 

We gained all round as we left most of the rubble behind the house and made it into a road. It also helped level the horse training ring which actually contains part of our old house, a block of flats from Tarbes and part of the Hospital of Bagneres de Bigorre!

Below. Michel let me go up in his crane to take some aerial shots.

And so the house was finished:

The House

(R to L) Manon on Cadeau, a friend on Ophenix and me on Ivoire about to explore our land !!!

The lounge

The kitchen. The central wood work was made by Michel Becat entirely by hand from the old roof beams, which were now too short to span.

Our bedroom and shower room in the converted loft.

Below: View of the house (foreground) and the village 

The pastures in dark green

and a Google eye view of UZER 65200

From Picardy to Saint Marsal to Uzer

This is how it all began:

I first got to know Picardy when I met two very nice guys (that later changed) who were selling houses in Picardy to English clients. It was a great time and sales were easy.

I was living in a small but expensive rented flat in Hampstead following my separation. I soon saw the potential and bought a third share of the company. For a year all went well. We sold about 90 properties and then the bombshell was dropped. Pierre Perrot was keeping most of the deposits we sent over instead of giving them to the bank and the result was a £100k hole. Malcolm Kirsh, the other partner denied all knowledge but I soon found out that he knew.

So, with the excuse that it was cheaper for me to live in the flat over our French office, I moved to Rue in Picardy with the intention of getting my money back.

I gave myself six months but then I met Anne-Marie at a riding stables near the small fishing port of Le Crotoy and fell in love.

Yes I got my money back. Pierre and Malcolm didn't know what hit them. I even got our UK bank to go after Malcolm and not me. I asked the bank for a meeting where Malcolm told lie after lie to the bank director and after we left I made an excuse and returned to the meeting as arranged and gave them the proof of all the lies in black and white.

I also managed to take over two small but profitable developments in France.

Then as I said Anne-Marie came into my life. We had been horse trekking several times in the Pyrenees near Perpignan and we decided to move to the area and look for a home. Eventually in 1992 we found the house in St Marsal and settled down.

The house was 400 years old and we lovingly renovated it. We got married in 1993 with a huge party in the little village square just outside the house. Manon came along three years later and our neighbour, Maguy became godmother to Manon.

Life in the village was idyllic. The village welcomed us and we took part in village life. We were befriended by the village post-lady Francoise and her husband Guy. We made many friends including some St Marsal English couples.

I don't think I have ever known of so many crazy stories or happenings in any other village. The first was the Entertainment committee scandal!

Francoise and her two sons invited me to be the accountant for the committee and all went well for a couple of years then all of a sudden they asked me to resign. OK I said but first the accounts will be put in order and approved. Something they did not want to do but had no choice.  I found a receipt for 500 euros and thanked the Mayor for the village's subvention? "Not ours" he said. Then he investigated and the truth came out. Francoise had for some time been writing the cheques for some elderly people and then putting the committee's name on the cheque. She needed me out in order to cash the cheque. She was not sacked until on the 1st of April the locks on the post office were glued. The Gendarmes arrived fearing a robbery and when they got inside, Francoise told the Gendarmes that her work wallet with all the funds in it were missing. The Gendarmes found it under the bed of her youngest son, Joel. Francoise was sacked.

Then came the local elections. I learnt a thing or two with this event.