Landed . . .

So, after many, many weeks of packing, sorting, discarding, arguing about what should be discarded, huge stress, sadness, and much excitement . . . we arrived in our new abode. Each move time we say never again, and this time, yes, NEVER AGAIN.

It was a very odd feeling to leave our beautiful old maison de maitre and its incredible nature garden. Here is . . . not at all beautiful, (the little garden will be), but very quirky, and on a smaller scale, allowing some rest for older person's joints/ back etc.

Chaos of early unpacking

Settled in dog

Our first eve in the house - I managed to get the open fire going.

I write this sitting on a sort of landing with a floor level window through which one can observe cyclists, walkers and luckily very few cars; and beyond, the Loire, the ancient fertile river bed lands, and onto the dark, long humps of forest. 

There is masses to do: unpacking, decorating, and more serious and essential work such as re-wiring, re-doing the stucco, painting etc, but as our friend Justine said over a coffee this morning at the market. Don't stress, just look at the views and it'll all come together - or something like that. He's a good calming influence!