david

we are looking for a roofer for barn being converted to living space. Region 87 near Linards. Any recomendations welcome.

Thanks everyone  for your comments!!! Obviously my explaination was not clear. We were advised by a chap who makes a living out of pointing to buy St Astier ( a ready mix specificately for pointing ) and mix with water until consistency of toothpaste. All very easy .Also easy to apply with the 'icing bag 'method. We are perplexed and frustrated that on buying more, with the same batch no., that the colour is not matching. I was just looking for any suggestions as to why this is the case .I'm trying to save time so can get on with the job when in France at Easter. Regards, David 

We are pointing our cottage and adjoining barn ourselves. At the speed I'm progressing this will take many years! I found it relaxing and rewarding until we bought more chaux ( St Astier) , We ensured it was with the same batch number as the sac we had commenced with but the colour does not match with previous pointing.We are not mixing with sand. Any ideas where we are going wrong? Do the batch numbers change annually perhaps...??  Do we have to buy all the chaux at once...? Thankyou in advance, David

Hi, I'm sorry I cannot help you with the Agricultural Board question but am wondering if you are aware of barn buying pitfalls? Our 'friendly' neighbour farmer took us to court because our barn was 47m from his barn housing cattle. If you wish to convert a barn to a dwelling it must be at the minimum of 50m. This does not apply if there is an internal connection (ie: door or corridor) to a building that was once a dwelling. Hope this doesn't open a can of worms. Good luck with your purchase. Sarah

When I was last in France (Aug) I was full of enthusiasm for returning with various plants and trees in October for a planting binge!Can anyone tell me if it is any cheaper going to a large French garden centre than purchasing in England. Also could a garden centre be recommended near Limoges? I am feeling a little out of touch with our farm yard (garden) and am finding it difficult to make any decisions here! By the way it is a foul w.e  in south England......pouring! Many thanks in advance. Sarah

Some advise please re: the correct ways of signing off  formal letters in French.I am writing to our M. le Maire at the moment and really just want to say 'yours sincerely'! A collection of different phrases would be much appreciated. With thanks in advance.

Dear Tegwini, We are driving south via N10 this time so will be passing your door. Normally we use the N20. How far are you from Chatellerault and the N10? It is a shame we will miss one another by a day,but I would be very interested in collecting the plants when en route, if at all possible.That is ,if you would agree  to our doing so when you are not there? Could you give me some idea what they are? I was thinking they would be fine in a plastic bag each,I will then plant them in a temp. position. We will need to dot them around the car between chair legs etc. as no doubt it will be laden! Let me know what you think. kind regards, Sarah.

Dear Tegwini, Many thanks for your kind offer of plants.I am interested but we are not in France until 24 March and then only for 2 weeks.Also, I have no soil prepared...need to turn a farm yard into a garden!Would the plants tolerate being in pots for a while or alternatively I could heel them in.?Would they tolerate Limousin winters? Where do you live in the Vienne? Sarah.

Thankyou very much for web site......some excellent advice. Relieved that we can continue to plan a garden! david and Sarah.

Having installed a sewage filter system, in a relatively small area , I am now concerned that planting a hedge or trees nearby ,to attempt to hide an unsightly building ,may be rather foolish. I think I am really asking about root habits and how they might affect a filter system.Is it a case of finding deep rooting plants rather than spreading shallow ones?Or do all roots dash to the nearest moisture? There is an under water stream, much deeper than the filter.  I plan to put in a 2m high fence and had thought of growing Russian Vine up and over initially.Any suggestions of quick growing screening plants that could be planted infont of this to break the line of the fence  and add some height? Mixing interesting  coniphers with something else? (filter system permitting)  We live in the Limousin.440m. Thankyou for your time ,David.

I am at last getting a little organised !I have made inquiries  into setting up a simple , straight forward will with  a company who have French speaking lawyers practising  in England. Quote is £300+vat. Does this sound reasonable?  Seems rather excessive when it can only cost £50 to set up British Will.....Would we be better making Will in France? Can anyone advise on company they have used in Sussex area or around  Limoges(87) and amount they were charged. Many thanks for your time. Sarah and David!

Can anyone enlighten me on on a recent request for tax payment. We received go ahead for our permis de construire on 09.08.06. and are now being  asked for payment of the two taxes : C.A.U.E. and Espaces  sensibles in relation to it. The amount being 486.00 euros. What are the taxes and is the rate a standard one? Many thanks for any information. David.

Does anyone know the planning law in the Haute Vienne(87) for distances between agricultural barns housing cattle and renovations of barns?Did the law change in Feb 05? Thankyou for your time, David.

Can anyone please advise the best place to buy powder or liquid dye for mortar.We are using chaux , cement and river sand. Is it the sand colour that makes all the difference or should we expect to use dye? We are looking for a muddy yellow  colour (Haute Vienne S.E.  of Limoges.)We neeed to point inside and out over a period of time and would like the end result to be consistant.                                         Any advise apreciated. Sarah  

Thank you one and all for all the information, a little worrying but we now have some leads. Still can't understand how you can have a Cert d' Urbanisme with written approval of the barn extension  on it ! We waited many months for this and it was a condition of sale, yet by all accounts it may be worthless?! We always understood that the fact that there is a house adjoining the barn helps your cause. Cathy your article is very helpful, the nasty farmer is bound to bring in an extra cow to bring his number up to 11. We actually live in the Haute Vienne (87) I wonder if the rules are the same in this area. Village gossip suggests the farmer does not have permission the keep cattle in the barn, only hay and machinery. The barn is 20 plus or so years pld andoin the centre of the village. Can anyone throw any light on the date the legislation was passed re human habitation and livestock. Re measurements, would they be from the closest points of the respective buildings or (I'm hoping) centre to centre? Wishful thinking...? Sarah

Does anyone have experience of the process that an objection to a permis to constuire follows ? Our Cert d'Urbanisme was granted before our sale over a year ago. A condition of sale, and clearly written on the C d' U, was that we could convert a barn with cottage attached (at present they are not internally connected). We have since been granted a Permis de Construie for this work. A Panneau de chantier has been up since Oct ' 06,  We now have a neighbour stating that our barn with attached cottage is only 46m from his barn housing cattle.He states that it should be 50m. His letter of objection arrived in Feb 07 and he has apparently complained to the Chambre d' Agriculture. The Marie has said he is happy with our application but has sent the whole thing back to ???? even though the only person to measure the disputed distance is the farmer! (We are in England unable to go out to France until April) We now have to wait for another decision. Has someone not done their job properly at sale? Notaire - EstateAgent? We have been advised to contact an advocate which is proving very difficult because they never reply to calls or mails. Glad to hear of anyones experiences / advice. David and Sarah

Hi,  Have just read with interest your 2004 entry and I hope you are now happily  living next door to the calves!We seem to be in a similar situation but have all our permission..We have purchased a barn with a cottage attached, but not with access to the barn,and a second building consisting of a cottage with pigsty attached with a connecting internal corridor. A neighbouring farmer has a barn housing cattle and machinary.We have also purchased a barn that we  were told from the beginning could not be converted for domestic use due to its proximity to the cattle and the fact that it had only ever been a barn .We always understood La Porcherie( cottage with pigsty) could be converted as it has an internal corridor although this is  only 30m from neighbours barn and were not advised  not ness. to  obtain a cert de Urbanisme for this. We have a CU  and PdeC for barn with cottage,origional project.CU stating conditions  1.  convert barn to dwelling 2. room for sewage system. Last week we received a letter from neighbour farmer saying that he was opposing our permis de construire as  the distance from his barn is 46m. I understand law is 50m but assumed(perhaps stupidly) that all measurements needed would have been carried out by the relevant professional. The panneau de chantier has been displayed since October '06. We have been advised to contact an independant advocate,  which we are attempting to do, but are becoming increasingly frustrated as getting anything moving in france takes so long.The Marie have sent the CU etc back to the relevant body. Would be interested if through your experiences you  could advise/reassure in any way? Many thanks, Sarah.    

I am interested to read your' 170m rule' question (feb 06) but sorry not to see any replies! We also have two buildings on the same plot, not attached in any way.Together their SHON exceeds 170m2(individually not .)I always imagined a building would be considered indepently but am surprised to herar from a surveyor (english working in france) that they are not. He suggests we can apply for permis de construie for one building w/o an architect(to speed things up) but if we apply for 2nd building (even 3 years later) we would require an architect to sign off the plans.Something to do with tax.We were hoping to work in stages so this has thrown us a little. Hopefully you have found an answer to your question by now...... would be delighted to hear what it was.Thanks.