30 C O N T E X T 1 1 9 : M A Y 2 0 1 1 in view of the sometimes very heavy rain which can occur, we were advised to invest in a rainwater system to avoid the bottom of the walls being saturated by splashing. This is in traditional unpainted zinc, which will eventually weather down from its present bright metal.We have just had our old front door repaired by a menuisier, recommended by the maçon who did the buttering. He also made us traditional panels which can be fitted to protect the glazed area of the door and increase security when one is shutting up the house for a period of time. We had to have a new glazed back door made as there was previously just an old, very decayed, solid door to the former byre and we needed light. The proportions of the door are, unfortunately, not quite as I designed them. All that remains, as regards joinery work, is to renew some of the shutters in the regional style with pentures and contre-pentures – metal straps, rather than the timber Zs on the inner face, which are not traditional to the Languedoc. (Advice on restoring traditional houses in the Corbières is given in an excellent design guide produced by the canton [grouping of communes].) Unfortunately, we were able to retain only one of the original internal doors as the remainder were too decayed to repair. I should have like to have obtained old doors from salvage yards but, during flying visits to check on progress (or the lack of it), we did not have time to do so and had to be content with reasonably designed modern doors from the local brico-depôt.These do not look bad but obviously do not have the character of old ones.We had them painted by aYorkshire decorator friend in return for a free holiday, but unfortunately Glossary notaire A self-employed agent of the French state who registers all property transactions and ensures that any taxes are duly levied. Most buyers and sellers do not use avocats (lawyers) to represent them but simply rely on the notaire who plays a neutral role. Vendors often like to accept a lower ‘official’ price in return for a cash consideration (on which they are not taxed), the notaire often finding an excuse to leave the room to allow the cash to be handed over. In the case of a second home, this works to the buyer’s disadvantage, as when he/she comes to sell the property, it will be liable to a higher amount of capital gains tax. tuiles canale A semi-circular tile which tapers from bottom to top. The tiles are placed alternately over and under on the shallow roofs of southern France. monument historique Similar to an ancient monument or listed building. Monuments can be classé or inscrit, the former being a higher grade. secteur sauvegardé Can be roughly translated as conservation area but these are designated centrally by the state and are much fewer in number than their UK equivalents. All significant works within a secteur sauvegardé must be approved by a state-appointed architect. normes françaises The equivalent of British Standards. maçon A builder (not specifically a mason, though often competent to carry out masonry work). maire The civic head of a commune, which may be of any size from Paris down to the smallest village. He/she presides over the conseil municipal (or village council). génoise Courses of projecting tuiles canales designed to throw rainwater clear of the walls and obviate the need for rainwater goods. menuisier A joiner. pentures/contre-pentures Horizontal straps on the inner and outer sides of shutters which hold the planks of the shutter together and meet at the outer edge to sit on the gonds. gond A spike driven into the wall at the outer end of which is a vertical ‘male’ upright on which sits the ‘female’ end of the penture/contre penture. brique A hollow clay block. Briques, of varying size, are used for both external and internal walling. They possess excellent insulation properties.They are normally plastered or rendered. brico-depôt A DIY supermarket. she did not know the French for gloss, satin or matt, so they ended up gloss, but we have now got used to them! There is also one English-type ‘four-panelled’ door (actually a flush door with applied mouldings), which I should like to replace, but English and French frames, as well as the doors themselves, are different so we would probably have to replace both. We have made no other significant changes to the house, other than tiling/re-tiling the floors, installing/ renewing kitchen and bathroom fittings, decorating, paving the enclosed area at the front of the house and the steps leading up to the back door and repairing an iron trellis at the front of the house which will in time (when creepers have grown over it) provide a shaded outdoor eating and sitting area. There are always some things which, with hindsight, one might have done differently, but overseeing work from 1,000 miles away with only irregular site visits and trying to communicate with workmen in a foreign language (particularly as regards technical vocabulary) does not make for easy project management. Without counting bills, I would think that we have probably spent as much again on the house as we paid for it, but we do not regret it. We have a spacious and comfortable house in an attractive and friendly village (where there are still some French people), in a delightfully scenic location to which we can come to relax and immerse ourselves in a very different world from that of contemporary urban Britain. With the economic downturn, accompanied by rising taxes and utility bills, whether we would ever be able to sell it again if present conditions persist is another question altogether.
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