| Gites
Cognac - Cognac Gites. Chambres d'hôtes and self-catering holiday accommodation in Cognac, Charente, Poitou Charentes, France |
Le
Moulin de Chazotte |
A
magnificent French watermill dating back to the 15th century with
four exclusive self-catering holiday gites available to let all year
round and five Chambres d'hôtes (B&B) |
Renovation
projects at the mill 2005 - 2009 |
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August
2002: The Mill - much neglected but irresistible! |
June
2005: - the ongoing transformation ! |
MAY 2008 - CONSTRUCTION OF A BALCONY AT THE REAR OF THE MILL
| The rear of the Mill building faces West and not only has superb views down the river and into the woods but also gets the afternoon sun making it a perfect place to have an evening meal or just relax. When the Millers house was still standing at the back of the mill there were two doorways into it directly from the mill building, one from the ground floor and the second at first floor level. The Millers house must have collapsed a century or so ago and at some point in the relatively-recent past (ie. within the last 50 years) the upper doorway had been breeze-blocked up. I remember seeing that feature on our very first visit here and for the past six years the sight of those 'orrible blocks had been bugging the life out of me because they were so totally out of character. It was, however, one of those jobs that was pretty far down the list of priorities but, as the saying goes, opportunity knocked! I had a call from Dave Mason (father of prospective son-in-law) in the UK asking if I needed any help with any projects and when I mentioned the possiblity of constructing a balcony at the back, he suggested that I do a rough sketch and email it over to him....which I did. I'll say one thing for Dave and Chris, they don't hang about....because within a very short space of time they came, they saw and they constructed (that might just be translated as 'Vene, vide, constructe' by those amongst you who profess to being classical scholars - on the other hand, it might not and I'm sure my old Latin teacher is turning in his grave!). Anyway, Dave and Chris rolled up complete with bench-planing machine and a mountain of power tools and assorted wood-working kit and so the "Mason Balcony" was begun...... |
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MAY 2008 - THE
MILL BALCONY SITE |
MAY 2008 - THE
MILL BALCONY PLAN |
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| May 2008 - Work begins on the beams. Chris (left) and Whitely (centre) feed a beam into the bench-planer while Dave gets ready to catch it! | May 2008 - The main supporting beams were made by glueing together several thinner pieces of timber. Here, Dave and Chris are glueing and cramping the first main beam. | May 2008 - Each of the beams making up the platform of the balcony had to be notched out to take the floor joists. At this stage we were almost ready to start lifting beams into place. |
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| May 2008 - The supporting stone side walls have been built and now the first beam of the balcony has been put into place. The breeze-blocked doorway can nearly be opened up! | May 2008 - The floor joists are in and the decking can begin to go down. Time to open up the doorway from the mill. | May 2008 - At last the breeze blocks have been taken out of the doorway and the framework for the upper section of the balcony begins to take shape. |
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| June 2008 - The main framework is in place and bolted into the wall of the mill | June 2008 - The roof rafters are fitted and ready to be cut back to the correct length. Is it me or does it all look at bit flimsy at this stage!? | June 2008 - The roof boarding is located and we're ready to put the roof tiles into place. I don't do altitude-stuff so time for reinforcements... |
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I'll
get a wedding photo on here soon! |
June
2008 - My fellow-guitarist pal, Andy,
is a first rate roofer |
October 2008
- The balcony is used by our daughter Emma and her partner Rob as part of their wedding celebrations. A glorious and extraordinary setting for a wonderful event |
My heartfelt thanks to Dave and Chris, Whitely and Andy for helping make the balcony project a reality - plus the breeze blocks have finally gone from the doorway!! |
| JANUARY 2007 ONWARDS - CONSTRUCTION OF A ONE-BEDROOMED APARTMENT WITHIN THE MILL BUILDING....... |
| Our objective with the renovation of the mill building was undoubtedly to try to maintain its character while introducing the modern specification of electricity, insulation etc to make part of it habitable. The first section to be tackled will part of the upper storey which is around 20 metres long with superb exposed Charentais roof trusses. |
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January
2007: Renovation begins in themill. The
window in the centre with open shutters is the first section to be tackled. |
January
2007: The mill building has 6 of these
superb roof trusses and the typically Charentais roof-boarding. |
| There was evidence that some sort of accommodation had existed previously but it was in a terrible state and had been used for drying of hemp leaves used extensively for rope-making during the era of sailing ships. The roof timbers will all need to be treated against wood-boring insects as part of the renovation process. |
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January
2007: Ancient & modern! The chimneys
of the central heating boiler and the stone fireplace of the millers
kitchen (located in the room below). |
January
2007: The arched window of the mill and
the plastic sheet that temporarily separates off the rest of the building
during renovation work. |
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| January 2007: Looking right along the six roof trusses in the mill - ALL to be renovated! | January 2007: The original stairwell used by the miller to get down into the mill itself. |
| The original floor of the mill apartment had been badly damaged by woodworm and water leaks. However we decided to try to preserve it as far as possible because it forms the ceiling timbers of the mill kitchen below the apartment (oak beams and joists with pitch-pine floorboards). The main roof beams over the apartment are made from poplar and were also badly damaged in parts by woodworm. So, after cutting back and treatment, these beams were strengttened by bolting-on heavy timber straps to each side. This was a laborious and messy job which set the project back by a couple of weeks but which was essential. A new l timber floor was laid directly onto what remained of the uneven original floor and the gap between was packed with Rockwool for both thermal and acoustic insulation purposes. There were no ceilings above the apartment so I fitted treated ceiling joists throughout before the palsterboard ceilings were screwed into place.Plasterboarding a ceiling ( using 1200mm x 2500mm plasterboards) is virtually impossible when working on your own especially when having to cut the boards to fit against old roof beams. I always hire a gadget called a 'leve-plac' (plasterboard lifter) from the local builders merchant. At only 19 Euros for the day it makes relatively light work of an otherwise back-breaking job requiring at least three arms! Out of interest, the French do not skim plasterboards after fitting because all the boards have recessed edges to allow the joints to be taped and filled. Once the floor and ceilings were in, I constructed the walls using the metal skeleton system also favoured by the French. I took some persuading with this, having been raised on timber stud partitioning, but once you're used to it the frames are up in no time. For good measure I fitted a floor above the ceilings and lined the roof space to create a big loft storage area. |
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| April 2007: The new floor is in place and the ceilings have been fitted. After this the walls can go in and the electricity cables threaded through them down from the ceiling. | April 2007: The view out from the apartment to the millpond and river. All we need now is a window frame! | April 2007: The loft ladder leading to the storage area The electric cables will all be sheathed in protective sleeves (gaines) to comply with French regulations. |
| WINTER
2005 - SUMMER 2006: RENOVATION OF L'ABRICOTIER GITE The West end of the main buildings was originally designed to be used as a coach-house. A huge pair of solid wooden doors opened into the coach-house but the building work was never completed properly and inside there was nothing more than bare earth floors and stone walls. Our objective was to create a three bedroomed holiday gite in this part of the building. We decided to call it L'Abricotier because there was a superb apricot tree growing outside. Unfortunately the tree was killed by the builders pouring away their cement mixing water onto its roots so we planted another which is thriving. |
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March 2003: The
original Apricot tree in flower |
March 2003: The
first floor area of L'Abricotier! |
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April 2005: The
front doorway to the gite |
November 2005: The
bedroom ceiling timbers go in |
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February
2006: The kitchen in its raw state -
cuppa anyone?! |
June 2006:
The terrace takes shape. Rob mixing concrete. |
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July
2006: The lounge finished
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July 2006: L'Abricotier
is open for business |
Items covered on this page are: Renovation in France : French renovation : Property renovation France : French property renovation : Renovation projects in France : French renovation projects : Building restoration in France : French building renovation : Cognac property renovation : Cognac mill renovation : Cognac watermill renovation : Cognac renovation : Cognac building renovation : Charente property renovation : Charente mill reovation : Charente watermill renovation : Charente renovation