Well 2010 comes to a close and now 2011 is upon us we are faced with a new set of challenges.

2011 for us was going to be a holding year, with planning permission granted and a new baby on the way we’d decided to stop the renovation, save the money to get more done in one go and enjoy the first year of our daughters life. Unfortunately things didn’t work out as planned.

Charlotte was born Dec 21st at 19:19 but suddenly passed away 23 hours later. As you can imagine this has shaken us to our core and we are devastated. During this time we’ve of course done a lot of reflecting, wondering, soul searching and crying but out of it all we’ve found strength as a couple and as a family to carry on. For us to “carry on” means now to push on this year with the renovation and make it the family home we want it to be. We intend to try again for a family soon and through all this we know the house in Montpillard is where we want our children to grow up enjoying the nature and peace it provides.

So here’s the plan (as of today)… Remove the side building and repair the wall to create a bigger access area plus this area needs to be prepared for an extension. We’ll also replace the existing shutters to match the new windows, finish the rear bedroom and have the outside of the house rendered. All this is to make the house marketable as a holiday gite while we plan with the builder to remove the cow shed, and start on the mezzanine.

With a wonderful lake and forest less than 5km the area is perfect for mountain bikers to holiday, and the barn will make a great bike workshop after a hard days riding.

So that’s where we are today. Over the coming weeks we have some personal things to sort out and then we’ll be going to the house to enjoy the things we love about it. Hopefully this time you’ll get a bucket load of updates to go with the new found energy we have for the project.

At this time we would like to thank everyone for all the support they’ve given us during 2010 and we look forward to achieving great things to celebrate the year that our beautiful daughter started.

Lee