Over the last two weeks, our fields have emerged from the overgrown land. As Val was going to be in the UK, and I had a million jobs to undertake around the house and the land, we decided to splash out and employ someone to erect the many hundreds of metres of fencing. Suzanne had told us about the farmer who kept sheep on their land before they bought the house. Apparently, to supplement his income, he undertook agricultural work. I rang his mobile, and he agreed to come round the following day.
It turns out that Jean-Pierre Lebrun is our next door neighbour but one. This means he lives the best part of a kilometre away, but he knows our house and land well. He readily agreed to do the work, and said he could start as soon as we liked. I agreed that he should come on the Monday after Val had left for England, and we would buy the necessary posts, wire, etc before he came.
Pretty much all fencing in this area is done with posts made of acacia. We had no idea what this wood was, but Jean-Pierre assured me that it was the best for the job – very hard, and resistant to rot for 30 years or more. In the past, it had been cut only in November and December, when the moon was waning . . . but nowadays it was all cut by big firms who didn’t care about quality . . . . . I am beginning to realise that we are now living in very traditional rural France!
Acacia (actually this is false acacia, or the black locust tree) is not only hard, it’s very dense. This means that fence posts are heavy – so heavy that the 250 we needed weighed about two tons. Given that we also needed 7 large rolls of wire netting, 5 large galvanised steel gates and 5 huge wooden gate posts, even our horse box was not going to cope in one trip. We had to make two very strenuous visits to the local farming cooperative that has welcomed us as new members.
Exactly as promised, Jean-Pierre turned up on the Monday afternoon with his son Christopher and a large old tractor. Within minutes they were bashing in the first post, and things progressed at a speed I could never have approached. Their cheerful disregard for any health and safety concerns entertained and appalled me.
Jean-Pierre (and often Christopher, with one or two tractors) worked really hard for at least four hours each day for 10 days. They created order out of chaos, leaving two neatly fenced fields, just begging to be occupied. Although I had originally rather looked forward to doing the fencing myself, I have no regrets in having employed this pair. They’ve done it much faster than I could have, and they’ve done a good job. Along the way, I’ve also had some very interesting and entertaining conversations. I’ve found out a lot about the house, the land, the village, and the two sets of previous owners. I’ve also realised how much easier it is to understand the French spoken around here!
It’s really beginning to feel like a farm . . . . as well as a home. Now all we need is the llamas!
Excellent! Those trees look a bit English, but of course the weather is too good 😉