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| ladders at the ready |
Earlier this week Chris, who did our kitchen and flooring came and did the 'health check' on our roof using the tiles we bought and wrote about here . We'd also noticed that some of the ridge tiles needed re-fixing in place.
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| potential gold mine |
No sooner did Chris put his ladders up than both cats came to investigate. Shadow predictably when he thought no-one was around but Katinka was nosing around straight away. She shot up the ladder at speed, looked round, rolled in the gutter and then equally handily skipped down again. Sadly we weren't quick enough with the camera.
Once, quite a few years ago, Niall went to an art exhibition in The Hague and one of the installations looked just like a wooden framed tryptich of our new roof tiles. Niall and Chris joked that if we had three spare then Chris could knock up frames and we could sell it for millions!!
Thankfully we didn't need to replace too many tiles as the roof is in reasonably good order so there's plenty left in reserve; and for art installations!
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| Chris making sure the ridge tiles stay put |
We know we'll always have some slippage, it's inevitable with this kind of roof, but we don't mind as the tiles give our house such warmth and character.
By the afternoon the job was done which was great! Sadly, much to Tinka's disappointment the ladders went away. She quite liked her own 'private' stairway to the roof! So much nicer to have easy access!
On a completely unrelated subject--the only link being the letter 'R' here is a photo of the well established rose by the barn. It is in spectacular flower just now, starting a custardy colour and fading to a lovely clotted cream. It is scented as well and smells heavenly.
11 comments:
The roof tiles have great character. Is it an old house? From photos, I thought that the house was perhaps 30 or 40 years old, but perhaps it's much older?
Thanks Craig, the house is 250 years old at least. Have a look at pics in our post 'small bits of history' which we put up in January.
Hi Antoinette,
You're right the rose is lovely, and the red one near the door also.
The roof looks good! I always worry when I see people hopping from ladders directly on to, and across a steep roof.
Perhaps it is an age thing?
Your roof seems to have the same construction as ours - but yours is straighter! I love the old tiles.
The rose could be Crépuscule, a beautiful tea rose, one of my faves.
The rose is lovely, also the red one near the door.
My heart always misses a beat when I see builders scampering over a roof! However the roof looks good.
Have been to the rose festival at Chedigny? The roses there are fantastic but a little bit expensive (we've spoken about prices of flowers/plants before).
We aren't in France enough at present to properly care for our plants, but if I was, I'd have more roses.
Those roses look and sound very 'tasteful'. Can I take a bite? :)
I've seen a house very similar to yours in the grounds of the Château de Fougères-sur-Bièvre, just south of Blois. Ever been there? Martine
@Susan--could well be. It is stunning and the pruning I gave it late last year has certainly delivered results! Have put a bunch of blooms in a vase in the living room and they really fill the place with their scent.
@Gaynor-- once established you could easily leave them to get on with it. Ours were somewhat neglected se we gave them a decent prune to bring them back; but we don't water them.
We've got the festival pencilled in the desk diary--they're holding it the 28th/29th May. We drove through recently and already the village was spectacular.
@Martine--if only the tasted as good as they look and smell we'd be eating them big time :-)
@martine--not been to that Chateau, no.
Wow, Antoinette! With the roof alone, your home already looks cozy. I also like its texture, which greatly reflects the age of the house. What are the tiles made of, btw? They resemble the terra cotta roof tiles used in Italy, but I'm not sure if that's it.
Hi Adam! Welcome to our blog :-) Hope you find it interesting. The tiles are indeed made from terra cotta (terre cuite in French) but flat rather than curved. You see many old houses around here with these roof tiles and they give real warmth and character.
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