The day often starts with the early morning mists which hang over the lake in the valley before rolling up and away over the hills. It's pretty quiet at first, but as the temperature rises all the insects, animals, birds and flowers begin to stir. On hot days hundreds of tiny lizards come out to bask on the hot rocks in the sun and scuttle away when they sense you coming. There is also a resident grass snake (harmless!) who likes to hang out in the cool places where the spring water runs or sleep curled up in the tall grasses. Huge green grasshoppers rub a sizzling chorus and emerald green beetles drone past from time to time in search of somewhere to burrow. Sometimes you come across a small frog or black and yellow salamander; look deeply into the well in Spring and you may spot their young, like tiny newts wearing lace collars.

There are lime, cherry, apple, pear, chestnut and fig trees growing close by. Go for a walk in the fields and you'll be hit by the heady aroma of crushed apple mint and clover. In the spring and early summer you can wade through a sea of yellow buttercups and disturb clouds of tiny intensely blue butterflies. In autumn the ground is littered with green spiky chestnut cases and clumps of mushrooms and toadstools appear at the base of the trees. In winter the mistletoe hangs in huge green and yellow bundles from the trees and the air is sharp and frosty.

The fields surrounding the fermette are often occupied by a herd of honey-coloured Limousin cows with bells round their necks. Aerial acrobatic displays are provided most summer evenings by a whole squadron of swallows who are nesting in the eaves of one of the barns and a barn owl has been spotted gliding silently out of the opening in the attic. You can watch the buzzards and other small birds of prey circling to swoop on some unsuspecting prey or occasionally you may spot an exotic crested hoopoe on a migratory visit from the southern Mediteranean.

By early evening the large bank of evening primroses have started to open up their big yellow flowers and the days can often end in fantastic red sunsets and inky black night skies with masses of bright stars. Sometimes if you're lucky you will see bats taking over from the swallows as the light fades, weaving their own nocturnal dance. On stormy nights the lightning ripples all round the sky, lighting up the bowl of the valley in a spectacular display of fireworks - perfect!

Originally dubbed 'The Chestnut House', several stories have been told about the life of this little cottage in the courtyard. The nicest one being that it was used to dry chestnuts - hence the name 'Chestnut House'. Another one was that it was used as a slaughter house for pigs and finally that it was the last residence of the vendor's ageing parents. It certainly could have been lived in as there are signs inside that there was once an attic bedroom and a small living room with a bread oven at one end - no bathroom of course! There is a small trap door in the floor which may or may not lead to a long buried cellar, excavations of which will have to wait for a long time to come. A series of duck and chicken pens form a small courtyard outside the front door and a natural spring runs down a gully at the base of the wall.

When Michael bought the property it was in a pretty bad way. The roof had largely collapsed leaving the rooms inside open to the sky and trees were happily pushing their roots down into the walls and spreading their branches through what was left of the rafters. There was a forest of ivy covering the roof and walls of the courtyard and obscuring the beautiful pattern of wood slatting on the windows of the pens.

Its ruinous state took a turn for the better with the help of Jean-Luc, a local builder, who also happens to be the Mayor of our Commune. He started work in July 2003 with the help of a huge green digger known as 'Le Lezard' which looked just like an enormous Tonka Toy. The roof crumbled very quickly and noisily with the sound of rotten timbers cracking and slates crashing to the ground to reveal a stack of old bicycle tyres and car seats in the attic. These quickly joined the growing pile of debris below. The delicate task of dismantling the rotten parts of the stone walls then began.

We had to return home about half way through, leaving Jean-Luc to carry on but photo stories from some good friends living nearby soon arrived by email showing progress since we'd left, so we were able to watch it from a distance. The new roof slowly took shape using the traditional 'ardoises en clou', - small hand cut slates. The huge vintage pile of Madame's old preserves and the mountain of old wine bottles - the dregs from which had seeped into the ground - were cleared leaving only a faint musty aroma on hot days.

It took around four weeks to rebuild the ruined roof and far more money than made sense.... or so practical builders say. For us it was a decision of the heart, not the head - it's a beautiful old building and deserved to be saved. And so, courtesy of Jean-Luc, the Chestnut House came to be known as 'Le Coeur' !

The final result looks wonderful - see the Rebuild gallery. There's still a huge amount of work to do inside but the new roof will secure the building and ensure it doesn't deteriorate any more until the funds can be found to work on the inside. At least now the rain won't pour in and Le Coeur is on the road to recovery.

The story of 'La Bombe' is something that goes back to 1897... well, at least that was when it was made. It turned up in the attic of the farmhouse in April 2002 shortly after the commencement of a grand clearance. The rubbish and mountains of dusty shriveled corn husks (the remains of a thousand mouse banquets which had accumulated over the years) were being swept straight out of the little door in the eaves onto the ground below. At first glance it looked just like an ancient old wine bottle, the expensive kind that you just know is good by the thick layer of dust clinging to it. For some incredibly sensible reason the 'bottle' was given a closer inspection and carried downstairs instead of being thrown down with the other rubbish. There was much discussion about what it could be until Dominic, the local man-with-digger who had been busily excavating a huge hole for the fosse septique, took a look and said 'C'est une bombe!' The rusty 'bottle' suddenly began to command a new air of respect. A Polaroid was taken which Dominic then volunteered to take to local gendarmes, returning after an hour or so with the advice 'Ne touchez pas, très dangereuse!'

By this time La Bombe had been handled by three people, walked over by a whole family of local lizards and was sweating quietly under an old apple tree while it's fate was discussed. The blare of sirens and flashing of lights was duly anticipated but as the day wore on there were no gendarmes, no sirens and no bomb disposal squad. It was decided that the best thing to do was to leave it somewhere cool and out of the way as the chances were it was just an empty souvenir some old soldier had brought home. So it was left behind the lower barn.

It stayed there for the rest of the summer as the visits to France continued and the work on the house brought about its transformation. Christmas and the New Year came and went with further visits but 'la bombe' remained, looking a bit rustier but no less menacing.

Back at home advice was taken from a friend who is something of an expert on these things. He sent photocopies of some relevant pages from a weapons manual, handily written in French, which confirmed that it was indeed a First World War artillery bomb. He told us it was "as dangerous today as the day it was fired, P.S. Don't drop it " - nice sense of humour!

In April 2003 armed with all this paperwork a visit was paid to the local gendarmerie. Looking a little alarmed they took photocopies of the papers, made a few phone calls and said they would deal with it. There was however a slight problem. The bomb disposal squad would come from Bordeaux but only when there were enough bombs to make the trip worthwhile! In the meantime 'Ne touchez pas, très dangereuse!'

By this time 'La Bombe' had become a bit of a celebrity. Shortly after our visit to the gendarmes the story of its discovery made the regional newspaper and prompted a visit from some of the local villagers to have a look. Time passed and 'La Bombe' waited behind the lower barn for the bomb boys from Bordeaux to take it away.

Finally and to much relief, 'La Bombe' was removed before the subsiquent visit in July. All the junk has now been cleared from its various piles so at least we know there are no more hidden surprises!