On February 14, 2021 - Happy Valentine's Day - we thought we'd share our chateau love story with you! We're the Leech family, Vanessa, Ben, Max and our black lab Rosalina (named after Rosalina from Mario Brothers). We call her Rosie and we had to get her DNA tested because the vet didn't believe she was actually a black lab because she's so small!
After watching just two seasons of "Escape to the Chateau," the idea of buying and restoring a French chateau bewitched us. Ben started to send me links to beautiful castles and even planned a road trip for my birthday in March 2017 where we viewed five different chateaux. The very first one we saw was our girl, Chateau Joli Bois. It was a perfect fit for all of us: I watched Max bound from place to place, exploring the property. I watched Ben wander around, head in his hands, in awe and then I fell in love it when I stepped through the door of the ballroom. We just knew. All the other properties couldn't compare. She was ours. Thank you for joining us on our journey as we renovate and restore our French castle.
On February 16, 2021 - Let me introduce you to La Salle sur Demande, the room of requirements! I have claimed one of the caves for our future gin bar. We will be using a lot of the wood saved from the woodshed to build a bar. This is something I’m super excited about because it’s the one project that has “decorating” in the plan.
We are early stages but I had to chip a whole bunch of blown plaster off of the walls... Ben and I didn’t agree on this approach. He thought we should leave it on and deal with it later. But once I started, it was too late and it had to come down. It requires pointing now (one job always leads to another) but in the end he had to agree that it was worth it.
Friends were able to paint the ceiling. I couldn't do it! I couldn’t understand how to use the roller on the stick without getting myself covered in paint.
On February 18, 2021 - This is the beautiful French department of Creuse, where the chateau is located. Creuse is in central France and it's one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 3 March 1790. Creuse is part of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and is surrounded by the departments of Correze, Haute-Vienne, Allier, Puy-de-Dome, Cher and Indre. Traditionally rural and lightly populated, no major urban centre and many heritage sites such as castles, abbeys and Celtic stone monuments, the Creuse department has become a Green tourism destination. We are so lucky to call this beautiful region home!
Til next week!