Manny's Blog

Sharing our French adventure as we live and work and renovate our forever home in the Haute Loire.
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Summer in the sun

It was the best summer I can ever remember in Solignac – a little late to start – but once it arrived it was glorious. We have reached a stage of our renovation now where even though we still have projects to finish, we have beautiful spaces to inhabit inside and out and we really took the time to enjoy and share them. We had another very successful Workaway experience with Sebastian in July, who was a really great help. One of the jobs we accomplished was to build a wall in ‘Oslo’s’ – our outside kitchen named after our resident frog who joyfully returned to join us this year !

Sharing the Soli experience…

Beth arrived with four great friends from Brighton – they booked the gite to have some independence, and it was a wonderful celebration of all that we love about summer in our rural idyl… perfect weather, campfires, swimming in the river (and the pool !), walks in the forest, reading and eating and singing and talking – it worked so well, they’re all planning next summer’s trip 🙂

Summer parties

Then Harry arrived, and we had Noah’s Baptism (and first birthday) party in Solignac – this was also a joyous family day with everyone here together for the briefest of precious moments !

Beth’s beautiful photos describe the day better than words !

Old Friends

During this little window of us all being here, we had a truly wonderful evening with our great friends the Aicardis … the family we met in Italy during our year long adventure in the bus, who have remained our dearest friends throughout the last 16 years !! They live in Tence, so really close, but now that all our children are adults, it’s a real rarity that we all manage to get together.

Then Beth headed off and Arty had a party here for his friends – honestly this house is just made for big gatherings, and having such lovely feedback on all the work we have done, and the home we have created made Joe and I so proud and happy. It’s such a great reminder of what we have achieved in such a relatively short time when people see it for the first time and are blown away by it. And I know I’ve said it many times before, and I know I have done so much of this renovation myself – tackled things I never would have dreamed I’d have been capable of … but it’s Joe’s eye, huge talent, creative genius, and project management which has brought us to where we are today.

Home…

Autumn

As I’m writing this in early November, we have been graced with an idyllic week of warm sunny weather, and every morning as we wake to the sunlight streaming across our field and blue blue skies, I am truly grateful for the life we have created for ourselves. Of course there are life’s problems to face, particularly in terms of financial security, and the general aches and pains of our advancing years – but we have chosen this life-path full of ups and downs, and we ride them together which makes everything feel possible !

This period of warm Autumn sun comes on the back of the much reported dramatic flooding we experienced locally mid October. An astonishing sight as rivers broke their banks and motorways and town centres were quickly submerged. As far as I know, no-one was killed here (except some poor farm animals) – unlike the terrible news currently breaking from Valencia, where the flooding has caused a shocking and still-rising number of deaths. Here in Solignac we were lucky enough to escape having to deal with water in the house. Such a game of chance with these extreme weather catastrophes as to who has their life turned upside down… or worse, and who gets away untouched.

A blog of two parts…Let’s call this Part One

It’s January 2025 and I still haven’t posted this – so I will post it as it is, and follow swiftly with another blog – There’s the October family wedding of the century (in Greece!) and the most magical Christmas to report on – so watch this space !

Thank you as always for reading and sharing our adventure with us. X

The Kakuma Art Project

The painting above is part of an amazing initiative launched by my artist sister Tara Dominick – please take a look and spread the word – the first art workshop in the Kenyan refugee camp was a huge success… and was hopefully just the start ! Read how it all started here:

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  2 comments

  1. Veronica says:

    It’s so wonderful to read all your news Manny! Your home is absolutely stunning and such a testament to all your and Joe’s hard work. It sounds like you had a wonderful summer filled with making happy memories and enjoying family and friends. Happy 2025 to you and all the family. Here’s to many more!!

    Lots of love,
    Ronnie xxx❤️

    1. Manny says:

      Thanks Ronnie ! Can’t wait to get you here to see it for yourself one day ! xxx

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