Why Culan? Why not?

New Year’s Day. Bright and blue sky outside when we finally open the blinds. Although there is only an hour’s difference with London and we are less than 800km away from Dover, we feel like we have been travelling days, weeks even, to reach our destination, which I guess emotionally, at least, we have.

We feel exhausted but elated with our achievement and beating the Brexit deadline. Mission accomplished. Fixing up the house and acclimatising to our new surroundings and way of life will be the easy part.

After coffee and croissants we leave the rest of the unpacking and explore the town.

According to Google: ‘Culan is a commune in the Cher département in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. It is best known for its 12th-15th century medieval castle, the Château de Culan, one of the oldest castles still occupied in the world’.

Why Culan? why not?

We didn’t go as far as sticking a pin blindfolded in a map of France when looking for a house to buy, but that assumption would not be that far off. In truth the house found us and the fact that it is located in one of the most beautiful and peaceful towns in the whole of France is a big plus.

Everything is closed and we don’t see a soul on our New Year’s Day walk, even though it is a beautiful, crisp day. We walk through the old town, the fine Château, picture-perfect from every position, like in a Hollywood movie, gives us a sense of place and I feel the same amount of pride in this ancient town already as I do my home city of York and its majestic Minster.

The next day we head to Montluçon and the Orange shop to arrange broadband for the house. We spend the next two days trying to figure out how to connect it.

On the Monday I am supposed to be back at my desk at work, fortunately I have been remote since last March, so it’s not an issue working from France, but I need wifi. We get connected at 11am, UK-time 10am.

Britain has gone into another lockdown and no one cares where I am, it’s the first day back at work and the country is in chaos, which puts my minor issue with the wifi into perspective.

My home office is the warmest room in the house as it was the nursery for the previous owners’ baby. I have my laptop, desk, chair, light, portable radiator and a hip two-seater yellow sofa, left by the previous owner, that I have requisitioned. The wifi is right next to me and I listen to BBC Sounds while I work. I am the editor on B2B website, and enjoy my job. Under normal circumstance I travel quite a lot and I am beginning to miss this part of the role.

Planned trips, conferences and trade events have already been cancelled for the early part of 2021, and I doubt I will be travelling far at all this year, which means more time to explore our beautiful new surroundings in the Cher Valley.

I can’t wait to get my bike over and for spring to arrive.

I am quickly back in the flow, and make my first deadline with no pressure.

My weekday routine is quickly established: up at 7am, coffee in bed as its too cold to take it anywhere else in the house, 50-minutes Ashtanga yoga in an empty space that will eventually become the master bedroom, shower, breakfast and at my desk for 8.30am, which is 7.30am UK, as I am still on London time.

I go for bread at the boulangerie, trying to pass on the pastries, work through lunch and finish around 4pm, 3pm UK.

We use the rest of the day to work on the house. 75% of the work has already been done, and we have a lovely sitting room, new kitchen and bathroom, and a decent spare bedroom that we are using — and my office.

It is with some relief that the previous owner had done quite a bit of renovations, including new wiring, installing double-glazed windows and getting the roof fixed.

The attic, which will eventually be a self-contained space with bathroom, bedroom, study is to be completed, but the previous owner had made a good start before his abrupt departure, so is not a huge task, which is another relief, as I am not the most practical-minded person and certainly no DIY enthusiast.

We also have a cellar which we are going to convert into a recording studio, and we have inherited outbuildings and a huge garden, which we have plans for, but more about those later …