bigbear Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 Recovering from spending some time in Brittany, helping a mate improve his small holding. We pulled in the mains power cable from his nearest post - the French power company wouldn't do this, is this standard? - and got the downstairs of the house wired out. This was a learning curve, as the wiring methods in France are totally different to ours in the UK. Then we put up a ceiling in his kitchen and dry lined the walls. All of this was followed by dredging his well and taking samples for testing, mowing a couple of fields, getting an old bale trailer to move from the bramble thicket it has lived in for some decades, sorting out a collapsed fig tree and clearing the cider orchard... All the while, Mrs. Bigbear and I were sleeping in the roof space of his old house, while the others slept in a mobile home in the nearby field - there wasn't room for us all out in the 'van and I have a reputation for snoring, so... At 1 a.m. on night 1 we were woken up by a load of flapping: Bats... Turned on all our torches, as there was no power yet, and they all went out of the window. Sealed obvious cracks and gaps with fill'n'fix foam... night 2... the same... night 3... FINALLY got the bats to stay outside and a couple of night's sleep followed. One morning at dawn - no curtains! - we had more flapping to contend with, but it was little birds this time. They were easier to get rid of! Perfect peace for a couple more nights and then: Flap, flap, flap, grunt, wheeze, squeak..., yes, more bats of a much larger species. Two nights of floodlighting got them out of our area and into the other end of the house. Dustsheets pinned over the door spaces stopped them coming back! Apart from this, we had a nocturnal visit from a VERY large yellow toad and loads of spiders. Lucky that Mrs. Bigbear has a strong constitution! Have to mention here that no bats were harmed and left with just minor persuasion. There are loads of barns around, so they have some good new roosts to go to. (Don't want the bat police coming around, after all...) I have to say that despite the initial conditions and the hard slog, it was a great break and I got to see a lot of farm machinery I'd not seen before. Still loads of Massey Ferguson and John Deere tractors about, but also Renault, Landini, Deutz, etc. The most tractors seen in one field at the same time was TWELVE!!! You just don't get scenes like that over here! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbo Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 Great story John, I hope there are some pictures to go along with it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 agree with robbo there,sounds like a great time,pictures would be great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbear Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Well, you asked for it! Brittany pics at this link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201855820180974.1073741826.1347094117&type=1&l=f95d58e4f0 Nothing too exciting, but it was fun moving the trialer, with bits of tyre and bramble falling off everywhere! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MF-ROB Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 John that's a lovely part of the world the I see in one of the pictures theres a NH 6635 or some model like that and bramble growing around it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 thanks for posting up John,looks a lovely part of France Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbear Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Yup, we are thinking of following our friends over there. We saw a stone farmhouse with attached cow byre and hayloft, a separate stone barn, garden, orchard and several acres of meadow we liked the look of. The price? 26,000 EUROS!!! The house needed some TLC, but it's a temptation. All depends on how easy it will be to get finance for it. We'll have to keep the place here for the kids, which will be difficult. Still, it's not the end of the world... ) We will see... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbear Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 John that's a lovely part of the world the I see in one of the pictures theres a NH 6635 or some model like that and bramble growing around it Sure is! The trailer actually belongs to a farmer down the road. Seems they have a law (?) that if you leave a piece of machinery, or run some animals on a piece of land it eventually becomes yours! Hence, it was moved off of my mate's land and onto the side of the track which is public PDQ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Yup, we are thinking of following our friends over there. We saw a stone farmhouse with attached cow byre and hayloft, a separate stone barn, garden, orchard and several acres of meadow we liked the look of. The price? 26,000 EUROS!!! The house needed some TLC, but it's a temptation. All depends on how easy it will be to get finance for it. We'll have to keep the place here for the kids, which will be difficult. Still, it's not the end of the world... ) We will see... hope you do what you want to do John 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MF-ROB Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Sure is! The trailer actually belongs to a farmer down the road. Seems they have a law (?) that if you leave a piece of machinery, or run some animals on a piece of land it eventually becomes yours! Hence, it was moved off of my mate's land and onto the side of the track which is public PDQ! so your saying theres a NH6635 just laying there and no one is about to use it or drive it god if I were you and ur mate id use away at it and always leave it back in the shed free tractor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Not today... Tomorrow, off out the road to Widecome Fair, driving out one of my tractors for the line-up. Thought I'd mention it just in case any locals fairly close were thinking of going. 'Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh an' all..................................' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MF-ROB Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Yup, we are thinking of following our friends over there. We saw a stone farmhouse with attached cow byre and hayloft, a separate stone barn, garden, orchard and several acres of meadow we liked the look of. The price? 26,000 EUROS!!! The house needed some TLC, but it's a temptation. All depends on how easy it will be to get finance for it. We'll have to keep the place here for the kids, which will be difficult. Still, it's not the end of the world... ) We will see... €26,000 il take 2 got we could sell up our house have plenty of £££ left over get a job at a local farm and live the life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbear Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 so your saying theres a NH6635 just laying there and no one is about to use it or drive it god if I were you and ur mate id use away at it and always leave it back in the shed free tractor I'm told it has a duff engine... Knowing the farmer in question, it could be as good as new, but he just wouldn't want anybody to use it. It was full of straw bales when we first got there, so he was making good use of it! ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Had a good day today out at Widecombe fair, drove out one of my tractors, about 15 miles each way, had first in class, post-1965. Was heaving with people. Met this chap and had a good chat and a laugh with him, the one in the hat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMB Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Had a good day today out at Widecombe fair, drove out one of my tractors, about 15 miles each way, had first in class, post-1965. Was heaving with people. Met this chap and had a good chat and a laugh with him, the one in the hat. 20130910_140605.jpg Did you take any other photos of the event, competitor's machines etc? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catkom3 Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Ha ha,Johnny Kingdom,poacher turned gamekeeper,seen all his TV shows, Regards Joe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 He was there selling his books, photos and DVD's. All the (older) women were swooning over him and every time I passed had a very large crowd around him, I had to wait some considerable time for the opportunity, time enough to consume a burger and chips and then the bloke who took this picture of us on my phone could not understand how to 'push the button', that took another 20 minutes. To be quite honest I don't particularly like the guy, he's rather 'full of it' but I did buy a couple of his books which he signed, that's all I wanted really. Didn't take any other photos of the fair, nothing that interesting there really, a line up of old Austin 7 cars, about 10 tractors and two stationary engines. If you want to see what the fair is like look on their site. This years pictures won't be put up for a while. http://www.widecombefair.com/wf/ Thurday, tomorrow, off to Exeter Cathedral, the Antiques Roadshow are spending the day there recording for the show, will have to dig out something to take along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 (edited) I went to Exeter Cathedral yesterday for the Antiques Roadshow and it was absolutely heaving. I parked in a car park about 3/4 mile from the Cathedral at the bottom of town, £1.80 for the whole day and walked up and not far from the Cathedral outside BHS I met up with someone I knew well who was waiting for her Daughter in-law so we all walked the rest of the way together, Joined the end of the queue at 11.00 am and by the time the item I took with me had been appraised by an expert it was 16.40pm, an awful long time to stand in a queue but met up with several more I knew and made some more acquaintances whilst in the queue but well worth the experience. I did not take any pictures as the crowd was so vast you could hardly look through the people, I would estimate that there were around 4000 people there. If you Google Western Morning News, that's the local newspaper for Exeter and Plymouth there is an account of it in todays paper and a rather poor 9 minute video. Edited September 13, 2013 by powerrabbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 On the bus to town for lunch then stag do from 3ish till ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexMF Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 what did you take with you Tim? sean, your spelling will clearly be going downhill from 3 then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Spelling went downhill long before that Alex , long before I even left school in fact Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 (edited) I took a sculpture of a black panther on a rock but it turned out to be a later reproduction with a lot of resin like material incorporated in the moulding mixture, the chap dated it to the 1920's or 30's. The other thing I took was a pendant locket that had an inscription engraved on it 'Honrable Admiral Sir Tho's Livingstone Bart 1841. The locket is earlier, around the 1780's and later engraved, the jewellery chap said he knew nothing about Admiral Sir Thomas Livingstone, I would need to research him through the Admiralty or the Naval Museum in Greenwich. Neither of any great value, the panther much less. Edited September 14, 2013 by powerrabbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catkom3 Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 I took a sculpture of a black panther on a rock but it turned out to be a later reproduction with a lot of resin like material incorporated in the moulding mixture, the chap dated it to the 1920's or 30's. The other thing I took was a pendant locket that had an inscription engraved on it 'Honrable Admiral Sir Tho's Livingstone Bart 1841. The locket is earlier, around the 1780's and later engraved, the jewellery chap said he knew nothing about Admiral Sir Thomas Livingstone, I would need to research him through the Admiralty or the Naval Museum in Greenwich. Neither of any great value, the panther much less. Or,you could do it online Tim,not very informative but a quick insight, http://www.geni.com/people/Admiral-Sir-Thomas-Livingston-of-Westquarter-7th-Baronet/6000000019215732053 Regards Joe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Thanks for the link Joe, saved me a bit of searching. I knew there was a Scottish connection but it's the date on the piece of jewellery of 1841 that doesn't tie in or mentioned anywhere so what the significance of the date is I don't know, this is what I need to research Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catkom3 Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 No problem Tim,always remember your PC is one HUGE animated encyclopaedia,I would be totally lost without mine,had one 15 years now, Regards Joe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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