A small corner of France to call our own

I've been hesitant about writing this post but it's finally happened. Remember those developments I mentioned a few weeks ago? Well at the beginning of February, Koos and I travelled to Joinville in the Haute Marne for him to take possession of a little house in a small village on the Marne. 

Looking down the village street from the level crossing

Koos has long had a dream to have a house on a level crossing, near a canal with a lock. The purchase of the Crumbly Cottage version 2.0 is the fulfilment of this dream and he's as pleased as punch about it. I know, I know...we still have the boats, but we are the first to realise the time has come to scale down, not up, so there will be some changes on that front in the coming months too. In the meantime, the little house on the level crossing will be as demanding as we choose to make it. It really is small with just a kitchen/dining room, a small lounge and a bedroom. There is a minimal bathroom with a shower and a separate loo. And that's it. Potentially, the grenier could be another bedroom, and the lounge could become the kitchen, but there's no rush. Apart from decorating and fixing a leaky chimney, it's perfectly usable as it is and quite enough for us. But the best part is the scenery. The photos below are of just one walk that I took with Zoe.

The Marne Valley is stunning and we are blessed with these beautiful views. Not only that, the trains pass regularly but not so often as to be annoying (to me), although we have noticed there are more than we were led to believe and the goods trains woke us up the first night. By the third night, however, we only heard the morning train around 7:30.  If there were others during the wee hours, we didn't hear them.

Even better (to me) is the proximity of the canal. It used to be called the Canal de la Marne à La Saône, but these days, it is the Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne  (the canal between Champagne and Burgundy). The towpath is just a short walk from the CC 2.0, and a short way along the towpath is a lock. Val heaven. I envisage taking Zoe for many a walk along the waterside, and it is also the easiest way to get to the shops at the popular village of Froncles.

Added to that, it is not so far from Joinville, one of my favourite towns in the region, and only a little further to Chaumont, the principal city of the Haute Marne department. We cannot quite believe our good fortune because we've spent several years looking for the perfect 'gite' to call our own at an affordable price. Initially, we wanted to find something in the Sambre Valley, in the Aisne department, but our compatriots also discovered the Aisne during Covid, and prices rose far beyond what was affordable for us. It was my daughter who discovered Haute Marne for us. She bought her own house just fifteen minutes from our level crossing and we are thrilled to be so close to her in this beautiful area.

As for our village, we have already made some good contacts. I met a delightful woman when I was out with Zoe. I'll call her Chantal, and she has a springer spaniel called Ruby. What entertained me no end is that she told me Ruby is deaf but she spent almost her entire walk with her lovely pooch talking to her. One evening, I passed her house and watched as she shooed her chickens and geese into their coops. It was a joy to behold. Chantal rushed around her garden flapping her arms like wings and laughing as she ushered her charges into their huts for the night. I've decided I'm going to cultivate this friendship and have already suggested that next time we're there, we should walk our dogs together. 

We've also met two of the immediate neighbours, both of whom were charming and friendly, so we have great hopes for becoming part of the local community.

So that's it, allemaal. Our big news and new developments. There will inevitably be other changes coming, but for now, we are enjoying the excitement of having a new environment and project to look forward to. As for the canal, there's a lovely mooring for short stays in the village, and maybe an even longer stay at Froncles. Who knows? Perhaps the Hennie Ha needs to travel a bit further still before she hangs up her boat hooks. For my part, I really hope so.