The wall which divides the dining room from the kitchen has been rendered. It's taken me a bit of time to get used to the way the lime mortar works, but I think i'm getting the hang of it.

This is going to be a feature wall against which the stair is attached. We had to extend the last few feet of the top of the wall so that it met the roof. Previously there was a gap between the wall top and the incline of the roof. This wall is going to be raked out and pointed so that the stonework shows.

We lowered the final window in the same way as the one in the kitchen. It was a bit easier and we were able to build a complete brick column on the outside. So hopefully it doesn't look too different from the original...just lower. We're still unsure about the other window and have just levelled the sill until we make our mind up. We ideally would like a window that you could use as a door but at that width there isn't any available that are long enough. We haven't given up yet.

This has generally been a total headache but we're nearing completion and think we've got it right. We have since found out that a lot of the French Electric Regulations are not accessible to the ordinary punter - so as to discourage Joe average attempting an electric installation. The only problem with this is that it also mitigates against non-French Sparks like the one who's been baying at the moon for the last month.

We installed the shower tray and it almost feels like a real house now.

We've finished the stud work and the wiring in the living room and started to build a stone wall in the bread oven cavity. Future archaeologists can dig their way through to have a look at the bread oven when we're long gone. It's the first time I've had a go at building a wall on my own using the shuttering technique. It is easier than building in breezeblock or brick and so much more satisfying because you don't see the end result until the wall's finshed and the shuttering is removed.

Nothing much to report except the tomatoes are growing and the Scarlet Pimpernels are everywhere. Now that's what I call a weed.