As soon as the floors, walls and ceilings had been reinstalled having a place to sleep was important - a place to call one’s own. Previously, we had been renting a small space in the local village.

With ninety-four rooms to choose from it was a bit like playing bingo! We eventually chose a southern side room, where the sunlight would warm in all the seasons.

With no floor or ceiling stepping inside this room had previously been an impossible challenge! In all directions there was destruction and decay…

But even amongst all of this, it was impossible to ignore the light and beauty which filled the room…

After the consolidation phase of building work, we were essentially left with a shell of a building - similar to the very early building lock up stage minus plumbing and electricity. In essence it was safe to walk around and the floors and ceilings were once again in place.

This room was once upon a time part of the medieval and renaissance lifetimes of the château, dating all the way back to the 1200s. But, by the time we purchased the Château all of the historical decoration that adorned this room in bygone eras was lost.

And so, the first task we set about was to conceal the steel and concrete ceiling we had just installed. Following this, there was heating to consider. Before we begun any work we had applied for permission to install solar panels as this was considered by engineers as the most practical power choice. We had also been very firm and uncompromising that a sustainable energy source was to be used. When this application was rejected we set about discussions with our engineers once again. We endlessly debated geothermique heating versus a granule and boiler system. But no matter how hard we tried neither scenario would work...

The rocky mountain terrain was the first and foremost obstacle making it near impossible to drill beneath the earth. And naturally from there were overriding financial constraints at every turn. At one point it was suggested to pump hot water from a granule boiler pump located three hundred metres away and into the Château! But upon further discussion it was calculated that it would take decades to financially breakeven without even considering the human power to regulate the granules.

In the end, we begrudgingly decided to use electric in-floor heating. Thankfully, the region of France is which the Château is located is mainly powered by hydroelectricity anyway.

After we installed in floor heating we relaid original terracotta flooring from the Château that we had been able to salvage from the rubble removed from the inside before we began work. After that, it was time to work on an ensuite!