Rabanel is an old farmhouse, probably over 150 years old, that has been extended and restored over the years.  It's set at the veryend of a very long lane in which there are a couple of other houses, but we're the last in the line just before the hills.  All around us are woods and open countryside plus a chicken farm and some stables, so our neighbours don't make much noise!

The house needs some work - particularly the electics - and whilst we're on mains water and electricity we aren't connected on the drains so have a septic tank which behaves itself as long as you chuck down a packet of 'good' bacteria every fortnight!  

Rabanel is set in large grounds with its own small lake.  We recently uncovered a rivulet of fresh water that trickles in and also a spring that drains into the pond, so the water is clear and there's plenty of fish and frogs living in there.   Unfortunately there's also a few big pike as well, so we need to fish them out in order to keep the ducklings and the other fish safe.

Wildlife abounds here - in addition to ducks, fish and frogs we also have coypu in the lake, moorhens, plus wild birds galore: herons, eagles, swallows and swifts.  There's a cheeky red squirrel who we think is nesting in our loft and who occasionally appears at our window to look in and see what we're doing.  Next door are some stables and the horses come over to get carrots and apples from us.

At night, the silence is broken by hoots, screeches, grunts and snorts - no, it's not Pete snoring - and we think there are wild boar who come to the lake to drink.