Having spent some weeks slogging away on Nettie’s inside walls, removing the crumbling lime mortar and shipping heavy rubble sacks to the tip each day, it was time for a short break.

The rain and high winds seem to have finally stopped, and we planned to resume our exploration of the west coast of the Cotentin pensinsula via Grande Randonnée 223, the smugglers’ way.

Starting in Isigny-sur-Mer, famous for its butter, cream and caramels, this public footpath is very well marked, and hugs the entire coast of the peninsula. From Isigny, you head northwards to Barfleur via the Normandy landing beaches to Cherbourg at the top of the Cotentin. You then turn south and traverse the high cliffs of the western coast and the salt marshes of the Marais, before eventually reaching the famous Mont St Michel.

It was part of this last section that we planned to tackle this time, taking only a tent and some sleeping bags. We started in Barneville-Carteret, a stunning seaside resort town with views across to Jersey, and from where ferries to the Channel Islands run in summer months.

After a hearty lunch, you can eat up the miles...

Locals told us that once Jersey could be reached on foot; you can see the shallow reefs stretching out into the sea, uncovered at low tide and now home to oyster beds that are tended by numerous tractors, scuttling around on the wide stretches of sandy beach like motorised crabs.

The walk was stunning; the high cliffs and windswept golden sands reminded us of the Channel Islands, the path twisting and turning among the dunes and headlands. In the lower sections, sheep grazed on the salt marshes (a local delicacy), larks and curlews wheeled overhead, wild orchids flanked the path. Some areas of the dunes have been cultivated since antiquity and are now nature reserves where you can hunker down for hours and hear nothing but birdsong.

On a clear day, Jersey seems just steps away...

Allowing ourselves the luxury of overnight stops in campsites, we felt hundreds of miles from home. Discovering isolated restaurants offering fabulous set lunches for a pittance, and literally tripping over some of the best pizza places we’ve ever visited, made the 50 kilometres we travelled in a few days pass way too quickly.

Driving back to Barfleur a few days later, I idly wondered if M. Voisin, the mason, had visited Nettie as promised. It was 50/50 I reckoned as I covered the last few miles – not that he’s unreliable, I just didn’t want to get my hopes up. I’d agreed that he’d start work in my absence to take off the remaining render and erect a scaffold so that I can start repointing once he’s sand-blasted the exterior.

As I approached the Quai, I glanced to the left and I literally nearly drove into the sea – the scaffold is up, and Nettie is finally free of her ghastly crépie – she looks stunning! After 50 years she can finally breathe, and her melllow ochre stones and neat brick surrounds are so pretty – such a contrast to how she looked before, a drab, weatherbeaten, grey mouse. All the hard work has been worth it, and I’m told locals are even stopping to take photos.

Poor Nettie – this is how she looked before

Still, there was no time to revel in her looks, I had a ferry to catch, and I set off for my next visit to Mike Wye in Devon to pick up supplies.

I’ve decided to use lime mortar to repoint her exterior to maximise the breathability of the external walls to ensure that Nettie’s skin can breathe. This should also avoid damp plaster on the inside walls, and make sure she’s standing for years to come (as well as looking far more attractive than grey concrete mortar).

As a labour-saving measure, and as lime mortar made from lime putty is somewhat of a rarity here in France (as opposed to hydraulic lime, which is good and freely available in France but not nearly as breathable), I’ve bought half a tonne of ready mixed mortars and plasters from Mike Wye, and these are now neatly stocked in Nettie’s yard.

Once M. Voisin has completed his prep of her exterior, I’ll be up on the scaffold with my trowel, re-pointing. Having attended a second course at Mike’s, I’ve learned that I’ll need to be ultra-careful to screen the new mortar against the sun, at least during the first week of curing so that it doesn’t dry too quickly and become friable. There’s such a lot to learn – wish me luck.