Progress on french diy tortoise house is slow and steady...

NICK INMAN CHARTS THE UPS AND DOWNS OF RENOVATING AN OLD FRENCH FARMHOUSE Never were there tortoises better provided for by a DIY enthusiast. My son was given a pair some years ago and we

were not sure what to do with them. The challenge was to build them a decent home from spring to autumn. In the winter, they hibernate in a box in the barn. Since then, we have acquired two

more, smaller, tortoises and have experimented endlessly with how to build the perfect enclosure that allows enough space to move around but keeps them from getting out. Our first attempt

consisted of a frame made of timber battens, between which we stretched wire netting (stapled into place). This had the advantage of being mobile: we could move the thing into the sun and

put it away for the winter. However, it was not as secure as we had hoped. Tortoises are good at scraping a route underneath a perimeter fence and we had to put large stones in vulnerable

places to stop them. ‘HE HAS NOT BEEN SEEN AGAIN’ The largest tortoise saw his opportunity. He walked up one of the stones and scrambled over the barrier to freedom. He has not been seen

again. Next, we decided to dig a permanent pit and surround it with a solid wall. We chose a sunny spot and laid out a rectangle made of 5cm-wide grey blocks standing on foundations of

rubble and cement. I was pleased with our work – until there was a violent downpour one night. I rushed out in my dressing gown to find tortoises floating helplessly in the rising water. We

had, without meaning to, built a swimming pool. I got there just in time to save them. To avoid that happening again, we broke one of the end walls and extended the enclosure with more

blocks. This meant that rainwater would have more area to drain into. We also provided some higher ground so that if there was another flash flood, the tortoises could climb to safety. I was

reasonably happy with it, but the straight lines upset the aesthetics of the garden and one corner stuck out into the driveway. Back to work we went. We demolished a long wall, laid new

foundations in a pleasing curve, and raised a barrier in the style of our region, using round river stones held together by lime mortar. IMITATION OF OUR HOUSE It is essentially an imitation

of the structure of our house but using smaller stones – of which there is an abundance under the soil. To finish the wall off, I cut some broken bricks into 10cm-wide strips with an angle

grinder to serve as capstones. Tortoises need shelter, as they do not like to be out in cold and rain. Designing houses for them has turned out to be a great lesson in roof construction. One

end of the enclosure is covered with a shallow pitched roof of canal tiles, but I am particularly proud of the new house we have made. My son put together an A-frame with scraps of wood and

we have covered this with slates held in place with metal clips. We have also been trialling different ways of dividing the space in the enclosure. Our latest touch has been a removable

wooden partition with a tunnel in the middle: a terracotta plant pot cut lengthways and fitted into a hole cut with a jigsaw. Next I want to make a mosaic feeding platform. Nothing is too

much for our tortoises. RELATED ARTICLES ‘OLD FRENCH HOUSE BRICKS HAVE A CHARACTER THAT IS UNIQUE’ DRAWING WILL HELP YOU GET TO THE ESSENCE OF A FRENCH BUILDING FRENCH RENOVATION: WHY BRICKS

DON’T DESERVE ‘SECOND BEST’ REPUTATION