At the outset we weren’t planning on a pool. Too much trouble to maintain. But Peter, rightly, thought otherwise, so a pool was added to the requirement list. Les Terrasses didn’t have one, just a large brown circle on the “lawn” where previous owners had had an above ground version.

The Estate agents recommended a supplier who was happy to take a deposit, at winter prices, before our house purchase was complete, so that we would have our pool for the first summer. The outline was drawn on a frosty April morning, and we waited. Digging commenced in July, and the concrete was poured.

We admired our lovely infinity pool, with a view over the valley. The only thing it lacked was water. Apparently the liner could not be ordered before the digging was complete. It was now the end of July. The French go on holiday In August. Even, as my friend Sandra recently remarked when her pool cover motor broke down, in a seasonal trade like swimming pools, the French go on holiday in August.

We waited.

The liner turned up in late September and we came back to find our pool now filled with water. It must have been filled using a hosepipe, since we also discovered that although a pump had been installed for topping up, it had not actually been connected to the water supply, and the electricity supply to the pool locale was inadequate to run the filtration and overflow pumps at the same time. Caveat emptor, but we were novices in pools in those days, you would think they might have told us before they started! The trench to the garage, dug for the geothermie piping and filled in in July was dug up again, the electrician and the plumber summoned. The tiling around the pool was going to have to wait until spring.

We swam that October. The water temperature was around 15 degrees, but every dip in, as Peter said, reduced the cost per swim, and for those of us used to Scottish coastal waters, 15 degrees isn’t so bad!

All in all a learning experience, but definitely worth it in the end!