In truth I’ve not done much with la cave but I do have vague plans. It’s probably big enough for a few hundred bottles but at present it mostly serves to house the water meter and the draining down tap. I’ll render the back wall, insulate and panel the ceiling and pave the floor as soon as I can. It was necessary to replace the door to secure the property and also the wall at the rear of the cave proved unstable and had to be reinforced. This was discovered during work replacing the rotted joists in the kitchen floor in 2010.

When the new floor went down we had a trapdoor installed so we can access the cellar from above. When I can I plan to install a step ladder of some kind to provide easy access from within the house.

Perhaps above all, the cellar door designed and installed by Scott Hornbuckle of http://www.lecharmedechene.com/ expresses all that I hope for in what is beyond the door:

I bought the door irons at Chiswick Car Boot Sale. Each year I look forward to rubbing the door down a little and adding another coat of varnish. I managed to find a wonderful lock to suit the ensemble: