Peyrènegre

October in South West France

Enid — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:30:13 +0000

We have a had wonderful weather all year and October has stuck to the pattern – glorious sunny days and the swimming pool in use ever day. Autumn gave us a bit of a nip the last 2 days to remind us that the warm days are bound to come to an end and we have started the log fires today. The sun is still shining though and it is wonderful walking weather.


New boots ready to go	Walk around the village

The gite garden still in bloom	Our neighbours

UK through French eyes

Enid — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:38:04 +0000

I haven’t posted here for a while as we have been away with our French neighbours who have been a great support to us since we arrived and have shared many tips for living life in the French countryside. Annie and Christien were dairy farmers all their lives and so holidays have never been on the agenda. Now they have retired and encouraged by their children they are planning to spread their wings so when we suggested a trip to the UK they were more than ready to leave the Lot-et-Garonne for the first time.


I see no ships	Petanque à l’anglais	They loved the tiny cottages

We agreed that we would take a few provisions – home made jam for breakfast for example but when we arrived to pick them up Annie had enough paté, jambon roulé, rillettes and saucisson to feed an army. We were very glad of it all on our picnics but we still planned to introduce them to some English specialties. They tasted local beers, had pie and mash in York, fish and chips in Pickering and afternoon tea in the Yorkshire Dales. Home made lemon curd was a revelation – it always amazes me that our French friends who make jam from everything and anything and who have glorious lemon trees don’t make a conserve of lemons.They tasted a range of cheeses and of course one day had a traditional English breakfast.


Annie doesn’t look too sure	Christian eats his mushy peas	Afternoon tea Annie’s favourite

The Yorkshire weather was glorious and the scenery breathtaking – I think Annie and Christien thought they were going to Siberia as they had packed for antarctic conditions but we hardly needed our winter warmers. They were fascinated by the farming landscape, amazed at how green everywhere was, charmed by the architecture and the tough Yorkshire stone so different from the mellow golden stone used here. It was an absolute delight to show them our heritage and we were pleased to be able to start them on what I hope will be an adventure packed retirement!

Going to the big city

Enid — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:02:59 +0000

On Thursday I had to go to Bordeaux to the hospital where I am having teeth implant treatment (that’s another story). I’m always loathe to leave the house on the hill and drive myself to the big city. I do know the route well now though and feel rather proud of myself as I deal with the traffic and head towards the centre. I do have to keep my wits about me – as in any city the residents nip in and out and forget there may be poor country peasants up for the day!

I head down the Boulevards – I try to remember to stay on the left so that I can use the subways and miss the traffic lights – hey I am driving like a native! Now to turn left and I’m nearly there – mais quel horreur – the road is closed!!!!!!! I feel a short moment of panic then set of to drive around the block – let’s hope my sense of direction doesn’t desert me as the Déviation signs stop after the first left turn! Bravo – I’ve done it – what a relief – and the icing on the cake I drive into a parking space at the hospital where people are usually parked 3 deep.

So treatment over I head home – the round the block works fine again but it’s late in the afternoon and everyone is heading home – I am stuck in the traffic.

What a bonus this turns out to be – a chance to look at the great buildings with their amazing doors,wrought iron balconies and wonderful stone work. Can you believe how many chemists and insurance agents and bakers and flower shops there are in France? I pass a serene half hour – this is being stuck in a traffic jam like never before – is its because there is so much to see? Is it because I am just not stressed living here? I watch the cyclists weaving in and out carefully maneuvering their handle bars around the cars. I smile at the young lovers. l wonder what is in the mysterious packages I see people leaving shops with. I chuckle at the students fooling around as they wait for the bus. In fact I have a great time!

I finally leave the city and find myself on the A62 – ‘our’ autoroute which takes me away through the vines in the evening sunshine, past the last few fields of sunflowers and back to the house on the hill.

Find out more about Bordeaux here - it’s a really lovely city – even better when you aren’t going there to visit the dentist!

A table

Enid — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:35:27 +0000

In July and August we are delighted to invite our gite guests to dine with us on Wednesday evening. Table d’hôte , literally meaning the host’s table is a set meal which everyone eats together. We usually serve 4 courses with a few glasses of local wine and then we play games which the children love – nothing sophisticated just good old family fun.

Fun in the pool

Enid — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:16:17 +0000

It was so hot yesterday that no one wanted to venture far from Peyrenègre. We have two returning families here at the moment who have met before and so the children were glad to meet up again and have fun.

The pool is in a leafy corner of the property away from the gites so that it is more secure and also so no-one minds how much noise you make!

We love to hear the children enjoying the pool.

View slideshow

A taste of summer

Enid — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:01:43 +0000

This is the time of year when we start preserving those tastes of summer to enjoy when the days get colder. We are bottling tomatoes (25 large jars at the moment) which we use in cooking and I have made tomato soup and courgette soup. We are picking French beans daily and freezing them and this year we’re going to try bottling them too.

We’ve not forgotten the fruit. The freezer’s full of cherries and there’s cherry jam on the shelves in the cave (cellar).Our neighbour’s apricot trees had a great crop this year and they invited us to take what we wanted – so some bottled for desserts and the rest made into jam.

It is such a satisfying activity and a rich reward for our work in the potager. Figs are coming along nicely so fig jam soon.

Moving the chickens

Enid — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:09:49 +0000

The chickens are an important part of a permaculture garden. We have to keep our hens fenced in or the dogs chase them and as we are in the middle of fields by woodland foxes can be a problem. So we have come up with our movable chicken fence – this enables us to move the girls around quite easily giving them a new area every few weeks and letting us use them as part of the cultivation of the garden. In the Spring they were under the fruit trees to peck up the larvae which would have an eye in the fruit later if they were left alone. In the winter we will put them on the beds so they can dig around and add a bit of manure – and of course when we clean out their coop it all goes on the compost.

It takes us about 45 minutes to do the move.

First we put a run in place and open up the poullailler (hen house) -the girls exit into the run and we then block off the end. Then we start to undo the fencing panels and move the poulailler – it’s on wheels so rolls along merrily.The posts are repositioned (don’t need to be too deep) and the fencing panels tied on with string.

When the fence posts and panels are in place we move the hens inside the run – slow and steady – we want hens in the run not on the run! The girls are excited by all the untouched grass so they want to stop and eat.

Then we finish off with the gate and some shading and the girls are happy in their new campsite. 4 year old Henry who is staying in our holiday gite was very excited by the hen moving exercise and had lots of ideas to help us!

Not many hens have a room with such a view!

Vin de noix – walnut wine

Enid — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:43:53 +0000

This delicious walnut wine is traditionally made around the 24th June (St Jean’s saint day) when the walnuts are still green and soft enough to chop. The first time we made vin de noix we naively though that as the nuts were green they wouldn’t stain our hands – how wrong we were! Our skin scrubbed clean with effort but our nails were brown for a couple of weeks.

Vin de noix is traditionally made in a bonbonne (demijohn). We have a few traditional ones and a modern one. (Be careful how you ask for one – we went to the quincaillerie (hardware shop) and asked for a bonbon – the woman looked at us as if we were crazy after all we were in a quincaillerie. Then we spotted one hanging up and gleefully pointed it out to her – so with only a slight roll of the eyes she corrected our pronounciation and only when we had repeated the word several times to her satisfaction was she happy to sell it to us.

We make the recipe 5 times

Ingredients

24 green walnuts

5 litres of red wine

I kilo of sugar

I litre of eau de vie (distilled alcohol)

First chop the nuts into pieces that will fit into the bonbonne. Then add the wine and sugar and cork the bottle.

Leave for 40 days turning from time to time. After 40 days strain the liquid into a large bowl and add the eau de vie – stir and then bottle. Leave for 6 months – so just ready for Christmas. The wine improves with age if you can keep it long enough that is!

A stranger in my own land

Enid — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:54:59 +0000

That’s how I feel when I go back to the UK.

In fact it starts before I leave France sitting in the departure lounge at Bergerac – so many loud English voices and interesting behaviour like paying for priority booking and then standing for ages in a queue – couples who sit in rows of 3 leaving the middle seat empty so as to deter invaders…….. I buy my bottle of water, stick in my earphones and endure.

Stansted express and then across London I go – even though I know where I am going I feel slightly scared by so many people moving at speed surely one of those cardboard cups of coffee are going to give me a Starbucks hairdo one of these days – just squeeze onto the tube and find myself with my neck at a strange angle as it follows the roofline in closer proximity to strangers than I care for. Everyone wants to share their life with me too – mobile phones are treated as two tin cans connected by a piece of string in that people seem unconvinced that a message can be carried this way so it would be better to shout. A sudden drop in temperature had half the commuters dressed in winter boots and half bravely clinging to their summer outfits – I joined the latter group.

Through it all I could only thank my lucky stars that I live in a field far away from he madding crowd!

From this.......

..........to this

Leaving on a jet plane

Enid — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:09:40 +0000

This afternoon I am going to the UK to stay with my son and daughter-in-law for a week. I love this place but I am glad to be getting a rest from the gardening chores and of course I will be seeing my granddaughter who is just 12 weeks old. I am flying Ryanair so I’d better use the loo before I board in case their wee new charge has started!

Here she is – our little star!

I am as merry as a grig* about the trip as I will be at the Smithfield Nocturne run by my son’s company and then with my daughter and DIL am off to the theatre to see Chicago! Can’t remember when I last went to a show in the West End – as I’m really a French paysanne now it’s so exciting.

*grig – great word I got from http://wordsmith.org/

MEANING:
noun:
1. A cricket or grasshopper.
2. A small or young eel.
3. A lively or lighthearted person.

ETYMOLOGY:
The word is often used in the phrase “merry as a grig”. The word is of uncertain origin, though various theories have been suggested, such as a corruption of “merry as a cricket” or “merry as a Greek”, as in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida: “Then she’s a merry Greek indeed.”