Thursday 15 May 2014

La Belle France!

Well – we’ve arrived and in response to our neighbour’s question as to whether we were content to be in ‘La Belle France’, we both honestly replied that yes, we are very content especially now that the sun has arrived.

Not one to normally complain about the weather (even if I am English!) but we were understandably concerned to arrive ‘home’ on Monday during the traditional French 2 hour lunch in the pouring rain to discover that our roofers had not replaced the tarp on the roof before going off to take their 2 hour lunch (apparently it had been a lovely sunny morning!).  Photos below of the sight that greeted us….


Anyway, sure enough they returned to cover the roof and no damage was done – they are machines – it’s a husband and wife team who are stone masons by profession and who we hired to work on the ‘piggery’ which involved a lot of stone work and we wanted true artisans which we discovered they really are – lucky for us, the wife just finished a roofing and soldering course last year and is now a fully qualified roofer which is spectacular given the massive destruction caused by the hailstorm of 2nd August last year. 

Having experienced the 100 year storm, Hurricane Ivan, the better news is that we have 2 neighbours both in their 80’s and both having lived their entire lives here who’ve both independently confirmed that this is the first time they have ever witnessed a hailstorm of this magnitude – the ridiculous thing is apparently is was over in less than 10 minutes and yet as we drove towards our hamlet on Monday we saw so many homes still with tarps on them – so reminiscent of Hurricane Ivan and so very sad – another friend tells us that it will be 3-5 years until everyone can get fixed up either due to insurance issues or the more simple issue of just not being able to find a roofer available to do the work so although we thought it was all taking a long time apparently we’re in the elite group of people who are getting their roofs done less than a year after the storm – incroyable!

We’ve cleaned house and are getting settled – finding our routines and getting over jet lag  - and today we managed to get out to the garden to try and get the ground prepared to plant as much as possible – we’re told we’ve got to be quick but we’re not too late – PHEW!  We also discovered our rhubarb still growing strong in the veggie patch and our cherry trees are overloaded with soon to be ripe cherries so I also managed to nip out and buy some jars for canning – I have plans for much cherry jam making in the future.  Photos below.



 The elderflowers are also out in force and I have some elderflowers stewing for elderflower cordial that I shall bottle tomorrow – nothing like a little elderflower cordial in a glass of French sparkling (we just picked up 24 bottles of ‘Saumur’ which is perfectly acceptable (actually quite nice) sparkling French wine for under EUR80 for the lot!)


So just to say ‘Sante’!  I shall try to get into regular posting and provide updates when the veggie patch is feeding us and if/when I discover any interesting recipes along the way….

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