River deep....

After the recent spell of rain the Vezere is getting higher every day, the above picture doesn't really give a feel for how quick the river is flowing but it is now about 2 metres above normal level. So no canoe trips down the river at the moment, usually it takes 2 hours from St Leon sur Vezere to Tursac, i'm sure it would be less than half that time at the moment!

Good for the garden!

The weather hasn't been that good over the last week, heavy showers with a few sunny spells has made everything grow that much quicker than this time last year. The picture above taken this afternoon shows just how much greener everything is now after the last seven days or so of rain.
I took the picture below as I walked out of the front door, the Marsh Tit is now quite tame and didn't bother to interrupt it's feeding when I got the camera from the hall of the house, there's a pair of them nesting somewhere near, not quite sure where though!

Pool side refurb!

The cover is off for the new season and the weather has been good enough to get stuck into some work around the gite swimming pool. Over the last week we've taken up all the paving around the pool cleaned them and then added a new level sand base because since the pool was constructed 8 or 9 years ago the material under the slabs had dispersed resulting in an uneven pool side.
Work also in progress at the moment is the house pool surrounding area has been painted and part of the main house kitchen floor has been lifted and re-tiled plus damaged/cracked tiles have all been replaced.....busy times!!!

Boiler room resident!

Looking a lot cleaner and fitter than the day they returned, here's one of the swallows in it's customery position on the wire above Les Granges. The two are building a new nest a bit further back than last year in the house boiler room.
The weather here is a bit mixed at the moment, cooler with a fair bit of rain and a few sunny spells that soon drys everthing off....roll on the warmer weather!

Spring colour!

Yesterday saw the return of the sun after a lapse of a few days and it made all the flowers burst back into life, today is the same so it's back out into the grounds today for more work which is always a treat in the spring.
We'd like to wish all our 'blog-followers' a very happy easter weekend, don't eat too much chocolate!!

Early morning mist

Taken at the end of my early morning walk, the above shows the Haybarn gite just as the sun was breaking through the early morning mist and at the start of the walk, a view across the Vezere to the face of Le Roque.

We've had a couple of days of showers interspersed with a few sunny spells so has been a bit of a change from the beautiful weather we've had before that. Everything is now turning green as the trees are starting to get their leaves and the birds are now in full nest building mode! Our swallows returned last Sunday, an amazing sight when they arrived, four of them that must be the same family from last year, circled over the house then all dived in single file straight into the boiler room where last years nest still remains. The Black Redstarts (small picture right) have also returned, building nests in the same places as 2011, one in the main barn and the other in an air vent in the Walnut Store gite wall, all great to see and will let you know as things progress.