Friday...it must be fish day!

Guests who have never been to France before are usually amazed at the amount of fresh food available in the supermarkets here, especially the fish. The picture above, taken at the E.Leclerc shop in Perigueux shows just one third of the entire counter, nearly every fish imaginable plus the tank below full of live crabs and lobsters...lovely!  

Fruit at last!

What a difference a year makes, last year, not one cherry on both of the cherry trees, this year they are full. I'm going to have to get the ladder out fairly soon as I spotted a blackbird and a jay helping themselves first thing this morning so the fruit won't be around for very long!

Pool top solar panel...

...at last, our gite pool thermal cover that we'd ordered 3 weeks ago has arrived and this afternoon we constructed the roller and fitted it, so all that remains is for me to monitor the temperatures overnight and during tomorrow to see how effective it is in heating and retaining the heat, over the next few days we'll be able to see if the investment has been worth it....time will tell and no doubt our guests will let us know aswell!

Before, during and after...

This was the first time I'd seen Charlotte in her wedding dress after all the preperation behind closed doors in the Haybarn gite, which brings a lump to my throat even now, absolutely stunning in her dress she looked, shortley after this we walked to the marquee where the ceremony took place.

After the ceremony, the customary congratulations from all the guests and confetti throwing...

...then after the official photos they were welcomed into the dining marquee by all 56 of their family and friends, it was a great day, one that will be remembered by all for a long time to come.

Wedding pics 2...

The official photos are in...all 400 of them....so plenty to go through, here are 2 of the more formal pictures taken outside the house of the happy couple, the now Mr & Mrs Salt and below Philippa and myself, Charlotte with our youngest daughter and bridesmaid, Nicola.
I will post a few more pictures over this weekend, it was a great day and the photos have brought all the bits of the day we'd forgotten back to life!

Peregrine display

After a recommendation by our american visitors, last week we decided to have a trip out to the Chateau des Milandes, not just for the reason that it was once the home of Josephine Baker but also the fact that it has a collection of birds that are displayed 3 times a day. The highlight for us being the Peregrine falcon which we can very often hear and see at distance in the wild on the face of La Roque St Christophe.
It was well worth the trip, the bird display was excellent, not only because of the Peregrines, but the chateau was very interesting showing many of Josephine Bakers costumes and posters/programmes from her time in show business.
Definately will be another recommendation for all our future guests.

A quick update...

 I know a lot of you are waiting for more pics of the wedding, I should be getting the official pics very soon so bear with me....in the meantime, the stone for the patio has finally arrived and we started the laying of the top surface last Friday, just a couple more days of work to go and it should be completed.
The baby swallows have left their nests in the barn & boiler room and are now flying around quite freely, but, as below, they are still sitting around most of the time letting their parents do all the hard work of food collecting!

Mr & Mrs....

Five days before the wedding celebration at Les Granges, Charlotte and David were announced man and wife at the registry office in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England.
These photos, taken after a celebratory lunch at Rudding Park Hotel, shows the new Mr & Mrs Salt posing in the grounds of the beautiful hotel, a couple of days after this they were to fly to France for the celebration wedding with all their friends and family....more pictures to follow.....

Wedding pics 1

The first picture I've been allowed to put on the blog shows our daughter Charlotte getting ready in the Haybarn before the wedding ceremony last week, assisted by sister and bridesmaid Nicola. The picture was actually taken at 1pm, the time Charlotte should have been walking her way to the marquees for the ceremony so fashionably late to arrive, but was not intended to be so late!
We hear that the official photographs will be ready for Charlotte and David on their return to England tomorrow so will be posting more pics of the actual wedding as soon as I can.

Most of the wedding party have now left and today has seen the arrival of 3 couples into the gites...this years season is now fully underway!