Wednesday, December 25, 2013

To you all.....

 .... a very merry Christmas, wherever you are in the world, we hope you have a wonderful time over the festive period!
It's a very mild Christmas morning here, 9 degrees and very calm weather wise so no hard frost or snow for the next few days apparently but the house is looking very festive with all its decorations and cards!
Below, a picture taken from the top of the valley on a wonderful walk last week on the country tracks to Tursac, showing Les Granges in the middle of the picture, you can see the blue shutters of the house if you look carefully!

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Postal Christmas greetings!

Received in the post a couple of days ago, this hand made envelope which also had an equally impressive card inside, was sent to us by a Belgian couple who are staying in one of our gites over the christmas and new year period.
As it is addressed to 'Mr & Mrs Paul Ward, family and good friends, it's obviously intended for everyone including our blog followers, so have a Joyeux Noel everyone!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Work completed!

Exactly 12 months ago I posted some pictures of our church in Le Moustier clad in scaffolding and with the curved end of its stone roof stripped, at last, the exterior has been completed with new stone and all stone work re-pointed. The new roof is going to take a while to 'weather' but it all looks excellent after all the work.
Below, a picture taken during yesterdays beautiful cool, crisp afternoon walk looking toward Le Moustier bridge from the river bank opposite Le Roque St Christophe, I really do love this time of year!

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

10k and beyond!

Above, the moon rising over the trees to the rear of Les Granges, in what was a definate 'red sky at night....' moment. The weather has certainly changed now, with the beautiful clear nights comes the very early morning frosts, consequently this morning the temperature has fallen to -4 degrees, a small price to pay for the beautiful view of the stars at night and very bracing pre-breakfast walks in the fresh air!
The title of this post relates to the fact that since I started this blog in November 2010, 3 years later we have just gone over the 10,000 hits/views mark, so many thanks to all of you for following the blog.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Winter is here!

It really doesn't feel like 12 months ago since I put the last post on about the migrating cranes, but it is, 2 weeks later than last year, this is the first chance I've had of taking a picture of them,  approximately 120+ birds in the 'V' formation for what is now an annual blog post, never the less, every year this has now become the signal that winter is here and consequently this morning we woke up to the first frost, not too serious temperature wise but it's due to drop further next week, time to pack up my shorts for another year and get the jeans on!!
This will not be the last time we see this spectacle, there are apparently 28,500 cranes at a lake east of Paris, Lac du Der, waiting to start their trip south to a warmer place for the winter!

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Phew, that was close!



With 24 hours to spare before our guests arrived yesterday, we managed to finish repairs to one of the bathrooms in the house following a mysterious water leak that unfortunately happened behind a tiled shower cubicle that resulted in a flooded kitchen on our return from the trip to Toulouse.
As you can see above, we had to find the leak first, taking out wall tiles followed by the floor to make sure we had actually resolved the problem which was a copper 'T' joint that was faulty.
All looks as though nothing has happened now thankfully, the guests are here now and as I write this post are enjoying a break in the weather, sun at last after a few days of rain!

 

Sunday, November 3, 2013

A week off!

Last week we managed to get away for our first real holiday in 3 years, quite appropriate really as the 1st November was the 3rd anniversary of us purchasing Les Granges. We had a break in our visitor arrivals for a few days so we looked at the last minute where the sun was going to be and drove down into Spain on the coast about one hour south of Valencia to a place called Gandia.
It was a great week, beautiful weather, quiet, just what the doctor ordered! We really didn't do very much at all, an excursion to Valencia, which was stunning, was the only real touristy thing we did and that was just for half a day, we'll definitely be going back there when we have more time
We're back home now, ready to receive our next guests, an American couple who arrive here this afternoon and also a family who are taking the house for a week as of next weekend, back to earth with a bump but the main thing is we both feel thoroughly refreshed after our break!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Falling nuts.

The walnuts have now decided to drop from all of our trees, the above being just one picking today, quite a few kilograms and all a bit wet following a misty and damp morning so drastic action is needed to dry them out, so the area in front of the fireplace in the lounge is now an emergency drying area!
Good news is that this years crop is much better already than last year so no shortage of walnut cake in the coming months for our guests....and us ofcourse.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Vintage farm worker!

Spotted in the front drive of a farm on the walk we had a few weeks ago through Chaban, this pre 1953 Massey Harris tractor that looks in need of a bit of t.l.c.
Now I'm not claiming to be an expert on this kind of thing but did manage to find out that in 1953 Massey Harris merged with the Ferguson Company to form Massey Harris Ferguson, 5 years later in 1958 the company shortened its name to the now very familiar Massey Ferguson.
Considering the tractor is at least 60 years old it looks in pretty good condition really, but I couldn't find any markings on it to find its exact age unfortunately!

Monday, September 30, 2013

Lucky escape!

Rescued from the house pool skimmer this morning, this rather large toad who was looking all a bit dazed and confused following what could have been a few hours in the skimmer whilst the pool pump had been running, unfortunately quite a few animals don't survive this ordeal but thankfully he or she did, now free to go and do what toads do, whatever that is at this time of year!

Friday, September 27, 2013

On the turn.

Apart from some of the leaves falling off the tree at the front of the house, this is the first real sign to a change in the season, the Virginia Creeper on the face of the barn has just started to turn that lovely red colour of autumn, hard to believe really, especially as yesterdays temperature was just above 30 degrees and this afternoon is looking to be the same. Our American and Australian guests who are with us at the moment were all in the gite pool yesterday cooling off, not bad for late September!!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Take your pick!

It's wine sale time again here in France! Just after the majority of visitors to the area have left, all the supermarkets have a sale of hundreds of different wines mainly from all over this region, it's certainly a very difficult decision with such a display, but we've picked a few special ones for christmas so will look forward to tasting those in December. At least all our guests here at the moment will be returning home with many bargains and a full car boot!
Earlier this week we managed to have a couple of nights in Toulouse, a fascinating place, we mainly went for a rest after what has been a very hectic year so we didn't do very much whilst there but it's certainly made us want to return in the future for a longer stay and get to see the many museums that are there.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

New arrival!

This little fellow was spotted when we were out for a walk in the field next to Le Moustier bridge, rather sleepy she managed to pick herself up and follow her mum across the field, we weren't quite sure how old she was but as you can just see above the umbilical cord was still showing from her belly so couldn't have been very old at all.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Aching legs!

 We went for a bike ride a few days ago, from Le Moustier we followed the route for Marquay which takes you on a beautiful, but very steep, country road, after a 30 minute ascent it was down hill all the way to Tursac and this was the view just before getting into the village with Chateau Marzac in the distance.
Once in Tursac, many of our guests will have seen the goose farm at the entrance to Tursac, but probably haven't seen the field full of goslings, it's the first time we've seen the young geese so it was nice to see.
Another piece of unknown history that I've been trying to find out about is this tomb which was at the side of the track leading down to Tursac which I couldn't get close to but could see it's to somebody or several people who were killed in the first world war...more research needed unless anybody out there knows more about it?
Anyway, we were out for a good couple of hours which I'm sure has done us a lot of good!


Monday, August 19, 2013

Uses for an old renault van...no 1

We went for a nice long walk this morning, parking in Peyzac we followed the footpath route GR36 to Castel Merle near Sergeac and spotted this very odd contraption in the middle of nowhere, a large funnel mounted on top of a very old renault van and a large tube leading to or coming from the barn roof, what it is i have no idea, a smokery, still, let me know if you have any ideas because there was no one around to ask!

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Wash houses.

 In France there are many small buildings usually near rivers or set on water springs called Lavoirs, many villages in our area have restored  them as they were used by the communities for washing clothes etc. They  usually take the form of a covered area with a large stone trough that has fresh water flowing through. The above picture I took on a walk up the valley side through a lovely hamlet called Chaban and this was spotted at the side of a track just outside the village, a small overgrown man made well which I presume is a very old Lavoir. A large recess on the left with a shallow fresh water pool plus a small hole to the right, whatever for I'm not sure, it's a shame it's not looked after but maybe given time it will be restored.

Another pic below of the aftermath of last Tuesdays amazing storm on the track next to the river Vezere, with Les Granges in the distance you can see how much debris was brought down in the woods

Thursday, August 8, 2013

It was going to happen sometime!

After 5 weeks of gloriously hot weather, this was the scene that we awoke to yesterday morning after a storm passed through Les Granges at 9.30pm on Tuesday night, 30 minutes of thunder, lightning accompanied by amazingly strong winds left all the chairs and other furniture strewn all over the place, no damage at all to the buildings but the lime tree at the front of the house took a hammering and many large branches fell fortunately missing all our guests (and our) cars. It took all morning to clear everything up so all back to normal now!

Sunday, August 4, 2013

A different Swallow for once!

Spotted on the lavender bushes outside the Walnut Store gite, this beautiful Swallowtail butterfly, although its actual swallow tail was not that prominent apart from on the left wing, there have been lots more on the bushes today with all their tails so maybe this is a youngster.
As for the Swallows of the 'winged' variety, all the 2nd brood of young ones have now fledged, so two broods each in two nests have produced a total of at least 18 swallows.
Yesterday was one of our busiest days of the year, a complete turn around of the house plus the gites, 7am we started and finished at 4pm, so you can imagine after us both working 9 hours non stop in 30 degrees of heat, how nice it was in between greeting our new guests a swim in the pool was!

Monday, July 29, 2013

Tobacco road.

On the other side of the river Vezere to Chateau du Losse, 10 minutes drive away from Les Granges, are several large fields of tobacco plants. When we first came as tourists to this area about 20 years ago, the whole of this area appeared to be growing it, now, what must be a sign of the times, there is very little. At least some of the old traditional wooden barns will still be used in the drying process in a few weeks time when the leaves are harvested.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Flash of pink!

For those of you who may be a little tired of my obsession with our swallow families at this time of year, a couple of pictures I took a few days ago of the Pink Mimosa tree that is in full bloom at the front of the barn. A month or two ago we were a bit concerned that there was something wrong with the tree as it appeared to be struggling to get into leaf, how wrong were we!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

After 3- 1, 2, 3...

...right, who's jumping first!
Today, the 2nd brood of swallows in the boiler room have left the nest, but the young ones in the barn above are not quite ready for the off. Mind you, I don't really blame them as the temperatures outside the barn are still in the mid 30's in the shade so I think they are quite happy to sit around and let their parents do all the hard work!

Friday, July 19, 2013

Guess what...

...the patio area in front of the house is 100% complete! Which is a good job because our first guests of the year who have rented the main house are arriving tomorrow afternoon, you could say I've cut it a bit fine but the main thing the stone has all been coated 3 times with a special liquid repellent (mainly to stop anything from soaking into the stone by accident) so all is finished...at last!
You can see the complete 'new look' house frontage and patio all dressed and ready, including a brand new 12 seater mahogany dining table in the new main header picture to the blog above this post, hope you all like it!?

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Wildlife update!

 The second brood of swallows have now hatched in the boiler room, the parents are not having to do much sitting on them in the mid 30 degree heat here but that's not making the chicks less hungry, they even thought the flash of the camera was more food on its way in!
Also we had a little visitor in our bedroom the other day, a lovely bat that had been sleeping behind one of the window shutters to the room, that was until we closed them to keep out the sunlight and it obviously moved itself from outside where it was now visible into the darker area inside our room.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Pick your own!

Spotted in the tree at the entrance to Les Granges first thing this morning shows why its not only the blackbirds, jays and sparrows that are enjoying the early morning sun along with a cherry or two for breakfast, this red squirrel sat for half an hour or so getting its fruit fix! I think I'll have to get the ladder out to try and collect the fruit before it all disappears!
If you're having trouble spotting the squirrel, click on the picture to get a larger image.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Summer is here!

As with a lot of europe, the weather here has certainly changed over the last 3 days, first thing this morning the temperature was just over 20 degrees, with a little bit of mist over the river as can just be seen above, now it is mid 30's, we're not complaining though, all the pools are in use and I know I'll be in one of them very shortly!
The above picture was taken a week or so ago when we walked to St Leon, another beautiful day but a bit more cloud, I couldn't resist taking another pic of one of my favourite views looking up the Vezere valley over the church at Peyzac.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Nearly finished....

...at last! The top layer of the patio is now on and all that remains to do is the final 'sanding' of the top surface in order to smooth off all the marks left by the gigantic circular saw that cut the sand stone out of the local quarry, then to fill in the joints and treat the stone with a special chemical that prevents any liquid (like red wine!) from soaking into the stone.
By the way, the above photograph was taken yesterday and has not been retouched, the sky really was that blue!

Friday, June 28, 2013

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!  

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

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!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

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!

Monday, June 17, 2013

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.