Sunday, December 3, 2017

Last days of Autumn

 A couple of views from last weeks exercise, the above, taken on a 25 kilometre bike ride from the road that runs behind Le Roque St Christophe looking up the Vezere Valley toward Montignac before you descend into Sergeac then Thonac, all but the fir trees have now turned to beautiful golden brown leaves which look amazing in the sun.
Below, another more familiar view of Les Granges after a walk 'around the block', always a pleasure at this time of year!

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Follow the leader time!


What now appears to be an annual post from me is the usual sign that it is time to put away the shorts and t-shirts and get out the winter wear, the Cranes are now on the way southwards to a warmer part of the world!
We've been busy preparing for winter, everything has been put away that can be, but the gites are all ready for guests who are booked in with us in a couple of weeks. 
One thing we do get at this time of year as well as the frosty mornings, are stunning sunsets, the above taken a couple of evenings ago.

Friday, November 10, 2017

The Foie Gras effect!

5 months after Le Tour shot through the streets of Montignac and eventually past us, there are still many signs of the event on display in the shops of the town. The above I spotted a few weeks ago which made me laugh, I never knew that one of the main delicacies produced in this area of France had other medicinal uses!

Friday, November 3, 2017

Return to the Algarve!

You may have noticed a lack of posts recently, that's because at the end of the first week of October we had booked a couple of weeks away, returning to the same destination as last year in Carvoeiro in the Algarve, Portugal. This year rather than driving down we took the speedier option of flying from Toulouse to Faro, a 1.5 hour flight rather than a 15 hour drive made an obvious massive difference. 
2 weeks of fantastic weather, coastal walks, great food, drink and visiting different places helped us unwind and relax.
We have now returned to Les Granges, in fact an hour after we'd got home a couple arrived for one of the gites so it was straight back into work again! 

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Birds eye view!

Ever wondered what Le Manoir des Granges looks like to one of the buzzards or black kites that circle over head, well this is exactly the view as captured by a neighbour whilst being given a tour of the area in a gyrocopter last month. Clearly visible is the complete area of our grounds as well as the track to the rear of the property that leads to the fantastic view point of the Cote de Jor plus the track opposite our drive that takes you to the lovely riverside walks down river toward Tursac or up to the Le Paradis campsite.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

My passion for old tins!

In the spring of 2013 a couple came to stay, Jim & Maureen, originating from Scotland, who now live in Canada. During their stay at that time we talked about my collection of and interest in old tins to which Jim said when they returned one day he would bring me some that he'd got in his workshop.
We have kept in touch with them since and to our delight they returned this year for 3 weeks in July especially to see the Tour de France pass by. Sure enough on the day they arrived they produced a plastic bag with the tins (above). Amongst them, a very appropriate Ogdens Walnut Sliced tobacco tin and to my surprise a Boots Blackcurrant Pastilles tin, the last time I'd seen one of these was as a child whenever I had a sore throat and cough my Mum always bought these for me!
 Another little surprise (and here's the Scottish link) inside one of the small tins was an old match box, as you can see, it is what it says on the packet, a box with the smallest bottle of scotch whisky I have ever seen.
Many many thanks Jim & Maureen for bringing them all the way from your home in Canada, all will be displayed very soon in my display cabinet which many of our guests have already seen and admired in the main house!

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Small renovation job!

Earlier in the week, we decided to have a morning out before temperatures once again headed towards the mid 30's. Another place on our list of 'to do's' was Chateau de Cammarque, only a 20 minute or so drive from us situated between Les Eyzies and Sarlat,
Built on top of a pre-historic cave and settlement in the 12th century and with sections of the area added to over the centuries, it's an interesting place to visit and see how renovations have been on-going since the early 1990's when the site was hidden by vegetation due to many years of neglect.
As well as the well planned walks around the estate you can also see up close some of the paintings that are visible in the cave.
By the time we'd got home, the temperature had indeed got up to 34 degrees (93 F) so was time to get in the pool to cool down!

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Somewhere over the rainbow!

Saturdays in the summer are always busy, extra busy when we have a complete changeover of the house and the other 4 gites all on the same day. An early start yesterday was necessary for just that so when getting up at 6.15am this was the view that greeted me as I drew back the curtains, something I'd never seen before at such an early hour, a rainbow that you can just see above Le Roque St Christophe, looking like an upward straight beam of light coming from above the rock face!
Needless to say, that was the last of the scenery gazing for that day as we were working non stop for the following 12 hours until most of our new guests had arrived for their stay.

Remember, click on the image for a larger picture

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

As seen on TV!

What a great experience, and we were on TV as the leaders went past Les Granges, Philippa waving (right) and me applauding with my Leicester City shirt on, unbelievable atmosphere as the 3 or 4 helicopters hovered over the area taking amazing shots of the area.
As I write they are still racing through St Cyprien on their way to Bergerac.
Outside Les Granges, it's as though nothing has happened, all the barriers have gone, everyone has gone, life returns to normal again!
Great day!

Caravan been and gone!

Well that was a good laugh, 35 minutes of decorated vehicles throwing out freebies!
 The competition was who could collect the most....counting to be confirmed later!
Just over one hour to go to the race coming through!

11a.m. update!

The roads are all closed, but there seems to be very little happening!
We've got the gazebo up in case shade is needed (hopefully!) from the sun, quite a few cyclists taking advantage of the empty roads and lots of people sitting waiting for 12.50 when the publicity caravan comes through!

The St. Leon/Le Moustier circuit!

Thought we'd go for an early bike ride this morning before all the roads are closed, a cloudy and cool start but will be brighter later.
A couple of pics I took on route is the what the riders will see (ok not with Philippa in front of them!) as they approach the bend to enter the straight road that runs past us, waiting for 10am now to see what happens next!

Monday, July 10, 2017

Ready and waiting!

The first caravans have appeared and are in place at the parking area next to the Le Moustier cemetery ready for the 2017 Le Tour race coming by tomorrow. The Belgian flag flying proudly above one of the supporters vehicles, sure there'll be a bit of a party going on there tonight!

Going to be an early wake up for me in the morning as I don't want to miss any of the build up to the great event!

Saturday, July 8, 2017

First signs of things to come!

Preparations are under way now for the big day next Tuesday when the Tour de France speeds past Les Granges. The road that passes us is closed to all traffic from 10am to 6pm on the day so it will be very interesting to see what happens and when as the day progresses.
I will try to do some more posts on the day to let you know what's happening!

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

July 11th stage 10 route confirmed!

At last stage 10 of the 2017 Tour de France on July 11th is confirmed on the official letour.fr web site as the map above shows, timings (below) are for the publicity caravan to pass our property at approximately 12.47 followed by the race at around 14.43 (french time).
Not many weeks to go now!

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Not a happy ending.

Several Black Redstarts have been nesting again successfully in many locations around our property, the pair that built this one decided that an old copper pan hung up in the big barn was an ideal place, which after laying 5 eggs and all of them hatching, all seemed to be well until a few days ago when I went into the barn and there was no usually little squeaks coming from the pan. On closer inspection unfortunately all 5 of the young were dead so for whatever reason the adults had deserted them the day before so they had perished overnight.
Very sad but these things happen for whatever reason but we're sure there are many more young Black Redstarts on their way, 5 swallows have already fledged their nest in the barn already!

Monday, May 8, 2017

Problem sorted!

Another job completed in the main house a couple of weeks ago! Flaking paint and a small crack on the wall at the side of the main stairs from the hallway meant a little bit of investigation was needed to find out the cause. On knocking away the loose plaster it revealed one of the original stone support with a more modern wall that hadn't been joined together properly so problem easily resolved with a binding tape and an appropriate filling.
All finished and ready for our German guests who arrived for their annual golfing break last Saturday and who have probably not even noticed the difference!

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

One to look out for!

A couple from Barcelona recently stayed with us and on their arrival very kindly gifted us with this bottle of their favourite local spanish wine, a 2012 Crianza from the Protos vineyard and on tasting it we could see why! A beautiful full bodied red wine which according to the internet is available in the UK, USA and other countries, so if you do find any I'd certainly recommend you trying it!

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

New resident in Peyzac!

Spotted on a walk a couple of weeks ago, this very young donkey was quite inquisitive as to what we were doing standing and staring at him/her! This was as far as it went away from its mother and thinking about it, I don't think either Philippa or I have ever seen a baby donkey before, except for on Christmas Cards!!

Friday, March 24, 2017

Walnut Store freshen-up!

Whilst re decorating the lounge & kitchen of the Walnut Store gite, I took down the lounge oil painting and was interested in the notices that were stuck to the back of the picture. A lovely old Boots label when they actually had an in store picture framing department (from 1894 to 1963) as well as another label telling the purchaser to wear gloves to handle the gilt frame, too late for me but did have a look to see if any of the gold had rubbed off....which it hadn't!
Re-decorating now complete and ready for another full season of visitors!

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

A good day for.....geese, or was it?

Well, maybe not such a good day for geese, or even humans. Last weekend was the annual goose fair in Sarlat so as we've already missed all the previous events it was decided that whatever the weather we really should go and see what goes on.Unfortunately, as the picture below taken at 11.30am shows, it was all a bit of a wash out! There was a band playing (under the right hand marquee), stalls with everything made that can be made from a goose and even very interesting demonstrations of where all the bits are to be found for the production of all the different delicacies.
After a good look around the fair and the wonderful deserted back streets of the old town (below) it was off to our favourite cafe/cake shop for a warming coffee & chocolatine plus the purchase of 2 mini caramel & walnut tarts for later!
The good news for humans was that by early afternoon the weather had much improved for the event, but for the geese, the day didn't get any better!

Monday, February 20, 2017

2016 - it was a great year!

A customary look at last years visitor numbers shows where our guests all travelled from to spend time with us here in our little corner of the South West of France.

Visitors to Les Granges (by their country of residence) were:-
                 2011     2012    2013   2014   2015   2016
Australia      27       35        11       23       10      39
Belgium        -          1         2         2         -       -
Canada        8          2         10       19        9        4
Catalonia     -          -          -           2         -       -
Denmark      -          2         -           -         -        2
England       87      133       116      95      112     119
France         38       19        20        52       16      83
Germany      25       21        11        7        12      13
Greece          -          2        -           -         -        -
Ireland         3          4         6          2        4        2
Israel            -         -          -          -         5       18
Italy              -         -          -          2         -       -
Malta            -         -          -         10        -       -
Netherlands  12        1          9          4        -       17
New Zealand 6         5          2          -        3       -
Northern Ireland       -          -          -         4        -
Norway         -         -         -           -         1        -
Philippines     -         5         -          -         -        -
Poland          6          -        -           -         -         -
Portugal        -          3        -           -         -        -
Scotland       4          7        5         14       14       9
South Africa  -         -         -           -         12       -
Spain            -          -         -           7         -        -
Sweden        -           -        5           -          -        1
Swiss            -          1        -           1         -        3
U.A.Emirates -          -        -           -         4        2
U.S.A.         43       25      21        53        24       22
Wales           2          4        2          2         -        4

A total of 338 guests came and stayed with us in 98 groups, in 2016 no new countries were added to the list.

We're looking forward to another busy year and to welcoming new & returning guests from all parts of the world.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Short(er) top & sides!

A break in the weather today meant that our lovely lime tree at the front of the property could get a good thinning out and trim, the first its had since our 2nd year of residence 5 years ago. Amazing to watch as the tree surgeon (above) climbed up and walked on the branches from the very top down. The picture below gives a much better idea of the size and height that the work was undertaken, not a job I'd even think of trying!

Friday, January 6, 2017

2017 starts with a shiver!

 A very happy new year to all of you!
Once again a little late as we have been to England to be with family for the festive period, returning a couple of days ago to sub zero temperatures but lovely clear blue sky.
Just before we went away I managed to complete another part of our list of 'to do's' which was a new barn loft entry door, complete with a small cut out for wild life access, mainly for the birds that roost in the barn during this very cold time and a few bats that I see every now and then!
So it's back to getting prepared  for this new year and all that it brings, we already have a record amount of bookings so far for the year ahead, it's going to be another busy one!