Sunday, August 18, 2019

Bits of stone!

A few small pieces of stone collected by one of our guests nearby to our property and handed over to me on their departure yesterday as a gift turn out to be a little bit more than you'd expect, each piece are hand made Mousterian (a prehistoric period named after our village) tools and are at least 50,000 years old!
The collector, who is dutch and has stayed with us before, say they are worked in the Levallois Technique (much easier to google this rather than me explain!), the pieces are very common to this area and can be found quite easily on the many ancient terraces surrounding us.

Sunday, August 4, 2019

A brief break from the heat!

A couple of contrasting pictures, above, taken a couple of weeks ago when we were in the middle of a 40 degree plus heat wave, as a big storm was brewing in the distance and it certainly did cause a mess on its way over, the first storm and rain we'd seen for probably a month or so.
The picture below, taken at 9am this morning, shows Le Roque St Christophe from the Roque Terrace gite in the August early morning sun just after the river mist had been burnt away, a beautiful sight.

Saturday, June 1, 2019

Where's everyone gone?!

Took this the other early evening, one of the baby Black Redstarts was sat waiting for a bite to eat before retiring to its roosting spot. For people who are interested in the bird life of the area, so far Les Granges is having a very good year for successful nesting pairs of Swallows, Nuthatch, Robins, Blackcaps, Cirl Bunting, Blackbirds, Goldfinches, Siskins, Blue/Great & Marsh Tits, Wagtails, Nightingales and not forgetting the Peregrine Falcons on the rock face of Roque St Christophe. It's a great time to come to this area! 

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Beautiful find!

We had a visit from a neighbour who was walking along the track at the side of our property telling us that she'd spotted a rare orchid in all the long grass to the side of the track. Having cut back the grass to reveal 6 or 7 of the plants, from a distance they don't look very special but take a closer look (picture below) and it is amazing the detail in the decoration. Looking on the internet we're pretty sure it's a Lizard Orchid.
Nice pic by the way Philippa! 

Monday, April 8, 2019

Summer on the way!

Where is the time going?! Two months has passed since my last post and look at the difference, we're into spring in a big way now, the wisteria is in full bloom, the daffodils have been and gone plus the swallows returned to their nesting positions in the barn right on cue nearly 2 weeks ago!
We've been very busy in the garden, spring cleaning the gites, still plenty to do plus guests are already coming to stay with us....must get on!

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

A little cold!

Woke up to a beautiful cold crisp morning yesterday so had to put on the thick coat and get out to take the above view looking from the front of our property toward the Moustier bridge and Le Ruth behind. At -3 degrees it was a bit 'parky' but well worth the effort!
This morning it's all changed back to cloud and rain, getting better by the weekend thankfully.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Ancient window display.

Wandering around the little back streets and alley ways last week in Sarlat I spotted this very nice window in one of the shops built into the ancient buildings that date back to the 14th century. Of particular interest to me as it was displaying many of the artisan beers made in and around the town, most of which I've sampled, current favourite being the Perigord 24 brewery that make at least 5 different styles of beer.
Also found this pic of the truffles on sale (see previous post) which will give you a good idea of the cost of each unit of the delicacy, click on the image for a bigger view of the pic, they're very expensive!!

Monday, January 21, 2019

2019 Fete de la Truffe

We went to Sarlat yesterday to experience for the first time the annual weekend festival of the Truffle The main square of the town was full of people selling the delicacy as well as many other stalls preparing and cooking many different dishes to buy and try!
Example below, a sliver of truffle on a slice of foie gras on a small piece of toasted baguette, it was very nice but must say the taste of the truffle is extremely subtle but well worth the try!
Another tasting in the pot below was best described as very runny scrambled egg served in a small cup with truffle shavings added on top, very nice!
Think we shall return next year and do as the french do, buy a bottle of nice red wine and go from stall to stall and sample a lot more in a longer period of time.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Better late than never!

A very happy new year to all our blog followers!
We're back in France at Les Granges now after a 3 week tour of the UK visiting our families over the festive and new year period and not a flake of snow to be seen at any point of our journey!
Fortunately enough for us, there's no sign here in the Dordogne (at the moment) of the incredible snow falls that have hit europe over the last few days to the east of us, although there has been snow forecast for us in the next few days, camera at the ready if it does!!
We're really looking forward to 2019 and once again greeting new and returning guests to our little part of this beautiful area of France.
Cheers!