Iced drinks weather!

For all those that have been to stay here over the last few weeks and commented that when the temperature reaches above 30 degrees it would be 'too hot', well, it is as I write 35 degrees in the shade! As the picture taken a few minutes ago shows, the sky is an incredible deep blue, not a cloud to be seen and the grass is already starting to turn brown but the pink mimosa tree is now in full bloom and looking spectacular!
Weather forecasts indicate the temperature is to stay like this for the next 2 weeks with the odd thunderstorm here and there, good news for all our guests here now and our next arrivals on Saturday!

Watch this space!

Have just cycled back from the camp site (ok yes it was for a beer at happy hour!) and spotted two of the first sunflowers to bloom in a field of thousands of plants. Not unusual in France I know but this is the first time in nearly 6 years since we moved here that the fields directly across the road from us and in front of La Roque St Christophe have been planted with sunflowers.

This time next week it will be a sea of yellow flowers between us and Le Roque....a photographers dream...I can't wait!

30 degrees plus...and increasing!

The heat is well and truly here now, over 30 degrees in the shade and the gite pool above will not be empty very long after our customers return from their days activities!

Last Monday, a group of 16 guests all the way from Australia had a special 50th and 40th birthday party here in front of the house for two members of the group which included a lunch time cold buffet of local dishes supplied by Jerome & Sidonie of cafe Le Martin Pecheur in St Leon Sur Vezere.
A great afternoon and evening was had by all and it's a good job we'd purchased the two new white gazebos to keep everyone away from the afternoon sun!

Happy Birthdays Simon & Mark!  

Wine delivery!

Spotted whilst driving through Le Bugue a few days ago, this very old Citroen truck was parked in the car park of a very well known wine merchants cave in the town, not in particularly good condition but certainly was worth a look!
All our latest guests are very pleased that the weather has now changed for the better, the pools are crystal clear and a very nice temperature to cool off after being in the top 20's degrees sunshine!

Warm but wet time!

After purchasing a pool cover for the gite swimming pool a couple of years ago, it has been proved that during that time it has been warmer by quite a few degrees so good news for all our guests renting the house is that the new cover for the house pool has now been fitted and will be keeping the water that bit warmer in the future.

The above picture was taken late yesterday afternoon on a walk along the path next to the river Vezere showing the poppies in the fields and that this part of France has not been without the bad weather seen in the north of the country, good weather indeed for all the plants etc but not good for the many people in the area at the moment, still plenty to do though with all the attractions i n the dordogne area but some sunshine does make a massive difference!

Happy Foxes in France!

In May 2011, exactly 5 years ago to this date, we welcomed a party of German men as our first guests to stay with us at Les Granges in the big house, every day of their stay, the club that the head of the party supported proudly displayed his club scarf from his bedroom window, that of Borussia Dortmund, because they had just won the German league championship, well today I can say that I will carry on that tradition by displaying my original 45 year old Leicester City scarf from that same bedroom window after the fantastic news last night that the Foxes cannot be caught and are now 2015/16 English Premier League Champions....the FANTASTIC FOXES HAVE DONE IT!!!

No harm done whilst pruning!

Apologies for lack of posts for a while, I have been back to England to visit my Mum for a while before the main season starts here at Les Granges, I know she'll like to see the picture above!
After last years rather harsh cutting out the vine and pruning at the front of the house, this spring the wisteria has come into bloom very successfully and is looking and smelling very nice.
We have also managed to complete at last (pictured below) the walkway between the Roque Terrace gite and the pool which we are very proud of!
Much spring cleaning going on now and all going well in readiness for the summer, we already have customers in 3 of the gites.