Early evening surprise!

A bit blurred i know but i took this rather quickly when i spotted a group of 12 or so wild boar on the opposite side of the river Vezere whilst on a walk, after being here for a year this was my first sighting and was only too pleased i wasn't on the other side of the river with them all heading towards me!!! 

A bit fresh!

One way of clearing the head after a christmas eve do is a nice walk in the sub zero temperature countryside...very bracing!

A very Merry Christmas to everyone all over the world who are following our blog and we wish you a happy 2012.

Red sky in the morning....

 A couple more pictures from another early morning walk yesterday, a break in the clouds as we left Les Granges walking down the track opposite shows the Le Moustier cemetery shrouded in mist whilst further along the pathway, the beautiful Saint-Pierre de Peyzac church, built in 1317, sits on the opposite side of the vezere river. The weather here is ok compared to this time last year which was sub zero, at present it's not gone below 6 degrees so very mild...so far!!

 

Serious pruning!

Over the last week we've been taking advantage of the unusually fine weather and have been cutting back lots of overgrown (another word for out of control) trees & shrubs, the bonfire has been burning for 3 days non stop, that is until it started to rain yesterday afternoon, next big project is to reduce the height of the hedge around the house pool by a metre or so....pictures to follow...eventually!
We have also been getting out for early morning walks every day since our return from England (something to do with all the good eating and drinking done whilst we were away!), most mornings have been misty but now most of the leaves have fallen the views are so different, as you can see below, the visitor centre at Le Roque St Christophe usually completely obscured by the foliage is now clearly visible clinging to the side of the cliff face.

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Fungi season

I took the picture above during our early cold and misty walk this morning, they were spotted in the grounds of the campsite up the road, Le Paradis, unlike other mushrooms we've picked and eaten over the last week, somehow I don't think we'll be having the above for breakfast!

Roast chestnuts!

It's cold here but the fire in the house is glowing and have found a novel way of roasting the chestnuts infront of the fire, the nuts had to be rescued shortley after the picture was taken as the log caught fire...as it wood...sorry, would!

Answer to spot the difference - the caravan at the rear of the house has gone....hurray, it all looks so much better at the back of the house now thankfully!

Another spot the difference!

After 3 weeks in England we returned a couple of days ago to a now mainly leaf-less autumnal Les Granges, still very nice weather here, great for clearing up the leaves and gardening before the really cold weather sets in.
A nice surprise on our return also was something missing from the view above, nothing to do with the house but something has now gone that our visitors this year will have seen.
I'll let you know soon if you can't see what's gone!!