Business opportunity!

On a very cold misty morning last week on the way to Perigueux I had to stop and take this picture. At this time of year without any leaves on the trees you can always see the masses of mistletoe clumps. Now I seem to remember hearing that last Christmas or maybe even the one before, there was a shortage in the UK of this very festive decoration, maybe this could be a new business opportunity for us, mistletoe&wine.com!

What a view!

As it was a lovely day and we needed a break from current work, we went on a lovely walk yesterday afternoon, from our house along the river and up the valley from Le Ruth, from the footpath (you can see at the bottom of the above picture) we could see a nest in a new clearing so clambered up the steep hillside to get nearer, a mass of sticks & grass made a huge nest so we're guessing it must have been last years base for a pair of buzzards or black kites that we often see in the area. Having got to the nest viewing point we then realised that we could see Les Granges in the distance, a view we've never seen until this clearing had been made.
Only an hour and a half round trip so will be recommending the walk to our customers this year if they're up for it!

For that 'special' day!

We received a very nice letter yesterday from our local Brico (DIY shop), addressed to Philippa, telling us of a special valentines promotion. A very generous offer of 10 euros off if we spend 60 in store during the week before the romantic day. The picture on the letter depicting a loving couple doing some work on that special day, happily drilling with the one you love, lets face it, is certainly different to a gift of flowers or chocolates and possibly a surprise romantic meal out together!
Romance is certainly still alive and kicking here in France.

That was the year that was!

As is traditional for us at this time of year we like to show you how many and where all our guests travel from to stay with us. 2014 was a very busy year and as you can see figures for our 'long haul' travellers from America, Canada and Australia were well up on the previous year and from closer parts roughly the same.

Visitors by country of residence were:-
                 2011     2012    2013   2014
Australia      27       35        11       23
Belgium        -          1         2         2
Canada        8          2         10        19
Catalonia     -          -          -           2
Denmark      -          2         -           -
England       87      133       116      95
France         38       19        20        52
Germany      25       21       11        7
Greece          -          2        -           -
Ireland         3          4         6          2
Italy              -         -          -           2
Malta            -         -          -           10
Netherlands  12       1        9          4
New Zealand 6        5        2          -
Philippines     -         5        -          -
Poland          6          -        -            -
Portugal        -          3        -           -
Scotland       4          7        5          14
Spain            -          -         -           7
Sweden        -           -        5           -
Swiss            -          1        -           1
United States 43       25      21        53
Wales           2          4        2           2

Here's to 2015, there's still plenty of work to be done but we look forward to welcoming guests old and new from wherever you are in the world!

Work still goes on!

We arrived back at Les Granges a week ago and we were amazed that the chain saws are still clearing the poplar woods. Above you can see Le Roque St Christophe to the left and our property in the distance to the right, a view that's not been possible for many years.

Also the wood immediately to the front of us, next to the small house next to the river, has nearly all gone except for the few trees you can see in the picture below.

The weather has been quite mild for the last few days, lunch sat outside was nice but according to the forecast snow is on its way next week!

Better late than never!

A very happy new year to you all!
This is the reason for the lack of posts over the last week or two, our daughter Nicola was married in Helmsley, North Yorkshire, England to Matt Harvey, the ceremony and reception was held at the Black Swan Hotel last Saturday on a beautiful clear crisp sunny day. A fantastic day in beautiful surroundings.
We will be back in France in the next couple of days to get cracking on all the preparation for the coming year, no snow as yet over at Les Grange but sure there will be some pretty soon!
All the best to you all in 2015, we look forward to welcoming new and returning guests over the coming months.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Looking through my archive of pictures, the above is about the most relevant picture I can find to this time of year, taken 2 years ago showing the front of our property in January after a light fall of snow. No sign of snow at the present although temperatures are forecast to drop to -6 degrees next week, so some pretty severe frosts soon!
We're not in France at the moment though, we have travelled back to the UK for Christmas and just after New Year our youngest daughter, Nicola, is getting married in North Yorkshire, England, so as you can imagine it's going to be a hectic couple of weeks over here!

I took the picture above a couple of days ago whilst we were in Sevenoaks as we walked around a country estate owned  by the National Trust, we really were only a few feet away from this beautiful deer, shame there wasn't any snow on the ground then I could have used it as a festive pic!

Happy Christmas to you all,