Merry Christmas past and future guests

Christmas greetings everyone

Seasons greetings everyone

Well the hot and dry summer of 2017 is behind us and we look forward to 2018 and meeting new and returning guests at les Deux Platanes.

The romantic small terrace at the bottom of the garden

The two giant Platanes trees that provide glorious shade in the cottage garden have been 'trimmed' in November 2017 reducing the height. The large oak situated at the end of the cottage will receive a substantial 'pollard' at the end of January allowing more sun into the garden as the sun is setting in the evenings, The small terrace in the cottage garden was built for you to enjoy the evening sun, an ideal situation for a barbecue or a glass of wine in the evening but the oak was shading it a little as the sun was setting and we cannot have that!

As you may have may have noticed from the news the greatest rock star you may never have heard about has died and the French are sad indeed. Johnny Halliday was a French icon and this was recognised by his funeral which was to all extents a 'state' funeral with tens of thousands lining the route in Paris. When you visit the cottage you will find a Johnny Halliday CD in the collection, its worth a listen and contains

many of the songs for which he was loved and famous in France. In the 40 plus years we have been visiting France we have spent many an evening dancing on some campsite terrace to the wild rock of 'Johnny'. He leaves a place in the hearts of nearly every French citizen who like Maureen and myself remember some moments of enjoyment in his musical company. Rest in peace old rocker.


Its a quiet time of year so all we can say is have a wonderful Christmas and maybe we will see you in 2018 at les Deux Platanes.

John & Maureen Hindhaugh

Cottage features on UK national Sausage Week website

Its not often (if ever) that this tiny rural hamlet in the middle of France features on some national website but our Sausage fete held on the 14th Oct has done just that......famous at last.

Click on the link below to visit the site:

https://uksausageweek.com/uk-sausage-week-crosses-the-channel/

Halloween

The rural community in France has so many wonderful traditions its often hard to keep up. Today being Halloween = calèche ride for the children and soupe a la citrouille plus some wine for adults.

The calèche is provided by a couple of young people, the lady of whom is a blacksmith and the partner is a horse specialist.

As is the custom the children visit all the houses in the hamlet where they receive gifts that are sure to contain loads of sugar, they all dress up in Halloween costume.

This year I converted the sausage people I made for the 'Sausage fete' on the 14th oct into witches, its amazing what you can do with a sausage. These decorated the road passing the cottage.

OK its a weird witch but remember it used to be a sausage.

The calèche heads off to complete visits to all the remaining houses.

At 19.00 hours everyone is invited to the farmers house in the centre of the hamlet for pumpkin soup and drinks ( Maureen has also cooked some remaining sausages so all our French neigbours can enjoy more English Sausages during UK Sausage week)

Time for a haircut!

Yes its true, every seven or so years it is time for a tree haircut. The two 'Platanes' in the cottage garden that provide glorious shade during the warm summer days are in need of a trim. Fortunately we managed to locate a professional tree surgeon who has performed the task, although I have to say that is not a job for the faint hearted.

Looks easy but this guy is at least 50 ft from the ground and climbing on what I describe as 'twigs'

Job 60% complete, can you spot him in the middle?

We now have mountains of cuttings to be cleared away and burnt although some of the larger sections can be used on the fire in 2019.

The 'two 'Platanes' will grow quickly again next year and provide great shade but at least the height will be at least 15 ft shorter than before.

Tomorrow is Halloween and the village children will be touring the hamlet in the calèche (Horse drawn carriage) as they call at everyone's house. At the end of the tour the inhabitants of the hamlet meet up for 'soupe a la citroulle' , pumpkin soup to you and me plus some English sausages that we did not cook at the sausage fete on the 14th October.

 

The Great British Sausage fete

Well that was a great success, a British sausage fete organised for all the inhabitants of our wonderful community here in Le Breuil aux Gittons. Here in rural France 'community' is everything and throughout the year a small number of social events are organised that brings together all 33 families that are spread out across our rural hamlet, and unlike some parts of France we are the only English. In August the hamlet held the annual 'Mechoui' and we offered to organise a 'British Sausage Fete' in October, of course everyone was enthusiastic. Unknown to all our French neighbours we had already bought 100 special sausages from our local butcher and sausage maker extraordinaire in Stafford UK. They were taking up a great chunk of our freezer. As is the norm for these events, many people contribute to the menu so we provided the 'plat principal' three sausage casseroles or 'Ragout' to the French and the coffee. In the days before the event we were informed of what would be arriving and the menu was assembled:

Apero : Marquiset / coke / orange juice

Entrée :

Pate Berrichon  / Taboulé / Cake aux jambon et olives/ quiche

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'Trou Berrichon' (pear sorbet with pear eau de vie /alcohol) 

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Plat principal – Ragoût de saucisse anglaise

·        Ragoût de saucisses et pommes aux boulettes de croutons aux herbes(dumplings)

·        Ragoût de saucisses Lincolnshire avec des champignons, des carottes et des oignons

·        Ragoût de saucisses Cumberland avec des oignons de poireaux et du vin rouge

Avec  Pommes de terre purėe

Veuillez revenir et essayer un autre Ragoût de saucisse

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 Fromage / salad

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Dessert

Compōte des pommes  / tarte aux pommes / Chocolate gateau

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Café / Thê / Tisane

 

Vin/wine  : Pinot Gris / Touraine Sauvignon / Rosé d’Alsace / St Nicolas du Borgeuil

The marquee was erected and a email sent upstairs for great weather for the days ahead.

 In the days before we erected the marquee on our small field, collected tables and chairs from the town store ( no charge), invented games for the children, made famous 'sausage' people to hang in the marquee such as:

Its the very famous Napoleon Sausage

Plus the one and only Mr Charles 'la mer' Sausage (I will leave you to do the research)

At noon on the 14th October people started to arrive bringing an abundance of food and wine for the other courses. It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the mid 20's so we all collected outside the marquee to enjoy the aperos and the marquiset (a local drink made with wine and lemons).

Blue skies and great sausage

Young and old together - two are over 90 years.

 We then sat down for the sausage lunch!!!

 

My long time friend Michel, neigbour Monique and at the end at more than 90 years is Leon.

After the 'entree' followed by a surprise 'trou Berrichon' provided by another neighbour Maureen brought out the 3 varieties of sausage casseroles.

And so we continued with some games followed by a walk around the neighbours carp lake then a cheese course and salad plus 4 desserts before finishing with coffee or tea at 17.45 hrs. 

Of course we had to take a photo as a memory of the day:

Nearly everyone in the hamlet including the two dogs

 

The original plan was to take the marquee down the following day but since it was dry 15 strong men and women offered to start then and there!!!!!

Young and old jumped into action

Packing going on apace

Fortunately we have younger guys as my 69 years was by now showing signs of fatigue!

By 19.30hrs it was done so all 15 in the packing team were rewarded with a nice malt whisky or a coca cola.

What a simply wonderful and rewarding day and all part of the reason we love France so much.

Cottage garden in early September

 

I thought a few photo's of the cottage garden in early September may be appreciated! You can 'click' on each photo and it will be seen as a larger picture. 

As you can see the tubs and baskets are still flowering well even after a warm summer

The terrace at the bottom of the cottage garden is a lovely place to sit in the evenings

The lawn has survived, mainly due to regular watering from the well water.

Wall tubs are starting to go back but still have a good show

Even the hanging baskets are putting on a late show!

Autumn update

Well any thought of winter is certainly not in our minds today as it's a lovely 26c in the cottage garden, beautiful blue skies and it looks like this weather is staying for a week at least. Our recent guests also enjoyed some glorious September weather so as we have said many times before there is no reason to just opt for high season at Les Deux Platanes.

In August the annual 'meshoui' went off well and as usual we were in the thick of it putting up tables and generally helping out. 

The two sheep were roasting nicely to feed nearly 100 people.

Maureen assists with the washing up

It's free so everyone attends!

The summer of 2017 will forever be remembered as 'The year of the fruit'. We have been inundated with tomatoes, courgettes and a vast quantity of plums from our trees. The jam supply has been well replenished.

A tiny selection of fruit from our garden

John has managed to collect nearly 300 litres of plums!!!! These are busy fermenting in 3 large plastic dustbins. After adding a little sugar and stored over the winter these will be taken to the distiller when he arrives in May 2018 and converted into alcohol, maybe 40 litres. 

Woodpecker visit: Our local green woodpecker has been visiting the cottage garden, we managed to snap a picture before he left for more wood pecking duties

The annual 2CV gathering took place during August. Visitors were welcome and as usual food and drink was on hand at all times!

The cottage garden has once again been entered into the regional flower competition. It's been a bit of an art this year, keeping them watered during the  hot weather we had in the middle of the year. Luckily John was able to move the tubs under the plane trees to take advantage of their shade. The well provides us with a very useful supply of free water which helps too.

The tubs and baskets were just starting to fill out when these pictures were taken.

Can we thank May and Mike who were guests all through August for their recent review on Cheznous:

A really lovely gite with an attention to detail and quality which we have never seen before - and we've stayed in 50 gites across France over the past 35 years.
The owners, Maureen & John, are helpful, friendly yet discreet.
The crowning glory is the garden which would be the envy of most English gardeners.

Lets hope the garden has an impression on the secret judges when they visit.

Well that's all for now, better go and stir the fermenting plums!

Strange goings on!

Apparently its that time of year again when we spot all manner of strangely dressed folks tending the fields....what more can be said?

Maybe its some ancient fertility celebration but no one appears to know - yes you have guessed it they are all men. Still non the wiser.

The flowers in late July

You can believe me when I tell you its been a mammoth task ensuring the flowers in the cottage garden have survived the hot weather early this month. With temperatures on some days in the mid to high 30's it was necessary to move some flower tubs and baskets under the trees to prevent them being 'cooked'. However they have survived and with ample use of 'Miracle Grow' they are all looking just fine. Those guests who are still to visit this year can look forward to a nice flowery garden to wind away your days with a glass of your favorite tipple. In 2016 we were awarded 2nd Prize in the regional flower garden competition, with some stiff competition and a large number of entrants what will we do in 2017 - all will be revealed in December.

July 21st 2017 - managing to keep the grass green

The second terrace is lovely in the evening

The small shutter to the blue bedroom

growing vines around the barrel this year

Hanging baskets and tubs have survived the heat

Your private enclosed garden - a lovely place to relax