Preparing the games

Every year the local town of Chatillon hosts groups of young people over the national weekend in July. Our contribution to the event is to organise the 'Its a Knockout' games better know in Europe as 'Jeux sans frontiere', sorry but I have not discovered how to put the accent over the 'e' using this blog software.

This year we have five games and representatives from six countries - no doubt you will have a full report with pictures on a future BLOG posting.

A lot of testing takes place, Poppy is coming over to investigate the situation!

Wildflowers & jam!

In an attempt to support local wildlife I planted a variety of wildflower seeds on the area taken up by the large filter bed for the fosse septic system which is situated in the field at the rear of the house. This filter area, covering 11metres x 6 metres and nearly one metre deep consists of layers of gravel, special sand and volcanic rock with waste water from the house and cottage entering at one side and clean water leaving at the other side on its way to the roadside ditch.

This is the filter under construction in 2007, Poppy appears to be checking the ground for bumps!

The flowers have just started to come out in the past few days and already the butterflys and bees are visiting

The ducklings that arrived several weeks ago are growing fast and taking full advantage of the duckpond although when I took the photo they appeared to be having a rest period.

This year has been a bumper year for all sorts of fruits so jam production has been in full swing for some time. This morning Maureen has been busy making gooseberry and raspberry along with more blackcurrant.

Harvest time

The weather here in central France has at long last returned to more or less normal, its hot and beautiful so the corn is ripe and golden and the local farmers are busy with the combine harvesters. Our neighbour Monsieur Bonnamy has his own combine which is dusted off and started up every year to cut his crops in the local fields. The combine must be at least 40 yrs old. I took a photo today when he was passing so you combine harvester experts can tell me the exact decade of manufacture!
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I thought a B&W photo was appropriate

Maureen has been very busy cooking meals for guests of late, last night it was Duck with Berry Lentils followed by Cherries Jubilee - this desert has been popular this year due to the Queens Diamond Jubilee I suppose?

On Sunday our French friends (Michel & Chantal) who live three houses up the road held their summer lunch. So we arrived at 12.15 and left at 11.00pm after evening dinner!!!!! Yes this is France and they do enjoy a long day eating great food and drinking fine wines with a rest in between to play a few games and have a walk.

It's a great way to integrate into the local society, and we have met many different people over the past number of years that Michel has held his summer party. John's guest on his left was Veronique who is an English teacher in Tours while I was next to her husband Alain who is a classics scholar (Ancient Greek and Latin) but who doesn't speak any English! Makes for interesting conversations.

Les Deux Platanes in late June

33c, yes that's correct, for the past two days it has reached THIRTY THREE DEGREES 'C' . Any other year 33c would be nothing to shout about but the weather this year has been so damp and cold I thought I just had to make a big thing of this great late June weather. The damp warm weather to date has been good for the garden so today, whilst our guests were out I took some photos of Les Deux Platanes garden. So all you good people who are visiting later in the year you can see what the garden is looking like in June, no guarantee it will be the same in late September!
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From the wood terrace - very green grass!

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The raised flower beds

Across drive and parking

Flower tubs on cottage front

 View from the well

It won't be long until the farmers start the harvest as all the wheat is a lovely golden colour. We took a walk around Le Breuil this evening when it had cooled down and noticed everything looked ready to be picked. No doubt we will see the combines out in force in the next couple of weeks, working into the night to get everything in.

 

Great weather for ducks

May and June has certainly been variable on the weather front but fortunately our area of France has not suffered the storms or very wet weather seen in the UK or northern France. The long tern forecast for July is looking much better so lets hope we see some non-stop sun for a few weeks and then we can complain about the need to water the lawns to prevent them looking brown and hard! 

The new ducklings have arrived in Madam Monique's small holding and some are even taking to the water, brave things. 

Lets stay together folks!

The two big bulls featured in our BLOG last year have returned to the field across the road along with two new friends. The three beautiful working horses are still munching grass and happily accepting bread in the field down the road and the donkey is still making a morning call in the field around the corner. Together with the geese, sheep, chickens and a few mountain goats that can be seen if you walk around the hamlet the place could be mini zoo. The frogs are still singing tunes midday and this year the cuckoo has been particularly vocal.

Menu for a relaxing holiday!

Maureen has been preparing a lot meals for guests this year especially for the night they arrive,  it makes a relaxing start to the holiday before you stock up on shopping. Full menu details can be found on the website so you can order in advance if required.

Routes to Les Deux Platanes. 

Look on the website under 'Location' for route details

The cottage website contains details of suggested routes from Calais and northern France (boat / tunnel) to Les Deux Platanes. We do not suggest coming via Paris, if you use a SATNAV it will take you via Paris unless programmed otherwise, many years experience suggests this will add hours to your journey. Under normal circumstances it will take between 5 - 7 hours if you travel via the suggested Autoroute and cost circa 45 Euro in Tolls each way. The other route we suggest takes between 6 - 7 hours, is 45 miles shorter but takes you on major roads but avoids the Autoroute after Rouen. This time includes some short rest stops. If you require any further information regarding travel or routes do not hesitate to contact Maureen and remember if you shop at TESCO you can use your vouchers for channel tunnel travel.

Bath time

Poppy dog loves her bath time so when that time comes around she is happy to stand in her special bathtub and have a good shampoo and washdown.

There are of course four stages, the 'wetting' , the 'shampoo & scrub', the 'fight with the towel' and the drying in the sun!

I will let you decide if she is enjoying the experience!

Work and play between the showers!

Everyone tells me its the 'jet stream' , the weather should be fine and hot but the 'jet stream' has pushed the good weather south and brought the bad weather over the UK and most of France.

However life continues and the commune is as busy as ever with the local farmers trying very hard to second guess the weather so that the hay, animals and the crops survive.

Last week the local orchestra from Clion came to visit so Friday evening was spent listening to an excellent selection of tunes and enjoying a glass of wine with local pastries.

You will of course notice that the ochestra is surrounded by farm equipment and yes that's a combine harverster behind the trombone player.

The renovations of the rear wall of the house are nearly complete and I am very pleased with the result.

Its amazing what you can do with a camera, The picture on the left looks like the finished article, but the picture on the right shows that work is still underway and hopefully the roof terrace (where the blue plastic is located) will be finished before the end of the summer and the scaffolding will be down after several years!!!!

The variable weather has its benefits in that our strawberries and other fruit is available in abundance. Maureen has made 19 jars of absolutely mouth watering strawberry jam and another 8 jars of gooseberry and elerflower jam. Fortunately both gooseberries and elderflowers were available together unlike last year when Maureen had to use elderflower cordial.

Its only the end of June so I can see that the store cupboard is going to be well stocked with jams before the end of the year. Just as well we supply the cottage guests - Maureen's strawberry jam with nice fresh breakfast bread or warm croissant - lovely.

Next up she tells me it's the turn of the blackcurrants which are just about ready for picking.