Chaumont Chateau Garden Festival 2015

Les Deux Platanes is surrounded by some amazing chateaux and invariably our guests make some time during a stay to visit some of them. Recently we spent a good half day visiting the annual international garden festival at the Chateau Chaumont which runs from April to November (exact dates on website - link below). This is an annual event, every year they have a different theme for the garden creations. Universities, schools, colleges of agriculture, art schools and specialists from all over the world create a stunning variety of small gardens for this event.

http://www.domaine-chaumont.fr/en_festival_festival

Fortunately we had made a visit to the actual chateau and grounds earlier in the year and that was also a good visit and even before the garden festival opens the chateau gardens were a magnificent carpet of white flowers.

A small part of the grounds with an array of white flowers

See BLOG posting in May for more photo's of the earlier visit.

 Our return to the 2015 International Garden Festival proved to be worth while once again with an amazing display of gardens all set around a theme - extraordinary collections. I suppose its a little bit like the Chelsea garden festival but on a smaller scale.

My photos fail to do justice to the amazing and varied garden displays.

Our friend Peter admires the mists in the valley garden

Exotic plants in transit

Of course we all know they will be doing very well to match the cottage garden at les Deux Platanes!!

 So if you are here before the festival closes in November and you have an interest in gardens you could do worse than spending a half day wandering the gardens of Chaumont.

July flowers in the garden of les Deux Platanes

I promised some photo's of the flowers in the gite/cottage garden in July so here they are taken today, Tuesday 21st July. As you can see we have managed to conserve the flowers through the hot weather and the current temperatures at around 23c are perfect.

Last year the garden was in the finals of the best flower garden (gite / holiday cottage) category in the area and this year we think its even better so you never know what might happen ! 

REMINDER: If you click on any picture with your mouse arrow the photo in the BLOG should enlarge so you can see it in better resolution.

Wallace & Grommet have a good route on the motorcycle!

The cottage garden has two terraces, this one catches the evening sun.

Hope you enjoyed the photo's.

Maureen

Summer 2015

A gentle reminder arrived yesterday to say our BLOG was far from up to date so here I am up bright and early producing an update - thanks for the reminder.

This summer here in central France has been very hot and dry so far, late May, June and the first two weeks of July have been very hot, up to 40c,  so much so it has been a struggle to keep some of our flowers alive. However some careful nurturing and removing some plants into the shade of the Platanes has done the trick and the cottage garden is looking magnificent once again for our many guests to enjoy during their stay.

These photos taken early June show the flowers developing

Pictures in July will follow in the next BLOG.

Epine production 2015

The local aperitif of the area is a drink called epine. This is made at home by the majority of our French neighbors so naturally over the years we have been taught the secrets of manufacture. The basis of epine is home made 'alcohol' (eau de vie) and ours is produced from our plums and distilled by the official visiting distiller who arrives in May every year . An absolutely vital ingredient is the 'epine' tips picked fresh from the blackthorn hedgerows, wine of your choice and other 'secret' items plus some sugar.  This year we are very pleased with our 2015 vintage, even our French neighbours gave it the thumbs up.

The blackthorn tips collected in a three week window during the spring

The mixture soaking for two weeks

Filtering then into the bottles

We very much hope we have the opportunity to introduce you to 'epine' during your stay at les Deux Platanes.

40 years celebration

2015 marks our 40 years coming to Chatillon and Le Breuil so we decided to hold a celebration lunch for the hamlet's inhabitants, many of whom we have seen grow up and have families of their own.

Our marquee set up for the event

32 of the 35 inhabitants arrived for lunch and we were very happy to see them all.

 We tried to dream up a good 'English' themed barbecue for the occasion, Maureen did a great job and the meat / sausage brought from our butcher in the UK was very well received by everyone.

Célébration barbecue de 40 années

Entree / Apéritifs -

* Pimms Number 1, apéro traditionnel d’Angleterre pour une journée d'été chaude!
* Les Deux Platanes 2015 Epine
****
Barbecue – a volonte:

Anglais agneau de printemps de notre agriculteur local au Royaume-Uni
Anglais saucisse de porc et poireaux
Anglais piment et la coriandre saucisse de porc cercle
Anglais poulet mariné au miel, de citron, l'huile d'olive, l'ail et l'origan.
Des pommes de terre avec la crème sure et sauce à la ciboulette

Carottes (Offert par Monique Royaute) 

pain à l'ail
******
salade
******
Sélection de fromages anglais avec un fromage français de bonne compagnie
******
Déserts anglais typiques:
Pudding anglais d'été
fou de groseille a maquereau
*******

We really love the sense of community here in rural France, your neighbours are so important and unfortunately we find this very different from some parts of the UK where in many places everyone seems to choose to live in isolation.

Annual  hamlet concert

Every year the local brass band arrives to provide a concert in the farmer's barn just down the road from Les Deux Platanes and true to form they arrived in early June to perform once again.

Everyone waiting for the band to commence playing!

Work continues on the renovation.

Our renovations on the house continue with 2015 hopefully seeing the finish of almost 10 years of enjoyable toil. The rear terrace required tiles so with the assistance of my neighbor we set about laying 25 square metres of tiles which we completed in two days.

It was 28c so we used a parasol to provide some shade during the work.

More or less finished on day 2

So that's it for now but look out for more updates SOON - I promise!

May warms up to 31c

Yes it was 31c here in the 11th May, now 31c is not very good for the new flowers that have just been planted out so we have been monitoring everything and it seems OK. For 2015 the cottage has received a facelift in the form of new lime based rendering and new stone around the main entrance door. In addition Maureen has been splashing out on new colour matched tubs for all her new plants. 

Les Deux Platanes with new powder blue flower tubs and of course the new rendering for 2015

The cottage lawn has responded to its spring feed with a nice deep green colour

Other parts of the cottage garden are starting to bloom

A variety of spring colours in the border

Maureen insisted I included this for the colour

We have however had other visitors to our own private garden, Poppy our 9 year old Labrador was not amused.

What is this jumping animal she wonders!

After 10 years of mixing my very inexpensive cement mixer is starting to feel the strain. The bearing on the main drum is very worn, so much that the gears often fail to meet and the drum stops turning. However I have come up with a temporary fix, using a base from my tower scaffold, a long bolt and a plastic wheel.

The low cost modification - engineers be impressed!

This wheel prevents the drum from moving and the gears engage all the time, so the old thing is working again.

So that's it for now.

April or summer?

Our first guests of the year have left and enjoyed magnificent weather for April, they could easily have believed it was August and a warm one at that! They enjoyed the superb flower display at Chaumont Chateau with gardens awash with white flowers all out enjoying the sun. 

Yours truly also enjoying the Chateau gardens and believe me the hat is required as its 26c!

 

The chateau on a magnificent April day

This week Chaumont opens its international garden festival ( http://www.domaine-chaumont.fr/en_concours_index) an event that brings even more colour and interest to these gardens and the chateau.

The cottage garden is also developing nicely with many early spring plants in bloom and the beautiful plane trees coming into leaf. The lawns have been scarified and treated with feed and weed turning the grass to a lovely rich green for the beginning of the year.

Our first guests of 2015, Rod and Tina enjoying the evening sunshine in the cottage garden

This year we are trying a new system for our garden flowers - buying direct from a nursery in the UK and having the plants delivered via post to France. Brookside nursery is near our UK home and offers an excellent variety of plug and other plants all delivered via fast post to France. 

 

This lot should provide some colour in the cottage garden in 2015?

We ordered 'on line' and within three days of the promised delivery all 376 plants arrived safely in France and all fit and very healthy. We will certainly use this system again. Maureen has already replanted the small plug plants and all are growing well in our small temporary green house. In 2014 we entered the Rural Gite category of the areas garden competition and we were one of the finalists, in 2015 with our new flower supply maybe we will win? 

Just in case you think we live with constant great weather I have to tell you that  today, as we await the arrival of our new guests its raining and looks like its going to continue for a day or two! 

Spring in the air 2015

We will soon be into March and the warmer weather this brings the first green shoots of spring and all the wonders of the countryside blossoming once again. Can you detect that I very much look forward to this time of year? Hopefully it will also assist in curing my on-going chest cold and cough that currently shows no signs of disappearing.


Today we have been inspecting the variety of  'plug' plants available for the garden in Les Deux Platanes, for 2015 we are buying some additional varieties. In 2014 the cottage was in the finals of the area beautiful garden competition so we must try harder in 2015 and maybe we will win first prize?

One of the cottage doors with plants in 2014, hope you notice the new grape vines painted onto the shutters - Maureen using her artistic skills again.

Normally we buy several hundred flower plants that eventually end up in the pots, hanging baskets, borders and beds in the cottage and our own private garden. For 2015 we are considering using a different supplier who offers a wider range of flowers. This new supplier even offers a delivery service from the UK to France ( flower plants in the UK are much less expensive than France). In the UK it is possible to buy the tiny 'plug' plants but in France you can only buy larger plants which are much more expensive.

We will soon commence the preparation of the cottage for the 2015 season and as is usual it will be receiving a top to toe clean and i have no doubt the paint brush will be working again to ensure both the interior and exterior are in absolutely delightful condition for our many guests this year.

Those of you who have been to the cottage before will be aware of the Auberge de la Tour in Chatillon our small local town. This local restaurant was taken over from the previous owners four years ago by a very young chef who has worked very hard to build both his skills and culinary reputation. In those four years he has matured and developed the menu to a point where his skills are now highly respected in the region and now listed by many organisations. This of course is great for our guests and we can recommend a restaurant within 5 minutes drive of the cottage with absolute confidence.

A rather special November

November 2014 was rather special being the 100th commemoration of the outbreak of WW1. The French are extremely aware of the massive loss of life including hundreds from the local community whose names are carved on the monument in the centre of Chatillon.

The firemen, mayor and other local officials are in attendance along with the local band, school children and local people.

Some of the English living in and around Chatillon always endeavour to make a contribution to local life and events. For the past five years I and Chris, have on the 11th November, laid a poppy wreath at the memorial in recognition of both the many British and Commonwealth soldiers who fell in the war and in solidarity with the 1,357,000 French soldiers who died in WW1. Our many French friends and the community as a whole greatly appreciate this small gesture and 2014 had of course special significance.

The red poppy is a contrast to the blue cornflowers in the French wreaths

Following the laying of the various wreaths the mayor invites everyone who has attended to the local town hall for a vin d'honneur, a glass of wine and the local pastry cake. Following the vin d'honneur we join the Ancient Combatants for the remembrance lunch. It is indeed a privilege to be accepted as an integral part of the community on this and other occasions throughout the year. 

Students from the local high school read the citation.

2014 has been another busy year at Les Deux Platanes and we have enjoyed welcoming the many guests to our cottage. The weather in August was not up to its usual standard but in general the French summer, in this central part of France, for the most part was warm and dry. 

This photo taken late October on the cottage terrace and still warm during the day