Sunny Summery Summary

We missed doing a posting earlier this season, apart from Wendy’s slightly sad little piece, so here’s a summary of the whole of summer!

This year’s summer has been hot and sunny, consistently up in the 30s C, and we’ve enjoyed it both at home and away on our first proper summer holiday for many years. 

We went off to Italy in mid June to spend a week with Jennie, Ian and Dylan at a resort complex in northern Sardinia, and took a few days to get there and a week or so to get home, travelling about quite a bit and experiencing Italian driving!   We had a lovely holiday, staying at Florence, Pisa, Sorrento and the Amalfi coast and Rimini, amongst others over the three weeks.

Jeanne’s sister Christine and her husband Jay were looking after the house and menagerie for us while we were away, so some watering and weeding had been done, which was a help.  They stayed for a few days afterwards to extend their holiday with us.  We’ve also had lovely visits from Samantha, Mike and Elizabeth; from Jennie, Ian and Dylan and from David, and our pool's been very well used.

A hot-air balloon festival took place at the beginning of August and we got a ringside seat from a nearby restaurant in the evening as several passed overhead at rooftop height.

Summer here is filled with spectacles all around us and we also went to a show with horses and fire at a Roman amphitheatre with some friends.  Most recently we went to Chateau Marquis de Vauban in Blaye and had a great day there, with a trip in a calèche around the citadel and town, a super lunch and wine tasting and tour of the chateau and winery.  Blaye is the northern-most part of the Bordeaux wine producing area and a very good appellation.  Lots of other social occasions going on as well, together with the usual chores. No time to be bored (or at least no rest for the wicked)!

Most of our 300 new trees and hedge plants are surviving despite the hot dry weather – we’ve only lost a handful, thanks to irrigation from big water tanks filled from the well.

The pillars for the new gates have now been up for a few weeks but the gates themselves only recently arrived, and are waiting for our builder to come to fit them.  In the meantime Rhys has started building a wall next to the gateway ‘cheek’ walls to enclose what will become the grange garden. It’s about two feet high so far and uses stone from the old grange itself – big heavy ‘dressed’ pieces for the bottom course, more rustic higher up.  It will take a while and it won't be hurried, fitting it in between other jobs and its heavy work!

We’ve also had two Ash trees cut down, one at the back of the back garden and one in the former sheep field, so they’re giving us plenty to do cutting them up and storing the wood for firewood.  We’ve got about three or four winters’ worth now so won’t have to buy any for a while.  Ashes grow like weeds here – very fast growing and seedlings sprouting up all over the place which we have to keep removing, but we’re changing the balance with our planted oaks, beeches, birches, etc., and there are a few self-seeded walnut seedlings about the land this year, probably courtesy of the resident red squirrel who forgot where it had buried its nuts! Unfortunately they're not in the right place, so a winter job will be to move them to better locations.

In the meantime, proof that the stream at the bottom of our land is reasonably healthy - this crayfish came up to the house from it this week. Presumably looking for deeper water as the stream is very shallow at this time of year, though not quite dried up.  Too small to eat so back to nature.

We’ve just said farewell to more visitors - Peter, and Claire and George, but still looking forward to more in a few weeks though still plenty of space for more.  So back to the grindstone for a little while!

Best wishes everyone, and hope to see you before too long!

Last chicken standing

Hello everyone, my name is Wendy and I’m a buff-laced bantam Wyandotte hen. For those that don’t know their poultry that means I’m a very pretty small female chicken, generally kept for showing rather than for any egg laying abilities.

When I was young l lived with a couple called Liz and Gray in the north of France. There were five of us bantams all together and Liz used to take us to shows. We’d be bathed and primped so we looked our best and we won a number of awards.

There were four others with me: Geraldine, a Polish who had a pom-pom of feathers on top of her head with a fringe that came down below her eyes, she was quite tall for a bantam and always looked very ditzy. Then there was Beryl - a Belgian. She was so small she looked like a large pigeon rather than a small chicken. And there were two Pekins, Lily who was white and Yvette who was a buff colour.  Pekins have bustles on their bums and feathers round their feet; pretty, but not very useful when the weather is wet and muddy.

Anyway I was definitely the dominant bird, I looked after the others but I made sure they respected the fact I was top of the pecking order.

Liz and Gray decided that living in the North of France wasn’t different enough weather-wise to living in their native Cornwall so they upped sticks and moved south to the Charente Maritime and brought us with them, and the weather was definitely warmer here. We settled into our new little home but didn’t do any more shows though we did lay just a few eggs between us. Quite small eggs but definitely acceptable to eat by our owners.

Life chugged on in a pleasant enough way but sadly it wasn’t to continue. Gray was suddenly no longer with us; we overheard that he had died but didn’t really understand what that meant.  Our quiet, routine life was about to change forever. It seemed that Liz didn’t want to stay in France on her own. She wanted to go back to Cornwall and had no plans to take us with her. We overheard comments about having us ‘dispatched’, whatever that meant. Apparently we were now all about 9 years old which made us unattractive to possible new carers.  Liz advertised for a new home for us in the area but nobody wanted us, even free.

However in July of 2013 a new couple came to visit us; Jeanne and Rhys were offering to take us to their home to live. So one very hot day in August we were all put in a cardboard box in the back of a car and taken to our new home. A week or two later Liz came to see us to make sure we’d settled in but we all ignored her because she had given us away to these people who we didn’t know.

But we quickly settled in to our new home; we had a very nice house and lots of garden and field to roam around in and scratch about for new things to nibble, and plenty of food and treats. 

But tragedy was just around the corner. In the October Geraldine went into our house one day, climbed on the roost and keeled over – just literally fell off her perch. Now we were four.

Things carried on smoothly in 2014 until Yvette started laying eggs and became broody, the daft old bat!  How did she expect to hatch her eggs when there wasn’t a cock in sight!  We could hear one sometimes at the house next door, but he never came near us. That would have been an experience for us!

There was an enormous change in May 2014 when five rather large brown hens arrived to share our home. I’d always been top of the pecking order and now I was being pushed about by these bigger, younger, bossy hens. This got even worse when they started laying eggs on a regular basis which really pleased Jeanne and Rhys.

Beryl was unimpressed by the changes and went into a decline, and after some weeks she died, so now we were three.

Not long afterwards Lily started looking fragile.  She didn’t die in our home but suddenly wasn’t there anymore. Yvette also disappeared and it was only when Yvette re-appeared I discovered they had both been kept in an isolation pen for a couple of weeks but eventually Lily had died, so now we were only two.

Sadly, because Yvette had been separated from us for a couple of weeks the brown chickens kept attacking her.

One day she had a funny smell (Vick Vapour Rub, I understand) and the browns stopped attacking her and she recovered her strength.

Things carried on until May 2015 and then a miracle happened, Yvette laid 6 more eggs over a week or so.  But she became broody again and insisted on staying in her nest box, despite Jeanne and Rhys trying to get her out of her broodiness. After a few weeks she did come out of it and joined the rest of us in the field, but as usual when she got broody she hadn’t eaten or drunk as much as she should so was somewhat weaker.

In August she started looking a bit peaky and on August 19th she stayed in a nesting box all day and passed away peacefully in the afternoon.

So now it’s just me with the 5 brown chickens. I’m bottom of the pecking order and I don’t lay eggs because I’m a really old lady now – 11 years – supposedly the equivalent of well over 100 in human lifespan terms, but I’m still hanging in there. 

I try to keep my dignity and cope with these young interlopers, and they seem to give me some respect as long as I don’t try to get to the food trough while they’re eating.  I'm trying to keep my pecker up, though I miss the friends whom I spent so many years with.

Summer is blooming !

We’ve had a great spring, in terms of our own lives, our social life and our work on the house. For ourselves we are reasonably healthy still, with only minor inconveniences and a few trips to the dentist for Jeanne.  Rhys has had another of his regular post-treatment check-ups and everything seems to be OK at present. We are a bit slower, deafer, and tire even more easily, however, as time goes on!  We’ve made a few more new friends, which is really nice, done a few more new things and explored a few more new places.

A replica of the Hermione has been being built at Rochefort for nearly 18 years and is at last complete, so we went aboard when it visited La Rochelle in April and it has now sailed for the USA. The original Hermione was a frigate built in 1779 (in only 11 months) that took the French General Lafayette to help fight the British in the American War of Independence.

We’ve not been away from home since the last update so we’ve had plenty of time to concentrate on jobs around the house.  The biggest of these has been planting 220 trees and 90 hedge plants. The trees – all saplings – were relatively quick and easy to plant, although our topsoil is not brilliant for the task, and they benefited from some rain to help them settle in. Almost all of them seem to have taken so we’re hopeful that they will have enough root growth to survive the summer dry spell coming up. 

New hedge at the back

New hedge at the front

The first lot of hedge plants had to wait until I had finished the groundwork, which meant converting a drainage ditch into a proper land drain / soakaway, then covering with soil from the adjacent bank. This was completed a couple of weeks ago and the second hedge then went into the veggie garden next to the road, where it will make a useful windbreak once its established. 

Both hedges have had a piped irrigation system, installed over the weed control fabric, and two 1000-litre water tanks feed the two when the weather’s dry.  We fill the tanks from our well so there is no cost for the water other than the electricity for the pump to draw it.   

We’ve also been able to tidy up the veggie garden and get everything planted, so it’s looking much better than before.

Our house from across the potager

Dusty patrolling the veggies

Elsewhere on the property the pillars for new gates arrived but the supplier discontinued the gates themselves, so we’ve had to re-order, delaying that job by a couple of months and throwing out the builder’s timetable a bit. We’ve made a small start on getting a new wall built on the old grange garden, with a foundation strip and pathway. Indoors we’re only waiting for our builder to come to re-plaster the dining room wall then we’ll be pretty well finished, with only a handful of small jobs that need doing and one or two bigger but merely ‘nice to have’ jobs to tackle at some point with no urgency.

Socially we’ve enjoyed hosting a few visitors already and are looking forward to more coming during the summer.  We’ve still got space in August and September though, especially for anyone who would like a working holiday!!!  We’ve continued to attend the local quiz, and won again (ie. came third for a better prize than first!)  at the May event.  We’ve had friends round for lunches and dinners, been out to other friends and gone out with other friends for lunches.  We’ve also done a ‘semi-nocturne randonnée’ in a nearby village, Avy. This was a 10km walk in the evening in four legs with the courses of a meal at each stage – aperitif, starter, main course, cheese and dessert, so despite what turned out to be actually 12km we felt very full by the end.  These walks seem to be very popular here and are (in our limited experience so far) good fun so we’ll be doing more. Our own village has one coming up at the end of June, combined with a cycle run of up to 50km. We’ll be walking!

Our own holiday comes up shortly and our house (and cat and chicken) -sitters are teed up ready so we won’t be worried about the place being empty – it won’t. 

Best wishes everyone

Spring is on the way

Cannot believe how long it is since we updated this. Blogging is definitely not our strong point! On the other hand, there's not much to talk about in the winter.  However, the bulbs coming up in the garden have prompted a quick review of events since the last one.

Jeanne flew over to the UK for a few days to see family and just a couple of friends; many thanks to Peter and Lianne for their hospitality and driving her about, and she wasn't too shaken by a small road accident on the ice. Rhys was left in charge of the cat, the hens and the house during her absence, and coped, he says!

We joined the local Quiz d'Anglais at the village café and won third prize on only our second occasion, two very nice bottles of wine, which we enjoyed with the friends who are our quiz partners over lunch the following Sunday.

Christmas and New Year were spent at home, seeing lots of friends locally, and we enjoyed a fantastic double New Year celebration with a big party at friends. Double because New Year here is an hour earlier than in England and we had to see in both, of course!  Many thanks for cards and pressies from so many people. We wish we could see you all every time but just can't manage it.

In January we went off on our first proper holiday for 5 years - to Engelberg in Switzerland via Samantha's in Alsace. Jeanne's sister Christine and her husband Jay came over to house-sit and look after the cat and the chickens for us. As we were away for 10 days we thought it was too long to have neighbours looking after the chickens and the cat to be in the cattery. When we arrived at our excellent hotel in Engelberg the snow was rapidly disappearing and as we'd gone specifically for walks in the snow (we do not ski) we were initially a little disappointed. Plus Sam and Elizabeth were joining us at the weekend and as they do ski it could have been a let-down. However there was still enough snow on the high ground and by the Friday the snow was coming down in bucket loads for their weekend - there was over 12 inches in 24 hours, much more on the tops. We loved Engelberg and our hotel, the Spannort, which is owned and run by a lovely Swedish family. The only drawbacks were the high price for bottles of wine with dinner, they start at the equivalent of £40, and the Swiss government taking off the controls on the Swiss Franc in the middle of our stay there with the result that the euro tumbled against the Franc and our bills shot up accordingly. Driving into Lucerne during the Friday evening rush-hour to collect Sam and Elizabeth from the railway station was also a bit of a challenge; at one point we wondered why there was only us in the traffic lane and then realised we were in the bus lane! The Sunday was a brilliant day for both walking for us and and skiing for them - fresh deep powder snow and beautiful sunshine.

Getting back into the idea of taking holidays after spending most of our income on renovations for the last few years we've already booked a second holiday in Sardinia for early summer. This time we'll be joining Jennie, Ian and Dylan and we're really looking forward to it as we've always wanted to visit Sardinia and we can combine it with a car tour through the South of France and part of Italy.

Rhys went over to the UK to see family and some friends, and to buy lots of trees for the garden and land. Many thanks for hospitality and birthday pressies from David & Lynne, Peter & Lianne, Jennie & Ian and others. It was a great joy to see Charlie playing his Saturday football match.  His team won by 4 goals, I think, largely due to his super right-wing passes. And another great joy to see Dylan progressing with his walking and talking and enjoying a pub lunch!  And a pleasure to meet up with a few old friends as well.  And great to have a dinner out with Peter (for his birthday), Lianne, Tom, Jack, Emma and Diane.  Slightly less of a pleasure driving home with the car loaded up very fully with trees, luggage and other stuff . Rhys took the Poole - Cherbourg ferry home after a visit to Mother in Swanage, so not too long a drive.

Rhys bought 220 'forest' trees - oaks, beech, birch, alder and willows - for the bottom of the land to start to make a mini-woodland, and 90 'Etna' Laurels for a replacement hedge in the back garden.  The garden currently has Leylandii all round, which is way too high and deep, beyond pruning, so has to go, and these laurels are for the first batch, on the north side. Unfortunately planting them has to be done after rearranging the drainage that runs along the old hedge. There is a big ditch taking surface water that we are converting into a proper land drain with perforated pipes, gravel etc and covering with soil so it will be invisible and enable us to get rid of the bank that's next to it currently. Then the new hedge can go in. We're almost half way done with the drain so far, so reasonable progress.Yes it's a long way to go for the trees but we got them from a forestry supplier in Shropshire for about one fiftieth of the cheapest price we could find over here!

We're starting to get bookings for the coming holiday season, with Easter, much of June and a week in July firmed up already, and a possible for late August / early September. Gives us completion targets for some of our jobs but even with a few incomplete our place will still be even better than last year.  Get your bookings in!

We are now getting down to having only a few major jobs to complete although we expect pointing external walls to be an ongoing task for a few years to come. We are planning on getting the fireplace man back to sort out the fire and fireplace in what is now the dining room, the lovely original Charantaise fireplace has had brick additions that need removing and stripping back to the original with any necessary repairs made and the inset log-burner needs replacing with a free standing one. We're also getting the chap who did the drive back to install a gate and gateposts. But both jobs need to wait until the weather improves a bit more. In the meantime, however, the priority task is to get alll the trees planted while they're still dormant.

Best wishes everyone, and hope to see you later in the year!