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Saturday 11th May 2019

On occasions whilst we are here in France there is a quiz night at one of the local restaurants we frequent, we participated in one in February and came last, however last night teamed up with Peter and Alison who are out here visiting their holiday bungalow, we came first, beating into second place the 6 person team that usually win. Possibly because the final 10 questions weren’t straight quiz questions, but were ones that required thinking outside the box, completing sequences etc where we scored 7 out of 10, if we had known the colour of Noddy’s hat our winning margin would have been greater. Our prize was a 80 euro voucher to offset against a meal at the restaurant.

Thirty years ago I and my family were invited to spend two weeks with friends who had just bought a French farmhouse for holidays, unfortunately they didn’t make it to France because of a family illness and we had the house to ourselves. And so began my love affair with the Dordogne and France and lead me to buy this house 6 months later. It was therefore a surprise when we arrived out here this time to find that friend Mick was here doing some work to that very same house, inevitably it lead us to invite him to join us for a meal at our house along with Peter and Alison.

We had a very convivial evening with French onion soup, asparagus tart or chicken, with lots of veg, pear crumble and a cheese board, a small quantity of beer and wine helped the meal and the evening flow, as I’ve known Mick since we were 17, there was a lot of reminiscing.

We have as always been busy with tasks, laying extra calcaire( limestone chippings) on the drive, and building terraces at the rear of the house has kept us busy, we visit the local sand quarry to obtain the raw materials for building, so I know I’ve mixed and laid 500kg of concrete and we laid 1,000 kg of chippings amongst a lot of shovelling and wheel barrowing of soil and rubble.

One task I’m pleased to have achieved is the successful re wiring of the two way switch on the stairs to the guests bedrooms which since I installed it had never worked correctly, so Sophie you won’t have to use your iphone now when you go to bed.

We have as a result of much of our work and tidying up made two trips to the local tip ( dechetterie) where we were surprised to find the 3 operatives there obviously hadn’t been on the appropriate training as they were cheerful, friendly and helpful, not the norm at all as evidenced in the previous week when the refuse collectors refused to empty our bin because I’d put one wrong item in.

Just outside the local tip and the Netto supermarket the gilet jaune movement have set up a base camp with caravans and awnings and posters, I’m not sure if they are bachelors or their wives have disowned them but they seem to sleep there.

It hasn’t all been hard work, we have visited another vide grenier where this time I spent a whole 5 euros on two pottery jugs and a stool that winds up and down. We also went out with Peter and Alison to just outside Bergerac, they had expressed a desire to buy some grapevines and tomato plants so we took them to a favourite garden centre we often visit which they really enjoyed and managed to purchase all they needed, it was then on to visit Decathlon sports and leisure outlet where a few items were purchased.

One of the things we enjoy here is the variety of wild flowers and birds, when we arrived we found a pair of blue tits had built a nest under our open sided verandah and were raising young, the adults made a fuss whilst we were out there so we had to take to sitting outside the verandah, after a week they flew the nest and we reclaimed the verandah, that is until yesterday when they returned and are obviously sitting on eggs and raising another brood. We have also had two swallows flying in and settling on the beam so who knows we may have even more lodgers.

Our break is near its end, we are beginning the wind down before we pack up and leave on Monday, then we will wait upon the Brexit outcome to book up again, hopefully not too long, I’ve cut the grass in the field short but it is currently growing as you watch it.

Sat 4th May 2019.

This year we spent Easter in the UK, the first time for me in over 30 years, it was an unusual experience as I didn’t realise that places shut on Easter Sunday! Now we are here in France at the beginning of May another new experience and have found the two Wednesdays we are here ( May 1st and 8th) are National holidays, in many ways we won’t notice much difference to normal, except. – ” le long week-end” – it appears if you have Wednesday off then why go back to work the next day, just extend your break until the following Monday and enjoy a long weekend, and quite a few local businesses are doing so.

We are whist here continuing the landscaping work we commenced in February but I will report more on that at the end of our break here, meanwhile other little things entertain us. We do of course continue to visit vide greniers, three so far and it must be a record because I haven’t bought anything.

Whilst sitting enjoying a coffee in the sunshine on our patio the largest snake I have ever seen here slithered past, if I was like our friend ” exaggerating Pete” i would report that it was at least the size of an anaconda, well it wasn’t , but it was approx two metres long and about 10cm across its body, I didn’t get a chance to take a photo so I’ve downloaded one, it’s a Western whip snake.

I don’t seem to have a lot of luck with sit on mowers having burnt out two over the years, now the third I bought second hand is playing up, the battery went dead , a-replacement cost me 59 euros, then the starter motor which had sounded ropey for some time stopped working. An enquiry today at the mower spares place resulted in being told a replacement would have to be ordered and cost 150 euros, according to the internet they can be obtained for £60 so I will get one in England, the grass will just have to grow!

Layla is as usual having a great time out here and wanders at will in the field, occasionally going to visit the donkeys who try to make friends with her, but she gets too excited and they all end up racing up and down on either side of the fence braying and barking. Michelle gave Layla a bath after which she ran out of the house into the field and rolled over and over in the grass, when she returned she looked like a walking haystack.

On a slightly annoying note I have spent ages on the telephone to England since we arrived here, on the day of our departure I received a letter from the local hospital apologising that there had been a cock up in their computerised records and I was overdue a medical procedure so could I contact them immediately to arrange a pre op appointment and they’d written to my doctor to let her know. This was very baffling as I wasn’t aware of any outstanding need to visit the hospital, no-one answered the departmental phone number it gave out, then my doctor phoned me very concerned and asked me to get in touch with the hospital, so in the end I phoned the hospital switchboard which gave me another number. Eventually I found someone to speak to, the record they had was dated 2011, I had been for three check ups since that date and they didn’t have them on their system! Eventually the consultant specialist phoned me to find out what were the facts and hopefully has now corrected the records, I also insisted he send a letter to the doctor with the correct information. Just the kind of worry you need when your on holiday. Faith in the NHS ???

Saturday 27th April 2019

It was raining when we got up this morning so we decided to head to the supermarkets and do a big shop to keep us going for a few days, we did a shop in Netto, Lidl and Intermarche, all very close together, that way we had a wider choice and could be selective about prices, we also took the opportunity to buy some petrol for the mowers.Back home it had stopped raining and that meant one thing ……..

When we left in February the grass was about 10cm high in many areas it is now 45 cm high, thick and wet, too much for the sit on mowers so first it has to be tackled with the tractor and then the areas close to the house are given several cuts with the mower to bring the grass down to lawn length.

I spent four hours on the cutting today and achieved about a quarter of the area, hence the numb bum. Thankfully the grass on the other 2 acres isn’t quite so long.

Friday 26th April 2019

We left the English house at 5.45pm yesterday and arrived here at the French house at 3 pm. The journey took 21 hours and we drove 551miles and undertook a 7.5 hour crossing on the Brittany Ferries ferry Baie de Seine from Portsmouth to Le Havre. This is a dog friendly ferry and we had a good sized two berth cabin which we shared with Layla, before we sailed I popped down to the bar and bought a pint of Stella for me and a large Kir for Michelle, I slept well on the overnight crossing but Michelle complained she was kept awake all night by stomach acid caused by the Kir. She’ll have a bottle of water on the return ferry.

Portsmouth is becoming my least favourite port, at check in the woman asked if we had a muzzle for Layla, I confirmed we had but she wouldn’t take my word for it and refused to issue the cabin passes until I did, we’ve never had to do that before. At other ports you are told which lane to queue in, but at Portsmouth there are people waving their arms about guiding you, it was dark, the man was dressed in black and had black gloves on, only when he got extremely agitated leaping about did I cotton on that I was going towards the incorrect lane, I drove towards him and when he asked what I thought was doing I replied if he had a torch I would be able to see what he wanted me to do, his reply wasn’t particularly polite. They always select cars or vans and once two pedal cyclists to search and check, we don’t see that elsewhere, again they were officious and busy doing so, thankfully we weren’t selected, it’s unfortunate we can’t easily sail from elsewhere. When we arrived at LeHavre our passports were checked and logged onto a computerised system, very different from the past when they were given a cursory glance and if it was raining there was no-one about, you just drove out of the port.

Moaning aside we had a reasonably good drive down through France with just the odd light shower to contend with and as usual the roads are in a good condition. The house was fine on arrival and we quickly unpacked and even though it wasn’t cold I lit the wood stoves to air the house and provide some heat for the evening. I’d just sat down with a coffee with the intention of writing this blog when the power went off, no wifi or phone signal, I thought perhaps something had tripped out but on checking everything that didn’t seem so. An hour later Michelle and I decided to walk down the lane and confer with the neighbour Christiane, she confirmed that there was an area power cut, not an unusual occurrence here in the countryside. I broke out the candles and we sat in front of the fire relaxing, some hours later it flickered back into life.

Saturday 13th April 2019

Almost two years ago we made our first trip in Homer and the place we selected Ellesmere, and here we are again, albeit on a different site.

We set out this morning at 10.30am and walked down into Ellesmere and then had a gentle stroll around town popping in and out of a few shops and I called into Tesco’s to purchase a bottle of wine for this evening and chicken for tonight’s Moroccan tagine. We then took the canal towpath out of town until we met a footpath that took us up and over a site of an old motte and bailey castle where we dropped down to the cafe adjacent to the Mere.

We refreshed our weary bodies in the cafe with coffee and cake followed up as we walked along with a very nice ice cream. There are, as you would expect loads of water birds many of whom wade ashore which Layla takes exception to, especially the geese which are much larger than her.

The footpath around the mere takes you through a park and a sculpture trail and some magnificent old trees.

We eventually turned off the footpath around the mere and found the route home, when we returned Peter’s pedometer app indicated we had walked 6.4 miles, I was glad to put my feet up and have a rest until duty called and I cooked tea.

We moved this morning 24miles to our current site at Ellesmere. On the way we stopped off at Oswestry managing to park Homer on the Sainsbury’s car park, I spent over £5 in store so the parking was free. We enjoy walking around Oswestry, and often do, as it has the traditional market town feel about it.

A short drive from there we were in Ellesmere where we found a spot in the long term parking car park, it was £2.40 to park, no other options available and you had to pay by card, thankfully as I was trying to work out how to pay a woman gave me her ticket as she was leaving, charitable act.

After lunch we drove the last two miles to the site where we were warmly greeted by the female half of the owners, and her golden retrievers, she quickly explained where everything was and left us to it. Whilst I was filling Homer with water the male half of the owners came out and firmly explained I wasn’t allowed to put the wheels on the grass, which I had to do to allow the hose to reach the tap! They loaned us an information pack to explain the site and surrounding area, when reading the instructions which came over in a very regimented way. discovered the owner was a former army major, explained everything.

We were joined at the site by our motor-homing buddies Peter and Alison and soon Fluffles and Homer were parked up next to each other. After a quick catch up on news we all went for a walk firstly through the Dingle on the site and then along the local lanes.

The evening was spent as usual putting the world to rights over a glass or two.

April 11th 2019

The Vine Touring Park, Arddleen, Powys.

Today we took an easy 90 min ride to the above Caravan and Motorhome CL site in Powys.

The site has been modernised and has large self serviced hard standings in well kept grounds with an area to exercise Layla. The weather was beautifully warm when we arrived so out came the chairs and we enjoyed soaking up the sun and relaxing.

Opposite the entrance to the site is a lane which leads to the Montomery Canal, so after an evening meal cooked in the trusty Remoska we set off for an evening walk along the towpath.

The building of the Montgomery canal commenced in the 1790’s and fell into disuse in 1936, it runs through Powys and Shropshire for 33 miles from the Llangollen canal to Newtown via Welshpool. There is an active canal society that are restoring and maintaining the locks and stretches of the canal bringing some stretches back into navigable use.

March 23rd 2019

It was just in excess of a mile to walk into Sandbach and the sun was shining, so a pleasant start to our outing into town.

Sandbach was mentioned in the Domesday Book but had been a Saxon settlement before that as evidenced by its stone crosses erected in the 9th century to celebrate christianity.

On the posts around its base are information boards explains the symbols on the crosses.

The shopping area of Sandbach isn’t large but there are market stalls outside the Town Hall on a Saturday and a small indoor market, amongst other specialist shops and ancient pubs. I believe there is a street market on Thursdays.

We returned with salad items, strawberries, a cheese and onion pie and some dog biscuits for Layla, some of which were shared with another dog waiting outside a shop.

The sun was warm enough this afternoon for us to sit out for a while, but it’s warmth faded and we had to retire indoors until it was time to take Layla for a walk across the fields whilst the Remoska baked potatoes for tea.

March 22nd 2019

This morning the site owner came to say goodbye and presented us with a couple of eggs from his hens for our breakfast, very kind of him.

We left the previous nights site at 10.15 am and drove the short distance to Nantwich, this is a market town in Cheshire with a great range of Tudor and Georgian architecture. It is situated on the banks of the River Weaver and nearby is the Shropshire Union Canal. The town is very pleasant to walk around and there are many individual shops, cafes and restaurants there are very few large shops that you find in every town, Michelle did however find a Clarke’s shoe shop where she purchased a new pair trainers.

After our meander around the town we walked to where Homer was parked and had lunch, whilst we were doing so a woman stopped outside and asked if she could take a photo of our logo on the side ” weem off taraabit “. Following a chat it turned out her parents were from a town close to where we live, were ardent motorhomers and spoke and would understand our black country dialect, she also made note of our website details so she could have a look.

It wasn’t far from Nantwich to our current site a mile outside Sandbach, it is on a farm which also has fishing pools, it’s a 5 van CL site with electric hookup and a small toilet block.

By mid afternoon our friends Alison and Peter arrived and we were soon enjoying a cuppa together and catching up on news after which we went for a walk with Layla around the lakes where she was frustrated when the ducks, geese etc wouldn’t play.

March 21st 2019

We’re taking another short break whilst the Brexit decision drags on and on as we can’t book a trip to France with Layla until we know what’s happening.

We’ve arranged to spend the weekend with our motor homing buddies Alison and Peter but have taken an extra night on the way, we travelled 60 miles to this CL site where we have the luxury of having the place all to ourselves.

As I write this, Layla is gnawing on a lamb bone after I cooked lamb shanks for tea, the site is enclosed and with the owners blessing she can roam safely outside. The site is relatively new and the owner is developing it bit by bit, there are EHU’s and we are on the first hard standing, the owner has also just installed a drive on waste water disposal point, he is currently working on a toilet block with showers, not bad for £13 a night.

Just before we arrived at the site we stopped at the nearby Dagfields Antiques Centre where we spent an enjoyable hour wandering around the various buildings zoned off into small areas rented by individuals. I successfully avoided buying anything and Michelle only spent £10! even though she saw quite a few pieces of Poole Pottery which she collects, there was also work by Anita Harris who was a designer for Poole.