Things have gone very quiet here as our summer influx has now ground to a halt. It is very strange having the place to ourselves again. We have really enjoyed having guests in the gite and B&B, and especially enjoyed seeing the children playing in the garden. It has turned out to be an ideal garden for playing hide and seek and now that we have moved some of the shrubs there is a good place for football games too. We have had some lovely families staying this summer and they all have commented on how comfortable (and big!) the gite is and how much they have liked the countryside. The other thing which seems to be a recurring theme in the guest book is how much they have appreciated our “warmth” and how welcome they have felt – which is particularly gratifying for us as this was one of the things we really wanted to achieve. We now have a chance to have some friends and family visit, starting this week with the arrival of some friends from the NE of England. Of course, typically, the weather has improved big style since our summer visitors left so I hope it continues for our friends visit.
We have also been able to get out and about again in the last couple of weeks and do some more exploring. We have now found the lakes over in the Sancy Mountains which we have been wanting to investigate since we came here. We have had some really good Sunday afternoon walks with the dog around these lakes – and bonus – most of the walks have been flat!(I am not good at hillwalking) The other place we have visited has been the St Flour region which is south of Issoire. It is quite different countryside round there, but very pleasant. We also had a great treat this weekend when we took our friends to the big medieval festival (Le Foire de le Roi d`Oiseaux) at Puy en Velay. It was fantastic! The whole town – which is pretty enough normally- was completely made over into a town in the renaissance period with a very good medieval market and lots of stalls and side shows in the streets. There were loads of people in costume and the highlight of the day was an immense parade through the streets with hundreds of people in really superb costumes. All walks of life were represented in this parade from royalty and nobility, through to soldiers, peasants, pilgrims, beggars, monks and all the various trades and professions of the period. There were also horses, goats and donkeys. Apart from the spectacle of the costumes, we were entertained by jugglers, stilt walkers, dancers and music all afternoon. We were most impressed at the way that all age groups were taking part, from toddlers and teenagers through to grandparents – and they all looked as if they were thoroughly enjoying it. We did speculate on the response we would have had from our children (especially the boys) had we asked them to don doublets and hose and parade through the streets! Not favourable we thought! All in all, we had a marvellous day and I would recommend this festival to everyone.
We have been amazed again at all the fuss which accompanies La Rentree (the grand return to school and work after the vacances).Unlike the UK, where the summer holidays are staggered, France tends to come to a standstill for the majority of July and August, and consequently the return to normal everyday life is pretty dramatic. The advertising campaigns on the TV for things like school books, paper, pens and other stationary items, (which of course are not supplied by the schools here) are as big as the Christmas advertising back in the UK. There has also been a lot of fuss regarding the cost of these things. To be fair, if you have a family of two or three children the cost would be quite substantial and of course all the kids want “designer” stuff which boosts the cost up quite a lot too.
We have not been idle though since the visitors left. The garden has responded to all the rain (and now the sunshine) by producing bumper crops of vegetables and fruit. The jam pan has been working overtime and I am at the point of never wanting to see another green bean or courgette for a very long time! We have also had a bumper crop of plums and peaches and I have had a chance to make a delicious fruity cake /flan called clafouti with those. I can recommend it big time and if anyone wants the recipe, contact me! We had to give in the other day and buy another freezer to try and cope with some of the excess produce as my freezer in the kitchen was full to overflowing. I’m not complaining mind you – all this stuff will be very welcome during the winter months especially if we get the kind of winter everyone keeps telling us to expect this year.
The hunting season is with us once again. It began last Sunday and I was dismayed to see all the men with their florescent caps and nasty big guns spread out in a line in the fields round Chabanol. I was particularly concerned for the lovely young deer we see often just by our turn off, but, fortunately, it didn’t put in an appearance this weekend. Geoff reported that all the hunters were in the bar when he went up for the Sunday paper (and his aperitif of course!) and they were weighing a hare that they had caught. I think I will have to give the bar a very wide berth for the rest of the hunting season as I detest it all and will never get used to the destruction of these animals in the name of “sport”.