Where-ever I lay my hat

On Wednesday 4 June we left La Cledette at 7am and basically spent the day driving to Fayence in Provence. We went past Nimes, Arles, Aix-en-Provence and down to the coast to Cassis. Cassis looked really pretty and we spent about half an hour looking for a park but found none to look around the town. It looked pretty modern and brightly coloured in a very pleasant way and was certainly bustling. We eventually found a parking area on the way out of town by the sea and so had our lunch on the rocks beside the med. It was hot and sunny and we had this wee bit of coast all to ourselves for a while. We couldn’t see the town, only the cliffs outside town and a few houses scattered up on the hills, a couple of rocky points jutting out into the sea with wee stone huts on the end and a few yachts. The med really is a beautiful blue and the sky is a slightly different shade of blue like in the paintings and that surprised me. Lunch was also pretty impressive in a very simple way, we had a fresh baguette which was great and some Roquefort and a white cheese from Roquefort too which I think was about the nicest cheese I’ve eaten. We took a couple of motorways through Toulon, which we saw nothing appealing about and headed to the coast again at Lavandou and followed the coast raod along and up to Saint Tropez. It seemed pretty otherworldly for us to driving along these gorgeous Mediterranean beaches and towns following the signs to Saint Tropez. We had a stroll about in Saint Tropez and looked at all the huge posh boats parked right up in town and their inhabitants sunbathing in full view of everyone. Some of the boats were magnificent and some just clearly indicated more money than sense and for showing off rather than being much to do with boating. We didn’t see anybody famous (although I probably wouldn’t recognise them anyway). The beaches are actually quite a long way out of town and there is a bus service that runs to them, although I’m sure the rich and famous don’t take the bus! The traffic leaving there and all the way along to Sainte Maxime was terrible and we crawled along, although some of the views were pretty. There was more lovely coastline and bright Mediterranean villages along the coast until we headed inland and north. Fayence is a gorgeous town that sprawls up a hill and is postcard perfect. We arrived at Lisa’s place and had a look around and got settled before dinner. It’s a beautiful old stone farmhouse with an addition on the side and a lovely covered porch outside our room and a pool that looks over the hills and the village. Its rather luxurious compared to some places we’ve been and we were not at all anxious about coming here as after talking to Lisa on the phone it felt more like we were coming to visit a friend than to work in some strangers garden. There’s a 500 year old oak tree sheltering the house that is pretty stunning. There’s also a Scottish couple here WWOOFing and they are really nice. We had a very pleasant dinner and chatted for the evening.
On Thursday we had agreed to work a bit extra and then less on the next two days. We had breakfast in our little porch area and then had a tour around the property to see what needed to be done. Steve was to do mostly strimming and me mostly weeding in the garden. Theres a bit of pruning to be done as well. The morning was pleasant and I sat in the garden and chatted with Sue and Neil while pulling out weeds but Steve had big problems getting the strimmer going and it involved several trips to town for fuel and help with Lisa. It eventually got going and then it was time to stop for coffee!!!!!! We sat at the table outdoors and had coffee and biscuits then carried on working for a while till it started raining. Despite the rain we couldn’t resist a dip in the pool and since the showers we’ve had have been not that great. It was lovely to actually be wet and completely in the water and we felt cleaner than we have in a while. We had lunch and spent the afternoon resting and chatting indoors as it stayed wet till evening. Lisa is a massage therapist and asked me to give her a massage despite being 20 years out of practice so that was interesting and a bit scary to massage a massage therapist. We got a bit more work done in the evening and then had dinner all together which was very social and very pleasant.
Friday morning after breakfast we got on with weeding and strimming once everyone was awake and worked till 12 then had a quick swim in the pool. We were going out for the afternoon so lunch was meant to be prompt but the salad had proved time consuming and we didn’t finish eating till closer to 1.30. We headed through Grasse and down to the coast at Antibes and drove along to Monaco. The colour of the sea was beautiful and despite the rain inland it was fine on the coast so we saw a bit of sunshine on the Cote d’Azure. It was really cool to go to Monaco and we got to drive the car around bits of the Grand Prix circuit. It took a bit of effort but we found the tunnel, the casino, piscine and a couple of other bends. We followed a Ferrari around piscine which was pretty cool. We had a walk about and looked at the huge and very posh boats parked on the waterfront. They were more impressive than the ones in St Tropez but seemed more about big boats and less about being parked in St Tropez. On the way back we had a stroll around the old harbour in Nice and along a small part of the Promenade des Anglais, which is the place to be seen strolling. However the day was overcast and threatening to rain by then and anyone who was worth being seen had gone indoors and left only regular people. So we missed all the ostentatiousness of Nice and were not sad about that. The drive to and from the coast passes lots of amazing hillside villages that are completely stunning and everything is still really green from all the rain. People are saying the weather hasn’t been like this in Provence in twenty years and its usually warm, sunny and dry by now. It seems the whole of France is having a wet summer. Dinner was also fairly late and it was 11.30 before we got to bed. Lisa also seems to bake most days and we have dessert every night and coffee and cake after lunch. Its extremely civilised.
It was hard to believe Saturday was our last day with Lisa. In some ways it seems we’ve been here ages and in most not nearly enough. It is really comfortable and more like a holiday as the work is not very hard and Sue and I just chat all morning while we’re weeding. Unusually it rained again and we abandoned a trip out for the afternoon. Work stopped at 12 for a trip to the market. I had a nice long soak in the pool and chilled out while everyone else went to the market. The town is really pretty and probably well worth the trip but I felt in need of an afternoons rest. I have always wanted to sit and paint in Provence and being able to sit by a pool at an old stone villa and paint surpassed my wildest dreams so I started painting a picture, but got interrupted by a torrential downpour, which is not part of the dream! We had a great chicken salad for lunch then all just relaxed for the afternoon and got our own various personal chores done. I spent a while chatting with Neil about furniture design and looking at Lisa’s sunken lounge and modular table and we came up with some ideas for the furniture in our house. The sun came out again later and I finished my picture then Sue and I both painted till dinner time and Steve served us wine. It was frightfully civilised. We all just chatted for a while after dinner and looked at photos and got to bed late again. We said our goodbyes to Sue and Neil as Sunday was their day off and I think they were planning to hibernate till the summer arrives.
On Sunday morning we got organised and got the car packed up and said goodbye to Lisa and managed to leave about 8.15. We drove to the Gorges du Verdon and went around tis north side. We had a wee walk down into the Gorges, which is pretty spectacular. Its very narrow and very steep with walls possibly only 30m apart at the top and up to 100m deep. The rock is also interesting colours and shapes with what was clearly flat ground long ago now at 45degrees and then a gorge cut through it. We decided to skip the very long scenic drive around the rim since it was pretty steep for the car and we had a long way to go. There is a gorgeous blue lake at the end of the gorge and the landscape opens up really quickly. We stumbled across another market just closing up and got bread and a nice farmhouse pate for our lunch which we ended up having fairly late at an uninspiring roadside bench. We looked around a bit for lavender fields in case there were any fields of early lavender flowering but didn’t see any. We found one field that was about to flower, so faintly purple, and with poppies all through it too. It also had a view up the mountains so was rather pretty and a little imagination helped out the purple. Then we headed to the ochre quarries and had a bit of a stroll through some spectacular coloured hills and collected a bit of ochre for painting. The hills vary from cream, yellow, orange, red and some incredibly rich deep shade of red that’s almost black. We stopped for a walk around in Rousillion which is unbelievable colours on all the houses and also built on top of ochre cliffs. It was so bright and rich without being brash at all because it was earth colours. There were of course some bright shades of blue and purple and green but they all blended nicely and made a very cheery looking place even though it started to rain while we were there. Then the dreadful chore of looking for a campground started. I’m sure there are campgrounds in Provence but we didn’t see any except one that looked rather dreadful and unkempt. We were also trying to get out of the rain a bit because our tent doesn’t stay dry if it gets wet being put up. We ended up, very grumpy, in Avignon, which was pretty far from the vision of a lovely campgound by a river surrounded by lavender fields. Instead we had German football supporters and were recommended not to go into the town. We did go and look at the lights of Avignon after dinner and its actually rather pretty. Even though its big the old town is surrounded by intact medieval walls and from across the river at the campground we could also see the chateau, cathedral and the half completed bridge across the Rhone. The Rhone is definitely small enough to be pretty now and since there was only half of it on that side of the island it was actually rather bonny.
We had a fairly decent nights sleep despite the hard ground and after breakfast went for a walk into Avignon. It replaced Rome as the centre of Christianity for a hundred years when the pope lived there and had a palace for the pope, which had some elaborate frescos in the entrance and looked quite luxurious inside although the outside was very plain. There was also a pretty cathedral that was also small but elaborate and had a replica of the shroud of Turin. The gardens above the palace were nice and had some lovely views of the river and the landscape around. After Avignon we drove to Chateau-neuf-du-pape which is a famous wine region and had a drive around and took pictures of vineyards with the chateau behind and then drove up to the chateau, which is a ruin, and strolled towards the town a little. Steve found a really cute cellar built into the rock which was also doing tastings so got a wee taste of some really good wine. He had also tasted at a cellar slightly out of the town that also does chocolate, which we tasted too. We had plans to do some scenic detours on the way up the Rhone but every time we tried to go anywhere the roads were blocked for the Dauphine cycle tour, which we found out later is pretty important and one of the build-up races to the tour de France. Eventually the race caught up with us and we had to stop and wait for them to go by before we were allowed across an intersection. However it meant we really didn’t get to drive along the Rhone at all and it is small enough to be fairly attractive up here. We got to St Christophe around 5pm and met the family and the guests (they have B&B). Everyone speaks French and we had a fairly tough evening, particularly beign tired and at dinner there were 12 people which was simply too much to understand. There is a kiwi guy here who speaks brilliant French and helped us out a bit, and we chatted with him about travel and WWOOFing in English. They serve a proper dinner that begins with homemade aperitifs on the lawn at 7.30 and carries on with salad, homemade local specialities, cheese (some of it homemade) and dessert then finishes with a tisane about 10.30 – 11.00. The food was fantastic and they even do all their own meat products so we have great hopes of learning lots. We had to clean out the car as we found lots of ants again and another batch of eggs so we hovered them up and then found their current nest which was in Steves boot!! He picked up the boot and ants just swarmed everywhere so they must have only moved in there in the last two days because you couldn’t have not noticed and he was wearing the boots two days ago! It took about 5 minutes just to hover the one boot! Yuk!
We have a room up in the attic above the family and share the bathroom with the children. Guests live in a separate house with 4 bedrooms or in one of the room in the main house and they eat in the main house.

Wednesday dawned a lovely day and I felt much better after a few good sleeps but am still not pleased I climbed the mountain again – I got over that by Monday morning and now just think it was a stupid thing to do. Probably in a couple more days I’ll be proud of myself again. We went for a walk along to the bean patch, through the fields, wildflower meadows, orchard, along the river and past the weir, and through the tree nursery, to take some pictures of our work. It is an extraordinarily beautiful walk to work! Then we had to say our goodbyes, which was a bit sad but they were really happy with our work and said there are very few WWOOFers as conscientious as us, which we thought was really nice. We drove to Carcassonne and initially wondered what all the fuss was about, although the town centre looked a bit walled and Spanish feeling and quite nice, we decided to just keep driving. Then we turned the corner to have the old city on its hill in front of us and realised what the fuss is about! It’s a medieval fortified city and very spectacular from below so we stopped at a picnic area by the river and had our lunch with a view of the cite. Then we strolled up and through the walls into the old cite and it was really pretty, lots of medieval signs and old stone and half timbered buildings and it had lots of character despite being covered in tourism businesses. On the way out the other side our camera ran out of battery and we saw some of the most spectacular views of the walls and turrets. There was also a great view over the terracotta roofs of the town below all at different angles and slightly different shades of terracotta. It was a lot like the pictures you see of Florence and even had a beautiful cathedral in the background. We had also forgotten to take any money with us so couldn’t even get a postcard of it. We knew we would miss some things when we decided we couldn’t afford a second camera battery but we’ll have to take better care to have the other camera as well when the battery starts to get low. We simply hadn’t expected such a spectacular place – always expect the unexpected!! By the time we left it was getting on in the afternoon and we carried on driving. After several attempts to dry mint for tea in Izaut that always got caught in a rain shower and therefore only rotted, we had eventually decided the back shelf of the car was the best place to dry herbs so we had mint and camomile drying during the journey. We also discovered that once they are quite dry they start blowing around so we also know when they are ready – very convenient aside from having to stop and pack up the herbs or hunt them from all over the car when we stop. As we left Carcassonne we joined the Canal de Midi and followed its course for a while. It is rather pretty and we would rather have been on the canal than driving in the hot sun but it was miles and miles of plane tree lined canal and could get tedious after a while so we contented ourselves with our lot. The scenery got gradually dryer and there were more irrigators out in the fields and the towns started to look less lovely – probably because its hard to look lovely in dry stony areas with little colour. It was almost like Central America in places with the dry landscape, Spanish style houses and looking relatively impoverished, even the big posh houses. Then we headed into the hills again and there are some beautiful hills and valleys and the towns got prettier again. We headed to Colognac in Department 30 where we eventually found la Domaine de la Cledette and met Bernard and his son Christophe. They are both really nice and made us very welcome and we have a great little unit to live in so have been able to spread out all our stuff. We have found there is a leak in the car somehow and the boot is all wet so everything had to come out in hopes we can find and fix the problem. It does seem that they may not have much for us to do or learn here as they are trying to sell the property so have stopped the projects that we were interested in and don’t seem greatly enthusiastic about the remainder. We may have to do a wee attitude adjustment and see it as a holiday where we do a little work for our accommodation and food, rather than as a learning experience. We’ll see how things go in the morning. Christophe loves sport and was delighted to have Steve to watch the football with, which also made Steve fairly happy to sit and watch sport on tele for a while. I think we have to go along to one of Christophe’s games at some stage too. The area is lovely and although the driveway is long and terrible it’s a very quiet and beautiful remote location in the hills. It seems there are wine regions nearby and Steve was excited that a lesser-known region is just nearby that he likes the wine from. So we should have plenty to occupy our afternoons. We had a lentils and rice dish for dinner followed by cheese – a lovely selection of French cheeses from this area, Jura, and the mountains. It’s the sort of thing that we wanted to experience in France in terms of food because its was nothing out of the ordinary for them, the cheeses were all part eaten and a couple getting a bit old but all delicious and the sort of thing we pay a fortune for in NZ only for a very special dinner.
Thursday morning was a slow start and Steve went down to supervise Christophe leaving for school while I slept in then we had breakfast and Bernard came back from his work (he drives the school buses morning and evening) at 9.30 and we then got started on some work. It was only raking up the cut grass and sticks off the lawn and then weeding the currants. They were covered in convolvulus so it was a bit of a job and will continue tomorrow. We had a nice relaxing afternoon just resting on the lawn chairs with a book and a glass of wine. This is definitely getting a bit more like the ‘French dream’ the English have. We cooked dinner, as they didn’t get home till 8pm so I cooked Lee’s vegan cauliflower cheese recipe and we thought it was not bad at all.
Friday was another slightly slow start. We did more weeding of currants and a flower garden we hadn’t noticed but could turn out rather pretty without its weeds. It was warm and sunny and we tried to cautiously work a bit on our tans but after covering up after 11 we had no sign of the sun having touched us! Very unlike NZ. In the afternoon it rained and got a bit cold so we stayed indoors and chilled out and got the dinner sorted. We spent a while looking at farms to try and sort our next place after discovering the planned next one had cancelled us. Bernard had bought a chicken for our lunch and knowing how expensive organic free-range chicken is, I don’t like to waste it so we had chicken carbonara for lunch and chicken paella for dinner and had leftovers of both for us on the weekend while Bernard and Christophe are away, and also stock for making something else. They seemed quite happy with their meals (we got full marks in Christophe's cooking contest) and Christophe made a peculiar dessert, made more peculiar by me helping him with the completely incorrect idea of his plan. It was entertaining.
Saturday was wet and we decided not to go anywhere but to do some work instead and have a day off another day. We got a bit of weeding done and some cleaning of the kitchen when it got too wet outdoors. Other than that we spent a lot of time trying to organise our next farm as the host we were going to didn’t get our email so organised something else and cancelled us. We may have got things sorted for the last three farms in the north but need to get confirmations back from them. We resent a lot of emails because we think lots simply didn’t go when were at Lee’s, and we also sent a lot more and made a couple of phone calls. We had a trip out to St Hippolyte de Fort to the supermarket and to get petrol. The petrol prices are going up and apparently (according to Christophe) all of France believes the world is about to run out of petrol. Actually the fishermen at the ports are on strike about the cost of petrol and blocking the petrol tankers from getting in, hence increasing the cost of petrol and making everyone panic and queue for miles for petrol. This is French logic. We struck it lucky and had no queue but had seen plenty on the journey up here. We also got a bottle of local wine (Pic St Loup – has anyone other than Steve EVER heard of that region!!!) and had it with our dinner – it was absolutely divine and dirt cheap so was a real treat.
Sunday was also wet – very wet and having lamented there not being a pool when we arrived here there now is, as well as an outdoor shower. We spent some of the morning cleaning the kitchen again and then braved the outdoors in the afternoon and got some more weeding and strimming done. We also watched the grand prix at Monaco and thought it was a shame because we are only 3 hours away and one of the farms we could have gone to would have been only 30min away and we could have at least got to the outskirts of the race. However that was the farm that’s now cancelled on us, we would have been camping, it rained for a chunk of the race and it would have ruined our budget rather badly. The tele was perfectly adequate given all the circumstances and it was a great race. Although we are getting pretty stressed about farms to go to we chilled a bit in the evening and reminded ourselves that we are sitting having French wine with our dinner that was dirt cheap and really good and we are in a beautiful location in the south of France and most people we know are working at real jobs (sorry). So despite the stress our lot is actually rather good.
On Monday it rained, on Tuesday it rained and it thundered and lighteninged and it rained. There were a few dry spells each day so when we could we did some outdoor chores – mainly weeding and putting up tomato poles. Otherwise we cleaned in the kitchen and the gite. In the afternoons we read and sorted farms and I worked on our house and kitchen design. In the evenings we had dinner and then wine and cheese. Bernard is really treating us with the cheese and we had a lovely Camembert, a firm Savoie cheese, a Gorgonzola and a gorgeous local semi firm brebis (sheep’s cheese). We just have a small taste of cheese and a small glass of wine each evening after the meal and its fantastic. Its interesting that in other cultures we would eat a lot more and drink a lot more but a little is perfectly adequate and means you take your time and savour it and have more to look forward to the next night. I think our culture is becoming gluttonous and it’s not necessary.
On Wednesday we decided it was time for our postponed day off and so we set out despite the rain. It turned out to be a good decision because as soon as we got out of the mountains it cleared up and by the time we got to Pont du Gard it was hot and sunny and we were far overdressed. The drive there was lovely and there were a couple of pretty hillside villages above rivers that we might try and go back to – especially Sauve. The poppies are flowering and we were driving through vineyards most of the day and the colours are lovely. Everything is so green again here – possibly something to do with all the rain! Pont du Gard is a Roman aqueduct that runs 48m above the river and spans 275m carrying 20million litres a day. The aqueduct is built on three levels of arches and is pretty spectacular; particularly that it is still standing. We walked across it and to a couple of viewpoints then around the edge of the demonstration garrigue (local scrubland landscape with flowers and olives etc) following the course of the aqueduct. Off the actual bridge the survival hasn’t been so great and lots of parts were tumbled down but usually in huge chunks of half an arch. There were parts where the water channel could still be seen. We drove on to an abbey to see a cave abbey but it was too expensive so we had lunch under an olive tree by some huge purple poppies and carried on to Beaucaire (which was pretty on both sides of the canal du Rhone) and across the Rhone to Tarascon. The Rhone is one of those rivers that is just so huge that it actually isn’t pretty, evidenced by a total absence of cafes along its banks, although it is impressive. Good King Rene built a great chateau on the edge of the river, which is fairly intact, and there’s a statue of the Tarasque, which was a half lion, half armadillo monster that terrorised the town in the 9th century. Next stop was Arles, which has lots of Roman remains including a huge intact amphitheatre that is still used for concerts and bullfighting, an old theatre and baths. All were having work done on them but were interesting to see. We didn’t pay the high prices to go in because we are cheap and have probably seen better ones before or could see it from the fence anyway. The town is really pretty with narrow colourful streets, pretty alleys and a nice church doorway with elaborate carvings. After a stroll about we headed south just into the Carmargue. We went to Gallician, which is on the canal du Rhone a Sete and a lake and we had a walk (got rained on in customary fashion) and a drive along the lake to look at herons and birds. We saw a couple of modern Cabanes, which are the traditional thatched cowboys huts. We also saw a small herd of the wee black Carmargue bulls, which are really pretty. Then it was time to head back, through more vines – some with convenient labels for the tourists, Syrah, Cabernet, Chardonnay, and Grenache – for a great dinner of flambé lapin and potato gratin. It was a really nice day and the weather was kind to us by being not too hot after Pont du Gard and not too wet.
Thursday started off wet again and so started with cleaning but it cleared up and we worked outdoors for most of the morning pruning the chestnut trees. It was fairly hard labour as we only have lightweight choppers and most of the branches are a bit too thick for them. Many will need to be done later with the chainsaw. We got wet and had to take shelter a couple of times but it was mostly ok. After leftover rabbit for lunch Steve did some more strimming and I prepared the dinner and made brownies, and we spent our spare afternoon just chilling and browsing travel books of France and cookbooks.
Friday was another day off and we saw the sunrise but it quickly disappeared into the fog. We decided to go anyway and had lovely views of the mountains (just wee ones) in the mist. It was a 1 1/2 hour drive to the Gorges du Tarn with several photo stops along the way because the scenery got progressively more stunning. We had an unplanned stop when we saw a whole field of poppies beside the road. The poppies at the moment ore amazing and there’s often poppies between the rows of vines and the roadsides and fields of grain filled with poppies. This was the first easily accessible one so we had to get some photos. The Gorges was pretty stunning as the river cut down through the granite of the Massif Central. The top is a flat plateau called Causses, which have a unique flora although fairly desolate. We started off driving over the Causse de Cevennes then down into the gorge. The sides are fairly steep and bottom narrow and you have to wonder what possessed anyone to build a house there in the beginning never mind whole villages springing up. There are still villages with no road access (and whoever first thought of putting a road through there mush have been mad). The farming would have been pretty harsh and there are remnants of narrow terraces clinging to the hillsides. However the villages were gorgeous and Ste Enimie had a medieval town, which was truly stunning with its narrow alleys meandering up the cliff and gorgeous gardens and roses climbing the warm hues of the stone walls. La Malene was also pretty but had a motocross event on so was a bit noisy for us and we got bread from the boulangerie and carried on. We found a nice picnic spot under an overhanging cliff in a quiet bend of the river (although the road ran right beside the picnic table is was still lovely). We made a couple of wee detours to pretty towns like St Chely du Tarn, where a mountain stream gushed over a ledge into the Tarn and the road in was precarious through narrow tunnels and a one way bridge. We stopped at Pas de Sorci where the river squeezes through a narrow gap and declined to pay the euro to climb the rock but strolled along the river a bit. All our strolls were slightly hazardous, being on cliff edges, but also because the wildflowers were amazing and I would frequently stop without warning and get totally sidetracked taking pictures of the flowers. There were also butterflies and lizards to be avoided at every step. I always get enthusiastic about wildflowers and Michelle and I always used to squeal about them but the wildflowers here (France) are something else. Just along the roadside at Pas de Sorci there were red, blue, purple, white, yellow, and pink flowers. After we left the Gorges we headed to Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, where the famous cheese is made. We paid for a tour at le Societe, in a very snobby way, as it’s ‘the’ place, even though 2 others offered free tours and in English! We were rather happy with the tasting but disappointed by the lack of touristy souvenirs as we wanted to get something tacky for us and for Rosie (who is the fab lady that runs the French cheese shop in Christchurch www.fromage.co.nz - we are thinking about Rosie a lot on this trip when we taste some amazing cheeses and we wish we could share them with her). We also tasted at Papillion and another Roquefort and then headed home. We went via the Causse Noir where we saw some of the sheep that are responsible for the cheese we just ate. I thought that was pretty cool. As we were coming up the hill back to the house we noticed piles of salt on the road and workmen clearing several slips. The piles of salt got deeper until we realised it was hail and was up to 4 inches deep beside the road and on some of the fields. There had been a huge hailstorm on that side of the hill only, at our place there was none but over there the tomatoes looked dreadful and lots of crops were lost. It was quite bizarre to have spent the day in almost summer and come back through winter. We had a bit of Roquefort after dinner and finished off the amazing Brebis that I like so much.
Saturday was another work day and we worked in the chestnut wood and did strimming and weeding and it was relatively dry all day. I even got to sit outdoors in the afternoon and read my book in the sun. Then we went mushrooming with Bernard and Christophe. We find it amazing that an 8-year old has a fair idea what mushrooms are ok to eat and what not and what an amazing way to grow up that is. We picked girolles (chanterelles) mostly and scrambled all over the hillsides of the chestnuts woods. We also found a cepe and a few other edible but not great things that we left behind. It was very cool to do but in that way of things here that its just part of life. We had a small panic when Steve disappeared and then we heard a huge crash and no sound from Steve for a while. A huge tree had just fallen down 20m from him with no warning, but he was safe, if a little disturbed. Dinner was steak au cheval and unfortunately my piece of meat was rather chewy, which has a tendency to put me off eating meat for a week or two, but other than that the taste was good.
Sunday was, unusually, wet. We sanded and painted indoors for the morning and managed to do a bit more in the chestnut wood in the afternoon and have some time just to chill out. I think the rain is getting to us all. Bernard is grumpy (we’re hoping it’s the rain and not us) and we are all a bit on edge so it’s not as lovely a relaxing place to be as it was when we first arrived. Some vitamin D would not go astray.
Monday started off looking pretty miserable too but we decided to pack up the bikes and clothes for all weathers and go down to the Carmargue. We went to Aigues-Mortes, which is a medieval walled town and was very pretty. We did a bit of souvenir shopping and had a quick drive down to the saltworks, with its big white mountains. We started seeing flamingos along the roadside so were pretty happy already, and got a couple of close pictures. Then we drove to Les Sts Maries de la Mer, named for 3 Saintes called Marie who sailed there and were related to the Virgin Mary. It’s now a kind of gypsy pilgrimage and there’s a gypsy fair every May. The market was just finishing up and we managed to get some cheese for our lunch and had a quick look around, the herb stands were particularly nice, then headed to the edge of town and got the bicycles ready. We cycles 12km along the edge of the beach of the Camargue national park and it was mostly lovely cycling although there was abit through the sand dunes that we had to get off and walk and it was defiantly a mountain bike track in parts. We saw loads of flamingoes and kept trying to stalk them to get good photos but they just calmly walked away without you really even noticing they were getting further from you rather than closer. We cycled to a lighthouse and stopped on the way back for lunch. It was pretty hot and the sun shining at last so we were happy to discover we had come to a naturist beach so we could have a swim and dry off in the sun. it was lovely to swim in the med and the water was lovely. Lunch was bread and cheese and some cherries that we had got for 1euro for 500g. we had been so careful with the sun up till now that we knew we could be out in it for 3 hours without getting burned but apparently the sun is different here because we both got burnt (although not badly and it will probably tan). It was great to have the bikes as it gave us freedom to explore and it was really cool to be cycling in the Camargue – this is what this trip is supposed to be about! We carried on driving around the big lake and stopped at an amazing viewpoint where ther happened to be a small group of wild ponies grazing in the rice fields in the sunshine and looking really gorgeous. We also saw some Camargue bulls and tasted saussison made from them. We got limited to viewing from the car by millions of mosquitoes around the lake but they were not there at the salt mountain we went to photgraph before heading home again. The drive home was lovely through rice fields and vineyards and into the mountains again s the light started to fade with pretty colours in the layers of hills. Dinner was bit late and we were pretty tired by bedtime.
Tuesday was our last working day and we didn’t have much left to do to do our hours so we puttered about pruning chestnuts and I had to make a brownie for Christophes birthday. I also brushed the donkey for a while and she loved it. She is apparently a pet but doesn’t get much attention and seems like she could be a rather sweet donkey with a bit of love. Her coat certainly was rather neglected and she clearly loved the good scratch. We had some leftovers for lunch then went to Sauve for a wee trip. Its really very quaint and attractive although you probably wouldn’t describe it as pretty. Theres lots of medieval houses and along the river front they are up to six stories high although less at the back as they go up the cliff. The river was fairly swollen and theres another river joins it coming down the hillside in the town. Actually it looks like it’s a spring just coming out of a wall in the town but the volume of water was vast so it couldn’t be a spring. The were quaint narrow streets and domed archways running between them and the men were out playing petanque in front of the brocante (antique store) which had a gorgeous dress and some fabulous old iron work outside it and the courtyard all planted with big plane trees for shade. The old bridge across the river was really pretty and there were some wee ruins up on top of the hill. Its was a really lovely atmosphere. We then drove down a couple of gorgeous vineyard valleys towards Laroque and went in search of some more of the wine we had liked, which we eventually found back at the supermarket. We got back in time for Christophe getting home from school and Steve played badminton and football with him for a while and we got the car packed up. We had trout for dinner and another 2 new cheeses and Bernard gave us a bottle of wine and sounded genuinely appreciative of everything we had done in the very reserved way of a Frenchman.
On Wednesday 4 June we left La Cledette at 7am and basically spent the day driving to Fayence in Provence. We went past Nimes, Arles, Aix-en-Provence and down to the coast to Cassis. Cassis looked really pretty and we spent about half an hour looking for a park but found none to look around the town. It looked pretty modern and brightly coloured in a very pleasant way and was certainly bustling. We eventually found a parking area on the way out of town by the sea and so had our lunch on the rocks beside the med. It was hot and sunny and we had this wee bit of coast all to ourselves for a while. We couldn’t see the town, only the cliffs outside town and a few houses scattered up on the hills, a couple of rocky points jutting out into the sea with wee stone huts on the end and a few yachts. The med really is a beautiful blue and the sky is a slightly different shade of blue like in the paintings and that surprised me. Lunch was also pretty impressive in a very simple way, we had a fresh baguette which was great and some Roquefort and a white cheese from Roquefort too which I think was about the nicest cheese I’ve eaten. We took a couple of motorways through Toulon, which we saw nothing appealing about and headed to the coast again at Lavandou and followed the coast raod along and up to Saint Tropez. It seemed pretty otherworldly for us to driving along these gorgeous Mediterranean beaches and towns following the signs to Saint Tropez. We had a stroll about in Saint Tropez and looked at all the huge posh boats parked right up in town and their inhabitants sunbathing in full view of everyone. Some of the boats were magnificent and some just clearly indicated more money than sense and for showing off rather than being much to do with boating. We didn’t see anybody famous (although I probably wouldn’t recognise them anyway). The beaches are actually quite a long way out of town and there is a bus service that runs to them, although I’m sure the rich and famous don’t take the bus! The traffic leaving there and all the way along to Sainte Maxime was terrible and we crawled along, although some of the views were pretty. There was more lovely coastline and bright Mediterranean villages along the coast until we headed inland and north. Fayence is a gorgeous town that sprawls up a hill and is postcard perfect. We arrived at Lisa’s place and had a look around and got settled before dinner. It’s a beautiful old stone farmhouse with an addition on the side and a lovely covered porch outside our room and a pool that looks over the hills and the village. Its rather luxurious compared to some places we’ve been and we were not at all anxious about coming here as after talking to Lisa on the phone it felt more like we were coming to visit a friend than to work in some strangers garden. There’s a 500 year old oak tree sheltering the house that is pretty stunning. Theres also a Scottish couple here WWOOFing and they are really nice. We had a very pleasant dinner and chatted for the evening.

We did a couple of hours work on Thursday morning and worked out what part of the issue with work was. It takes her at least twice as long as an average person to do anything because she gets distracted so often and so what she thinks is four-five hours work only takes us two or less. She also can’t plan what needs to happen next so actually isn’t capable of telling us what she needs done because she doesn’t know. We left at 10.30 after saying fond farewells to Andy and goodbye to her, and drove straight down towards Les Eyzies. On the way we stopped for a stroll aobut at the base of le Roc St Cristophe, which is an amazing cliff with old dwellings cut into big channels along its length. Its just above the river Vezere and even the views from below it are great. We didn’t go in because we’ve been before and our budget is not doing well. We also ahd a brief stroll at Abri de la Madeleine which is another cave dwelling with a chateau incorporated, however we couldn’t see much and didn’t go in. In Les Eyzies we checked the tour times at Abri Pataud then had a brief stroll around and went to the campground and pitched our tent and had some cheese and bread for lunch. It was lovely to hang my hammock under a tree and just relax for a while. We walked back into town in time for the 3.30 tour which was really interesting and we saw where they had done a dig and then the artefacts from the dig. It was really interesting although turned out not to be the museum we had expected. Les Eyzies is as stunning as we remembered and it was amazing to just stroll along the tiny narrow streets with houses built into the cliffs and the cliffs towering above us with huge overhangs. The architecture is amazing and the colour of the stone gorgeous, giving the whole place lots of charm despite the throngs of tourists. The shops are all fois gras and gift shops or cafes with not much of a real local economy evident but its still lovely. We spent the evening just chilling out at the campground trying to read/ organise more places from the WWOOFer book (with a glass of rose in my hammock!). we discovered the couple camping next to us were also kiwis from Dunedin and on a cycling holiday in France for a couple of months, so we had a lovely chat with them and shares tales and tips.
On Friday morning we packed up the tent feeling fully refreshed from having our own space for a while, and headed to Sarlat. We had been before but on market day and it was lovely to go on a regular day, although it was still bustling because it was a holiday. The streets are lovely stone again and lots of cute winding alleyways with surprises down nearly every one – statues or cute houses or beautiful quaint architecture. It’s a medieval town with a really nice atmosphere and just very pleasant to stroll around. We headed south after that and spent most of the afternoon driving and discussing plans for our property and what we’ve learnt so far. We were surprised to see snow still on the Pyrennees and also surprised by how beautiful the whole area is, although in a different way to the Dordogne. The mountains and lovely and cute villages clutching to the sides of the mountains are really pretty. The air is nice and clear and even though its drizzly and cloudy its very beautiful and atmospheric. We arrived in Izault de l’Hotel about 5pm to Karen and Lee and had a while to settle in and a look around before dinner. They are really nice people and have a wee boy called Rowan who is three and normal for a three year old. They live in one room (with a mezzanine sleeping area reached by a ladder) and we have a caravan that is parked under cover. Its pretty comfortable and a lot nicer than the caravan Leni had that she was going to rent out to paying guests. They have 1 hectare by the house and another four further up the river and they keep 150 laying hens and grow trees and vegetables. They’ve been here 3 years and are still getting set up and had been WWOOFers for years before that so can tell us lots of tales.
We started off on Saturday morning going with Karen for the morning chicken routine then had breakfast and headed into the forest with Lee to collect bean poles. It was an area of forest that has been partially cleared of box (I didn’t know it grew to trees of up to 5m tall rather than the ornamental things we see as garden borders!) we collected what we could then cut down a lot more. It was beautiful working in the forest even though it had been raining and we got absolutely saturated from the wet ground and leaves dripping. It was pretty hard work scrambling up and down the hillside with long branches and cutting them down and trimming them and we were pleased when the church bell chimed one so we could stop and head back for a bowl of warm soup from Karen. The walk back was lovely too, through fields with wildflowers all over the place and the gentle ching ching of the cow bells and birds singing. After lunch we just spent the afternoon relaxing and reading some of their books, which is another impressive collection. Steve helped Lee collect the bean poles from the forest in the trailer and we did the chickens evening routine ourselves.
Sunday is usually a day of rest but because we’ve just arrived we worked a few hours. We started with the morning chickens which will be my regular chore and then after breakfast went with Lee to the other block. The walk there is lovely, along the river that flows beside the house and through fields and orchards. It was really nice working in a field in the mountains (well its really only the foothills of the mountains but it still has a mountain feel to the air and again the gentle ching ching of cow bells. We finished weeding the rows of chestnuts and got some lunch then headed out to explore. We drove further south to near the Spanish border and did a wee walk in to a very popular lake with an amazing waterfall. We were above the level of where iceflows still remain on the mountainside and it was gorgeous. It was rather a climb though which we were’nt aware of when we started. We climbed over 400m vertical height in 45 minutes and it was hard slog. The view at the top was probably worth it but it also got rather wet and we were fairly wet when we got back to the car. It was a gorgeous valley and we saw real mountain shepherds herding their sheep and goats on the mountainsides. It really felt like what I imagine the Swiss alps to be in summer (except for the rain) with gorgeous fileds of wildflowers, cowbells and shepherds. We tried to drive into spain on the way back but the road was closed for some reason so we just headed straight back and relaxed in the sunshine and watched our clothes dry for a while before dinner. The meals are great and very sustaining. They are vegetarian but with lots of variety and very nutritious and good and just what you need after a days work (or mountainclimbing). Its taking me a while to settle here, I think because I’m a bit nervous after the last experience. However they are very nice and we’re getting used to their routine and working out our own need for our own space too. There’s quite a bit to learn here and they have lots of different experiences to learn from too. We are also surprised by the fact that we don’t seem to be useless and as someone had said to us that we have common sense and that helps a lot.
Monday morning after chicken chores and breakfast we were in the potager clearing weeds, cutting down tree broccoli and getting rid of aphids. The potager is beside the chicken shed but the chickens don’t go out on it at all and we threw buckets of weeds over the fence to the chickens – it became apparent why chickweed is named – they pick that out pretty quickly. After lunch we went for a walk up the wee hill near here, which has a wee ruin on top and lovely views of the mountains and the village. It was pretty warm all morning and during the walk up but once we were up on top we started hearing thunder from both directions so headed back down again and got back before the rain. It was nice for one day not to get soaked. Karen’s parents and aunt and uncle had arrived and are very nice people. We just relaxed in the garden for a while before dinner. I have a favourite spot near the caravan which is a garden wall and from there I can see over the house garden, the river, the henhouse, the horses grazing in the wildflower meadow across the river and up to the hills. Its gorgeous and very relaxing and so I scrubbed it down so it was really comfy to sit on and I can also do my yoga stretches there. Karen and Lee had dinner with her family at the gite in the village where they are staying so we fended for ourselves and did the chickens before bed.
Tuesday was another day near the house and we started off weeding nursery trees but when we finished Lee was still out so we just continued with weeding and manure spreading on the potager and Steve cleaned out a chicken house for Karen. Lee was surprised when he got back how much had been done and seemed like he only expected us to do the trees. Lunch was a real affair, with Karen’s cousins also visiting and we all had lunch together outdoors round a big table. It was really nice and a nice rose flowing freely and good food and good company and we felt very privileged to be included as that is what is portrayed in England as the French dream. The hard slog behind it is not recognised and that those days are rare, so for us it was a lovely treat. We went for a walk up the hill again after lunch, this time with painting things (and a book for Steve). It was very pleasant to just sit in the shade of an oak and paint a French village and the mountains. The layers of blue of the mountains blends into the green of the closer hills and the woodlands and fields. The terracotta roves really stand out and you can see cattle grazing on the meadows and it’s a very peaceful scene. There was only the occasional cloud shadow drifting lazily across the landscape and we had to be careful to stay out of the sun as it got pretty hot. We collected rose petals on the way back down to make some rose-petal syrup and when we got down everyone was out. I had a quick bath in the river, which was extremely cold but it felt glorious. That feeling on your skin of tingling with real cold but the sun shining on you at the same time is delicious. I sat on my section of wall to dry out then did some stretches on the wall before dinner, which was bean stew Karen had made for lunch.
Wednesday we got a sleep in as Karen did the chickens and after breakfast we went back over to the other block to spread black plastic in all the spaces between the nursery trees and block it down with tyres. Then we trimmed and sharpened the box poles we had cut in the forest and started making bean frames. On the way back to the house we nearly stood on a wee roe deer just by the river and then watched it bound off and upset the dogs and fly over fences. We did a little more nursery tree weeding after lunch until it started to rain again. It seems to rain most days here in the afternoons which kind-of limits us exploring. The fact that its simply gorgeous just right here doesn’t inspire us to go far either. We made elderflower fritters for the family for an afternoon snack, which proved and great conversation piece, and then were left to our own devices for dinner again (more leftover bean casserole) and a quiet evening reading their great collection of books and just chilling. I’m really enjoying it here now and am learning lots about different ways of doing things and also about managing WWOOFers as Lee is great to work for and has lots of very effective strategies for managing us. They also seem pretty happy with the work we are doing and we are really enjoying it. The variety is really good and Lee likes to do something different each day so he doesn’t get bored. At first it seemed like it was pretty tough to spend a whole 5 hour block doing one activity but he actually interrupts us frequently to teach us wee things and show us things and that means we get wee breaks so its never actually the full slog.
Despite never working solidly the five hours, by Thursday we were both feeling a bit tired. We finished off the tree weeding that we started yesterday then went back to the other block. Steve had a hard morning trimming the sharp points on the box sticks so they would go in the ground while I tied them in pairs with wire and helped Lee set up the bean frames. When we were done it looked from a distance like a tribe of Indians were moving in and setting up tee-pees all in a line. We did a bit more weeding of the potager then had a quick lunch of leftovers and headed out for the afternoon. We headed to Spain, which is only 45 minutes away. We thought it wouldn’t really be any different to France but were very surprised in the change in architecture almost as soon as we crossed the border. The houses became more like Swiss mountain chalets and there was lots of development going on and nice new ski accommodation complexes of stone and slate roves that match the local style well. We stopped at the supermarket to get a few things and were also surprised how much cheaper things were – particularly alcohol and petrol, so we filled the car up before we left Spain. We drove in to Vielha and then up into the mountains at Boqueira where we climbed to the top of the pass that was 2074m high. There was still quite a bit of snow there and we went for a stroll around. The scenery was stunning, we could see to far distant mountains with the sun shining on peaks, amazing green valleys and gorgeous chalet villages clinging to the mountainsides. We had followed the river Garonne right up and were near its source where it was little more than a mountain stream. It’s hard to imagine it becoming one of the major waterways of Europe when it’s a wee mountain stream. The flowers on the top of the mountains were gorgeous and we had a glorious time being able to be high up in the Pyrenees without having to climb a huge hill. Lee is very keen that we climb the mountain near their house but its short route is over 600m ascent and a hard slog even to fit people so I’m trying to be sensible and say no to climbing it even though I’d really like to. I’m just not sure I’m capable of it. We got back from Spain a bit late and had a picnic dinner sitting on the wall in the garden then an earlyish night.
Friday was a bit damp so we stayed close to the house and weeded the potager until I had my doctor’s appointment. Karen came with me and did all the translating which was lucky because getting a Depo injection in France is much more complicated than you would think, as its not done anymore and it took a couple of phone calls and then we’d have to pick up the prescription and go back to the doctor. The whole process will take several days. However the doctor visit was quick and easy and we got back in time to do a few more small chores before everything got rained off again. The family were out for the afternoon so we had a quiet afternoon in the house reading and putting all the ideas we’ve come up with so far on this trip onto paper. It has become apparent that if we use the land like we want to then we actually have quite a lot of it! We are learning a lot more about permaculture and it fits well with what we are hoping to achieve and is also a very efficient use of land.
Saturday was wet again and we had been thinking of going up the Cagire (with some vigorous encouragement from Lee) but called it off to try again on Sunday. We spent the morning plastering which was very enjoyable and fairly therapeutic. It was an old stone wall and the best technique was to fling the plaster at it so by lunchtime we were thoroughly plastered. We finally got my prescription in the afternoon and then sheltered indoors till evening. We all went out for aperitifs with Frederic sho lives down the road and has made an irish pub in his garden. It’s a pretty cool pub and he likes to gather musicians there and is pretty good himself on a bodhran and fiddle. He was trying to persuade me to play and didn’t believe me that I was incapable even though I had my own bodhran. We had a very pleasant evening and said goodbye to Karens family partway through as they are leaving in the morign and we won’t see them. Her aunt had made a strawberry tart, which we had for our dessert when we got back then went to bed early.
We got up and looked at the weather at 6.15 on Sunday and the Cagire was not to be seen but when we got up again at 7 it had cleared a lot and there were blue patches in the sky so we set off for the cheats route from the back which involves the car doing a lot of climbing and leaving 600m vertical ascent for us. The car struggled a bit with its part and we had a brief stop when all the dashboard lights suddenly went on, but it settled after a rest and carried on up. We left it for a rest and set off up a trail ourselves and had been walking 20minutes up a steep hill when we realised it was the wrong trail so went back down and started again up the right trail. We took it very slowly and had lots of rests and hoped the cloud would clear. We met and English couple part way up and they said the cloud would clear at 11, which it immediately did but only for ten minutes. The fist part of the trail was downhill through the forest then up a forestry trail to the refuge. After that the ‘track’ ended and we really were on mountain trails, which were often very poorly marked and we thought it was a bit risky at times when we were in thick cloud and couldn’t easily find the trail. The scenery was gorgeous and we wandered (trudged would be more accurate but less romantic) up mountain meadows and through beech forest. The cloud drifted in and out and was really lovely in the coulours of the beech and pine forests and drifting over the ridges. There were lots of flowers everywhere including the last of the daffodils (a bit later there than everywhere else) and we saw a meadow of tiny purple flowers that were all close dup but had huge drips of dew on each one and tinged it purple so it was a sparkling field of purple dew. The middle section of the trail, wihich was the steep mountain meadow trudge) was hard going and very steep but once we got up to the pass de l’ane it was sligltly easier going. By the time we reached the top the cloud was really thick and we could barely see each other never mind any view (which is apparently spectacular). We headed quickly down again to find the trail before the cloud got any thicker. We climbed an extra wee bit to also get to the top of Pique Poque (turning into munro baggers) and then carried on down. The down was hard going and very steep and slippery in parts. The wind changed direction part way down which meant rain but fortunately it held off until we were back on the forestry trail and even though we were thoroughly wet at least we’d done the hard stuff. Once we got back to the car we headed south to Luchon to see if the thermes there were open and we were lucky and got in just after 3.30 for two hours before we had to head back. The Thermes are really interesting and unusual. The main feature is an underground cavern which is naturally hot and wet – so a natural steam bath. They have put paths and seats along its 160m length and you can wander round and sit in the steam baths. Then you go out and soak in a regular pool at 32º for a while then si on a lounger. The process is quite regimented and you have about 15 mins for each. We did 3 cycles and it was a lovely way to relax although very different to what we were expecting. The vaporarium is unique in Europe so was neat to have done although we probably wouldn’t have chosen it normally but it was great to have a treat after our climb. We got back to the house and got ourselves some leftovers for dinner and went to bed. As we were driving back the Cagire stuck its head out of the clouds briefly just to taunt us. We were still very happy to have done the climb even without the view and I’m very proud of myself for managing 6 1/2 hours walking and 700m vertical ascent in total.
Monday was wet and miserable and so we were saved from the box forest. Instead we did a bit of work for Karen and made some covers for her trays of herb cuttings and planted up a tray of cuttings. We stayed indoors for most of the afternoon and read books. It was interesting watching the river rising during the day and by the afternoon it was a raging torrent and the rock that was over a foot out of the water when I had my bath was now a foot under water. It cleared up a bit later on so we went for a walk along the lane until we could see the next village. We picked some wild strawberries to sustain us on the walk – they are only about a half centimetre across but very tasty. Its still lovely to look at the wildflowers as we’re walking and I certainly haven’t got at all used to it in the time we’ve been here and still really enjoy every field – and of course the cow bells.
Tuesday unfortunately was a bit clearer and we were not saved from the box forest, although it was not as wet and miserable as the first time we were there. The big problem was that I was simply exhausted and couldn’t cope. I was given the stripping task to do after the boys had cut the poles and I managed till about 12.00 till I had to give up, having lost the feeling in my right hand, having blurred vision and my left arm finally got exhausted from taking over with the scythe. I slept for the afternoon, got up for a while to read a book and went back to bed after an early dinner. It was really a shame because it was our last evening with Lee and Karen and they had invited us to a dinner party with some friends, which we had to turn down.

We got away from Hambers in Normandy about 9am and it was really just a long days driving. We passed through the Loire but you wouldn’t have known we were in a major wine growing region and we saw a couple of small chateaux. We stopped for lunch at a lake beside the Vienne River near an impressive chateau and there were huge salmon jumping in the lake. We arrived in Anlhiac about 6pm and met Leni, and had dinner and chatted. We started off outdoors because it was another gorgeous day and we stripped some dandelions to make wine with. Dinner was white asparagus and fresh homemade mayonnaise followed by chicken, which we had indoors as thunderstorms came in. The thunder and rain continued all night. We were staying in the barn, which is attached to the house and is set up as a gite and is really lovely. It is an old stone Perigordine building with a high beamed ceiling and has lovely views onto the courtyard and village.
Monday morning was wet and miserable and after a gentle start (Leni doesn’t start till after breakfast at 8.30) we spent the morning cleaning windows. We had our regular lunch of goat’s cheese, ham and bread with the leftovers we had been sent off with from Karen. After lunch we strolled down into the village, which is really traditional and very cute and then did some weeding in the garden. The soil is basically clay and it was rather like glue, it doesn’t really seem like its had any compost or anything added to in some time and was pretty hard to work in. We gave up when it started raining again and spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening reading books. Leni also had a cousin visiting for the evening and we had a late dinner and did the dishes then it was well past bedtime and we were both still tired from the long drive. Leni has done the opposite to what Karen and John have done – she’s worked on the house and courtyard and largely ignored the land and is now getting started on the land. It means that living is more comfortable but the land needs a lot of work now. She has been harvesting and processing the walnuts from the three trees and is now thinking about getting some ducks and geese to help keep the grass down as its currently being strimmed on a regular basis.
Tuesday morning was a bit dryer and it had been clear overnight so we started out in the garden before breakfast but it was just a gluey bog and we had to abandon. Breakfast didn’t actually happen till 9.30 by which time we were starving. There were no indoor chores to do for the rest of the morning and Leni eventually suggested we go out for a while. However the weather was awful and we needed to be back by 2.30 for the walnut cracking session with the ladies from the local village. So we just hung around and read more books and got some Internet time to catch up with folk. Lunch also happened late and we were just finishing as the ladies arrived. Leni carried on making a cake for afternoon tea before joining in. it was a very enjoyable afternoon cracking nuts and listening to the ladies chatting in French. As the day went on they got faster and faster and more and more heated and we understood less and less until there was really no point trying. They are pretty speedy with the nuts and we got through quite a lot. Then it was time for tea and flapjacks and the ladies headed away. We cleaned up and then it was time to make dinner which somehow took till rather late again after Leni being interrupted by several phone calls etc. Dinner was galettes and they were yummy. We had them with butter, goose rillettes, and with goat’s cheese. We also got to compare a local goats cheese to the ones I’d made and although they were slightly different varieties I liked mine better for texture and density and flavour, so I was pretty pleased with that.
Wednesday morning was also wet and we abandoned even trying to be productive other than doing a bit of housework. Again there was no plan for the day and late morning she suggested we go out for a drive (in the pouring rain again). We found out her regular routine is to go and sit in the café for a couple of hours in the morning and read so that helps give some structure to our day but its all still pretty vague and getting frustrating. Her meal routine doesn’t work for us – we need breakfast before 9am and then she doesn’t have lunch till about 2 by which time we are starving then the evening meal is really late and sitting heavily when its my bedtime. She also doesn’t appear to work much but rather do a lot of socialising. We need to get our own routine going but she is unable to tell us the plans for the day until mid morning by which time we’d be long gone if we were going to explore. Its fair to say we are not bonding with her and although she doesn’t expect much work from us (4-5 hours a day), its badly organised and we are hungry a lot of the time. It’s a good thing we’re not doing much physical work, as the meals are pretty small too. Anyway we found out she has wireless internet access so got set up with that and spent the morning organising things and making some muesli for breakfast. She will only provide bread or oats for breakfast and since too much bread is not great for me and we are about to run out of goats milk for porridge I’d have a problem with breakfast – we thought she’d said if we wanted to make muesli we’d have to buy all the ingredients ourselves too but we were able to use her ingredients. We also made some soup for lunch and then we spent the afternoon cracking nuts again. She did a few with us but then had to go for her siesta. By the time we finished I needed some fresh air so we went for a walk up the lane and the countryside is really pretty. We did get sodden but had a warm kitchen and dry clothes to come back to. Dinner was about 8, which was an improvement, and was a pot au feu, which is a big boiled pot of meat and veges and you have a bowl of the broth followed by a plate of meat and veg. It was really tasty.
Thursday was an improvement in the weather and there was no plan for the day again other than she was going to a plant exchange market. We were going to go too but after she blew up at us when we asked if there was more marmalade (and ranted for a while about how much all the food costs that we are eating) we changed our minds and went towards the Vezere. We’d also had some very stressful news form home and were both really upset by that (which she also knew about). We stopped at a tourist attraction about prehistoric life and ended up buying a ticket to visit three different attractions. Le Thot is where we were and it had a museum type introduction to the life of people in the caves of the Dordogne area and information about the paintings in the caves and the animals that were around at the time and in the paintings. They also had an outdoor exhibit of the live versions of the animals or at least their closest modern cousins. There were some animals that they had bred various breeds to get as close as they could to the prehistoric version. We had booked a tour in English of Lascaux II cave so had a bit of time to kill in between so we had a stroll around Montigniac and had lunch in a restaurant the town is really pretty – as are almost all Dordogne towns – and we had a nice galette for our lunch and shared a mug of cidre on a roof terrace overlooking the river and the town. Lascaux II is a reproduction of the original cave and we had decided last time we were here not to visit for that reason but since the triple ticket was a good price and we felt really in need of a treat we went in and were very pleased we had. Even though its technically fake they have reproduced it centimetre by centimetre and they think its accurate within 5mm and building the 40m section of cave took eight years. The paintings are reproduced by the original methods with the original pigments used and took six years to do. The tour was excellent and the guide very entertaining and the paintings were amazing. The way they had used the contour of the cave to help depict the animals was very impressive but in some ways it was almost more impressive that that had been recreated so accurately. We headed back to the house after our tour and got on with cracking nuts, as Leni wasn’t home yet. We chatted with her friend Andy who had arrived late last night and when she got home she was perfectly friendly. However then it came time for her tea break and she made tea for her friend and boyfriend and never even asked if we wanted any then moved our nuts that we were working on so they could sit at that particular table and never said a word to us. She said to her friends that the three of them would sit and have tea while we made the dinner. We were pretty upset by being treated as slave labour and not even shown any common courtesy, never mind thanked for doing nuts, or dinner, or dishes afterwards. We decided we do not need to be treated that badly and will probably leave either at the weekend or just after. However later in the evening we did manage to get her to show us the garden and what we could work on in the garden for the morning.
Friday was another beautiful day and we got on with weeding and digging over the garden bed we were allowed to do. We finished that in two hours and went up to the house to ask what else we could do and she really lost the plot at us. We eventually got out of her some more work to do, although she was pretty sarcastic at times and very aggressive and went back down to carry on weeding and digging. She has no intention of planting the areas we are weeding and digging and thought it was ridiculous of us to suggest we could plant the bed we had just dug because its clear she doesn’t have any plants and that if we cleared all 4 beds today we could possibly plant later on. Andy cam down after a while and chatted with us and basically said we are doing a good job and that he finds her very difficult to and described her as scatterbrained. However we were both pretty upset and progressed our plans to leave but we just couldn’t decide when. We decided to give her the benefit of the doubt again and carried on with our work until it was too hot and then sat and did some nuts for another hour until she got home from the café. We think Andy also had words with her as she was a different person altogether when she came back and made a nice lunch and organised for us to go to the medieval walnut press and even offered to do the dishes after lunch so we could get going. The niceness is now almost as disturbing as the temper tantrums. We had a fantastic time at the mill, which was really interesting, and we took lots of photos of the process of the nuts being ground by a huge stone wheel, heated over a wee fire pit and then pressed. The smell of the walnut oil was just amazing. We also got chatting with a man there who turned out to be the president of the truffle growers association of the Aquitaine region so it was really interesting to talk to him too. We were even happier with ourselves that we managed all of this in French without a word of English. We didn’t understand all of what was being said but I did get enough to know that the mill owner was a bit sleazy and although it was very interesting I wasn’t sad to get away form him. When we got back to the house everything was still very pleasant and we had a nice dinner outdoors again with a bottle of wine and tried some of the walnut oil from the press on salad, which was divine. Leni remained pleasant all evening and also actually did some weeding in the evening herself. The nuts that we’ve been cracking go to the modern mill on Tuesday and we can go and watch that and she also has a free ticket to a big agricultural fair next week that we can go to so we are contemplating staying on. However I think we are agreed that if there’s another outburst we may just walk out. If she stays nice then she is actually very nice but I still doubt we’ll bond!
We got an hours weeding and digging done on Saturday morning before Leni left for the weekend on a tea-making course. We headed into Perigeaux to the market. It took us a while to find the market despite being in the town centre and ‘you can’t miss it’. However it was a pretty neat experience wandering round having samples of different producers fois gras and all sorts of variations on serving it. We also tasted some local wine and beer and sausage. One of the things lots of places were doing was various fruit preserved and stuffed with fois gras, particularly figs. We thought that might be a novel seasonal marketing opportunity for us if we can make our own fois gras and grow figs. We bought a nice piece of chevre for our lunch and headed south to Bergerac but got there during lunchtime so the wine museum we wanted to go to was closed. Instead we went and had a picnic lunch in the grounds of Chateau de Monbazillac, which is famous for its dessert wine – the perfect accompaniment to fois gras. It’s a gorgeous chateau with a great view over the surrounding Monbazillac and Bergerac wine regions. Once lunch finished we had a tasting at the chateau and then took a scenic drive back to the house. We went along the Dordogne, through lots of pretty Perigordine towns and then up the Vezere. We saw a gorgeous campground right on the riverside at a beautiful converted farmhouse and thought it rivalled the campground at Les Eyzies that we’d like to go back to. We are still weighing up our options for staying and leaving and camping there for a few days sounds great. The weather had improved rather markedly and it was frankly hideous being in the car most of the day and I was fairly wilted by the time we got back. Steve did some strimming while I made dinner and then we had a pleasant evening with Andy chatting and cracking more nuts. It was interesting to hear his views on how Leni is managing her place because they coincide well with ours.
Sunday was another hot day and we got more weeding and digging done for most of the morning and learned heaps form Andy about composting and soil management. We retreated out of the sun for lunch and a couple of hours cracking nuts then all three of us went for a drive to chateau Hautfort which is just down the road but it was really expensive so we didn’t go in. instead we had a nice stroll around the village which was really pretty and Andy bought us an ice-cream. It was a lovely afternoon and a nice relaxing evening having dinner and drinking cidre and chatting. Andy is a great guy and really generous with his knowledge and very enjoyable to be around.
Monday was a bit cooler and we got as much done in the garden as we could. Eventually we all decided we couldn’t do any more without checking with Leni what her plans were for it or we’d just we wasting our time and energy. Andy is absolutely right when he keeps reinforcing to us that we actually are learning a lot from being here about how not to do things and that we will be better smallholders/farmers and better WWOOF hosts for it. It started raining in earnest at lunchtime and we retreated indoors for lunch (I made a yummy tagliatele with a sauce of ground walnuts, local sausage, garlic and Provencal herbs with a bit of stock). We did some Internet things after lunch and exchanged contacts with Andy and looked at each other’s website/blogs then got on with cracking more nuts for part of the afternoon. It kept raining all afternoon so we did some reading and chatting and made dinner and Leni got back about 4 and had to go for a rest for a couple of hours. She was feeling very sorry for herself and claiming to have a terrible chest infection which had turned to bronchitis (I’ve never seen anyone with a chest infection look as well as she does and have no cough or shortness of breath, however…) but she was perfectly nice. We got a relaxing and early night. We have sent out a lot of emails trying to sort out farms to go to but are not hearing back from most of them so are getting a bit worried. We are also trying to organise to got to our next place early to get away from here – particularly as Andy leaves on Thursday and there is not reason for us to be here after that.
Tuesday was walnut pressing day and we set off after breakfast (a sleep in for us and early for everyone else) to the mill. The process and equipment was almost identical to the medieval mill with only a few small differences like that they added salt to the heating walnuts to purify the oil and they added water to the nuts being crushed so had a paste that went into the heater. Each component of the process was shorter and the fire was hotter and of course all the equipment was driven by hydraulics rather than the water mill. There was a lot less attention to detail and where the medieval mill paid careful attention to not waste a drop of oil or a cernal of nut there was actually a lot of waste in comparison. The rest of the process was the same in that the customer was plied with homemade alcohol. We came back to the house and had lunch (English roast dinner) then Andy and us went to the truffle museum at Sorges. It was really interesting with lots of detail on the technicalities of growing truffles, which was really interesting to us, and also lots of history of the truffle in the Perigord. We had a drive around the local area and saw some truffle production areas and some old and new areas as well and it was all fascinating. We did a few chores in the evening but basically had a fairly restful day.
Wednesday made up for Tuesdays restfulness. We were already working in the garden when the church bell rang at 7am and didn’t go to breakfast till 9. A plan was made over breakfast and we broke it to her that we were leaving in the morning, which she took remarkably well. Then Andy and we carried on in the garden and moving and cleaning the caravan while Leni went out to get more fuel for the strimmer and to her café. Lunch didn’t happen till 2pm by which time all three of us were hungry and grumpy. Leni had lost the plot at Andy during the morning as well and he was planning not to come back to visit her again. I nearly lost the plot when she got out my Caerphilly cheese after lunch and said we should have some of that. I said no as it wasn’t ready yet and she said it would be fine and cut herself a slice and one for Andy. Andy looked at me and shrugged apology but said it was very nice. I tasted a bit more that she had also cut and then Steve put it away. She was apparently quite miffed by that, as she didn’t come back to the table again. The cheese actually, I think, does need a couple more days but is good. It’s still a bit rubbery and a bit salty but I think that will improve so I’m quite pleased, but was furious at having my cheese just cut into against my request. She has frequently told Andy to just help himself to our computer and our coffee and anything else of ours and while we and Andy know that’s ok its actually not up to her to offer. She’s really rather rude. We had a quiet afternoon relaxing and went for a stroll around the village to take some photos and eventually had dinner about 8pm of galettes and I made some pesto of rocket from the garden and walnuts, which was very tasty. It was late by the time we finished dinner and I was tired and fed up. I will be very glad to leave here tomorrow, as I don’t actually think she’s and nice person at all. She can be generous at times and does do some nice things – like she bought some goats milk for us to take with us in case they don’t have any at our new farm. But those things tend to happen mainly after she has done something awful and I guess they are by way of apology. She has fed us some nice local food and we have had some good experiences but I dread her coming back whenever she’s out. I have enjoyed the work in the garden and am satisfied with the job we have done even though I don’t think she’ll get round to doing much with it and most of our work will be wasted, however she did thank us and express that it was a great job at last. We are planning to do a few hours work in the morning and then head away and relax for a night at Les Eyzies or another campground by the river, which I am looking forward to. Some time to gather my head together before we start afresh with new people on Friday.

On Saturday 12 April we got in the ferry queue at 6.30 am in Newhaven and arrived in Dieppe at about 1pm French time. The crossing was four hours and was not too rough despite some good wind the day before. The drive south was easy and passed through some really pretty villages, although we hated the viamichelin directions we had printed off. We got lost in the final few kilometres by missing a sign that was only visible if you looked behind you. However we arrived and met Karen and John and proceeded to be introduced to the animals and shown around the property. They have an old stone French farm with lots of outbuildings that all need lots of work. They have been here 3 years and have only just got hot water in their house. We are living in the cottage, which is the only thing finished and we have the only shower. The stone buildings are beautiful and when its all finished it will be gorgeous. However I think we might have it easier starting from a bare field and not having to renovate constantly. We may well get there faster and easier but their end product is likely to have much more character than our modern place. We had a great dinner with them, which was a simple salad but of gorgeous fresh food and homemade goats cheese and proscuitto and fresh eggs. After dinner we went to visit the ‘children’ who were away at a scout camp for the weekend at a local chateau. The ‘children’ are Alistair, who is 8 and Grace-Alice, who is 21 and was helping out and face painting the young ones. We went to see their show and it was an interesting experience and rather fun to be in a French community even though we didn’t speak enough French to be of any use. One of the cool things they did was a Chinese whispers sort of game but with a mimed story – it was hilarious to see it changing and I had understood enough between the language and mime to follow what was going on. The weather had been a bit miserable all day but really tipped down a couple of times during the evening and we all got pretty wet standing outdoors.
Sunday is rest day so the only things to be done were morning and evening chores of tending to animals. We had a long lie then properly met the animals, helped (or probably more accurately hindered, hand milking the goats. There are 5 milking goats, 18 babies that get bottle fed twice a day, and numerous chickens, ducks, geese, sheep and 2 pigs. There are also two more pregnant goats, a very pregnant border collie, and several cats, one of whom gave birth to 5 kittens in Alistairs wardrobe during the afternoon. Lunch was leftover of yesterdays salad and still delicious. The day was very relaxing and we just orientated to the farm and chatted a lot. We went for a stroll up the road to Montigue, which is a village and chapel on a medieval hillfort, that have recently been designated nationally important. The ‘children’ came back during the afternoon and we had a full English roast dinner in the evening, followed by milking and feeding babies again. I had a job interview by phone from NZ in the late evening and it was the weirdest interview I’d ever done. I was in the kitchen of the main house, which is still a bit of a building site, having just come in from milking goats and I had a kitten with a vestibular deficit snuggled on my chest and Polly the dog needing constant reassureance because her belly is a bit uncomfortable. Everyone else was outside tending to a lamb that was poorly and we were waiting for one of the goats to go into labour. It has to be said that Physio was not the foremost thing on my mind! I’ll find out later in the week if I get it or not. It would be lovely to have a job organised for when we get back but I’m sure something will work out.
Monday was a reasonably early start and a bit stressful as we had to load the two pigs into the van so they could go off to be serviced for 10 days. The van had to be barricaded so they wouldn’t bust out during the trip and a run built from scraps of stuff from all round the farm for them to walk down and into the van. We were all very worried about it and it was crucial the pigs didn’t get stressed because they remember and would then be stressed coming back, and stress when they are pregnant means they have less babies and therefore there’s less income. The pigs turned out to be significantly less worried about it than us and one of them just strolled right on in and happily tucked in to breakfast, and although the other took a bit more persuasion they set off happily. We got on with our tasks for the day. Steve took the rotovaor to the potato patch and I dug the dung piles out of the goat yard so we can put hard-core down outside the new milking shed. Although it was reasonably hard work it was very pleasant as we had lots of wee breaks to chat with Grace or throw the stick for Samson the father collie and the goats and chickens periodically ‘helped’ us out. We finished about 3 and then chilled for a while and puttered about with a few other small chores. Grace and I collected some nettles to make tea but unfortunately they have mostly got too old to pick as we were hoping to get enough for soup as well. I spent some time sketching the goats and geese and whoever would pose for me, which was very enjoyable. Then it was dinner time and time for milking and feeding again. Steve did a fantastic job of milking a couple of the goats but I was a bit sore by then to bend for long and did miserably. I had a shower, which was one of the nicest showers I’ve had – simply because I needed it so badly, having spent most of the day in goat dung. John and Karen got back very late and tired but the pigs were fine and we hadn’t had to birth any goats or puppies while they were away!
Tuesday was mostly finishing off the yard outside the milking shed, Steve rotovatored it and we moved all the excess soil and muck off it. That took most of our working day, again helped out by goats. Tommy, the buck is a real boy goat and just adores following Steve or John around and sticks his face in whatever they are doing. He’s as docile as anything and just likes to be close to you, including sometimes just resting his head or horns on your leg or back as youre trying to dig – very helpful. We went into Bais with Karen to the boulangerie for bread and got a grande boule which was huge but we ate at least half of it for lunch with salad, eggs, cheese and ham again (all homegrown). I helped Karen to start of the next cheese, which is actually very simple and after a bit more work we chilled out for a while then went for a jaunt to Gie de Selle, which is a leisure lake along the road. Steve ran and I cycled and it was about a 6km loop. After that I went down to the local ruined chateau with Grace and Alistair and painted. It was really nice to stroll down a beautiful French country lane from the house, past stone farm houses and down to a lake and round the corner to a chateau ruin. It was at most a ten minute walk and Sam the dog came with us and we sat on the grass in the sunshine chatting and painting before strolling home for dinner. This really is living.
Wednesday started as usual with breakfast and feeding babies and getting on with the yard clearing but got interrupted abruptly by a ewe getting in trouble with her lambing. That occupied all of us for a while and she lost both lambs – actually they had clearly been dead in the womb for some time by the smell and look of them and the placenta. We were lucky not to lose the ewe too as it was a bit of an ordeal for her, however she made it and was happily eating fresh grass an hour later. We moved the electric fencing on the top field to give the sheep some good new grass so she could get some good nutrition and all the sheep and geese were quite happy about it. The third death of the day was a cockerel who is destined for dinner sometime soon. Then the cheese had to be put in its moulds and we all needed tea. We finished off the yard finally and moved a hay bale and I tried to organise the chickens so we wouldn’t lose so many eggs down the back of bales. Lunch was lovely salad and bread again accompanied by a glass of local cidre which they send apples for and in return get a supply of cidre for virtually the cost of the bottle, and its delicious. Steve and I headed out exploring a bit and went to Jublians which is the largest Roman ruin outside Italy. We went to the museum and round the fortress then strolled through town, past standing stones, to the thermal pools under the church (!) and the theatre which is on a natural slope so the spectators have a great view of the stage and the whole valley behind it. We also went to the temple which was in a big open area just outside town and the old roman roads were marked out on the field as well as by paving through the ‘modern’ parts of town. It was all very well presented and very much a small town venture, which was really nice. We were both pretty tired and just chilled out after dinner and got an early night again.
By Thursday mornings chores we were getting a bit more independent and got a few bits and pieces done including baby goats fed, then started on moving the big pile of rubble from the yard into the goats yard. That was fairly back-breaking work but didn’t last long because we went off with Karen to the market at Evron. It was a lovely market with nice seafood and cheese (including the lady Karens goats came from, who sells cheese there – we bought a bit of her cheese for comparison). We also got a few fresh scallops for a treat for dinner and had a galette for a snack, which was delicious. One of the stalls had old fashioned wooden butter moulds that were really beautiful but the one I liked was €35, which was a bit expensive. Grace had made fabulous pizza for lunch when we got back and we did a few more hours of shifting rubble and general chores. My favourite chore is collecting the eggs and I got over a dozen. That’s a big improvement on the previous few days but still not great considering there are about 50 hens. We’d found rather a lot behind hay bales when we were moving the bales but we can’t reach them and they are probably very old anyway. After dinner we opened up one of Johns experimental blue cheeses and it was really good (although the outer rind looked pretty terrible and the smell was rather strong). It tasted a bit like a blue parmesan and got given the name “stinking John”.
On Friday morning we got stuck in to the rubble pile again and Steve also did some work on the wee tractor and rotovator on the tattie patch. We just carried on till it was time for baked tatties for lunch. In the afternoon I did lighter chores like painting the base coat on some slate tiles to use as potato labels, making up the pineapple relish to try with cheese, setting up the goose eggs in the incubator and collecting eggs, of which there were very few because the wind had blown down the cover for the bales and upset all the chicken nests. I also had my own batch of milk to make up into chees on my own and experiment a bit with, so I got that started. We went for a walk up Montigue again to get some exercise and check our phones (which only work up the mountain). The view from the wee chapel at the top is fairly impressive too and we can see for miles and orientate to the area a bit better. The bluebells are coming out along the lane and its really pretty to stroll along. We spotted some more fresh nettles and collected some pine cones from the wood for starting our fire. Its still quite cold in the evenings and the cottage doesn’t warm up much on its own (which would be a great thing in summer) so we are lighting a fire most evenings, especially since the whole family eats dinner at the cottage. We looked at our pictures of our land and NZ after dinner and convinced more people to visit NZ.
Saturday was a fairly relaxing start with usual chores and a bit of work on the rubble pile while Steve took the rotovator to the tattie patch again. Then we went with Karen and John into Mayenne to run a few chores (unsuccessfully as the crucial shop had changed its hours) and have a bit of a look around. We went to Fontain Daniel where there is a tuileirie with elaborate woven silks and furniture and in a very pretty town. It was nice to just have a bit of a look around the countryside too. We had soup for lunch and did a few more chores and I put my cheeses in their moulds with various different flavours to experiment. We are getting a lot of attention from the cats as they can apparently smell the “stinking John” from miles away every time we open it up and they come begging – they go nuts over it even though they only get the rather yukky looking rind parts. Grace and I went for a walk up the lane and collected more nettles and looked for escargot as Steve had seen lots in the morning and we thought we might make a meal of them. We only found one as it had dried up a lot so we decided to collect them another day. Somehow by then it was dinner time and we went for a wee walk to look at the moon over the ruined château, which was rather lovely although the photo didn’t quite do it justice.
Sunday was our day off and we had failed to make plans to go anywhere in particular and it was raining and horrid so we stayed in bed till we managed to make a decision (with a bit of help from the Rough Guide) and headed for Le Mans. It was a nice drive through pretty villages and countryside and Le Mans itself was gorgeous. We parked down by the river and strolled along the old Roman walls and ruins by the river. The walls were very impressive with big round towers and lovely intricate designs in the stonework. The old town is on the hill behind the walls and is a really pretty mixture of Roman, medieval half timbered and gothic architecture all side by side in a big patchwork. The stone and plaster on some of the houses is gorgeous and we found a few places that are the colour-scheme I’ve been looking for to do our house. There was a market on which was pretty big and had some nice food again and we bought some fresh white asparagus and some strawberries to try with goats cream. The market had a lovely backdrop of the cathedral which made it feel quite grand too. We had a look around the cathedral and its architecture inside is stunning. It has a huge height to the central vaulted ceiling and then two further lower levels of vaulted ceilings at either side. There was also a section of ceiling that was medieval murals and gorgeous. The outside of the cathedral was less stunning but its flying buttresses were fairly impressive. After a bit more of a stroll around the old town we headed south towards the famous 24 hour circuit. We discovered part way there that there was a motorcycle race on there but thought we’d drive by anyway. I’ve never seen so many motorbikes in all my life but it was quite interesting and cool to see the bits of the circuit that we could. Next we drove north again to Saulgers, had a picnic lunch in a rest area and then visited the gorges and caves at Saulgers. We didn’t actually do the pay tour but had a stroll around the valley and peeked inside a few other caves. The gorge is really pretty with a nice river meandering through it and a wee spring and lots of lovely green pasture all around. If I had been Neolithic I would have loved to live there. We had seen a brochure for a medieval chevaliery centre but had thought it was only open in summer. As we passed it we decided to have a peek anyway and discovered that they do a show every Sunday at three so we had missed it and they were just closing up. The guy let us in quickly for a look and there was a great garden and a cool keep that they had built and then an indoor and outdoor jousting arena. The baker was just selling the last of his medieval cakes and we got a few to try. We had tiny tastes each of a saffron cake, spice cake and macaroon, which was delicious. We passed by St Suzanne, which looked like a gorgeous town and decided not to stop so we would go back there another day. Dinner was a full roast again – this time pork that was left over from the bacon that we have started curing.. after dinner I was tired and headed to bed to read and relax for a while but got rudely interrupted by steve shouting that there was a fire! The stack of logs next to our fire had caught fire and Steve managed to get rid of the offending log outside pretty quickly but it gave us rather a fright because we usually go to sleep with the fire on and a fresh log on it to keep warm for the night. We won’t be doing that any more! We’ll wait till the fire is out before going to bed. In the process we discovered the smoke alarm is kept on a shelf and the fire extinguisher has gone missing! The house was a bit smoky for a while and there was no wind so it took a while to clear from the upstairs bedroom even with the window open.
Monday morning was back to regular chores except the baby goats had been weaned to one bottle a day. It was a wet and miserable day and we got covered in mud by baby goats jumping all over us then added to it by finishing of the moving of the rubble into the yard. I was very happy to see the last load of rubble go. Most of the rest of the days work was indoors and I had a go at making a Caerphilly cheese which involves the very therapeutic art of mixing the curds by hand and then pressing the cheese. I also painted more slate potato labels and Steve set to work on making a gate for the milking shed. The weather cleared up a bi tin the afternoon so a bit of ploughing and rotorvator work got done but mostly we just puttered away at small chores all day then had a Chinese banquet for dinner made by Grace.
Tuesday was still grey but it was dry and mild so we decided we should get some exploring done in the afternoon. Steve finished off his gate and I planted some vegetables in the greenhouse before lunch and then we head north towards the cidre museum. On the way we stopped at Lassay les chateaux, which turned out to be a good decision because it was really pretty and I decided to come back later and paint the chateau. The cidre museum was fairly expensive so we didn’t do a tour (which was only in French anyway) but had a tasting and spent our money on some cidre and Pommeau de Normadie to take away. The lady doing the tasting spoke only about 6 words of English (apple, juice, pear, dry, sweet, percent) but was great to listen to in French because she spoke clearly and slowly and we understood most of the details she told us about what we were tasting. Pommeau is a mixture of cidre and calvados and is very tasty. we also liked the calvados with pear but it was a bit expensive for us on our current budget (with no income for 6 months we are being pretty tight with our money). The stop at Lassay to paint was lovely and relaxing, Steve had a stroll around town and found a medieval garden, which was really gorgeous and had a lovely view of the chateau behind it. Back at the farm I started another batch of cheese and just about dinner time Polly the collie decided to have her puppies, which slowed things up a little. By the time we finished dinner she’d had 7 but one had died (despite resuscitation attempts). The others all looked fine and were busy drinking.
Wednesday started out wet and we put in some fence posts using the posthole rammer which is very effective but rather hard work. Then steve started on another gate and I got on with some more planting in the greenhouse. We made omelettes for lunch to try and use up some eggs because we are collecting over a dozen a day now and barely even eat one each between 6 of us. We also tried out the bacon we have been making and it was a bit salty but very very tasty – made form happy pigs who’d been fed up on milk and acorns prior to becoming pork. We put in another bit of bacon to cure in case we run out!!! Everyone had bacon and stinking john cheese in their omelettes so we got through a fair bit. We also tried my experimental cheese with lunch and the pineapple relish was a major hit. We also liked the nettle, the pineapple and the sage and the rest were ok but nothing to rave about. After lunch, the weather had turned lovely and sunny and hot so we went up to Bais and I painted the chateau there, then we went for a cycle (me) and run (Steve) round the Gue de Selle again before dinner. By the time we finish dinner and get cleared up its usually my bedtime and we are both fairly tired as well so evenings are for collapsing. My tooth has been sore for a few days and that’s making me a bit tired too. Bedtime reading is various farm books from their collection, of which I’m writing down ISBN numbers of anything that’s useful, and I’m getting quite a list.
Thursday was a wet start again and stayed grey all day. Steve finished his next gate which meant the milking shed was about ready to use and I planted more in the greenhouse, which now has no space left in it at all. We carried on till 3 then just chilled ofr the afternoon and played with the dog and I did another painting of the chateau. Unfortunately the milking machine didn’t work when it came to use the finished milking shed so theres still more to be done. I had a hot milky cocoa before bed since I’ve discovered I can drink goats milk without feeling ill, and it was lovely.
Friday started off a bit grey but was gorgeous by the afternoon and after our mornings chores and working on clearing up the cottage garden and Steve helping with fencing we headed off exploring for the afternoon. We started in St Suzanne which is a medieval city – the French have this cute classification called little city of character, which suited it well. The buildings were gorgeous and there were lots of shops exploiting the medieval image with fabulous signs and medieval costumes (really gorgeous and amazing costumes) and art (we bought postcards of our favourites to copy later) and bits and pieces. The chateau was beign renovated and consequently entry was free and it was only the modern bit that we couldn’t go in, which didn’t bother us at all. The town is on a hill with great views of the countryside all around and presumably fairly easy to defend. We went for a walk around the edge and sat for a while looking at the countryside, which was really gorgeous. It was almost like looking down on ‘the wind in the willows’ with a lovely river running through farmland and beside a line of poplars, through an elegant farmyard, down a weir and through a wee town. The cows were all grazing contentedly in the shade of the poplars as it was too hot in the sun. A fisherman was on the riverbanks as well and a white pony was playing in a nearby field. You almost expected Mr Toad to come along in a loud automobile and crash into the cow field to spoil the peace and serenity. We discovered there was a dolmen nearby so went for a drive there and it was a very spectacular one and thought to be one of the older examples in france. Then we stopped at another site which turned out to be where William the conquerer had laid siege to St Suzanne for four years – clearly it was easy to defend because the siege ended in compromise. The earthwork they had created was pretty impressive and had bluebells growing on the banks and some lovely views to St Suzanne. We carried on to the canyon at Salges again and had missed the last tour of the caves so just sat on the riverbank and relaxed and sketched and read and looked at the WWOOFer book to try to plan where we want to go. The canyon walls are fairly popular for rock climbing and we had a great view of the climbers to entertain us too – some of them were pretty impressive. We had taken some ham and cheese from the farm for our dinner and picked up a couple of sweets in St Suzanne for dessert and we had a picnic dinner watching the rockclimbers. It was a very relaxing and peaceful afternoon and makes us really appreciate the lifestyle we have at the moment. We are working only moderately hard when we are working and its enjoyable work, and we are eating really well on almost all homemade food and experiencing life here as well as being tourists – it’s the best of all worlds and we are pretty happy to have this opportunity.
Saturday was our last days work and I finished off the stone walls I was repairing in the cottage garden and did general tidying with Karen. Steve made a new gate for the garden and in the afternoon I painted signs for various things. The milking machine finally worked and the inagural milking was completed. We ended up not getting our own chores done – like packing – but had a pleasant time. The cottage garden is rather lovely and we had a bbq dinner in there and sat around drinking wine and pommeau till dark as it had been a very hot day and it was lovely to be able to have some shade to work in in the afternoon and to relax in in the evening. We said our goodbyes to John, Grace and Alister as they get up late in the mornings then got a bit of our packing and organising done to get on the road to the Dordogne tomorrow.