Repas de voisins

 

Lots of catching up before sitting down to eat.

That means a neighbours lunch.

After a year in our new house we were invited to join the neighbours lunch party. Because we now live in the countryside and never see any but our immediate neighbours, Jean-Bernard and Danielle, we had never met any of the other nearby residents. We were grateful to be included  though nervous of meeting such a group.

A little something to begin

There were twenty of us all together and we were the only english speakers. That makes for a stressful experience as trying to keep up with conversations in a second language is hard when you aren’t very good at it - but we managed. Everyone was kind and welcoming and we met people from houses we didn’t even know existed near us. Even the owner of the sheep and goats in the field behind our house. We told him how we enjoyed their noisy bleating for breakfast every morning – a reminder that we are indeed in the countryside.

The long table

The repas was held in the garden of Alexander, the local stonemason, under the trees beside his pond. There was a hammock hanging from the trees on an island in the centre and his daughter made good use of this for her afternoon nap. Such a pleasant, tranquil spot.

The water level in the pond is a little low due to our lack of rain,
but still a relaxing spot.

Everyone contributed food, and wine of course. We took chicken, salad, and an apple tart. Alexander barbecued a variety of meats. One neighbour makes her own red wine, and a limoncello, and a delicious mandarincello. Another neighbour shared his collection of exotic rums. All very generous people.

The afternoon was finished off with a game of pétanque.

 

Our neighbour, Jean-Bernard, showing off his petanque skills

Lovely people and an enjoyable long afternoon.

Summer is coming to an end this week and the weather is slowly changing. Looking forward to cooler days. We are harvesting peaches, figs, apples and pears from our garden this week and made jam from the mirabelles. Still waiting for the kiwifruit and walnuts to ripen. Won't be long before the grape harvest begins and the roads will be full of tractors pulling trailer loads to the wineries. Love the change of seasons here.

Bonne semaine à tous

Lac de Pombonne

There is a man-made lake on the outskirts of Bergerac with a popular "guingette" - loosely translated that's an open air tavern. The lake is popular with dog walkers and joggers, and during the holiday season, there is a sandy beach with a netted swimming area. 

On Friday nights during summer they have live music. We went along with friends for a casual dinner and enjoyed the music of Limmie and The Blue Beat.

With lots of tables set up under the trees, some families brought along a picnic so the children could enjoy running free while also enjoying the music.

Limmie is a blind "blues" performer and, with his accompanying musicians, pumped out some good blues tunes but importantly not too loud and forceful. Their performance was excellent.

The entire environment was wonderful, with tourists and local families mixing and taking advantage of the amenities......so peaceful to spend a warm evening here. The food was okay but certainly not "haute cuisine" and the entire evening was worth the visit.

Always something happening here during the holiday season. 

The temperatture is predicted to hit 40° here on wednesday so we will be hibernating.

Hope you are enjoying wherever you are

Saturday morning drama

 Early Saturday morning and already the dramas have started.

Just before dawn and a herd of sangliers ( wild boar) were walking down the road and surprised a local going off to work. In his effort to miss them his car ended down the slope on our lower field. Luckily he is okay. There were no dead or injured sangliers around the site so we presume they have escaped into the forest relatively unscathed. Not so the car. You can see the smashed windscreen and dented roof.

While everyone was watching the tow truck at work a deer dashed across the road. 

The "pop", "pop" of hunter's guns in the forest nearby later in the morning – maybe after those pesky sangliers.

Bon weekend mes amis

New house and a new year

It's been a while, I know, and we are still here.

It's taken almost a year from A to Z but we are finally in our new house out in the countryside. It's a big change from a 19th century house in the centre of a busy town. Lots of frustration to look forward to with renovation work in France, as so many know. The stove and all the light fittings and curtains had been removed before our arrival - nothing new here. Regular trips back into town for replacement purchases, visits to kitchen designers and ,of course, bricos ( hardware stores). We did have to sell off/give away lots of furniture as this place is half the size of the old but we are still looking for suitable pieces for the new rooms. That's part of the fun, isn't it ?

Don't you love an avocado bathroom !

We've had our first lunch party, our first overnight visitors, lit our first fire of the season and the christmas decorations are up so we must be settling in. 

The neighbour's goats visit the field next door regularly and we've seen deer in there too. We have a little red squirrel that darts around the garden and there is always the birds. It's getting cold and the leaves have fallen from the trees and now it's time to do some pruning in the garden. Then we can make plans for spring.

We are looking forward to being in Paris for christmas and the forecast is for snow there. Will let you know how that goes.

joyeuses fêtes à tous

Bonne Année à Château Destinée

 

An unusual addition to the roof - it's an apartment with wonderful views

Winter by the river - and another chateau opposite

Hi everyone

I know it’s been a while, but not much has been happening here. We are all being good and wearing our masks and social distancing and avoiding crowd situations. Hope that you have all had a great christmas anyway.

Imagine how wonderful this would look in summer

We decided to celebrate the new year yesterday by going to lunch at a local chateau that we had not visited before. It’s called Château Destinée and is owned by australians, Linda and Peter. We were particularly interested because they offer an australian brunch menu !

The Orangerie

I adore the wallpaper

It was a beautiful winter’s day, 15° and sunny. The 17^th century chateau sits in three hectares of park like garden overlooking the Dordogne river. Linda and Peter told us they have spent a year renovating and it has all been worthwhile as the place is beautiful. It offers apartments as well as chambre d’hôtes rooms and can sleep 58 so this has been a mammoth job. Just the place for a wedding or any important celebration.

The Sydney Grill food truck, and the moles have been here too

Entrance to the party barn

We loved the food, the setting and the friendly welcome so we will definitely return.

https://www.chateaudestinee.com/

                                        Bonne année à toutes

Lunch at Chateau Carbonneau

Our friends , Cliona and Tony, came to stay with us for the weekend and we enjoyed a delightful lunch at our favourite local chateau.  Tony posted on his blog with all his great photos, so I've decided to share it with you as he did such a good job.

http://goldenageinfrance.blogspot.com/2021/09/lunch-at-chateau-carbonneau.html#comment-form

Bon week-end mes amis

Chateau Rigaud and our first outdoor lunch of this unusual year

 

Now that restaurants and bars are permitted to open their outdoor areas, we were desperate to enjoy a lunch in the sunshine with friends. Lots of places have extended their outdoor eating areas or even installed new ones where they had none to make the most of the restrictions in place for covid.

Chateau Rigaud is usually only open as a wedding venue and what a beautiful place for a wedding this is. But, not being able to operate as usual with all that has happened in the past year, they have decided to open a “pop up” restaurant on their terrace. We were very lucky to be their first guests.

With a limited menu and excellent local wines, we enjoyed finally being out with friends enjoying a gorgeous sunny day in the garden.

After lunch, our hostess offered us a guided tour of the grounds, including the potager where they grow everything for their kitchen. A full time gardener certainly can create and maintain a beautiful setting.

The start of another wonderful summer for us.

Bon dégustation mes amis 

We celebrate spring

 

It's been a while since the last blog post. It's been very quiet here with nowhere to go and nothing new as everything has been cancelled. Not sure if we are celebrating the arrival of spring, or that we are emerging from confinement here. We have been in lockdown three times in the past sixteen months. We have had little opportunity to see friends or even share a coffee at the market. We have been very careful to avoid groups especially in enclosed spaces and are still wearing our masks. Our outings have consisted of food shopping or visits to the garden centre. The garden has had a lot of attention over the last month since the weather started to improve.

But that all gets a little easier this month. So far, the ten kilometre limit has been lifted and we can now travel anywhere in the country. Next week, bars and restaurants with outside areas will re-open and the curfew will be 9pm, instead of the 7pm we have been living with. Next month we expect  even more loosening of restrictions as the summer weather arrives – and probably with it the tourists.

We are looking forward to overnight stays with friends further afield and catching up with others over lunch on a restaurant terrace.

And Lily is enjoying playing in the garden again

Vive le printemps

Saint Valentin

 

St Valentine’s Day in France. We don't usually celebrate this, but, with the coronavirus restrictions meaning that we haven't been able to dine out for months, we decided to take the opportunity to try the special Valentine's Day take away menu from our favourite local restaurant, L’Ardoise.

There were four courses on offer all well packaged and with instructions in french, of course.  We started with an amuse-bouche of smoked trout with a curry crème and pecan crumble. 

Then a tartare of coquille St Jacques ( scallops) with a dressing of walnut oil and lime with dried duck and black truffle. 

The main was a grenadin de veau ( a thick fillet of veal) with smoked marrow and a black garlic sauce , braised endive, a biscuit of carrot and cumin, and a square of polenta with mushrooms.

And to finish, and share, an amazing pillow filled with wonderful flavours and topped with a heart full of strawberry ganache.

It was easy to prepare and serve and delicious washed down with champagne. 

Takeaway taken to a whole new level.

bons voeux à tous