My name is Jo, and in 2020 I moved to France with my husband, Brian. From our move to France, to running our B&B, my blog, which you can read below, is a diary of ‘Our French Adventure’. I share short stories about the Champagne region, and its people, and the life we have embraced here.
And we’re off
And so it begins.
This is a job that I had planned to do last year, but other things took priority. Never mind though, I’ve started it now.
I began by sanding the door. To be honest it doesn’t need much sanding, just enough to remove any loose paint—alright, there’s a lot of loose paint. I’ve carefully done it with the electric sander first, but will finish up by hand anyway, as that will get all the little bits a sander misses.
It doesn’t take too long before things start looking better.
Dijon
We had an appointment in Dijon on Monday, so we thought we’d tie it in with a visit to Emmaüs, the charity secondhand shop. It was our first time visiting the Dijon store, and we were pleasantly surprised with the amount of amazing furniture, bric-a-brac, china, glassware, linen etc—simply a huge selection.
We came away with a beautifully restored chair, for €50. It’s a perfect yellow for our salon.
…and a little wooden table for €10, which came up beautifully after a good polish. I wanted it for upstairs.
What a bind….
My butternut squash plants have gone potty, along with some purslane, which appears to have decided to grow out of the paving stones.
There was also a ton of bind weed that had started to take hold amongst my dahlias. So an intervention was needed, and we both headed up there to weed the area, and give the butternut a chance to grow where it wanted to.
We were very happy with the results of our efforts. Having slightly cooler temperatures means that being in the garden is so much more enjoyable.
Raindrops
We woke this morning to the strong patter of rain on the window sill, it was a very welcome sound.
We sat in bed with a cup of tea, listening to the pitter-patter. It was very welcome, and quite calming. We decided on another cup of tea before we got up and started our day. We had a few admin jobs to do, so today seemed the perfect day to get them done.
Coming up short
We took a trip into Troyes today. It was a little drizzly, but we are really not complaining, it was great to feel and smell the freshness of the rain after such a blazing hot, dry summer.
I’d booked-in to get my hair cut. I decided to go much shorter, a big change for me, which I’m really enjoying.
It’s feeling much stronger and healthier already.
Perfect splash
Now the temperature has dropped a little, I am able to place some cut flowers in the house, and my dahlias make a perfect splash of colour.
As dahlias do not have much scent, I’ve added in a few herbs rosemary, oregano and lavender. They just help to bring the garden indoors.
Quality not quantity
With the lower temperatures, and less intense sun, the vineyards have been busy with the pickers, pushing to get the harvest completed. 2026 is the earliest harvest on record for champagne, and there’s been a really welcome respite in the weather to get it done.
We know, due to the lack of rain and the canicules we have experienced throughout summer, that the grapes are small. However the high sugar content could be good, as long as the vignerons have caught the acidity at the right moment. If the fruits over ripen, the acidity will drop.
A few of the vignerons have already finished their harvest, or are just finishing off bringing the last of their grapes in to be pressed.
We just need to wait now to see if the grape quality will make up for the lack of quantity.
20 lengths
I’m not the most elegant of swimmers, but I do enjoy getting in the pool and swimming 20 lengths. I had thought this may be my limit, but I’m actually thinking I should aim to do 30 before the summer is over.
What a perfect way to get fit.
Eggcellent!
Finally, we are now the proud owners of ten year carte de séjours.
It had all been a bit tense earlier in the year, when the website for renewing of CDSs wasn’t working—this was happening across France. So everyone who had received 5 year visas, just before Brexit, were struggling with their renewals. We had gone on the offensive, and sent a package of the necessary paperwork (which we researched separately) in a recorded delivery posting, and followed up with numerous emails, which finally resulted in a response email acknowledging receipt, and asking us to stop bothering them until they could properly reply. Local governments eventually put in place systems to provide temporary paperwork, to enable those needing renewals to continue to be able to work and travel.
Well, this week we got our invite email to attend the prefecture.
We celebrated our news with brunch, with friends who had also received theirs at the same time, at a delightful little cafe in Troyes.
I did think it was going to be too much for me, but Brian was able to help me out with one of the pancakes.
I’m a big fan
One of the bathroom air vents had stopped working, so we needed to swap it out for a new one.
However, nothing is ever that simple. First of all Brian had to take the old fan partly off of the wall, to measure the hole for the size of the fan we needed, and then ordered one on the internet to fit. What we hadn’t done though, before ordering it, was to take the fan out of the wall completely. If we had done, we would have noticed that the electrician, who’d originally fitted it, had cut the back off of to make it fit.
Hmmm, this wasn’t going to work for Brian, so his ’how do I fix this one’ brain went into action.
He vanished for a while, then soon appeared out of his workshop with a piece of wood, cut to the right size to mount the fan on.
This meant it gave him enough depth to now fit the new fan without chopping it up.
Voila ! Job done, and I’m a big fan of the outcome, as it’s a lot quieter than the old one.
My oasis
There’s a little area of my garden that has been getting all of my left over water - washing up water, melted ice from champagne coolers, half drunk bottles of water too warm to drink, etc. I store it all up, and pour into my little oasis, as it’s now affectionately known.
It’s meant the dahlias I planted earlier in the year, and vigorously protected from a little creature that was adamant they would make a tasty snack, are now flourishing.
I also planted a chilli plant, which is now laden with chillies, and have two butternut squash plants that are looking really good.
they are full of flowers, and already have two squashes growing. I’m super excited about them ripening, and being able to cook with them.
Butternut squash is one of my favourite autumn vegetables, they are so versatile. I will share some recipes over the coming months.
Noyers vide grenier
We traveled over to the region of the Yonne this morning, to Noyers-sur-serein. It is listed as one of the most beautiful villages in France. It’s a small medieval village, nestled in the turns of the river Serein. The side alleys, and little cobbled side streets, hide tucked away restaurants, art studios and brocantes. A tourist delight.
We were also lucky to visit on the day of their weekly vide grenier. This happens just through July and August.
After we’d strolled along the river and visited the stalls we headed for our lunch stop. Not quite so typically French, but just what we all fancied. Brian had a few snails to accompany his pizza, all washed down with a very refreshing glass of cold Pelforth.
I was very happy with my two little finds, a wire egg collecting basket, which I shall probably use as a hanging basket in the garden. And a miniature picture frame, with a period print on silk.
I thought she was quite delightful.
Froggy
At least twice a year the river that runs outside our house needs weeding. It’s quite a task, but especially so in the current heatwave, so with a little bit of water and plenty of heat the weed is plentiful. It definitely needs work soon, but for now it seems to suit our new visitor, who we found warming himself on the large rock that’s been revealed by the low water.
Olive Oi
Early last year we planted two olive trees up at the pool. It is such a sun trap by the wall of the pool room that we thought it would be the ideal spot to plant them. Olives can be quite tolerant of heat, and lack of water, but also do well in cooler temperatures. Although I did want to protect them from any severe frosts.
They seem to be enjoying their position and flourishing, even producing some fruits this year. I just need to research now what you need to do to olives to prepare them to be eaten.
It would be wonderful, to be able to eat olives we had grown.
Chateau De Vaux - the chateau
Chateau de Vaux was constructed by a wealthy family from Troyes at the end of the 1720’s. It is considered today as one of the most beautiful architectural buildings of our department.
In 1980 the chateau was classified as a historical monument, and in 1995 the owner at that time temporarily installed hundreds of metal sheets on the roof to prevent it from water damage.
It wasn’t until 2015, at the age of 22, Edouard Guyot bought the estate. Now, for the first time, the castle is open to the public, whilst Edouard continues his renovation.
During the festival the house was open, and we were able to explore the ground floor salons, and the basement kitchens.
It was fabulous being able to get so close to the workings of the chateau.
I also enjoyed looking at the materials, colours, and patterns of the decoration.
Outside of the hunting season, and by request, visitors to the chateau can enjoy long walks in the 300 hectares of forest.
It’s definitely worth a visit.
Chateau De Vaux
It was Le Festival Chasse et Campagne at Chateau De Vaux on Saturday. It was another sweltering day, so we decided to head there early, before it warmed up too much.
The event started with a presentation by the horn players, followed by a blessing on the steps of the chateau.
We sat in the shade to watch this, and then headed to the main arena to watch some of the events, which are always quite spectacular.
This year they had a display of Hungarian horses, with their owners. It was an amazing performance, demonstrating the loyalty and trust between the horsemen and their horses.
We also sat and watched a dog display, I think the most marvellous ones were the puppies, some of them just four months old and retrieving the bags.
Another well organised and delightful day.
Early harvest
As experienced all across Europe, and the UK, temperatures have been soaring. At times reaching above 40° C in our region. This heat has meant the grapes have matured faster than previous years.
So the grape harvest has come much earlier in the region than we have seen before, and as the days are still hot, the vignerons, and pickers, have been starting their days extremely early. This morning, around 4am, whilst I stirred lightly in my sleep, I could hear the first tractors trundling down the road, off to the vineyards to prepare everything for the pickers.
Around 6am, as I was starting to wake, I heard the chatter, and clatter, of the pickers arriving in the vineyards starting their day.
The grapes are certainly not as plump as previous years, but the vines are looking healthy, and hopefully will produce a quality crop.
Mirabelles
My biggest plum tree has dropped all its fruit this year. The drought has meant they just haven’t developed, so no little plum treats on the way up to the pool this year.
However, this is not the case for all the fruit trees, and I do have another, smaller, plum tree which I will be able to pick a small harvest from in a few days, I hope.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine has given me some mirabelles, gorgeously sweet and juicy.
They are much smaller than plums, but will make a delicious fruit crumble. It’s too hot currently to enjoy that, so I have de-stoned them, lightly roasted them in their own juices, and then frozen them until we are ready to enjoy them in the cooler months.
Creeping in
For those who have followed my posts for a while now, you may remember the painting Brian had started on the library wall. Well it’s time to progress it.
He’d been a little unsure as to how to develop the leaves, and it had slowed progress. He’d thought of being more graphic, but I liked the idea of a more natural approach, like the outside was creeping in.
He has rekindled his motivation now, and has a plan to push ahead and work on it over the coming weeks.
I can’t wait to see it develop and grow across the wall, creeping in from the outside.
