Canicule

We’ve had a bit of a ‘canicule’, or heatwave, with temperatures getting as high as 42°. It’s not normally humid, but this one was definitely steamy at times. When we have a canicule the insurance company sends us texts and emails, telling us to take it easy, or stock up on essentials, so we don’t have to go out.

When the weather gets this hot though there’s only really one solution!

We’ve had a few cooler days, which have been a nice relief, but they are forecasting another canicule in about a week. Better get the bathing suit out again.

Where should we put it?

If you read my blog regularly you’ll know we recently bought three paintings from a brocante not too far from us. They all need a little bit of attention, and Brian’s taking his time doing what he can when he can fit it in between other little jobs.

Yesterday he found a bit of time to take a look at this one. It was pretty dirty/dusty, and there was at least one scratch in the paintwork.

It’s a real labour of love, he started by cleaning the surface with a very diluted detergent and water mix. This was quite painstaking, but as you can see it took off years of dirt.

Next he tried a very small part of the painting with white spirit, which reacted well, so he pushed on and cleaned again with that. This was a deeper clean, and also removed a very thin layer of the yellowing varnish on top. It’s hard to get an accurate rendition of the change from start to cleaned, but these two shots are pretty true. I like the cleaner hues of the cleaned one.

On the right of the painting there was a rather deep scratch through the tree, which really stuck out as the contrast was so great. As the painting is done in oils, Brian thought it would be best to colour match it in acrylic, so if anyone in the distant future wanted to reverse it they could.

I have to say I think it’s a pretty marvellous job.

Now where should we put it?

Spooky

We do get some beautiful sunsets, but sometimes they turn a bit spooky. Like this one, where a low moon peaking through the faded light on a pink and blue cloud really looked quite creepy.

Don’t know what it was about it, but it was very eerie.

The cloud was soon gone though, and balance was restored.

Now I think it looks like a Christmas tree.

Champagne visit

While my nephew and his girlfriend were here we wanted to take them to see a Champagne house, and even though it was a Sunday we managed to find one willing to give us a tour.

Champagne Pascal Walczak have been making Champagne in Les Riceys since 1973. They’re only a relatively small outfit but they’ve created an impressive business with award winning Champagnes.

It’s always good to take a tour, because you learn something new every time, no matter how many times you’ve done them before.

Never ceases to amaze me how much they have in storage as well. We did help them here though by coming away with a few bottles.

The river

A few weeks back we went to a village meeting about the impending review of our ‘Village fleurie’ rating. It’s a sort of community competition, aimed at improving the life of village inhabitants and attracting tourists. The competition was created in 1959 by the French state and is administered by a national committee, who visit once per year to assess the quality of green spaces, volume of flowers and general upkeep of public areas. The committee can decide what flower rating you can display at the entrance to your village, and the rating is from 0 to 4. We are currently a 3 flower village.

As with all these things though, over time, the judging becomes more officious and the villages more competitive. And this year the guidance from the committee seems to be at odds with our villages intent, so it could be a difficult review.

We’re keen to do our bit, so we put window boxes outside the front of the house, as it adds an extra pop of colour. Also outside the house though is the river, and keeping it clean falls to the owners of the properties adjoining it. This means that at least twice a year we have to cut out all the weed that grows in it. And with a judging group coming it needs to be done quickly!

As you can see, it gets very weedy when the sun shines, like it is now, but with the help of my nephew and his girlfriend we soon had it looking ship-shape.

Let’s hope all the work everyone has put in throughout the village is enough to convince the judges.

Rapid

It was Phil’s birthday, a good friend of ours, and he was going to have a quiet barbecue celebration which he wanted us to join. When he originally invited us he suggested a long walk around the lake and an ice cream before heading back to theirs for the barbecue. This sounded great, and I was quick to agree, but after hearing that the lake was very busy because the school holidays had started he instead suggested, as a treat to himself, that he’d like us all to go kayaking on the Seine; which runs along the bottom of their garden. It looked like our quiet afternoon had gone up a notch — exciting!

So we packed some suitable clothing, and made our way to theirs. After an extensive safety briefing putting our wet shoes on we all dived into our kayaks at the end of the garden, and set off. We had taken the double seater, thinking we were being kind, allowing them the fun of the single seaters, but I think we had the easier time.

We were actually heading up river, against a few sets of shallow rapids. We needed to get out and push the kayaks through these. Then to a gentle, wider part of the river, full of ‘les demoiselles’. It was both exhilarating and beautiful.

The journey back, was so much quicker, and we all decided we’d risk staying in the Kayaks for the rapids.

Brilliant, happy birthday Phil.

Guests arriving

On returning home, I felt the garden needed a few more flowers so when we nipped out to do the shopping we also made a visit to the local garden centre. It was full of gorgeous flowers, and some were really quite reasonable. I was then in a quandary as to what I should buy.

It took a little while, but my decision was made, and we headed home.

Once there, Brian opened up the pool ready for our guests, who were arriving later today. I have to say that it looked very tempting, but I had to stay focussed on our impending arrivals.

With our guests all nicely checked in, and enjoying an early evening swim, I was able to take a moment and water the plants in.

Cleaning the Lavoir

We arrived back home after a long drive, in the knowledge that we had a hard afternoons work ahead of us, preparing the gardens for our guests the day after. What we hadn’t bargained on was that our Mairie would be calling on willing villagers to help with cleaning up the lavoir the next morning.

Apparently the inspection team for the village flower ratings is visiting soon, and we need to do our best to keep appearances up. That’s all good, but the last thing we needed was an early start with manual labour, but at least it wasn’t until 9.30am. but then we read the second flyer.

Due to the temperatures we were experiencing they had pushed the time forward…

…to 7am!

It really wasn’t ideal, but Brian said that he would go, whilst I stayed at home to prepare for our guests. It is always important to show that we are willing to support the village.

After a brief pep talk the work began. There was an excessive amount of ivy and other plants growing in, and around, the lavoir (wash house), and it all needed to come out.

there was no mucking about, and they were all soon getting stuck in, with the sound of power tools and clanging gardening equipment filling the morning air.

The Maire got stuck in with his Massey Ferguson, and there was soon a big change happening.

It’s amazing what a group of like-minded people can achieve in a short time.

Brian couldn’t hang around for the whole effort, but he had been present and helped them along, and that’s the main thing.

Musée des beaux arts - Limoges

We do love a museum, especially when it has a display of arts.

We visited the musée des beaux arts de Limoges, a grand building that was commissioned by the bishop as a new personal palace in 1766. It was never completed following the French Revolution of 1789. The museum has three distinct sections, an Egyptian section, a history of Limoges section, and a section devoted to enamels.

The section on the history of Limoges had a series of 3D maps showing the size of the city through the ages, and a collection of very detailed paintings showing what Limoges looked like during those periods.

They also had works by painters that had lived or worked in Limoges, including a few paintings by our local celebrity Renoir.

A rather spectacular piece, that caught our attention, is the rather crazy Parade Burlesque by David-Ossipovitch Widhopff, 1924

Just love those pigs!

The real surprise was yet to come though, in the enamel section.

Enamelling, in its most basic form, is a method that seals vitreous powder (ground from crystal), that’s mixed with colourings, to copper plate using heat. The coloured layers need to be applied in the correct order, with the highest melting point colours first. Each colour fired separately. It’s a painstaking process, but the results can be mesmerising.

It’s not a process reserved for flat plates of copper either, many of the works were created on complex shapes formed by sculpting the copper first.

This small, blue vase was so beautifully textured, and finished with metallic enamels for that extra ‘pop’.

It was an altogether wonderful museum, but the enamels really were the star of the show.

Limoges

Whilst planning our trip we realised we would be passing Limoges on our way home from the Périgord, and it was an opportunity we felt we couldn’t miss. One of the things that appealed to us is that we’ve been looking for some new plates for the chambre d’hôte, and haven’t seen anything we like. So we booked a couple of nights in the city, which by all accounts is quite beautiful. So when we arrived, before heading to our hotel, our first stop was to visit some of the porcelain shops.

They really do have some gorgeous porcelain, but for my dinner plates I like a very traditional white plate, which is fortunate, because you could easily spend a small fortune here. We soon found some that we both liked and made our purchase. Job done, we drove into the city proper.

Brian had booked us a room in the centre of Limoges, which was great, as we could easily walk to all the places we wanted to visit. Limoges really is a beautiful city, old buildings mixed with new, boutiques mixed with department stores, and bistros, cafés and tea rooms dotted all over the place.

We popped out to explore, and after a bit of shopping, we headed to the market for some lunch.

It’s a lovely old cast iron structure, with fish stalls, cheese stalls and all sorts, but they also had great little places to buy drinks and food to eat at the communal tables.

After lunch we wanted to visit the musée des beaux arts, but first we decided to take a look at the cathedral, which is just next door. Slightly odd from the outside, it was very welcoming and bright inside, mostly as some of the stained glass was missing, and had been replaced with just clear glass panes. That said, what they did have was really beautiful. It was also a great place to cool down.

We had a fun time exploring the city so far, and now on to the musée des beaux arts.

Visiting friends

After leaving our little B&B near Vergheas we headed to the Périgord in the Dordogne.

Some friends had moved to France at a similar time to us, making the northernmost part of the Dordogne their home, but as they are a good six hours away from Champagne neither of us had managed to visit the other. This was an ideal opportunity then to drop in and see them

Our first evening was a delightful time spent catching up on the years, which really just seemed like months. We supped rosé and enjoyed a delicious homemade dinner, with herbs and salad, and fruit from the garden.

The following day we visited the very picturesque town of Brantôme together.

Brantome is referred to as the ‘little Venice’ of the Dordogne, you can see why with its meandering rivers, and structural canals. Probably unlike Venice though the water is crystal clear, full of fish, and has pretty demoiselles fluttering across the surface.

We spent some time wandering around the little streets, dipping into the tourist shops, and searching for books in the second hand bookstore.

Lunch was in a darling little restaurant reaching out over the river — Rick had made sure we had prime seats with magnificent views down the river. Our meal was unhurried and delicious. I had a truffle ravioli for starter, which did not disappoint. Then for main I chose duck, another very tasty popular local dish.

After lunch we strolled back to the car in the 35°c heat, it was certainly hotting up.

We then headed to Saint-Jean-de-Côle, another gorgeously picturesque village, but this time more medieval, with its round church and ‘musketeer’ style bridge — Rick felt he could imagine d’Artagnan fencing across it.

We enjoyed some refreshing tea and cold drinks at L’aile Fan Rose, a literie tea house, before heading home for another delightful night eating and drinking in the garden. Such a perfect way to spend a holiday.

The garden

As well as running their gorgeous B&B Jakob and Caes also enjoy nurturing the beautiful garden they have created over the last 20 years since buying their now carefully renovated house, which is their home and business .

When they arrived the garden area was nothing more than a field, now it’s a lush, thriving green space, which they have divided into numerous different garden rooms. They’ve created little gravel paths that lead you around some very established plants and trees, allowing you to discover little collections of pots and vases, seating and sculptures along the way.

It’s so my kind of garden, with little hidden areas to delight the senses, where you can relax and read a book sat in a shaded nook, or just chill and listen to the cows from the comfort of the soft cushioned chairs under the pergola.

I do think though that a lot of days are spent in the greenhouse, which is bursting with plants. This is where the magic happens, with cuttings and seedlings being tenderly cared for before they venture into the garden.

Inspirational cooking

I think what surprised us so much about staying at Cuisinier en Combrailles was the quality of food that Jakob and Caes served up.

We didn’t realise that Jakob is a trained chef, one who has most definitely perfected the art of creating sauces, and has a real finesse in presenting his food. The flavour profiles were very well balanced, mixing fresh fruit, nuts, and sweet, salty and sharp flavours into dishes where you wouldn’t normally expect to be finding them, offering a little taste delight each time. Every flavour combination was carefully considered, whether it was for a little amuse-bouche, starter, or main course. It was all created with care.

I particularly enjoyed the salad combinations that Jakob made, this one was smoked chicken, nectarine, pistou and smoked ham. Absolutely delicious, and the chicken was super succulent.

The desserts were also amazing. The apple tart tatin was individually made and delightfully sticky, I should have got his recipe for this. He also made a tiramisu served with melon, and a basil and olive oil drizzle, which was a savoury but sweet delight, which I loved. And they were never too heavy to end the meal.

So inspirational.

Fish & chips

After our little side trip to the market we decided we needed to shorten our walk we’d planned. It was around the village of Servant, only about 25 minutes from our B&B. But I’d booked us lunch at a local restaurant which we’d seen on the TV show ‘Place in the sun’ and needed to be there at 1.30. It’s run by a couple of English guys, and I’d fancied trying their fish and chips.

The walk was lovely, around a very pretty lake, and even though we shortened it we still really enjoyed it. We were also lucky with the weather, as the forecast was for a spot of rain, but it didn’t happen until we got back to the car.

A ten minute drive later and we sat down in the restaurant and ordered their, much anticipated, fish & chips.

They did not disappoint, it was delicious!

Stop the car!

I think I’ve mentioned before that if Brian wants to take a photo, I’m quite used to stopping the car quickly, and safely, but he’s also very good at stopping if we notice a market or brocante. We can never just drive by.

We hadn’t seen any signs for this market at all, it was completely unexpected, which is odd as usually they put handwritten signs up along the side of the road. But as soon as I saw the little stalls gathered around the church, I exclaimed “You need to stop the car” he was then turning us into a narrow side street, and slotting into a nicely positioned parking spot. What we hadn’t realised was that actually there was a car park just around the corner, but our spot was better.

We were kind of in the middle of nowhere, or so it seemed, so we didn’t expect much from our sudden artisan market, just a collection of local amateur craft enthusiasts perhaps.

But we were soon corrected, as the market was brimming with artisan pottery. I don’t remember seeing so much in one place before, it was quite amazing.

There was even a chap selling the most gorgeous raku work, but at €350 a vase it was a bit steep for us. What did catch my eye though was a stall selling metalwork flowers and butterflies.

Along with the borders I’m creating in the garden I’d like some unexpected little ‘discovered things’ to come across as you wander around the garden, and these were just what I was after, so I bought a few.

There was tons more to see, but we also had a walk to start, so we had to pull ourselves away.

Dinner at La Chappelle

As a perfect little treat for us, and a birthday celebration for Brian, I’d booked us dinner at ‘La Chappelle’, a rather interesting restaurant in Montluçon, not far from our B&B.

They had been very creative in the styling of the restaurant, keeping the theme of the chapel in the table layout. Our table was in front of a large, floor to ceiling window overlooking the garden, which I have to say was a wonderful setting for us.

We soon settled in with a rather large glass of Taittanger Blanc de blancs 2013, which was rather delicious. As I was driving Brian helped me finish my glass.

There was the option of a three , four or five course menu. We decided to opt for the four course, both choosing the chocolate dish for dessert. Brian then had the wine flight to match the food, which was a great way for him to experience some different wines, some of them local to the region.

It started well, as the first wine Brian was presented by the Sommelier, to go with our amuse-bouche (an additional course), was a wine from the Moselle. It was a blind tasting for him, as again it was not part of the wine flight. Although he initially thought it was Alsacien, he finally opted for a German Riesling, so pretty spot on — especially good as we have not visited Germany yet for any wine tasting.

The delicately presented courses, with delicious intense flavours, soon started to appear. Initially I was concerned if I’d be able to eat them all, but the meal was well paced and perfectly portioned. Brian was enjoying his wines with every course, learning with every glass. It was a pleasure to see.

Before our chocolate dessert, which looked and tasted spectacular, came our pre dessert — such a delightful puff of cream covered rhubarb and tarragon, who’d have thought I was so current!

The petit fours with coffee were a step too far for me, I was fit to burst, but Brian enjoyed every little morsel. It was his Birthday after all.

Orcival & Clermont Ferrand

We were still not quite up for another walk, so we decided to head towards the little village of Orcival, just southwest of Clermont Ferrand.

It was a pretty little village, with a number of bistros and bars serving plat de jour. However, we just wanted a coffee before having a wander along the road; discovering the sweet shop, and cooling off in the church.

We then drove into the main city of the Auvergne, Clermont Ferrand. We parked easily enough, in the main underground car park in the centre, then ventured out to find somewhere for a little light snack. We found a crêperie, always a good option, in a pretty little shaded square.

Our next stop was the Cathedral. A huge gothic structure made of black basalt. It makes for quite an austere building from the outside, but inside it is quite beautiful.

I’m not a religious person, but I do love the space a church or cathedral provides — space to think, and have those quiet moments of reflection and contemplation.

The city itself, around the cathedral, is made up of cobbled streets and leafy squares, with little boutique shops and tiny restaurants. Perfect for wandering.

The new part of the city is a stone’s throw away, centred around a huge open plaza, where all the main French chains can be found. It’s good if you want a little retail therapy.

Aubusson

Since arriving in France, one of places I’d been looking forward to exploring was the little town of Aubusson. I have been interested in its rich tapestry heritage for quite a while, and I have a carpet and some chairs made there, or certainly made in the style of. So when we planned our trip to the Auvergne I also planned a side trip to Aubusson.

The outskirts of the town are all modern, but as you enter the centre, and follow the river Dronne, you start to notice the older buildings, which are beautifully preserved.

We arrived just in time to pop into the tourist office before it, and almost everything else, closed for lunch at noon. Luckily we were both a bit peckish, so settled down in a very pretty courtyard restaurant for their plat de jour, or ‘plate of the day’. €19.50 for a starter and main.

Whilst we sat and ate we planned our afternoon.

I wanted to visit the At​elier-Musée des Cartons de Tapisserie, which was just over the ancient stone bridge in the centre of the old town. It’s a tiny house, that looks like once upon a time it might have featured in a fairytale. It certainly conceals a magical secret, attached to the centuries old industry of the town.

The tradition of textile creation in Aubusson dates back to the 15th century, and has been recognised as part of UNESCO's ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’. There were two clearly defined sides to the tapestry industry; the illustrational side, who designed and painted the gorgeous ‘cartons’. They were talented artists who worked for little money in difficult conditions without any recognition for their work, and then the weavers, whose skills with the loom would bring the works to life. The industry suffered difficulties in the twentieth century, when interest for the traditional style of tapestry faded, and the weavers began producing their own designs, or commissioning from known artists. Disagreements erupted between the illustrators and the weavers, and with the addition of reducing interest from buyers the industry began to collapse. Creation of tapestries on an industrial scale in Aubusson ended in the 1980’s, leading to a mass disposal of looms and artworks.

At the delightful At​elier-Musée des Cartons de Tapisserie the owner had the foresight to buy up as many cartons (tapestry artworks) as she could when the businesses started to close down in the 80’s. We met Catherine, who now helps run the business and renovates the many cartons that were saved from being burned. Catherine has a deep knowledge of the history of the industry, and has honed her skills in renovating the cartons.

We spent over an hour chatting with her, and were delighted when she revealed that the cartons were available to buy. We spent a lovely time choosing a small group to buy from, step by step honing in on our favourite. Which was one of the flower illustrations, they also created illustrations from fables, and countryside scenes.

Finally we settled on one of the three on the table. Any ideas which one?

Puy de Dôme

With our first day of walking under our belt we were feeling confident about our second day — climbing puy de dôme, the highest extinct volcano in the region. Our confidence lasted just until we got our first glimpse of it.

Brian made lots of reassuring sounds, but things looked even more concerning as we got closer. In fairness though Brian never wavered, and that helped me commit to the climb, although it was already the hottest day of the year so far.

We’ve both learnt from past adventures that anything is possible, if you just take your time and put one foot in front of the other you will get there.

The walk began deceptively easy, with a slow rise and dappled shade.

Things soon became steeper, and the snacks started coming out.

We continued upward, and the walk got steeper. I was certainly grateful for my sticks.

With the extra height came the added bonus of better views, and they were at least some reward for all the work. However, the views appeared because the cover of the trees had disappeared, and the day was becoming very hot.

The walk is apparently achievable in an hour and a half, but we were soon that far in and still with a long climb ahead.

The shade of the forest was far behind us now, and the midday sun was beating down. I confess my mind was drifting and I was thinking about how I could get out of finishing the climb. But a little voice kept telling me “We’ll catch the funicular down”, so I knew going up had to be the best option.

As we passed people descending from the top they shared encouraging words “Les derniers mètres”, “pas loin”. It was all just enough to keep me going.

It may have eventually taken us two and a half hours, but true to our mantra we got there one step at a time, and the view from the top along the string of volcanoes was amazing.

We sat for a while to take in the landscape, and snack on the last of our lunch. And true to his word, Brian soon had us coming down again in a far more gentle manner.

One of the reasons I had wanted to come to the Auvergne was to climb puy de dôme, and I’m so glad we did it.

The eight crosses

Day one, and we set off enthusiastically on our first local walk, called ‘The eight crosses’. It was described as a moderate walk of 11km or so with eight crosses along the way. It was a beautiful bright day, so we were looking forward to a simple walk to break us in.

It began from right outside our chambre d’hôte, which meant we were instantly into charming rural surroundings, listening to the birds chirping in the trees and the cows mooing in the fields.

It wasn’t long though before the ‘ups’ began and things were a little more challenging in the heat. Although I’d rather be climbing hills on foot in summer than charging up them in snow chains at 90kph!

It has to be said that the roads here are rather narrow and very winding, but it doesn’t stop the locals from driving through them at speed. I mean look how fast this one is going!

We passed through some wonderful villages, pristine in their appearance and diligently cared for. We took a moment to cool down and visit the church in Vergheas, which was delightful.

The views were also spectacular, little vistas of hot fields through the cool of the trees gave moments to just absorb and reflect.

It has to be said though that by the time we reached the end it was actually 13.5km, and we were ready for a rest.

Day one walk over, and after some stretching the legs and hips didn’t feel too bad. We sat and looked at the photos and realised we had only found seven crosses, and at least one of them was perhaps a bit of a cheat. We never were purists though, so we won’t be going back to find the others.