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.