Bloomin’ pump

I have some gorgeous sharp yellow tulips in the garden, so I cut a few to brighten up the house. I like to use different types of containers for vases - this is an old teapot, which works well for a small posy.

The plumber arrived this morning to fit in a second washing machine for me in the laundry room, this was where we used to have the old oil boiler, out in the barn. We have two washing machines, as we brought on from the Uk when we moved, so I’m thinking once we open up the three bedrooms for the ‘chambre d’hôte” it will be good to have the second machine working. We still have some work to do in the laundry room, but the first thing to address in there is getting the floor level. However, because we have been experiencing unusually low temperatures Brian has not been able to do the concreting. But hopefully next week. That room is definitely a room in progress.

Whilst the plumber was here doing that job, he took a look at the radiators we would need for the room we have created upstairs in the barn. We will wait to get them fitted once the walls and floor are all finished. The pipes will come from below, so no need to run pipe work behind the plasterboard.

He also had what we thought was a small job fixing a burst pipe to the external tap at the pool, but when he went to try it out, which required Brian starting the pump, we discovered the pump had completely broken. The water in it had frozen and expanded cracking the joint. Again the low temperatures had got to it, and just popped it open in about three areas. We will need to get it replaced and ensure next year it is better protected. Brian is already getting a greater understanding of the weaknesses we have when temperatures significantly drop, so we can better protect ourselves in the future.

A couple of boards?

Brian was up early to get on with the bedroom floor, I’d called him to stop for some coffee, but he said he would be just ten more minutes. Half an hour later he appeared. “How’s it gone?” I asked, “good”. “I’ll have a look after coffee, did you have to take 2 or 3 boards up?”. “It wasn’t quite that simple”.

You can imagine my astonishment when I saw the size of the hole he’d exposed under the floor boards. Unfortunately once he’d started to expose them he found some rot around the edges, so he wanted to take the opportunity to treat the wood and strengthen the floor. It’s turning out to be more than just a day to do this job.

Samosas

Brian loves a vegetable samosa, so I decided I needed to try and make some to satisfy his craving. He just so happened to buy me an Indian cookery book ‘the Indian cookery course’ by Monisha Bharadwaj.

It’s a lovely book, well written with good clear photography and recipes. I’ve tried a few from it now, and have to say they are very good - they are easy to follow, not too many ingredients (especially ones you cannot find in a french supermarket), and very tasty. I made vegetable, which is potatoes and peas, and meat ones - which I kind of made up as I had some left over mince.

We had prepared the dough during the day, which didn’t take long. I’d got the potatoes all cooked and chopped up. Then when we were ready to assemble and fry them off we had a little industrious samosa line going. All enjoyed with a suitably well mixed G&T. I served them with a choice of fresh mint raita, mango chutney and chilli jam.

Yummy.

It’s big and orange

“Quick!” I exclaimed to Brian, “it’s huge”. He paid no attention to my shrieks of help from the bedroom this morning, he just continued to clean his teeth. I had to leave the big orange thing crawling around on the floor and go and explain to him that he needed to come and capture it, before we lost it somewhere in my basket of socks. I explained to him it was “this big, crawling fast and orange in colour, so definitely ‘well probably’ dangerous.” He told me to get a shoe box to capture it in, and stand back!

The situation was soon under control and he’d located it and captured it in the shoe box - gruesome looking little chap. Good job I spotted it. If anyone knows what it is, we would love to know.

‘No scary creatures were harmed in the making of this blog’ (neither were they orange or 16cm long!)

Right tool for the job?

So finally we finished prepping the room. It took a little while but I think it was definitely worth doing (thanks Chris for the tip to hang polythene up, good idea), it will certainly help protect the fabric from any splashes.

Now the room is all set up to be worked in, I think we both think we have underestimated what needs to be done. Brian pondering on what to tackle first. I’d like him to look at getting the floor finished off, then we can start to work on the walls and the ceiling. We will review the situation tomorrow.

Reflection

I’ve had a really wonderful birthday weekend. Dad called me first thing to wish me many happy returns and friends and family got in touch throughout the day, which was so nice. It really is the little things that count, that make a difference - a comment, a photo, a text, a card, a phone call.

A sad note though was to learn about Prince Philip, such a wonderful man. He didn’t shy away from saying what he thought, which some would say wasn’t always a good thing, but he knew what duty and loyalty were.

We have been enjoying some delicious food and wine whilst getting out to enjoy the fresh air, walking through the vines, exploring the forests and taking in the sounds and fresh colours of nature coming to life. It has given us the time we needed to reflect on things, on what we’ve achieved and what else we need to do. There are quite a few projects we need to progress with which we will be working on over coming weeks. One of them is the third bedroom to decorate - the Magnum. Brian still has some woodwork to do on the floor in there, he has done some already though, so it should only be a couple of boards. Mainly it’s lots of filling and prep work before we paint it.

Firstly though we need to empty it, and hang some plastic sheeting on the walls to protect the fabric covering which we want to retain.

Treats - part 2

Nature has a beautiful way of making you smile. On our walk yesterday we took a slight detour to walk back via a different route, and growing out of the wooded bank were some beautiful little mauve and yellow flowers, a delightful little sight that made me smile.

Our drink of choice last night to celebrate the day, came from our village producer ‘Robert-Grandpierre’. A very worthwhile selection. And another treat for me was some Brie aux truffes, such a luxurious cheese.

Treats - part 1

It’s been a delightful day. We headed off to the market first thing to get some of my favourite tasty treats for today. I also got some narcissus, which have a beautiful fresh spring perfume to them. Then there were the mushrooms. I just love mushrooms, and have never tried pleurotte jeune before, so really looking forward to tasting these later.

Then we nipped into the boulangerie for some pastries and a couple of eclairs. Didn’t exactly ‘nip’ though!

Once we got home the sun was shining and it was warm enough to enjoy our deliciously flaky pain au raisin with coffee outside in the garden.

it was such a gorgeous afternoon we decided to go for a walk out of the village, through the forest, across the fields, then down to the point de vue, where we sat and enjoyed our feuilleté of champignons et chaource (this is like a mushroom pasty with a local cheese). There was a little breeze, but sitting eating our pastry warmed us, and we relaxed chatting about nothing in particular, just stuff.

Isolation

It’s been a very exciting day, as Joël and his brother came to insulate and board out the ‘atelier’. We are creating this in the room we made above the laundry and boiler room.

I’m so looking forward to getting this room done. It will not only be a great space to work on some projects, it will also give us some really accessible storage space, that will help us get organised. It also allows us to leave our projects out, so that we don’t have to keep packing things away.

The guys worked really hard all day to get the room railed out and the insulation in place. Next week we’ll get the electrics and some heating installed, before Joël returns to board it all out.

Anti-freeze

Yesterday we had the first frost of spring. Although to us it brings an opportunity for some beautiful photography - blue skies, bright sun, and crystal chandelier vines - for the vignerons it is a very tense and stressful period.

The vines are fragile, their young buds just starting to burst from their stems and shoot into life. The frost can stunt or kill this growth. To help protect the vines against the will of nature, some of the vignerons use nature to protect them. They do this by spraying them with water, which in the sub zero temperatures, freezes around the buds.

It’s quite a simple process but at the same time complex in its science. Quite a wonder of nature, who’d have thought deliberately freezing the vines would actually protect them?.

We have seen this method performed on a number of occasions and Brian has spoken to various vignerons to understand the chemistry behind it. He has captured his findings to date in the article he has written called ‘Protecting vines from frost’ – available here.

Thought I would also share some of the ‘getting wet’ moments of making our vlog.

Growing herbs

I love to include fresh herbs when I’m cooking, and I’m aware that it’s much better to have them freshly cut rather than the packet herbs. Although something is better than nothing and I know at certain times of the year it just isn’t possible, and sometimes ‘just going outside to pick a few leaves’ doesn’t end up happening. So I thought how can I have a quick and easy access to my fresh herbs. Firstly I have planted a couple of bay trees in my two big pots just outside the front door. I am not sure if they will like this, but I will try them and see, and pot them out if miraculously they do get too big.

I have also just stood some growing soft herbs in my cold water veg sink in the kitchen. I’ve put basil, mint, parsley and coriander. They look great, smell really good, and it’s so easy to just snip off what I need.

I do also have some mint, sage and rosemary in the garden - I now plan to move these closer to the front door and incorporate them into the borders. I’m thinking I should also look out for some tarragon, as this herb is used a lot in french cooking.

Hedging Our bets

We ordered some Laurel hedging plants off the Internet. I wasn’t quite sure how they were going to turn up, but I was suitably pleased with how they arrived. The courier company kept us updated on the expected delivery, and we made certain we were in to receive them.

We’d ordered ten plants in total, as we need to fill in some gaps in our hedge that have appeared by some fir trees dying off. I’m not certain firs like the hot summers here as I’ve seen a few in other people’s gardens not looking that healthy, so we thought we’d ‘hedge our bets’ and fill the holes with some laurels, which seem to fair much better here, although are not native plants. For delivery, the plants had been wrapped in black cellophane, and all placed together in one box. They arrived in very good condition and I would certainly use them again.

We didn’t waste anytime getting them unwrapped and well watered ready to be planted.

The plan was to use the laurels to fill the gaps the dead fir trees were leaving, so that obviously meant we needed to remove the dead trees first. A couple came out really easy, but there was one at the top near the pool that did not want to budge. So we had to resort to sawing it.

Tea time

It was so good to feel the warmth of the sun we decided to nip out for a short stroll just to get up close to the vines and see what they were doing, before sitting and enjoying a just hot cup of Earl grey.

The rows and rows of vines had all been cut and tidied for their one main aim of the year, to produce grapes fit enough to make excellent wine, the best in fact - champagne.

They look like soldiers ready for inspection on their passing out parade, all standing to attention. Neatly groomed, clipped in readiness for the buds to show themselves and the rows cleared of weeds and grass, so everything in the soil is just for the vine. We now just need to hope the weather is kind to the vignerons, and that 2021 is a good year for them.

Very good friday

Preparing for Easter

We started our day with Brian making some hot cross buns whilst I went to the market to buy some fish. I’d managed to purchase a beautiful looking turbot, just the right size for the two of us. I had also managed to get the fishmonger to filet it for me, but leaving the skin on.

We’d had a very lazy day, and decided to open a nicely chilled bottle of Chablis - by Jean-Marc Brocard - to have with the Turbot. First off we enjoyed a glass of this in the early evening sun, nestled at the back of the house in the courtyard away from the breeze.

Cooking of the turbot was a joint affair. I got the deliciously sweet french new potatoes on, which had been grown in Brittany, whilst Brian warmed some oil to start to cook the turbot. Then added some garlic, thyme, butter and pleurotte mushrooms. Once cooked, we plated the fish and made a sauce by adding some white wine to the pan and reducing it quickly. We served it with some sautéed spinach and I have to say it was delicious.

A small nibble of cheese followed with a couple of glasses of Chinon

The box tree moth

We have a number of shaped box trees in our garden. The ones in the lower, more formal, garden are quite well established. They are either a sphere or conical shape and although I would not have necessarily chosen them I do like them and they set a french styling for the garden. We also have a number on the slope up to the pool, but we have not been shaping these so they are a little more natural looking. Then finally there are a few smaller ones by the pool, which are also shaped.

Across France, there are some beautiful french gardens that are full of box hedging or topiary, which look stunning. A few examples I’d love to visit are; Les Jardins d’Etretat, Normandy; Marquayssac, Dordogne; Villandry, Loire. We have visited Villandry so far, which I loved, but will plan to visit the others.

Unfortunately last year, during the hot weather. whilst we were not able to visit the house, some of our box trees were infested by a small butterfly (papillon), commonly known now as the box tree moth. It lays its eggs in the bush/tree and the caterpillars and moths eat away at the leaves. We had a few that were quite badly munched!

The moth originates from Asia, but was first discovered in Europe in 2007. They have been more prevalent in the UK since 2011. I think it’s because box trees have become more popular, especially in urban areas where their size can be restricted and their unique shapes can be easily maintained.

Initially I set about spraying them with an insecticide, which did help to kill off some of the butterflies that were living on the plants. I then needed to get brave and trim off all the dead branches and leaves, that were the result of the infestation. Once that was done I could then start feeding the plant to try and encourage some new growth, but it was quite late in the season so they were reluctant to do much. What we also needed to do was to kill any further moths that may have survived the spraying. We did this by hanging up a contraption near to the plants that effectively acted as a trap and had poison in it. None of that sounds very nice, but we really did not want to lose the plants. It was then a waiting game to see what was going to happen after winter.

August 2020 v’s March 2021

The time has come around again when the moths become active. They are not pretty little coloured butterflies that you see flying around, they are tiny brown ugly looking moths. We have refilled the trap, trimmed the plants and fertilised them. The good thing is we can see new growth coming through where I’d cut them back, and they are starting to look like we may just be able to recover them - time will tell. For now I will keep up regular nourishment and keep them clipped to encourage more growth, and wait to see.

Before and after a clipping

Mr Blue sky

We woke to a gorgeous blue sky, it really does put a spring in your step. The plan for the day was get the lawn and slope mowed, and if I had time I would prune some roses. I had treated myself to a new pair of secateurs so wanted to give them a go. Good job I enjoy pruning as there are quite a few roses to get around.

Brian took on the slope whilst I chose the lawn. To both our amazement the petrol mower started first time, so he soon had remembered all the little tricks he’d learnt last year and was making good progress on mowing the slope. There was one thing though that was to slow him down, I had said he was not to mow over the daffodils. Sharon and I planted them one cold icy January afternoon a few years back after returning from a dog walk. I remember the ground being solid, but somehow we managed to make some holes in the claggy cold earth to plant them, mum had bought me a huge bag of bulbs, I’m not sure they’ve all taken, but pleased to now see some of them springing into colour.

The lawn was definitely a much easier task, although I had the cowslips and tulips to avoid.

Buffed up!

Brian had worked hard on rubbing the polish into the wooden floor in the Jeroboam room, the wood was so dry it was really soaking it up. I then used the polisher to buff it up, we’d bought this whilst we were in Kent and used it on the floor in the conservatory, but it always seemed a bit excessive for the size of the room. However, I have to say it’s been really useful on the floors in the house and has given this floor a really nice, subtle shine. We left the polish to dry off fully and then put the furniture back - we were pretty pleased with the final result, hope you enjoy the video.

Lizard watch

Boo was enjoying a bit of lizard watching in the sun today. He spent the first few hours just staring at the wall waiting for the tiny little lizards to spy a fly and dart across the wall to catch it. Needless to say a few flies got eaten but no lizards.

We needed to move a few plants that were just in the wrong place. So first there was a lot of discussion as to where the hole needed to be dug for the hydrangea. The earth here is either a dense clay or full of rock so it does take a bit of effort to dig. This side of the garden goes into shade from about 1pm, so it was a good area to work in as the sun was getting hotter. Neither of us were complaining though, just so nice to have some beautiful warm weather to be outside in. I also took a few root cuttings off the hydrangea, so hopefully I may get another plant from these which I have planted in another part of the garden to see how it fairs.

Red tape

You may remember me writing about choosing which saucepans to order, well that was back in November. I chose a set with a few additions from an English company called Samuel Groves, I thought I was hopeful at the time, thinking I’d get them before Christmas - well they have made it before Easter - today they finally arrived. I have to say though Samuel Groves, who we bought them from, have been amazing. They had a slight delay before Christmas on production, which they apologised for, but kept me updated and advised once they had been shipped. That was when the real delay started to happen. I’m not sure if they got caught in the delays at Dover over Christmas or just caught up in post Brexit red tape, I think the latter, but they have spent a good few months in customs. All the time Katie and Dharma at Samuel Groves have been emailing me updating me on what action they had been taking, chasing the courier company and following up where the pans actually were. We had a slight clue the delivery was moving closer as Brian had received a text this week asking us to pay some import duty. Which he did immediately, we didn’t want the courier company to have any excuses to return them.

Then, typically, we missed a delivery by Chronopost today when we’d just nipped out to get some bread. Soon after Brian received another text from them saying they had failed to deliver them. He immediately checked the website and found that they were being held at a delicatessen in Essoyes. They were open until 6.30 pm, so off we went to collect them and picked up a piece of pie whilst we were there.

The wait was definitely worth it.

Certificate of travel restriction waiver

Under confinement we need to complete the following form whenever we leave the house. I have to admit we have never been stopped to show it, but we do ensure we have it with us. It just makes you think about where you are going and what is the purpose, is the journey really necessary?

The form can be found on the gouv.fr website, English version link below.

form download here