Gone potty!

In a nearby village, whilst visiting a ‘vide grenier’, or car boot sale, we spotted a ‘vide maison’, which is more like a garage sale. Brian drove slowly past so that I could get a look inside. “I think we should stop” I said. We found a parking space just down the road and walked back. It was actually a wine producer who was retiring, and had no one to pass the business to, so he was selling up.

We wandered around the inside of the barn, looking at the things they had arranged for sale. There were wine racks of all shapes and sizes, as well as ordinary household items. I spotted four large concrete pots, that I was really interested in. I showed them to Brian, at which point he started immediately to worry about how we would get them home. He looked them over and pointed out the wear on the top from years of service. “If they’re cheap enough, I think they are worth the struggle” I said. I knew what was going through his mind, ‘how are we ever going to get them home?’

I asked the lady how much. She said twenty euros…for the four. I think I must have looked a little startled, and Brian could see my pleasure, and I could see his dismay. “Shall we get them?”

Moments later Brian backed the car into the driveway. The lady’s husband helped Brian put them in the car. It was a bit of a struggle. All the time I think we were both thinking ‘How the heck are we going to get these out?’ Things never seem that big to me, until you start trying to fit them into a car!

Brian drove us home, very steadily. We approached getting the smaller two out first, which was surprisingly easy, and popped them on the lawn near the steps.

I don’t think they will stay there, but they are good for now. I’d like to probably take them up the slope more, but they are good there for a while.

We then mustered all our courage to move the bigger two. We used the weight of the pots to roll them to the back of the car, and carefully manoeuvred them on to the trolley, which we could then pull over the gravel to a position either side of the bench.

They look rather magnificent where they are for now, but they may be moved at a later date. We shall see after we have lived with them for a bit before we make any rash decisions.

Some weeks ago

We had a few errands to do in Chatillon-sur-Seine this morning. It was another gorgeous day, so we couldn’t resist visiting the patisserie for a coffee and pastry. They’ve built a new little verandah outside on the pavement with tables and chairs, so a perfect spot for a mid morning break.

Errands complete, and shopping done, we headed home. In-between guests I wanted to make a start on the armoire we’d bought, some weeks ago now. We decided we would both do it, to try and get the messy sanding job done as quick as possible. It wasn’t long before we were cleaning it down, and just wiping it over with a bit of white spirit to remove any grease or dust we may have left.

Next, the painting.

Board

Yesterday we had some friends over for a simple supper of bread and cheese. The easy pleasure of sharing a cheese board with friends is a delight. Learning what people like or don’t quite like - ‘ooh you must try this one first!’ ‘I prefer this one’, ‘I love this one’, ‘the Brie is nice and runny’ .

Brian chose us a nice bottle of Sancerre to enjoy with it, which was a good choice to cut through the cheese.

France has some wonderful cheeses and we have some excellent ones produced locally. Chaource is a deliciously creamy, soft, white cheese, which is not too strong. Langres is similar but has an orange coloured rind and a slightly stronger taste. The strongest local cheese though has to be Époisses, which we both love. Again it has an orange coloured rind and is soft in texture, ideal on a cheese board or after dinner.

All three of them are produced around an hours drive from here.

Jardin de la fausse rivière

The second garden we visited was ‘Le jardin de la fausse rivière’. It was tucked away at the back of Essoyes next to a little canal. The owner, an 82 year old gentleman, had created a little oasis of calm and colour, which was approached by a metal and wooden bridge.

He had divided the garden into blocks, planting each one fully with either flowers or vegetables. All looking very healthy.

He had built a couple of green houses, which were full of tomato plants. He had also added some unusual little decorative installations. One was a collection of blue glass bottles on a bottle drier, another was a bed head used to support some rambling roses. He also had some very unusual plants, of which I hadn’t seen before. A garden to be justifiably proud of.

La Roseraie

I’d seen in the ‘Agenda’ (our new local guide to what’s on) that there was an open garden event happening in Essoyes. It was the first year they had run it, and it had been organised by the Renoir Association to help reveal some of the hidden beauty of the village where Renoir had made his home. It was completely free, as they wanted to use the opportunity to raise awareness of a competition they are running for artists. The prize is a three month stay in Essoyes, to be inspired to paint a picture to be displayed in the manoir of Devaux, a local Champagne house. Devaux are one of the sponsors of the event.

I was excited about the open garden event, as in the centre of Essoyes there is a beautiful old house called La Roseraie, which looks so lovely from the outside, and and I’d always wondered what was behind the big iron gates, and it just so happened that it was one of the gardens open to the public. We tentatively walked in, not really knowing what to expect, but we were immediately welcomed by one of the owners, who invited us to wander around freely.

The garden was split into three areas, which subtly blended into one another. The first featured very modern square, brick, raised beds, which were quite out of character for the building. So to help soften the edges they had filled them with plants which were lush and naturally overflowing around the edges. To add additional interest they had crafted a little stream, cascading over a bed of slates, with an old, rusty water pump adding a touch of contrast. This theme continued through the flower beds as they were bordered with rusting iron work, that brought height and structure to the overflowing groupings of plants.

As we ventured through this area, we also followed the edge of the river that runs through Essoyes. Such a beautiful setting, dappled with little seating areas to enjoy your morning coffee or evening apéro, a real area of calm. Renoir loved to paint along this river.

At the end of this area of the garden was a rather large, metal pergola, about 6 metres in height and about 10 metres wide. It looked very elegant, reaching to the sky and twisting itself up out of the plants.

We then wandered into the third area behind the main house. There are actually two houses, which I’d never really noticed before, and they framed this part of the garden. Music was playing lightly in the background, which we heard first as we walked through the second area of the garden, a slim walkway filled with an array of potted succulents.

I loved all the old, salvaged ironwork they had used to pot the succulents in, something I’d like to recreate in our garden.

As the garden opened out again, you gained a beautiful vista of the main house, and it’s smaller twin, with their soft green paintwork and roses around the doors and windows.

We spent a while just enjoying the space and admiring all the little details, from the beautifully planted shade beneath a tree to a lily pad covered pond. You can tell it had been created with lots of thought and hard work. Simply beautiful.

The only way

What happens when things break?

Whilst opening the pool this year, one of the skimmer doors – the flappy things that help filter the water and trap leaves etc. – lost the pin that held one side of it in place. We looked online for a replacement thinking they would be a standard size, but it seems not, and getting the right size doors is really quite tricky. “I’ll fix it instead” Brian exclaimed. ‘How is he going to do that?’ I thought? Off he went to his workshop and found a plastic ‘bit or thing’ he’d obviously kept for just such a moment. He cut the plastic pin off it, shaved it down to size, drilled a tiny hole in it, then drilled a similar tiny hole in the piece in the skimmer door. Using a blob of resin and a tiny nail he soon had a working door again. Incredible!

Now it’s fitted and flapping away as it should be.

It’s nice to be able to replace things that break, which is probably the most obvious way, but sometimes a fix is not just satisfying, it’s the only way.

Simple Picnic

It’s Thursday already and I really don’t know where our week has gone. Our guests left on Sunday morning, they were having such a wonderful relaxed time they actually stayed for four nights instead of the two they originally had planned for. It’s so gratifying when we know people are enjoying themselves.

After we’d had a bit of a tidy up, we headed off to Meurville to enjoy a picnic lunch overlooking the vines. Such a beautiful spot.

Sitting under the shade of the tree is idyllic, what more can you want, some salty crisps and yoghurt dip, followed by a couple of pain au chocolate, and some coffee. Simply delicious.

Shady spot

We have found a lovely little spot for my new white chairs. In the morning it catches the early sun, just before things are starting to hot up. Then after lunch it becomes the perfect shady spot to enjoy a quiet read and a cup of tea before starting again. Absolutely delightful, I knew they would soon become a firm favourite.

I found some pretty pink cushions to use on them, which look good as they are surrounded by pink and purple roses. The wisteria along the wall has just finished flowering, it looked beautiful and I just loved the scent when it was out. Now there is a mock orange flowering just behind the chairs, which also has a gorgeous sweet scent.

Fresh from the pot

I was running short on lemon marmalade, so I decided I’d get some made this week.

At the Intermarché they were selling unwaxed, loose lemons, however they didn’t have any weighing scales, so I couldn’t weigh them. I told Brian we need 2kg. “Hmmm”, he exclaimed, and then looked around and found a 2kg bag of apples. He started to fill a seperate bag with the lemons, and when he thought he had just enough he held the bag of lemons in one hand and the apples in the other. “A couple more” he said. Two more were added and he asked what I thought. “I reckon you are pretty spot on” I replied.

When we got home and weighed them, we were both pleasantly surprised with his accuracy.

I just love making homemade marmalades, jams and chutneys, and I know our guests enjoy them.

This week our guests were able to try it fresh from the pot, a nice sharp, tangy taste, with a sweet, sticky texture. They loved it.

Whats on

Our newsletter went out this week, which included in it the agenda, produced by our local tourist office, of what’s on in the region from now through till the end of October. There’s lots going on, such as cultural events with music, food and champagne, vide greniers and festivals.

There is also an interesting little article on palissage, the activity that is happening in the vineyards right now. The link for the newsletter is here if you’d like to have a read. https://mailchi.mp/81654a2ce351/coming-to-champagne-newsletter-feb-13858371

Red red rose

The red rose in front of the house is looking particularly gorgeous this year. We pruned it quite heavily – I think it was around March time – which it must have liked, as it’s flourishing. It does have a little bit of black spot, which I will treat, but it’s looking stunning.

It’s such a deep red.

This is the smaller rose, to the right of the door, which we had to dig up when we were laying the hot water system pipes a couple of years ago. I was always concerned as to whether or not it would survive, but again it’s doing wonders. It looks so velvety.

Strawberry Tart

I was making some strawberry tarts for dinner. They have a sable pastry base, which I blind baked then, once cooled, added a crème patisserie filling.

It’s then a careful placing of the strawberries which I leave to Brian, he makes a much better job of it than me. I then add a glaze on top of the strawberries with a little apricot jam. It is such a delicious dessert.

Champagne

When you wake in the morning and the sky is blue, you really don’t need a weather app to tell you the ‘sky is blue’, but it’s nice to see the forecast.

It was a gorgeous day and our guests were heading out to explore the local area and visit the Renoir museum in Essoyes.

Once we’d had a quick tidy up and opened up the pool, ready for their return later in the day, we decided to have a little outing to a local Vide Grenier.

We bumped into a couple of friends who were just about to tuck into their lunch of saucisson and frites they bought from one of the stalls that are always found at these little markets. They’d sat down at one of the tables and chairs set up in the shade of the church. Our friends had also purchased a bottle of Champagne – of course, you can’t sit down in Champagne without a bottle of the local fayre to smooth things along, and a fresh, sparkling glass was exactly what was needed. Enjoying a glass with friends is still such a wonderful pleasure, that’s life in Champagne. It was a very pleasant surprise to catch up with them.

Where’s the foreman?

The mayor of our village had put out a request to the villagers for help with planting up the flower baskets and clearing the ‘place de Mairie’. If we could help we were to meet outside the ‘Mairie’s’ on Saturday morning at 8.30am.

Not ones to miss an opportunity to get involved, we headed down there ready to be useful. There was a huddle of people, all chatting, ‘bonjouring’ and, from what we could make out, discussing the plan of action.

It wasn’t long before I was planting up the troughs. There were just 4 of us doing this, but we soon had a good rhythm going, and started to load them on the back of a truck to be watered and distributed along the road side fences.

Brian’s work crew were weeding behind the Mairies and clearing an old wall which separated the parking area. Some of the guys had started knocking it down, whilst another fetched his tractor and trailer to cart it all away. Brian got stuck into helping clear it.

That obviously was not happening fast enough for some, so the big guns were brought in. It’s great when there is so much equipment available to get a job done.

Me and my group had moved on to planting in front of the Mairie’s. Initially there was a formal plan for the red and white plants, but by the end we’d moved them around so many times I’m not certain we knew what was where. Time will tell.

By the time I checked back in with Brian he’d promoted himself to foreman.

We’d had a great morning, such fun getting involved in the community, and a brilliant job done by all.

Sparkling

When we got home we decided to nip up to the pool to enjoy our lunch, and then get it ready for our guests arriving on Saturday.

After all the work we’d put in earlier in the week it didn’t take much to have it looking sparkling in the sun.

The outside temperature was now around 25°C, and the pool was about 22°C, a couple more days of this sunshine and we will be enjoying our first swim.

No rush

We woke earlyish on Friday morning to a beautiful, warm, sunny day. We decided to head into Bar-sur-Seine to have a coffee and pain au chocolat at the café, as we needed to nip to the market to buy some fruit and vegetables. We were both functioning at a very slow pace, as we’d had a wonderful evening out the night before, enjoying a barbecue dinner with some friends. It was a very pleasant evening, sitting outside enjoying the summer sun, chatting and catching up on what’s been happening. On the way home we met a rather large wild boar standing in the middle of the road. He didn’t seem in any rush to vacate his position, but a flash of the headlights, and he scurried off.

We had a slow walk around the market, looking at all the gorgeous fresh fruit and veg.

Nothing ever seems to be rushed in France. A queue of people, listening intently to the stall holder telling a lady which strawberry is which, then all chatting amongst themselves about which strawberries are best to buy is quite normal. The chit-chat slows everything down, but everyone is happy to wait their turn. I was waiting for some apricots and strawberries. I then went to pick out some local goats cheese, which is rich and creamy, and then some honey, which is so good, and just perfect for breakfast on fresh baguette with salty butter. The goats cheese will be enjoyed this weekend with our guests.

I’m looking forward to a weekend of cooking and eating some yummy delights.

Two what?

In the side of our barn are two windows, well, there are two holes anyway. Once they would have brought light in to help see inside the barn, but now we have an electric light in there, so all they bring for us is heat from the summer sun. As Brian is in the process of perfecting his cellar, we have got to the point where we needed to make a quick fix and fill them in, as the weather is now warming up.

Brian took a look at the larger window from outside of the barn and found that there was an old wooden frame inside. That would make the whole thing much easier. So he decided to cut an old piece of board to fit into the opening.

With a few screws, it didn’t take him long to secure it into place.

Now he just needed to fix the small opening. For this he decided to use some polystyrene insulation he had left over from sealing the cellar walls. He approached it from inside the barn, as the roof of the cellar gave him a good platform. It was quite easy to just cut the insulation in place. Voilà.

We’ve already noticed that this little fix is helping the temperature of the cave stay low and more consistent.

Before you go…

Our friends were heading back home this afternoon, before they went though they wanted to help us with some gardening jobs. So not to miss an opportunity of having volunteers we were soon all doing our bit. Pam got the lawn mowed for us, whilst we went up to the pool with Sharon to finish the weeding. Brian got the jet wash out to clean off the black, winter mould, and I started to tidy up the honeysuckle over the stone arch. Although there were a few hard to get to pieces.

We then enjoyed a nice cup of tea and a piece of apricot tart together before they headed off. We’d had such a wonderful weekend together, and getting some gardening jobs done before they left was a very pleasant surprise.

The pool is now definitely open to be enjoyed.

Essoyes wine fair

We visited the beautiful little village of Essoyes on Sunday for the annual wine fair. They have producers from all the wine regions of France, coming together to offer you the opportunity to try their wines.

You pay just €2.50 for a glass and then you can try as many, or as few, as you like. There were around 35 producers this time, and many return every year. It’s an annual event that takes place on the 3rd weekend of May, it’s such a wonderful, relaxed show, and no pressure to buy, although we seem to every time we visit.

It’s such a great event, we love it.

70!

On Saturday we headed to the small village of Urville, about a 20 minute drive from us. We were heading there for lunch. I’d seen an advert for a celebration lunch to share in the vineyards overlooking Urville, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the ‘Route touristique du Champagne’ and I thought ‘What a wonderful event to be part of’.

So I bought us four tickets, as our friends were visiting for the weekend. With a little trepidation, as I had no idea really on what to expect, I drove us to Urville. As we arrived there was a sign pointing up into the vineyards, it simply said ‘Cap-C’, who were the organisers of the event.

I turned off the main road onto the signposted road, not with the full commitment of everyone in the car, and headed up a dirt track into the vineyard. Another car followed behind me, so I now felt I was leading the way. The track quickly got narrower and more bumpy, and the uncertainty in the car grew, ‘Are you sure this is the right way?’ Brian asked. I wasn’t completely confident, so I decided to stop and ask the man behind us. I pulled over to let him through, and he obviously knew we weren’t sure on where we were going, because as he passed us he said “Le repas est ici”. “Merci”, I replied and we carried on behind him. Climbing higher and driving into a very bumpy track I felt we might well have turned back if it wasn’t for him. The track improved though and we soon arrived at a meadow area on a plateau at the top of the hill,  where a number of cars had already arrived. We parked up and, and feeling more relaxed with lots of chatter and laughter, we headed along to where we could see some people milling around.

They had set up some lovely long tables, with bottles filled with local wild flowers, and an amazing view across the valley. The building was open on two sides, and created from local stone and oak from the surrounding forests.

Our meal was a typical, local French menu of gougéres, followed by chicken gizzards and goats cheese, with a main of beef with boulangère potatoes, a plate of local cheeses and a strawberry meringue for dessert, all washed down with local Champagnes, of course.

It was an amazing setting to enjoy our lunch, learn more about the work of Cap-C, meet new people, make new friends and practice our French.

A great day out was had by all.