Gifted

The other day we had a wonderful gift arrive by post.

A very dear guest had read my blog about our local pétanque contest and mentioned that a friend of theirs had written a book on the game. Then one morning we received a parcel, and on opening it found that they had very kindly sent us a copy.

It is such a lovely book, filled with interesting information and so beautifully illustrated. It’s something we will be able to share with our guests, as pétanque is such an iconic pastime here.

So unexpected, and a delight to receive.

Inspiration

Yesterday we were invited to view the art of an international school that had been staying, for the last couple of weeks, at the chateau in Mussy.

There were two groups, one group were there learning French, and the other to draw from life and to produce other works. At last nights event the two groups came together for the evening. The language students showed us around, practicing their french, and explaining to us what they had been doing for the last couple of weeks. The artists mingled amongst the visitors, getting involved where they could.

It was good for our french language learning, as they spoke quite slowly, which gave us a chance to keep up with them.

The artworks were really superb, for such young artists. They had used a mixture of pencils, water colour and ink, and taken lots of inspiration from the places they had visited. It was a lovely presentation.

Top table

In general, if there is painting to be done it’s me that does it, as it’s not a favourite job of Brian’s, and I find it quite relaxing. However, whilst I was in the UK he took on the task of painting the table we’d been working on. I had managed to get a couple of coats on the underneath but it did need a lot more work.

We used a cream, smooth finish Hammerite paint, which can be used over rust. It is a little difficult to spread, but it works well with care. I just love how the colour helps bring out the design of the legs, and Brian achieved a perfect finish on the table top. We were both so pleased with how it’s turned out.

Originally we’d positioned it in front of the bench overlooking the vineyards, this is often used as a breakfast area or later in the day for drinks. But I actually think it worked better swapping it with our round table we use for lunch or dinner.

Yesterday it was not too hot outside so we were able to enjoy lunch with friends under the umbrella.

We won!

It’s less than ten days before ‘La route du Champagne en fête’, our grand regional festival. It’s a superb event held every year in the villages across the Aube – the southern Champagne area. This year it’s in Celles-sur-Ource, the only village that is able to host it entirely themselves, as they have so many Champagne producers.

And if that isn’t exciting enough, yesterday I found out we’d won two tickets! We needed to collect them in person, so off we went to the tourist office in Bar-sur-Seine. Neither of us could quite believe it, a very pleasant surprise!

You can buy tickets for the festival now from the tourist offices in Bar-sur-Seine or Bar-sur-Aube for 30 euros each. You get a decorated tasting glass to use during the weekend and to keep as a souvenir, and a booklet with tasting tickets which is for the whole weekend, and allows the tasting of around 20 Champagnes.

Glow bug

Last night as we were enjoying the end of our evening with our guests, I noticed a small light on the gravel behind Brian. I didn’t say anything at first, thinking it was just something shiny that had fallen on the floor, and I’d pick it up in a minute. But it did seem very bright, so I mentioned it. ‘What’s that glowing behind your chair?’ Instantly Brian was interested. He got up to take a closer look. ‘Wow, it’s a beetle. A glow beetle!’

Oooh! What a strange little thing it was, and so bright. We’ve never seen one here before. I wonder if we will start to see them more often.

Sharing

Our guests had spent all of yesterday visiting Chablis, and they didn’t return until late afternoon, so we took the opportunity of spending the day preparing some goodies for the upcoming ‘fête du Champagne’. I wanted to make some mushroom and chaource pastries to serve with drinks, so I’d prepared a mushroom mixture the day before and left that to cool overnight. With that bit already done, it was just the job of adding a little Chaource and creating the triangles. We worked together, filling and folding, until we had made about 60 of them, then we popped them in the freezer.

As they had taken lunch in a restaurant in Chablis, our guests had opted for a light sharing platter for when they came back. There were cold meats, cheese with homemade pickles and some fresh apricots for dessert.

The evening whizzed along, chatting and laughing together in the warmth of the evening sun, sharing stories and enjoying each other’s company. It was only really when we realised the temperature was dropping that we thought it was time to say our good nights.

Railings

It was a gorgeous sunny Sunday morning, so we served breakfast to our guests in the garden. It was all very relaxed - freshly made coffee, apple juice, locally produced yoghurts, some fresh fruit, fresh baguette and croissants with homemade preserves. Oh, and a boiled egg or two.

After breakfast we all decided to head off to the vide grenier in Essoyes. The stalls were scattered around the playing field and chateau, where they were all trying to grab a little bit of shade.

There was quite a lot to see.

As we headed back to the car we passed by a vide Maison, a beautiful old house that had opened its doors to sell off some of the things in the garage and yard. I soon spotted some railings I liked. ‘Look hun, they are just perfect for the garden.’ Brian knows that I have an idea of how I would like to use them, its just whether he can make it work for me. ‘Are you sure?’ He asked. ‘I think they are perfect, will they fit in the car?’

One of them turned out to be a little too large, so a few moments later, he had asked the chap selling them if he’d cut a bit off that one. Between them they soon had it sorted out, and I was the proud owner of 4 railing panels.

I’ll let you know what I do with them another time.

Somewhere...

The weather turned a bit stormy yesterday, and our guests sensibly decided to use the day to visit two local Champagne producers. We felt it would be a good day to get some inside jobs done, so we got on with some cleaning, admin and cooking.

We got quite a lot done actually, and when we finally came to rest our guests returned and asked us whether we had seen the rainbow, as it was quite spectacular. We rushed outside to catch a glimpse.

It really was marvellous, as the last light of the day broke through the clouds and formed a perfect arc in the sky. A bright and happy end to the day.

The Repair Shop

Before leaving for the UK I had asked Brian if he could take a look at the hinges on a box I use to store some personal memories. Over the years they had become quite loose and fragile, and wouldn’t close properly. I was a bit worried it would become unusable.

Brian though wasn’t happy just looking at the bit I’d asked him to sort out, he looked at the whole box. He decided that two missing areas of marquetry on the top would give him a chance to try something he hadn’t done before.

He’s a big fan of a programme in the UK called ‘The Repair Shop’, and especially the woodworking skills of a chap called Will. He’d seen him fix a table using veneer, and I think he felt it would be a good thing to try, so not one to be scared of getting stuck in, he removed and sanded the top of the box, ready to start replacing the missing pieces. For the first part of the job he cut his own veneer slices, and dropped them into the hole that he had cleaned up.

Next he did the same thing with another part of the design, carefully cutting a small piece of wood to fit. It was all very fiddly.

The last piece to replace was a chipped edge. He cut a piece of veneer from an existing piece of left over wood he had, and glued it into place before shaving it back to fit.

A quick sanding down of everything…

…and a spray varnish, and the job was complete.

It was such a delight to see the care he had put into renovating the box for me, it can now spend many more years looking after my treasured memories.

Straight forward

Brian hadn’t really seen my new haircut which I’d got whilst I was at dad’s. The lady that cut it had styled it straighter than I normally have it, but I actually quite liked it.

It so needed cutting, and feels much healthier. I’d had about 4 inches taken off, so it also feels much lighter. It’s surprising how heavy your hair can feel in the heat, especially when you tie it back. Nice and light now though.

Feu d’artifice

14 July – fête national. Today is a public holiday, celebrated all over France. I was a little worried that it meant the market wouldn’t be happening, and I’d wanted to visit the cheese stall, and also buy some fruit and veg. Luckily enough, although it was a bit smaller than usual, it was still open.

We got our cheese, and fruit and veg. We also collected some meat we had ordered from the butcher. Jobs done, we then went to have a coffee in the café, where we met up with our guests who are currently staying with us. It was all very pleasant.

After dinner, we had asked our guests if they would like to join us at the village feu d’artifice (firework display). It all takes place in the Champagne vineyards, and it made for a lovely end to the day.

Hook ‘a’ duck

Dad and I have enjoyed a good few days together, although he does find getting out and about a little challenging now. Nevertheless we made it to one of his favourite places, where he used to go with Mum. It’s the Waterside restaurant in Rollesby, a delightful little bistro with views across the broads. We both tucked into a plate of scampi and chips, all very tasty.

Over the weekend Dad’s village was holding the annual ‘Martham carnival’ on the green. It was a lovely event for the locals and visitors, with lots of old fashioned stalls like ‘hook ‘a’ duck’, ‘Spin the wheel’ and a Candy floss stand. They also exhibited some vintage tractors and cars, and had dance displays from local schools. On the Saturday evening a band played from a stage created on the back of a lorry, people gathered on the grass with their picnics to enjoy the show and the unusually warm evening.

On Sunday I headed home. I’d managed to get an earlier shuttle, just by an hour, but it was good, as it meant I arrived home around 9.30pm. There was just time to enjoy a favourite of Brian’s, a hot toasted soda farl, which I’d brought back with me to enjoy with a cup of tea. Then we had a tour of all the jobs he’d got completed whilst I was away.

Shelved it!

Another job Brian decided to do while I was away was to fit a much needed shelf in the laundry room. He sent me this picture first, probably in the hope it would get me excited about the work. He framed it as ‘Bear with me, I know it doesn’t look like much yet’, which is how most of Brian’s projects begin. On this occasion he had been saving this particularly uninspiring piece of wood because it had the same veneer as the shelf he had already put up in my laundry, which desperately needed a bottom shelf attached to complete it. Although it wasn’t very inspiring in itself, I knew something good was now on its way

He started by giving it a good clean with white spirit, then he cut it to the right width with his table saw, and proceeded (after measuring of course) to cut round corners onto it.

Next job was to stain the pine edges to look like the veneer. He used some mahogany dye first, but apparently that wasn’t yellow enough. So he next put a couple of layers of oak stain, then a couple more layers of mahogany and he was happy.

Just a quick medium oak stain beeswax and it was ready to fit.

Et voila! A new bottom shelf. It looks brilliant and I’m looking forward to being able to organise myself a bit better now in my laundry room. I just love this eclectic look.

Another job finished

Some of Brian’s jobs start by destroying what’s already there. I used to get panicky about that stage, but I’ve seen so many transformations now that I know it means something better is coming. This particular job involved pulling up the rather rustic stone edging for the border and replacing it with terracotta edgings we had bought many moons ago and already fitted to the righthand side of the door.

It’s taken a while for Brian to get round to it because the first side demonstrated how hard it was to dig out a straight line in rocky soil, get the depth necessary for the tiles and then check the height which changes a lot from the door to the urn. With me away, he must have felt that he now had the time to spend on it and do it properly, so out came the tools.

I love the finished look, and so much nicer that both sides now match. I can’t wait to get home and see it in real life.

Home alone

I made a quick last minute decision to pop over to the UK to visit Dad. Brian had suggested I take the car rather than the train as he has plenty to do at the house and was happy to be left home alone without it. So I packed my stuff ready for the trip.

It was a very early start for me, which was quite a challenge when the alarm went off at around 5am, but that time of day does bring its own joys. As I drove out of the village I passed a number of deer quietly eating the fresh grass beside the road. I think they were nibbling the new young grass which had grown through where the verge had been cut, it was obviously very tasty for them. They scurried off as I drove past, bobbing into the safety of the forest undergrowth.

As I emerged from the forest up onto the plateau of fields that surround us I could see the windmills on the skyline, seemingly tying the clouds to the ground, the sun rising with a bright golden glow, that was already starting to warm the day.

I was soon on the toll road heading to Calais, a talking book and a cup of coffee my companions. They helped the journey fly by.

I arrived in Norfolk around 4pm. I think dad was very pleased to see me, and we tucked into our M&S sandwich and cup of tea.

Pottery Expo

GeGe at Poterie Bel Air was having another open evening, which I was keen to go along to. I wanted to buy another jug, as I like them for serving juice in the mornings to our guests. She had been working hard at the wheel and the kiln, and had lots of her charming pottery pieces on display in the barn.

We both really love the rustic charm of the little expo she puts on with the help of her friends, it’s the perfect way to show her work.

And it’s always nice to see their flock of sheep, that travel to and fro from the Netherlands with them, as they spend half their year in Holland and half in France.

Of course no visit to a poterie is complete without a purchase or two! And who doesn’t love a hand drawn shopping bag to take them away in?

Baguette

As we dropped down towards the lake we could see that the path traversed the lake over a rocky dam. We decided to have lunch before we crossed, so found a couple of comfy rocks to sit on and enjoy our cheese and pickle baguettes.

As we sat there enjoying our lunch we could hear lots of delicate splashing on the edge of the water. Brian went to investigate, and realised the reeds were full of little frogs, enjoying their afternoon swimming lesson.

He then started to look closer in the water, to find that it was full of little fish and skimmers, tripping over the top of the water. He then spied a little oval looking creature. ‘Come and look at this.’ I carefully toddled over to where he was standing, and the pair of us gazed inquisitively into the water. This is what we saw which was about 2-3 cms long. No idea what it is!

Lunch finished, we crossed to the other side of the dam, where we found a beautifully built hide, which we went into to explore. After a short while we could hear a crescendo of frogs and bird song, it was such a delightful experience, we will definitely be revisiting. Brian did manage to capture some of the ambiance with this short piece of video and soundtrack. Just click on the picture below.

Cheese and pickle

A quick coffee this morning as we had decided to head out for a walk. It was a little bit overcast, so not too hot. I’d packed us a little picnic, including cheese and pickle baguette, which always seems to be a favourite of ours when walking. Plenty of water and a flask of coffee, and we were ready to go.

We were heading for the Forêt du Temple, near to the lake. I hadn’t exactly mapped the walk out, it was going to be a bit free form, however we knew where we were heading for. We parked up and went to look at a couple of walks displayed on a nearby information board, we decided that we would combine the two, why not? So we set off heading through the forest, following a well defined path.

The first part had a number of information boards sharing details about the area and how it had been used at the time of the Templars. This is actually a separate walk, one which we shall do fully on another day. Our route then left the Templars walk and opened out into some beautiful, well managed woodland, where the wildflowers were looking particularly gorgeous and very vibrant in the dappled sunshine.

It was all so beautiful, but nothing compared to what awaited us…

Another flush?

Our roses looked absolutely gorgeous during the early weeks of summer, creating vibrant bursts of colour all around. Rose scent lingering in the air welcomed you into the garden.

But beauty fades, even though the plants hang on to the last vestiges. So today we needed to take some time to dead head the roses and prune out some of the old dead wood to help encourage another flush of blooms.

There are a lot of mature roses, so it was quite a task, but the climbers are already looking stronger with a little mid-season tlc.

Booking.com or Airbnb

I can’t take credit for this post as it was the post Brian put on LinkedIn today, and it has already had over 5,000 impressions, which is amazing. We’ve been getting some really great comments, as well as a few reposts. I thought I would share it with you here;

‘Why are you not on booking.com or Airbnb?’. That’s the question we get asked most often, and the answer is simple.

The booking sites have their place, but we believe our guests deserve more than just a confirmation email. We prefer to give them a richer, more personal experience.

Our aim is to make our guests comfortable, even before they arrive. We get to know a little bit about who they are and what they want from their relaxing break. Equally, we like to share with them a little bit about us. Jo’s daily blog for instance allows our guests to get to know us, and our home in the Champagne countryside.

These early contacts build trust, and that in turn helps our guests to relax more easily on arrival. They quickly begin the unwinding process that’s so important for a successful holiday.

This second year has proved our philosophy is working, as we are already enjoying the return of guests from last year.