The big day

The sun was already high on the horizon when Brian bought me my birthday cup of tea, and my pile of presents and cards from family and friends. I felt very blessed to be remembered by so many people.

We started the day by heading out for coffee and croissants at a local café, then headed to pick up a fruit tart from the patisserie on the market place in Bar-Sue-Seine, and some beef from our butcher. I’d invited a few friends for dinner as a little celebration, and was going to make a beef Bourguignon.

My day went slowly, enjoying cooking and catching up with friends and family on WhatsApp. My brother Jon had even managed to organise a FaceTime call with Dad, it’s always so good to see him.

The table was laid, and we were all set to welcome our guests.

What better way to celebrate, it was a fantastic evening.

Best laid plans

Back at home, we woke early on what promised to be a bright, sunny day, perfect for some heavy gardening. The slope had become very overgrown already since the last cut just a couple of weeks ago.

Brian was first to set off downstairs to make coffee, but soon after he returned. “We’ve had a call from Joëlle, she’s suggesting we visit a vide maison where she has seen some jazz records, and she’s suggesting we ring her afterwards to pop over”. It certainly wasn’t what I had planned, but we hadn’t heard from our friend in a little while, so we got changed out of our work clothes and set off.

A ‘vide maison’ is basically a house clearance sale, where you wander from room to room seeing what’s available. We started in the room our friend had suggested, and soon found the record collection. Unfortunately much of it was scratched, but Brian did find a box set of the history of jazz piano which was in better condition. In the same room he also found some books that looked interesting and a folder of old musical scores. We scooped them all for €15, but passed on the two little figurines Brian pointed to that were apparently €850!!

After the vide maison we rang our friend who told us to meet her at her home in Essoyes. This turned into another treasure hunt, as her home has a little brocante (antique shop) attached to it and we couldn’t resist a look around. Brian soon found a couple of prints and a painting that took his fancy.

We then all popped over into her little garden/pottager for a coffee and a chat. It was a simply wonderful morning, even if our plans had changed.

We returned home with enough energy still to start the gardening, and got quite a long way before stopping for a well earned glass of wine.

Pompon museum

Francois Pompon was born in Saulieu in 1855, this is the little house in which he was born. The upstairs half of the house, accessed by a small door on the left, is now a gite. In 1870 Pompon left for Dijon to work as an apprentice stonemason in a marble workshop. However this was really just to support him whilst attending evening classes on sculpture. He later moved to Paris where he worked as a stonemason in a funeral parlour by day, and attended school in the evenings.

In 1890 he joined Auguste Rodin’s studio, where he helped him in the marble depot. He soon gained his trust and was introduced to many of Rodin’s friends and contemporaries, including Camille Claudel.

His early work was realistic in its approach, I would say quite romantic in its style.

It wasn’t until 1905 when he started to develop his unique modern style for sculpting birds and animals.

Probably the most famous being his polar bear, which he would have studied at his local zoo. I think he’s just adorable with his big padded feet. Pompon would polish the surfaces removing finer details, creating stylised ‘but perfectly observed’ forms.

I also loved this sculpture of Pompon, strangely familiar in its characterisation.

After the museum we headed out to visit the small village of Chateauneuf. It sits at the top of a hill, looking very commanding in its position overlooking the surrounding countryside. It is well known for its quaint little streets, and old buildings, which nowadays are filled with artist studios, and little cafés to wander round and enjoy. Unfortunately the castle is currently closed, as they are improving the access at the front of the building. I believe it will reopen in May. So for us, we will plan to come back one day.

Discovering Saulieu

After breakfast we headed out for a stroll around the little town of Saulieu. It’s really not that big, but has some interesting old streets and buildings to explore.

I just love the old fashioned painted signs on the fronts of buildings, now looking faded but still serving their purpose.

At the main church, just behind the high street, we couldn’t resist taking up the invite to ‘Turn the handle and push the door hard’. Inside it was cool, but surprisingly lively, with traditional church music playing from the organ. It sounded magnificent. We soon realised it was a very special organ, and quite stunning.

We wandered around the pews enjoying looking up at the intricately carved stone capitals, pointing out the quirky characters, some looking very cheeky.

Next to the church it was hard not to miss the Pompon museum. He had been born in Saulieu, which we hadn’t been aware of, and they have a lovely little museum of his works, and some of his contemporaries. I’ll feature more on this later.

Arrival

We arrived at our hotel in Saulieu late afternoon, feeling very happy with our full day of exploring.

We were soon checked in, and enjoying a quiet half hour with a cup of tea, before getting washed and changed to head out for dinner at the bistro ‘l’oiseau des sens’.

It was a very relaxed evening. Brian enjoyed perusing the wine menu, which made for some very interesting reading. I just soaked in the atmosphere, practicing my French listening. My œufs meurette for starter were wonderful, they are poached eggs in a red wine sauce, quite rich but delicious. Our main course was fish with butternut squash, and dessert was a rather yummy, cherry and chocolate entremet.

Really, this was just setting us up for day two, where we had a reservation at the famous ‘Cote d’or’ Restaurant. This was turning into the most wonderful birthday treat!

Musée de la résistance

After our walk to the waterfall we headed towards the Maison du parc, just outside Saint Brisson. There is a small tourist office, but we were there to see the resistance museum that’s located just behind.

It’s set in an old farm house, that’s very reminiscent of the period. It’s a comprehensive museum, with videos, posters, weapons, uniforms and much more, and the text explaining the exhibits is in both French and English, with audio transmitters available in English also. All in all it made for a very interesting visit.

At the start of the war, in 1940, France was split into two, with the southern half (Vichy France) agreeing an armistice with the Nazi party that gave it some form of neutrality and independence, and the northern half being completely occupied by the German army. The Morvan area, where the museum is found, was situated in this occupied zone, and during that time had garrisons of troops occupying buildings and taking control of day-to-day life in the area. The propaganda, being touted by the Nazi party, of being the salvation of the abandoned northern people, was a thinly veiled cover of the true horrors being perpetrated.

‘Trust the German soldiers’ the propaganda read, whilst a massive cleansing of perceived enemies of the Nazis was undertaken across the region.

Innocent people, living normal lives, were taken, processed and finally sent to concentration camps. Claude Noël of Dijon is one face among the millions that were taken from their families.

The true intentions of the Nazi occupation were impossible to hide, and a massive resistance movement began to take shape against them. From a grass roots system of basic non-compliance, to organised military attacks, the Nazi occupation was seriously hindered by the breadth of the resistance, extremely brave and heroic people, working both from within communities, and out of the densely forested areas, that gave perfect cover and were impractical to control.

The Morvan area (shown in red outline) spanned several departments and supplied good forest protection to guerrilla units.

At one point there was over 20 maquis (organised fighting groups) within the forests of the Morvan area, some of which had up to 1200 people. The museum was rich with stories of the people who had made a difference and the historical objects which had been used by them.

The museum is a perfect window into the region’s fight for survival.

Gouloux

We had pulled in to a café not far from the visitors centre, we didn’t need much as we both knew we would be having a big dinner in the evening, but a coffee and a gaufre (like a waffle) went down a treat. Whilst there we saw a notice board for a short walk to what looked like a waterfall, and knowing what the recent weather has been we thought it might be a good time of year to visit it.

The walk started just outside the café, on the opposite side of the road. It descended into a beautiful forest path, fairyland in its appearance with mossy trees and delicate wild anemones.

The sound of running water became louder as we descended, and we soon came across a pretty stream, meandering along the edge of the path, although it was clear from the sounds in the distance that this wasn’t the waterfall we were looking for. The path was a little muddy, but it was well maintained and easy to follow.

A little further on we crossed a small bridge, and there, below the ruins of an old water mill, was the waterfall…and it was pretty spectacular.

Brian wanted to take a few pictures with his new iPhone camera, to test out some of its capabilities. I thought he got some amazing pics.

The crumbled remains of the mill still showed where the wheel once stood.

This old photograph shows the two mills which were in use from 1804 to 1920 on this site. They were used to grind cereals and oil, which was made from turnips. The forest has definitely grown up around where the mills once stood, but you can clearly see where they were. Apparently there were 7 mills just in the small commune of Gouloux.

The walk took us back along the side of a the river, through the forest and up to another viewpoint.

A wonderful little bench installation gave a peaceful view up the river, a quiet little spot to enjoy the sounds of the forest and the flowing of the stream.

We climbed up to another viewpoint and were rewarded with the view of another glorious waterfall, from another river joining the tributarory we had been following.

I hadn’t even read that it was here, it was only that we had stopped for a coffee that we discovered it. Sometimes you just need to be somewhere to understand its real beauty, and of course enjoy the local little coffee shops.

Full to bursting

This week will be my 60th birthday, which seems to have crept sneakily up on me! As a treat Brian arranged for us to go away for a few days, which was really exciting. So last Thursday we set off on our little mini adventure to the Morvan Natural regional park, which is about 2 hours from us, in Burgundy. We planned to take the scenic route, although we were conscious, with all the rain that had fallen over the last week, that some of the roads may be flooded.

As we crossed the small bridge at Loches-sur-Ources we could see the extent of the water problem.

The river was full to bursting, and very fast flowing. As we travelled past Mussy-sur-Seine, we could easily see that the Seine had burst its banks there. We had heard they were holding back the water in the Seine to protect Paris from flooding.

The Morvan is situated well into Burgundy, and we were going to be staying at a little hotel in the village of Saulieu, but first we wanted to head to the area around Saint Brisson to visit the park visitors centre, and explore some of the countryside there. Over the next few days I’ll share some of our little adventure away.

Stake out

We’d finished breakfast, and I was just sorting the weekend’s laundry out, when I could hear Brian tapping away in his workshop. ‘Now what’s he up to?’ I thought.

I soon realised he was making the stakes to support my new fruit trees.

I headed out to help him, and hold the stakes, as he attached them together. Then we carefully attached some rubber ties to prevent the young trees from getting blown about.

They are already showing signs of healthy growth.

A special treat

My friend treated us to a rather gorgeous evening out last weekend. She took us to a favourite restaurant of ours ‘Le Garde Champêtre’ .

It’s built inside an old railway station, and has so much charm.

We enjoyed an absolutely gorgeous meal together. I just love the way the chef creates their menus using really interesting ingredients, bought at the market, or grown in their own potager.

The dishes are perfect little bursts of flavour. These tuiles, to kick start our evening, are made using caméline, a small grain grown locally. They were delicious, with a little note of savoury sweetness. The petite tartelette, was filled with ricotta and smoked trout, and a spoon of smoked trout eggs on top. This gave a touch of saltiness to make our mouths water for what was to come.

Thank you for a wonderful evening.

Time capsule

A little while back we shared a bottle of English wine we had been given with some French friends. It’s always fun trying new wines with friends, listening to what others think, what tastes they get, and sometimes the wine turns out rather surprising, as was the case with this one.

The wine was from an English producer called Oatley, and the name of the wine is ‘Leonora’. It’s made from a grape called Kernling, not one I’d heard of before, but apparently it’s closely related to Reisling, so it’s good with seafood and Asian dishes. It was such a delicious wine, that after finishing the bottle, our friend asked Brian if he could get hold of some more. As luck would have it, another friend of ours was coming over from the UK, so we asked if she would be able to bring us a bottle or two.

What she actually brought was a ‘Time Capsule’, a six bottle, vertical tasting selection, with a little pamphlet of tasting notes. I can’t tell you how excited we are to be able to share this with our French friends. C’est magnifique! I know we are in for some fun tasting evenings.

Sweet and juicy

I’d been gifted two beautiful fruit trees which I was really keen to get planted. The forecast is a few days of rain, so it will be great to get them in the ground and settled in with a good dowsing of rainwater.

I knew roughly where I wanted them, so after a bit of discussion we made the decision and started to prepare the holes. The holes needed to be about 1.5 times bigger than the root ball and well prepared. I’d bought some good compost to ensure they have every chance in having a good healthy start in the garden.

The first one we planted is a ‘Nashi’ pear tree. It looks like an apple, but is sweet and juicy like a pear.

The second one is a red cherry. It will have beautiful pinky white blossom to start with, which develops into sweet, juicy cherries.

It was all very exciting, and I was really pleased with how they looked once planted. I just need Brian to stake them for me, to prevent them getting damaged if we have any high winds. I can’t wait now to taste the fruits of our labour. I’m thinking we only need to wait a couple of years at least.

Wash of green

This afternoon we took a stroll up to the point de vue, the village nestled in the vineyards, looked calm and peaceful. The vines are nearly all clipped and pruned now, ready to wake up after their winter break.

A light wash of green is starting to appear across the hillsides, which frames the village, and really makes the contrasting white stone of the church and houses stand out. Such a wonderful time of year.

Something new

Whenever we visit producers caves in Champagne we see something new. Even though we may have visited many times before, it’s always an opportunity to learn something surprising or see something in a different way.

On a recent visit to a favourite producer of ours, Jérôme Cothias we had the chance to experience ‘dégorgement’ again. For those of you that haven’t heard of this process before it’s the moment when the Champagne has spent long enough in the cellar maturing, and is ready to have the dead yeasts removed in readiness to finally release the bottle into the world. Jérôme was kind enough to demonstrate the process by hand. It’s very quick, as the cap is released (with the yeasts captured inside it) and the neck is covered before too much Champagne is released. This slow motion video shows how fast it all is and the skill that is required. As a mechanical process they would freeze the neck to produce a small cube of ice, that is then released from the bottle by the pressure within.

On our way out he also showed us a bunch of young, French, Chardonnay vines that had been grafted onto American rootstock to protect against Phylloxera. He talked us through the preparation of the vine before it arrives with him, ready to be planted. How it’s coated in paraffin wax to help protect the graft through the summer, whilst it’s established at the nursery before they dig them up and send them out to be planted, he’ll be doing this very shortly. There’s always something new and interesting to see and learn.

Preparing for Easter

It’s been a busy couple of days.

It started yesterday, blustery, but bright and sunny through the fast moving clouds. As I peered out of the window, the walled garden was definitely looking in need of a trim. The grass was a beautiful, healthy green, but it had grown a good 6 inches since I cut it about 10 days ago, or was it more like 2 weeks ago?

Our guests for the weekend were arriving later that evening, so I had a whole host of little jobs to get done. I decided to get the lawn cut first, whilst Brian was having a bit of a tidy up in his workshop.

We then headed out to the boulangerie to buy some fresh bread, and to the Intermarché to do a little bit of shopping, where I also found some beautiful orange and red tulips, which I knew would look beautiful on my Easter table.

No tea and cake

It was quite a murky day yesterday; cold, wet and grey. Not wanting the weather to spoil our mood, we decided to head into Châtillon-sur-Seine for a little bit of retail therapy.

One, very little, thing I miss from not living in the UK is visiting a garden centre and enjoying some tea and cake whilst we’re there. It may seem a strange activity to some, but I really used to enjoy it, however they just don’t do that in France, so we have to create a similar experience by visiting a delicious patisserie close by to the garden centre. I shouldn’t complain too much though because the patisserie is very good. Mine was the raspberry tart, and Brian went for a complete chocolate hit, with a hot chocolate and a slice of sponge with a chocolate mousse topping.

Tea and cake break over, we set off for the garden centre. I was actually after a couple of fruit trees, which I’d mentioned a few weeks back. A friend of mine, who is visiting shortly, wanted to treat me, so I was very excited.

I plumped for a cherry tree, and a ‘nashi’ pear tree. We will plant them together when she arrives. It will be great to see them growing through the summer, I just need to ensure I keep them watered well.

Venturing out

The daffodil bulbs I’d planted in my big stone urns are venturing out and starting to show their bright yellow heads. I can’t wait to see them all coming into bloom over the coming days, just in time for an Easter display.

I’d been promising Brian that I would get the last set of shelves linseeded, but I’d been finding it hard to prioritise this with little jobs I’d wanted to get done in the garden. Nevertheless it needed doing, so last night I popped on my gloves and got to work.

As we had needed to build these shelves in place, we had to find a way to help protect the newly painted wall. So we slid some plastic behind them, which meant I didn’t need to be too careful when brushing the linseed on. It really didn’t take long, and now we’ve found the best way to work with linseed we find it a very forgiving product. First we brush it on, leave it for a little while to soak in, then wipe it off with a dry, lint free cloth. This means we don’t get any patchy, shiny patches, and it doesn’t take long to dry. I will put a second coat on in a couple of days.

Biscuits

Following all of Brian’s hard work building the new bookshelves in the bibliothèque I’ve had a few people contact me with regard to his new biscuit jointer. Apparently I hadn’t made it very clear on what exactly the ‘biscuits’ are. Well hopefully this short little video will help fill in any gaps.

Stand tall

Since mowing the slope, which only seems about a week ago now, the garden has certainly had a growth spurt!

The peonies, especially, have shot up, so I bought a couple of frames to help prevent them from flopping over when the blooms get too heavy for the stems, which always happens.

This is the biggest and most advanced peony in the garden. Which we carefully positioned inside the frame, I think it is going to work really well in helping it to stand tall.

Whilst I’m sure this little one, over the coming weeks, will grow into his frame.

I just can’t believe I only bought two, I need about seven more!

A few books

We haven’t finished the shelves yet, but the time had come, and we just couldn’t resist seeing how a few books would look.

It was supposed to be just a few, but before I knew it Brian had unpacked a whole bunch of boxes. Which was actually great news, as some of our books had been hidden away for 4 years, so they needed to come out, they needed to be where we can read them, and dip into them.

I still have some linseeding to do on the final set of shelves, and Brian has some finishing touches to do on the front uprights, but that will all happen over the next few weeks, and won’t affect the books. For now we are really happy to be able to see just how our room will look and feel.