Jardinerie

We woke to beautiful blue skies this morning, so I’d mentioned to Brian I’d like to make a trip to one of my favourite places, the garden centre in Bar-sur-Seine. It has a beautiful location by the river, and I knew would be stacked full of Christmassy delights.

It’s absolutely magical inside, with row upon row of glorious indoor plants, and all kinds of pots and decorations. I could spend hours in there.

But I was focused, as I was interested in what they had at the rear of the shop, in the outdoor area. I had decided it would be nice to have some winter window boxes, to brighten the facade of the house.

So many beautiful things to consider. I love the hellebores, but they wouldn’t be right in the window boxes.

I’m looking forward to finding time to make them up.

Champagne run

We are so lucky to have an excellent Champagne house only 500m or so from our door.

But it’s not just their Champagne that causes a stir, it’s also the sensitive restoration of the priory they are in that brings them the attention.

Built in 13th century as a Benedictine priory, it had a colourful life as the centre of administration for Viviers-sur-Artaut, before falling into disrepair. In 2002, Vincent Grandpierre undertook the task of breathing life back into the building, preserving its historical value, but giving it a modern twist that makes it functional again.

It’s a wonderful place to drop by for a little chat with Céline and to pick up some festive Champagne.

Moving to Brazil

Not so long ago France had a campaign against the conflicting information farmers receive from the French government about what their responsibilities are, which resulted in nearly all the village signs in France being turned upside down.

So it came as no real surprise to us recently that the signs were once again being used to make a point. Now they are being wrapped in plastic, and the villages renamed after Brazilian place names. Apparently this is down to the Mercosur agreement, that allows Brazil to export to France lots of produce that has less traceability than the French farmers are forced to record. It means the local farmers product inevitably costs more than the imports, and they’re understandably annoyed about it. It’s definitely a good way for them to get their message out though, as we wouldn’t have been aware of it at all if it wasn’t for their campaign.

We believe the UK farmers are in a similar situation, with cheap, less traceable imports. Maybe it’s a challenge in other countries too. For us, we just try and buy locally where, and when, we can. I know this can often be at a higher price, but we do like to know where our food comes from, and we do like to support our local farmers.

Black sheep

How delightful it was earlier today to see a little herd of black sheep grazing in the vineyard near us. When we first stopped they started to scurry away, but soon realised we were friendly and decided to comeback and say hello.

Champagne production, and especially the care of the vineyards, is incredibly manually intensive, as we’ve witnessed over the years we’ve lived here. Tractors are used for a lot of tasks, but just imagine having to prune 80,000 grapevines by hand for instance. I have to admit when we are out walking and see the mammoth task the vignerons have in front of them, we realise it’s no wonder the Champenois are always willing to look at other ways of working.

Weeding is one of the jobs that can be done by tractor, but it requires a great degree of technical skill and planning to be successful, and damage to the vines is always a risk. So it’s great to see how one of the vigneron near us has taken to putting sheep into their vineyards. They obviously do a great job of nibbling away all the weeds, with the added bonus that any manure they produce will help improve the soil quality. However it’s not an all year round solution, only late, or early, in the year, as when the vines begin to bud the sheep will nibble those too.

L’instant Gourmet

We were in our local town of Bar-sur-Seine this morning, and one of our little tasks was to buy some more coffee beans from one of our favourite shops, L’instant Gourmet. A few weeks back we did a taste test of their new range of beans, which they roast in house, and found we really liked their Brésil and Nicaraguan beans, so we were back to buy a supply.

It’s such a beautiful shop though, and it’s very hard not to find so many more lovely things to buy. This time we were good though, and only got a couple of boxes of chocolate for our movie day (yes, it’s nearly Christmas movie day again!) and a present for a friend, which we couldn’t resist.

One of the wonderful things about buying for a present in France is that they take so much care packing them for you. It makes the buying experience so much more lovely.

That time of year

It’s that time of year where we’re seeing lots of different citrus fruits at the market, which I love. I’m thinking what I’d like to make with them. There are also lots of different, beautiful mushrooms, which are so delicious either on their own with a little butter and garlic or maybe in a risotto or warming winter casserole. Either way we will find ways to enjoy them. We also have access to some beautiful fresh fish. Brian tends to cook our fish, and I make the sauces or accompaniments, but he enjoys putting the dish together.

A winter vegetable that I love is cauliflower, and although my favourite cauliflower recipe has to be a delicious cauliflower cheese, I have also taken to roasting cauliflower. You can just steam or boil it whole for about 7 minutes, then drain it, pat dry, and place on a baking tray, before drizzling oil over, mixed with a few herbs or spices. I like to use turmeric and cumin. Turmeric gives it a great yellow colour, and the cumin adds a warming flavour. Roast it for about 40 minutes.

You can then eat it as is, or I serve it with a tahini dressing (tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper, chilled water) sprinkled with mint, parsley, grated lemon rind and pistachios. I learnt this from an Ottolenghi recipe, he has some superb tasty vegetarian dishes.

Hard water

We live in a very hard water area. The local limestone is great for Champagne and building, but it takes its toll on everything else, including taps. And because our water is so hard, it doesn’t take long to build up. Fortunately though I’ve learnt how the locals have a good way to combat it…vinegar!

You can buy vinegar by the bucketful in the supermarché, as it tackles all kinds of household tasks that involve our hard water.

For our taps, we just sprayed them every time we visited the sink, and after a week the remnants of the build up just fell away. Voila!

Occasional cards

We have had a relaxing time making our Christmas cards today. It’s always such fun, enjoying a seasonal drink and chatting about our plans ahead. I normally get to be in charge of writing the envelopes and some of the messages, whilst Brian deals with the more creative side.

Throughout the year we both look for inspiration for our handmade cards, which is always a healthy point of discussion. Sometimes it takes us a long time to develop the idea, but this summer we were pleased when it came to us all of a sudden, and we managed to get a lot of what we needed to prepare well in advance. It will be interesting to see what people think of them.

Dylan Thomas

We were extremely excited to receive delivery of our friend Peter Møller’s painting this week. It had travelled a very long way so we were pleased to see it arrive safely.

Brian was keen to hang it for all to see in the salle à manger. It’s one of our earliest memories of Peter’s work, and is very special to both of us, so to be able to display it in our home means a lot, and also to have it where people can share it with us is so important.

We’d had it placed in a plain, matt black frame, with protective ‘art glass’, so as not to distract from the painting itself, which is just stunning. He was such a talented artist, and a very dear friend.

Winter jackets

I’d been really disappointed yesterday as we’d been invited to our friends annual Beaujolais Nouveau soiree and due to my poorlyness we had to let her know that we couldn’t go.

Faced instead with a quiet night in, Brian put us a couple of large jacket potatoes in the oven, to get nice and crispy, before serving them up with lashings of butter. Delightfully fluffy baked potato is rather delicious and very comforting.

This morning we woke, rather late it should be said, to a snow covered garden.

It looked like a little winter wonderland, all cold and frosty.

Looks like being another quiet day in the warm, with plenty of hot tea.

Under the weather

It’s snowing here this morning. It’s a good job we’ve got all our ‘closing up for winter’ jobs done.

I’m also feeling rather under the weather, with a bad sore throat and zero energy. So a day of curling up in front of the fire will suit me nicely.

Pharmacy bottles

In the summer, we purchased a couple of old pharmaceutical bottles at a vide grenier. We like these kinds of things, as they bring an immediate period feel to wherever they are put. However, they were looking a bit grubby and too much of their age, and really not great for displaying, so Brian set about cleaning them up and mending any fragile areas of the labels.

First things first, they needed flushing through with a lot of very soapy water. During their wash Brian dealt with the cork that had got pushed through into one of the bottles. He did this by stabbing it with a sturdy kebab rod, which broke it into two parts, which then made it easier to pull it out.

Next were the labels. Parts of them were torn or coming away. The trick was simply to softly clean the surfaces, then apply a PVA based glue with a tiny brush and push the edges back into place. Both bottles needed work, but a little care meant nothing was lost or damaged further.

Hey presto! The two bottles are looking much better, and I can’t wait to see how they’ll look when we choose their final home.

Wintering

With the pool now closed for the winter it was time to start closing down the outside water systems. The first part is to drain the water pipes leading up to the pool. This begins with shutting off the power to the water pump, then opening all the taps, which are scattered around the gardens.

The next step is to drain all the water from the circuit. This happens in the unsalubrious surroundings of the cellar.

It’s important to drain everything, as it gets cold in there over winter, and any trapped water will freeze solid, probably breaking something in the process.

It didn’t take Brian long though, he’s getting pretty used to it now.

French property news

When we first arrived in France we were often asked, ‘Why have you chosen here to live?’ Our response was often that we didn’t chose here, it chose us. It’s a delightful story that we still often share with our guests, if they want to hear it.

So recently when we were approached by a French property news journalist, to feature in an article she was writing, we welcomed the opportunity to be involved. The series of articles she wanted to include us in are based around ‘What is village life like in rural France?’. The readers of French property news are often people looking to buy a house in France, either as a holiday home or a relocation; like us. Although when we first bought the house we were not looking to relocate…but that’s another story.

It was a delight to answer the questions posed to us, letting us reflect on our decision to live in France, which was so right for us. It was a huge compliment to be asked to contribute.

Here is the article below, if you are interested in reading it. You can also access the magazine online, via the France Media group, if you are interested in reading other stories about life in France.

Day dreams

Brian took this picture of three passing clouds because he thought they didn’t really look very real. He said they look like someone had drawn them badly in Photoshop. He’s always looking up, and I often think he is just day dreaming, but then see him taking photos of the sky or cloud formations. I think they fascinate him. Here are some more that he’s taken over the year which are quite spectacular, and often very beautiful.

Closure

Brian woke early this morning, ready for a last minute job. The pool was due to be closed today, and he still had a few things to do to prepare. So off he set up the hill.

He’d already spent some time cleaning it yesterday, so that it’s ready to be winterised, but he needed to prepare the floats and bungs ready to go into the pool to protect it from the winter temperatures.

it’s quite late this year, closing up the pool, but the temperatures have been a little high to add the winter chemicals. It’s finally cold enough now, but November is rather late in the year for us to be closing the pool, we’ve normally closed it by now. See you again in May for our daily swims.

Brush cutter

After our visit to the shop to get our brush cutter sorted, it was just a matter of waiting for a bright, warm day to finish the garden, and we didn’t have to wait long.

With the sun rising in the sky Brian wasted no time getting up the hill and attacking the meadow areas that had very much gone to seed.

The three bladed disc was so much better than the wire for this job, and he was soon sweeping his way through the thick foliage.

A tiring few hours later and all is looking better, and promising a healthy start for next spring. Hoorah!

Fold away

When we went to view some tools for sale the other evening, I spotted a beautiful little bench under a pile of bits and pieces. I couldn’t quite see it, but liked what I could see. Mainly the painted slats. I asked the lady if it was for sale, and if so how much? “30 euros” she replied. I didn’t even ask Brian if we should have it, which is very unlike us. I just said I’d like to have it please. and found 30 euros in cash in my purse to give her.

Our friends very kindly offered to bring it round to us in the back of their van. Which was lucky as I’m not sure it would have fitted in our trailer.

Since getting it home, Brian released the nut where the bench folds up from with some WD40 and we now have a pretty little bench I can fold away for winter. I will look to danish oil it in the spring to protect it against the weather.

Five euros!

Every now and then we see something at a market that we can’t pass up, even if we don’t know what to do with it.

In 2022 we saw a tired, slightly damaged and very dirty shelf at a stall in a marché aux puces. It wasn’t attractive, but on closer inspection Brian realised it was oak, and for five euros it was worth it just for the wood. So we bought it, with the intention of using the wood or putting it up in Brian’s workshop. But the other day, whilst he was working on the oak for the library wall, I noticed it leaning up against a wall, and thought it might work well in the library. So to see if it would work, he first sanded it down.

The sanding got rid of the stains, but the wood still looks very dry. He next glued the broken section together.

It’s now ready to oil, which will hopefully bring the richness of the wood out. Then we’ll have to see what it looks like on the wall.

Brushed off

Kneeling on the garden slope, with a half finished job and the sun fading fast, is not the best time to try and understand how to swap the end of the strimmer for the brush cutter blade. However, we hadn’t predicted we would run out of wire, and we definitely hadn’t predicted the swap would be so complicated. According to the less-than-perfect instructions we were missing two very important parts, and could do nothing about it. So work stopped, and we were forced to plan a trip to the shop we bought it from, to hopefully work things out there. We’d had a good experience buying the strimmer, and could only hope we would have just as good an experience going back.

The next day at the shop we were greeted warmly, and before we knew it the two staff at the counter were reading manuals, taking things apart and working hard to understand how it all went together.

Within minutes they had worked it out. Apparently the two missing parts are found by taking even more of it apart, then reassembling them in a different order. I don’t think there’s any way we would have worked that out for ourselves.

We were already delighted with the service, but when we went to pay for the new wire the lady looked at me and said, “Votre nom est Simpson, oui ?”. Now we had only ever visited the shop once, at the beginning of summer, and yet she remembered our name. Incroyable !