La Route du Champagne 2026

This year the champagne festival was focused around the area of Colombey-les-deux-églises and Bar-sur-Aube.

It was an area we have not really explored before with regard to their champagnes, so made for a fabulously different event, with 22 different producers to try.

We started early, excited to try as many as we could. The group were keen to find a favourite champagne, but my brother Jon seemed more interested in the oysters that were on offer.

It was a fabulous day, and we didn’t finish tasting until final orders at 6pm, a slow drive home, and a simple supper before bed, and do it all again tomorrow.

Fresh as a daisy

We enjoyed a little bit of rain last night, which the garden has just slurped up. It is smelling clean and fresh this morning, with a crispness in the air. I love those sorts of mornings, they remind me of camping holidays.

The dahlias, have sprung into life, with droplets of rain still clinging onto their petals, savouring the nourishment for when they need it later in the day.

Along with the daisies they are actually flourishing in the heat, with just a little bit of water.

These are my large daisies, which I haven’t dead headed, I thought I’d leave the flower heads for some snacks for the birds.

Beads of glass

We woke early, anxious about the pool technicians arrival — He was due at 11am. I had some shopping I needed to do, so headed out, and left Brian to open the pool in readiness for them.

He had been worrying about how they were going to get all their kit up to the pool to change the sand for the filter. The best way, of course, would be to drive their van up to the top of the hill, but as I was the only one who knew the way through the vineyard I also needed to get back in time. Luckily I did, and we were able to navigate the bumpy path. It was a bit hairy though!

They were soon unloading the van, and getting on with replacing the sand with fine beads of glass.

With the filter now complete again, and the pump re-primed, they vacuumed the pool, and checked the chemical levels. All that was left for Brian were the final touches.

Imbalance

The pool has been very well used this summer, and, with such warm weather, Brian has had to work very hard on keeping it healthy.

When the pool is open all day, he has to monitor the chemical levels daily, as the sun breaks down the chlorine, which in turn can create other challenges. So, as a precaution, he wanted to get the water analysed. To do this, we take a sample to the pool company we use in Troyes, Eau Devine.

The technician had soon tested the water, and advised that our phosphate levels were looking high. This could also be contributing to the levels of chlorine declining. She soon provided us with a list of tasks to undertake, and a solution to add overnight to bring the phosphate levels down. Advising us the pool would look very dirty and cloudy in the morning, so more work to sort this out, but a better position on the chemicals.

Unfortunately, the cleaning of the pool, after removing the phosphates, has not gone well, and we’ve got air in the system. Today another technician will visit to help us get back on track, and at the same time replace the sand in our sand filter, as we believe this could be a contributor to the high phosphates. 🤞

Muriel

Started our day today with a coffee and pastry at Les Halles in Bar-sur-Seine. It’s always a delight. Muriel, the chef, wasn’t too busy, so came and had a little chat with us, always pushing us on our French, which we really welcome.

We then headed round to the tourist office…

….and picked up our ‘route du champagne en fête’ passports.

Looking forward to a great weekend.

It’s a stretch

The roses have looked gorgeous this year. A friend of ours, Trevor, cut this rose back earlier in the year for me. He had been much braver than me, and had given it a really good prune, and it gave lots of beautiful flowers. It has been flourishing most of the summer, but the blooms started to die back during the last week of the canicule.

I’d managed to dead head the low stems, but needed Brian to help me with the higher up stems.

The red rose at the front of the house is still blooming, however this will need some care over the coming days.

The white rose is the rose which was pruned back when the garden wall was chauxed, and, again, got a really strong cutting back. It’s looking really healthy. I know I keep saying it, but I must be braver when pruning my roses.

Libellule

This year we’ve started seeing dragonflies in the garden. They are called libellule in french. I think that name suits them way better, as they are so delicate and graceful, darting around the flowers, resting on a leaf, or branch, to take a little breather. Then off they flit again.

I was quite surprised Brian managed to snap this photo, but this little chap was particularly brave.

Nectarine jam

I haven’t made nectarine jam before, but last year a friend gave me a pot that she had made with some nectarines I had given her, and it was so delicious, I decided to make some this year.

It is such an easy recipe: 1 kg of nectarines, chopped into 1” chunks, 750g of sugar, and the juice of one lemon. I also added a vanilla pod, which I had opened up, to add a softness to the taste.

I let it cook a little longer than normal, as I wanted a thicker set to it. The deep orangey, red colour looks so delicious, I can’t wait to try some on a piece of fresh baguette.

2kg of nectarines made me about 8 jars of jam.

Black is black

We’ve recently given our seating area on the top floor a makeover. a few years ago Brian’s mum gave us her old Ikea chair and footstool. Our cat, Boo, loved sleeping on it, so it was now looking a little bit tired, and in need of a makeover.

Recently, his mum also gave us a black leather chair with footstool, so we thought ‘what a great time to update the Ikea chair with a new black cushion’.

We were enjoying the new look, which was quite different to the rest of the house, and gave us another really comfortable place to relax.

Then, for Brian’s birthday recently, he was gifted a gorgeous round table in the shape of a muselet. It also has a cork top to it, which we were keen to protect, so we ordered a piece of round glass on Amazon, which fits perfectly on the top.

We are loving the whole look.

Coffee time

Remember back to our trip to Paris, and our visit to the Bacha coffee house, well this morning we decided it’s time to enjoy a cup of the delicious coffee we had bought from there.

I’d bought some pastel de nata, custard tarts, which I thought would go down very well with the smoothness of the coffee we had chosen.

It was everything we had remembered of it, and made for a rather special and delicious coffee break.

Été Gourmande

We then headed to the summer gourmet festival in the centre of Les Riceys.

It was coming up to lunchtime so the rather pleasant seating area that had been set up under the shade of the trees was starting to fill up.

We had not planned to stay for lunch although the moules et frites was very tempting and smelt delicious. We resisted though and headed to look around the many food stalls that were displaying their wares from all over France.

The rose garlic looked especially good. It was firm to the touch and extremely tasty. The very friendly lady behind the stall offered me some hot garlic soup, so that I could taste the garlic, and which was rather delicious. I bought the larger of the garlic plaits, €20 for 10 bulbs. I was told to keep them in the fridge and they would last up to 6 months, I don’t think mine will last that long!

We then found the stall selling mainly smoked pork products, but also smoked duck. We managed to taste our way through all of their produce, which had been reared and smoked by the father.

We bought some of the filet mignon and saucisse, both will keep for a month in the fridge.

Make an offer

Le place de Mairie in Les Riceys is an excellent spot for a vide grenier. It’s a rather stately looking building, that stands over one of the pretty little tributaries of the river Laignes, that runs right through Les Riceys.

The vide grenier was at the back of the building, in the park. Nicely situated within the shade of the trees, perfect for our morning bargain hunt

We had a very good time, routing through the various stalls, chatting to the stall owners about the prices of different items, and, when we were interested, making them an offer.

We came away with some interesting little finds.

The basket I will just place in the garden somewhere—I know it will decay over time, but it will look nice whilst it does. The piece of leather is a project we now have to reupholster a small stool Mum and Dad once bought us. The flower painting I just liked, Brian will need to do some work on it, as the paint is a little cracked at the bottom, and we don’t want it to flake off. The little bust of Charles de Gaulle we thought was fun, and will be a point of interest on a shelf somewhere, just like the little perfume bottle, which will join the ones in the bathroom.

All in all, a fun little morning.

White out!

Due to the canicule (heatwave), which we are currently experiencing, we have noticed that some of our smaller roads have been coated with a white paint.

We first saw this on our trip to southern France, where we discovered the reason was to prevent the tarmac from melting, and we wondered how long it would be before our, more northern, district joined in. it took just two years.

Such a simple idea, but one that truly works.

Rising levels

We’d been anticipating rain all day. The clouds had been building, and were moving slowly across the sky.

We could hear the thunder, and see the lightning in the distance, hoping it would come and rain on us. The garden so needed the water.

Finally, the heavens opened, and the rain came. Steadily at first, but then heavy with importance, like it knew it had a job to do.

Brian went to check on the river. It was running fast, and although the level had risen, it was flowing easily, washing away weeks of dried debris.

It must have rained on and off for about an hour. Once the rain stopped, the river started to lower again, and the blue sky started to appear, giving the air a more tropical, humid feeling.

It became a beautiful evening, and as we made our way up to bed, opening some windows as we went to let the cooler night time air in, we admired the gorgeous colours of the setting sun, and evening sky.

The garden was looking just a little refreshed.

Lazy lunch

There’s nothing better than enjoying a lazy lunch with friends—tasty food and delicious wines.

I’d made a chilled courgette and mint soup, which was very refreshing. I served it simply, in some metal enamel cups with a fresh baguette.

I followed this with a simple summer salad of gem lettuce, Auvergne ham, burrata cheese, fresh sweet nectarines, and a make-it-yourself dressing of raspberry or balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and seasoning.

We’re in France, so we had to have cheese. I’d selected a Brie de Meaux and a Dolcelatte, something a little different for us.

For dessert, Brian served some affogato’s, vanilla icecream with hot coffee poured over.

A really pleasant afternoon.

Scorched earth

The heatwave in France has been hard for the green areas. While the vineyards are hanging in there, waiting for the respite, and necessity, of a mid-summer rainfall, our gardens are suffering from the drought. Today, though, the clouds have gathered, and are looking threatening.

We can only hope!

We’re jamming

I just love it when the fresh apricots arrive. My friend Dominique organises a van to bring boxes of freshly picked fruit up from the south of France, and they are always so fresh and juicy.

First we cut them in half, and made up a few bags to freeze, so that I have some to use in tarts and crumbles throughout the winter.

But I also like to make some apricot jam.

I prefer to keep the apricots in halves. I know many recipes will have you blitz them, but I like to see the fruit in the finished jam.

I didn’t cook the jam for as long this time, so it will be a bit softer on the set. Can’t wait to try it on some gorgeous French baguette and cold salty butter. Delicious.

Flea market

We headed to Semur-en-auxois this week, for their annual quatorze juillet marché des puces. It’s set under the shade of some beautiful old lime trees, which was really welcome in the 38° c heat.

We just love wandering from stall to stall, discovering new little treasures.

If you love giving old objects a new life, or searching for your own treasure, this is a fantastic flea market to visit.

Paella or poulet?

On Monday evening the village came together for a very convivial celebration of quatorze Juillet. This year though, due to the canicule, our Maire had decided not to light the fireworks, it was just too dangerous. And with reports of the forest in Fontainebleau on fire, with over 1000 hectares of woodland burning, it was most definitely the right decision.

For the village, it was more about how to stay cool in the heat. The team that had organised the event had set up a novel solution, with water sprays hanging from the trees.

The meal was a choice between roast chicken, mushroom sauce and potatoes, or paella. We’d chosen the chicken, which was very tasty. Cheese and dessert followed.

As a little bit of fun, during the proceedings, we were asked to guess the length of a piece of string wrapped around a bottle of Bordeaux. We didn’t stay for the unreeling, so not sure who won the bottle, but it was a great idea, and a superb evening.

Quatorze juillet

It’s the 14th of July, and here in France it’s an important celebration, marking the storming of the Bastille in 1789, and also the unity of the French people at the ‘Fête de la fédération’ on the same day in 1790. It’s most commonly known as Bastille day outside of France, but that name means nothing to the French, who call it simply ‘Quatorze Juillet’.

As it’s a big public holiday, for us, it’s a chance to relax and do nothing, except perhaps brush up on our history.