Sun still shining in South West France

Wow 18 degrees today and its the end of October! Just got all the washing dry and now under more mountains of ironing!

The garden is looking good and I have collected the last carrier bag of Walnuts from our three trees. The lawn is growing madly again and the only slight problem we currently have is the lack of petrol.

Due to the general strike here at the moment, fuel supplies are restricted and definitely no cans allowed to be filled at the pumps. Twice this week I have been to get fuel and been turned away. Prices in the last 10 days have rocketed from 1.12€ per litre for diesel to 1.26€ per litre, and we have even heard of petrol stations putting up prices after dark to deter panic buying.

Megan our daughter is coming to Le Farat for half term on Monday and we are all looking forward to seeing her again after an absence of 8 weeks since the summer holidays. I will be returning to the UK with her at the end of the month for work and catch up with friends and family. I think I am ready for the break.

Thoughts are now turning to Christmas and what we should do to placate all members of the family and not rock the boat. Almost impossible I would say. How many families I wonder are in a similar situation and dreading the festivities due to enforced happiness with the family!

I shouldn't be so sceptical, but from past experience all I really want to do is spend our first Christmas in France as a family of four and no outside pressures. No chance................ I am sure a large bottle of Armagnac will be a necessity!

Peace and quiet....well almost!

After a late flurry of B&B guests we are now into winter mode at Le Farat. Which means to us crack on with the work and get on with the marketing!!

But hang on a minute, its October.......here in France it is still T shirt weather and the sun is shining brightly. Yes of course it is cooler but to have 27 degrees in Mid October would be unheard of in Blighty!

So why waste it we thought.... why not have a BBQ. Toulouse sausages on special offer at the supermarket 3.95€ per kilo, pork chops on offer too, French bread with fresh salad from the local market finished off with BBQ bananas, Armagnac and cream; washed down with a number of bottles of the local wine. All consumed in the name of market research of course, we couldn't have wished for a better couple of evenings!

Why is it most people still think that holidays are only for July, August and September........ clearly in France the holiday season can go on way into the Autumn!

The scenery is changing slightly now as the cool mornings are turning the leaves beautiful shades of burnt oranges, reds and yellows. The fields are ploughed for the winter and the spring crops are planted. The views are shrouded in a blanket of mist until the heat of the sun burns it away and the chasse (huntsmen) are out in force most mornings with their hunting dogs tracking down rabbits, deer and wild boar. The pool covers will soon be going on and the mowers being serviced ready for the flurry of spring mowing all over again from April.

Events are still on going here too, last weekend we had a pottery fayre in Auvillar that was attended by many craftsmen, the village was bustling with locals and people from "out of town". There was a section put aside for the children to have a go at making something for themselves. One local potter created a kiln out of clay and straw mixed together by the children in wellies and all the creations were fired in the kiln overnight and put on display the following day.

Next weekend in Valence d'agen there is a Chrysanthemum fayre and the following weekend no doubt another fayre in a neighbouring village. It really is all about village life and local produce here and everyone gets involved, the community spirit is great and just like we used to have in the UK many years ago, such a shame it no longer exists.

For those of you tempted to book with us, contact me via my website www.lefarat.com which I have just spent the last three weeks updating, still a bit to do in the events section and some of the layout to tweek but nearly there!

Update on our progress

Feeling guilty, for those of you that are following our progress, I apologise for not keeping you up to date!

We have been busy with yet more guests and I am so pleased that our business has gone well in this our first year. I must thank Nick for all his hard work in making the gite so fantastic and all his hard work has paid off. All who see the Maison Du Soleil think it is georgious.

Nick has lost so much weight in the process that some of the family and friends that have visited hardly recognise him!

I must admit I am getting twitchy about bookings for next year now as our last guests for this year come next week and then it is all quiet. Lets hope that the tweeting, blogging and the marketing activities I have been doing over the past few months pay off, if not, we are sunk!

I know I must be positive and all the comments we have had from our guests in this our first year have been so good but as the bookings calendar looks a bit bare at the moment I suppose it is normal to panic a bit and I am sure that most people have not even started thinking about next years holiday yet!

Currently we have an American child here with us from Denver Colorado on a school exchange, things seem to be going well, but he is so quiet it is hard to really be sure he is happy. Being his first time away from home it is understandable that he is a bit homesick but lets hope he comes out of his shell a bit over the next 10 days or so.

Bardigues en Fete

Its another round of village fayres again in Tarn et Garonne! This weekend we attended the Fete de Bardigues. The village fayres generally last all weekend with events on the saturday and an open air meal for the village followed by dancing and fireworks.

We had anticipated the fireworks, but were not prepared for such a spectacular display from a village with just over 200 residents. We were treated to over 25 minutes of beautiful colours and loud bangs with rocket after rocket exploding into huge balls of colour illuminating the clear stary skies for minutes on end.

On Sunday morning we were up bright and early to do our first carboot sale in the village. I had spent a few hours with Abigail my youngest going through things we wanted to sell the previous weekend and were fully organised and prepared.

With the car loaded and the sun shining but with a slight nip in the air we drove the 1/2 mile to the village. We set our stall out between two large plaine trees that lined the road to the village and took our seats in the sunshine. After 3 hours I was miffed.....I had had no one looking at my stuff at all and neither had Abigail. Clearly people wanted to buy crap as Nick was doing a roaring trade!!

I was called on for my translation skills on numerous occasions, however we had forgotten the dictionary and Nick didnt know what it was he was selling in English, let alone me trying to translate it into French! Still, we had a laugh, met lots of people and an English couple that lived just a few miles away!

(Result.....the English woman has a couple of very nice horses and wants someone to ride out with offering me a ride out anytime....after that I was not worried I hadn't sold anything, just pleased I could get back in the saddle after an absence of a few months after sadly having to leave my horse in the UK)

During the day we were entertained by street dancers, a stilt walker and the village clown who trundled up and down the high street on his home made music wagon playing french music, we even had a rendition of "when the saints come marching in" played on a Xylophone with cow bells as an accompaniment!

By 3pm I had sold one item for 5€ and Abigail had sold 5€ of lucky dip prizes. Nick however was doing much better. At 5pm after sitting outside for 10 hours we decided to call it a day and loaded the car for the short journey home again.

Next weekend it is the village Fayre in Lavit de Lomagne and they are holding a nut festival, as the nut harvest is in full swing now. I will report on any interesting findings next week.

Out of my comfort zone, plus some!

I am told that I will not improve my command of the french language unless I put myself in more challenging situations!

Well, this evening I did just that..............I volunteered to help the children at my daughters school with their swimming lessons. Little did I know it would involve an in depth training session followed by a swimming test!

Off I trundled to the municipal pool with my nicest all in one costume (just in case the lifeguard was a dish!! lol).... On arrival, I was ushered to a holding room where all the other parents were gathering to represent their childs school in the region. I didnt realise, but some had travelled for nearly half an hour for this induction and test! It all looked a bit serious to me.... I just thought I was helping with swimming lessons!

After a scary looking woman spent over half an hour going through rules and regulations, which I appreciate are necessary (and amazingly understanding most of it), we were asked to go to the changing rooms and to gather by the pool when ready. I felt I was back at school myself!

Rather disappointingly, the scary female instructor re appeared, and not a lifeguard or a pair of speedos were in sight! Our names were called one at a time and we had to do a simple test of entering the water at speed (ie diving or jumping in). This was to be followed by a length of breast stroke, a length of back stroke and retrieval of an object from the bottom of the pool....simple I thought.... NO!

As my name was called, I made my way to the end of the pool and took my position to enter the water. All eyes were on me, every other mum had dived in so I couldn't just jump in, I had my reputation to establish and certainly did not want to look like a fool!

Actually, I have not dived for some time as I wear contact lenses and have always been a bit scared I would loose one, if i did I would be totally helpless and blind! So... I held my breath... closed my eyes and dived............ great I thought as I came up for air, no belly flop and I still have both lenses.... oops, but not my top.......... how embarassing! I quickly rearranged myself, completed the test and after getting the nod from the instructor that I had passed, made a hasty exit from the pool , rather red faced, before I could be called upon to do anything else.

The next problem will be when I actually have to go and help with the children. I will be allocated 8 youngsters between 6-8 years old all with various degrees of confidence, fingers crossed for me!

Harvest time in france!

Although it is the end of the summer here, it is still warm during the day and we are regularly hitting 28 degrees, there is however a nip in the air in the evenings and it will not be long before I am forced to wear socks again!

Clearly the birds are noticing it too, the housemartins and swallows are gathering in their thousands along the power cables anticipating their long journey south and it takes skill to miss them in the car as they all take to the air as I drive past.

The hunting season has also started and we were woken this morning to the sound of bells... each hunting dog has one around its neck so they are easy to follow by their owners. There were a few shots, a bit of shouting and some partridge taking to the air, but unfortunately no wild boar this time!

With the wheat harvested in early July and fields already ploughed for the winter, the farmers are busy harvesting crops of sunflowers, maize, millett, grapes, plums, nectarines and tomatoes and it will not be long before the nut harvest begins.

We are now in the last stages of harvest at Le Farat and have this year been lucky enough to gather large amounts of food from the garden like cherries, apricots, nectarines, strawberries, grapes etc...it is so wonderful to be enjoying all the things I love for free.

This weekend I have been ducking attacks from wasps and hornets in order to gather figs. We have one cob nut tree that seems to be loaded and three trees that have more walnuts on them than we know what to do with. I think I need to find some walnut and fig recipies and buy a bigger freezer!

right...........need to get to it and make some fig and ginger chutney!

Fully equipped games room at Le Farat

We have been working hard all summer here at Le Farat and all our guests have been so complimentary about the house, gite and the B&B room. So clearly the hard work has been paying off. We asked each of our guests what they thought of their stay on departure and what we could do to improve thier experience, all without fail said they love it, which is great but a couple said that it would just be perfect if there was a bit more to do for the teenagers..........so we have done just that and added a fully equipped games room in one of the large converted barns opposite the swimming pool, which has an impressive vaulted ceiling with open beams.

It now contains a full size table tennis table, a 5ft air hockey table, a professional table football and a dart board, a seating area at one end, and to add to the experience, a drinks (beer) fridge!!

Why not spend Christmas here this year....I will provide a Christmas hamper and a decorated tree, all you have to do is book the gite for the week!