April to September Update

I thought starting a blog was probably the best way of continuing the updates without major amendments to the website. I have started where we left off back in April just to close the gap, this was to have been posted on the website but never quite made it. So here goes, hope it's not too long winded:

April seems to be light years away and I wish all the more that I’d kept some sort of diary. Our various guests have come and gone, all having had great holidays and all very impressed with our achievement. The most voiced comment was that the photos don’t do the gites justice and the reality is so much better than was expected. It is lovely to hear people’s praises for our gites as having lived with them this long, we now tend to take them for granted and lose sight of the extent of the fruits of our labours. Having reaffirmation on a regular basis is like a frequent pat on the back for a job well done.

My ‘star’ rating inspection for the tourist board took place back in June and ‘incredulous’ is describing my reaction to it mildly. This was for the Loire Atlantique Tourist Board and basically I was told that to get just 1 star, I still had to put in electric shaver sockets in all bathrooms, black out blinds or black out curtain linings in all bedrooms and wait for it …….. steamers in the kitchens …. , yes - steamers - doesn’t matter if they are electric or stove top but can’t be the perforated metal umbrella ones that fit all saucepans. For 2 stars add French TV arial sockets even if you don’t provide TVs. I hate to think what I’d need for 3 stars. To add insult to injury, I thought the inspection was free as it was in aid of local tourism but no such luck, I had to pay 70 euros for the privilege (35 a gite). I was also shocked that there was no need for me to have any safety measures in place to gain stars therefore my smoke alarms and fire extinguishers got me no brownie points at all.

The summer turned out to be a very long and hot one with hardly any rain so I dread to think what my water bill will be like as having planted my veggies I was determined to keep them alive. At least we didn’t have to mow the grass very often and it’s only now after a couple of recent night’s rain that there’s a green tinge to it. I harvested a great crop of beans – French & runner, I must remember to stagger my planting next year as we were drowning in beans at one time. The potatoes are doing well, and should see me well into winter. I tried cauliflowers but should have cut them as babies because it seemed like the next time I looked they were yellow, manky and being eaten by a multitude of bugs. The mange tout and sugar snap peas were disappointing, not much and not for very long, again I should have staggered the sowing. Tomatoes still going strong and I must find the yellow variety I tried for next year as they are delicious.

The plan this autumn is to clear the field and divide it in half. One half to be grassed over for guest use and the other will be my allotment. At the moment my younger son is staying with us and I’m using this slave labour to have all the self seeded/rooted saplings dug out and come the 1st October we’ll have us a great bonfire. I’ve been spraying the other undesirables (brambles, nettles & thistles) with systemic weedkiller all spring and early summer but it got so hot (40c on my patio), I couldn’t bring myself to go out there during July and August and when I did later, I was mortified to see that there was a sea of seedheads all raring to go forth and multiply again. This is where I could really use a flame thrower.

The swallows did come back and even though they were somewhat
confused by the disappearance of their nest at first, they renovated
an old one in the barn and raised a new family, they then built a brand new nest on the next rafter along (better view/post code?) and had another family. They are all airborne now and will soon leave us for another year. They’ll be able to return to their nests next year as I’m sure we won’t have the cash to start on the barn for some time to come.

Another recent addition to our family in France was Simba, our cat. He’d lived with my son in Plymouth for the last 2 years while he (son not cat) was at uni. Now Mish has finished and has had to vacate his digs, Simba added another country to his repertoire. A much travelled cosmopolitan cat, he’s lived in Jeddah, Bognor Regis, Plymouth and now Guemene Penfao. He appears to have settled in well and we hope to have the pleasure of his company for many years to come.

We did manage to go and see a bit more of the surrounding area and I think Ian’s found his next project – should only take him about 6 months. Guemene Penfao had a lovely festival celebrating its Celtic heritage, there was a huge parade of representatives of various towns dressed in their regional costumes and who ever said that the French take themselves too seriously obviously had never seen the two lovely ‘ladies’ dressed in their Breton best.