Car keys, Lawn mowerblades & garden spades!

35,000 feet above France sinking slowly into my airline seat watching the white fluffy clouds go by and dreaming of my two weeks in France ahead of me… Phil’s voice breaks into my haze of dreams and says “Of course you have packed the car keys haven’t you?” Looking blankly at him that’s a “Er No? I left all that stuff to you to pack"! Of course it’s still my fault as any woman would expect! The last trip had resulted in him only packing one pair of trousers for a fortnight so I had kindly taken over the clothes packing for this trip to ensure that he was well prepared but gadgets and gizmos to which he seems to have in abundance was left to him to pack! Of course you can almost see the cartoon picture in front of you… so well organised the Disco

very sitting patiently in France  awaiting our arrival and the key hanging contentedly on the key rack in the hallway at home!!

Les Eaux De la Petite Fontaine - July 2012

We are very lucky in the fact that my parents are coming out for the week so a phone call to Harriet and a PLEASE would you drive down to your grandparents tomorrow to take the car key to them before they fly out on Monday. £65 later we had a hire car booked for Monday to do the airport run.

I suggested that we leave the key in future in France so that we don’t have this problem but amazingly Phil managed to pack it to come home!!!!!!!! I give up.

We arrived at the house curtesy of Steve & Heather who kindly offer an airport collection service. Heather is the caretaker of the house in our absence and what a find she is Heather seems to take the stress out of everything and handle it all smoothly and professionally!

Everything at the house was in good condition and after our first 3 lets I had been a little nervous of what we would find but all was well including some lovely comments in the visitors book. It was lovely to finally be back and each time now feels more like home from home, I quickly settled back In to the French way of life.

We had said that this trip was to be a holiday and it was to some extent but with a small h a not a capital H!

The back garden now that the grass has grown back!

Loic arrived our first afternoon – not sure if I have mentioned Loic before but he is our local gardener and does a wonderful job of keeping everything straight. He was delivering 2 tonne of sand for Phil to use whilst here. Phil and Loic got into a conversation and Loic explained that the tractor was fixed! I say conversation in the lightest sense as Phil nods along but hasn't really a clue as to what Loic is telling him.. Phil will deny this but all will be revealed later in the blog!!

Phil set about that afternoon cutting the grass whilst I sat and read my book in the garden in that strange phenonemem called SUNSHINE!! This is certainly the life I think! I wonder what it will be like to be here full time I am sure you start to take it all for granted a little but dosn't stop me dreaming away on the swing seat!

Garden Swing Seat - a lot of hours spent on here!

Al Fresco eating!

Phil then appears with a lawnmower blade in his hand and comments that he dosn't think Loic is a very good mechanic so much for fixing the tractor mower. He had almost finished the garden when the lawn mower blade flew off, just pleased that I wasn't standing talking to him at the time but Phil might not agree witht that!!

As we had no car and very few provisions in the house we set off "French Style" en bicyclette to the local supermarket which is only just over a kilometre away.  Have to say it has been years since I have been on a bike and it took some getting use too.  Phil on the other hand looked every inch the Frenchman with his shopping bags balanced on his handlebars with his French loaf sticking out! (Sorry no photos of this escapade!!)

Monday morning we walked down to La Souterraine and had breakfast at CafeChaud, a firm favourite, and the best cappuccino in town. Breakfast is a simple basket of crusty baguette, butter and a mixture of preserves. Sitting and watching the world go by is the perfect way to start a day.

We did the aiport run and Phil dissappeared off to the tractor shop to order his spares. Like everything we seem to collect mechanically, it was cheap to buy, but they always need repairs but don't even get me started on the tractor...interesting “Started” & “Tractor” in the same sentence...um! Our Fordson Major is still cosied up in some barn in Shropshire waiting for its engine to fire up.

Mum and dad did an absolutley superb job once again on the garden turning an overgrown mess into a beautiful flower bed. At the age of 70 they put us to shame and I live in the hope that one day I will too develop as greener fingers as my mum seems to have.

We hadn't planned on doing anything too major on this trip it was a list of little jobs, we planned to get stuck in the first week and then get out and about a bit the second to enjoy some very rare "Just the two of us" time.

Phil finally got around to strengthening the stairs and its really no fun now walking up and down them no more dodgey, squeaking steps to try and avoid.  We also set about painting the staircase up to the attic as well as the main staircase and it really does look so much better, in fact a real transformation.  

During

Before

The finished staircase!

I took to the paint brush as well and painted the new doorstep into the green room and all around the door frames and timberwork on the landing.  We also managed to get some carpet down outside our bedroom and the front bedroom and this made it all look so much nicer. 

Unbekown to me Phil had also brought a new strimmer(sneaked across on the last trip without me noticing!), and they talk about us women hiding things in the closet in fact if it hadn't been for our neighbour calling around and announcing loudly to Phil

"I see you've brought yourself a new strimmer" and Phil frantically shaking his head in disagreement "Yes you have" said Mark once again quite firmly.  Phil, turning those doe eyes on me, admits that yes he had brought the strimmer and then Mark proceeds to ask how much but Phil wouldn't give this away..... um a few dresses to add to the wardrobe for that little expenditure me thinks!

Happy as a pig in ....

Anyway... have to admit the strimmer did a magnificent job on the garden in looked really lovely when everything had been strimmed down.  You didn't dare stand still as you would of been strimmed as well, nothing got missed and the garden had a haircut to within an inch of its life but lovely to see all the stonework appear and also an amazing find of an antiquated plough under a pile of Ivy.






The roses that we had planted at Easter had bloomed beautifully and were looking very healthy.  Although not a lot left on the Wisteria flower wise the ones that were still there spelt wonderful and added a splash of colour to the barn wall.  Mum did cut some of this back but it will need more in the autumn and I also hope to get a few seeds off it to plant in other locations around the garden, its such a beautiful plant!


The yellow rose is around the back of the house and is a climber so I hope to train this up the wall and drain pipe to add a splash of colour to the back garden along with the 2 new clematis that we planted in April which seem to be settling in well, one in particular had a real spurt while we were there.

I then decided that the downstairs toilet was now letting the rest of the house down even though it has a  brand new shower and toilet the tiles are old are not a particularly nice colour.  So a 60 minute makeover ensued with a tin of tile paint and a jigsaw puzzle of left over bathroom lino from upstairs... Hey Presto it looked like new and a wee finishing touch of a net curtain on the window finsihed it all off.

Shower room before...

Shower room after!

To follow on the from the flying lawnmower blade story Loic appears one evening in the garden to see Phil and stands looking quite amazed that all the grass has been cut and enquires to Phil how had he managed to do that.  Phil replies "With the tractor mower" in his pigeon French.  Ah you managed to fix it then did you asks Loic?  now its Phil's turn to look confused (not difficult!)  So to cut out alot of french exclamations it turns out then when Loic had been speaking to Phil on our arrival he had been explaining that the tractor mower had broken and that he had ordered a part to fix it and it would be here on Tuesday.  A very humble Phil has to take back the fact that he thinks Loic is a very good gardener but not a good mechanic, in fact he is perfect at the both.... note for Phil... must improve the French!  This was the subject of quite a few laughs as Loic made his way through the last drops of our whisky bottle in the garden that evening.

A sundowner in the garden and what a beautiful sunset we had that night!

One of the many beautiful sunsets you see at Les Eaux De La Petite Fontaine

So time to get out and about and to relax a little and we managed to get around some lovely places and enjoy the sunshine.  Monday evening after my parents had gone home we took an early evening ride out to Benevent L'Abbaye and had a walk around the village and found a lovely tea shop... note to take Rosemary back there on her next trip and the girls will enjoy this in September.  

Tea room at Benevent L'Abbaye

We then ended up back near the house and on the recommendation of Heather and Steve we tried out the Hotel Alexia for dinner and it was supberb, I will be adding their details to our welcome folder.

Tuesday night the Snack Shack English run Fish and Chip van was due to be in Chateauponsac so we set off early evening to enjoy a chippy supper.  En route we went through Fromental and found a lovely pub called Le Vieux Soldar, Fromental was a lovely wee village with a chateaux and beautiful flower beds. 

We continued on to Chateauponsac though and enjoyed a delicious supper that you purchase from the van and then eat in the local bar with a glass of beer.  Delicious fish and chips so when we are finally out there and missing a fish supper we now know where to go!

The last couple of days were soon apoun us and we finished a few more jobs about the house, as the weather forecast was saying rain on Friday we decided that we would take a full day out on Thursday and leave the other jobs for the not so nice weather.  

I had always fancied going to Chateaux Boussac so we headed out towards Gueret then took off in the direction of Bousssac where as you drive in you see the magnificent  chateau perched on the hillside.  Boussac was a lovely small town and we found a nice "Bar du Sport" to share a rather large hot dog and a cup of coffee.  We then walked around some of the quaint streets and found a lovely tea room and bric a brac run by an English couple that we made a note to go back and visit next time.

The walk down to the Chateau was lined with trees forming a tunnel that gave some welcome shade from the sunshine and when you emerge at the other end you are confronted with a very imposing chateau.  A young boy was with his mother and enticed us to go inside to take a walk around however it was 10euro each to get in and we counted up every single penny in our pockets and got to only 18euro 50c and the lady wouldn't let us in.  We were going to go up to the bank and get some more cash but decided once we were back up in the town to leave it until another time but I think it will be well worth a look around.

Tucked away down a side street we did find a lovely antique shop with some beautiful furniture at very reasonable prices, I will definitely go back before I start the B&B to see what I can find!

From Boussac we headed over to  a town called Chatelus Malvaleix which had a lovely boulangerie where I picked up a delicious chocolate eclair...yum!  

From there we continued onto La Celle Dunoise and what a gorgeous find that was especially the lovely Auberge Des Pecheurs built into the bridge over the river... obviously a prime fishing spot!  We enjoyed a coffee by the river and made a note that this was definitely a place to come back to enjoy one of their many music evenings, run by an Irish guy with perfect French!  Here we also saw our first bicycle built for 4 with a German family holidaying in the area.

It was then onwards to Dun le Palastel, a place that we know fairly well, and where one of  Phil's favourite lawnmower part shop is... they must thing "Oh no here come the Franglais to get yet another mower part"!

The last full day at the house the weather was beautiful so managed to get out in the garden once again, I got all the plats watered and we tidied up the garden.  Phil also fitted ornamental iron bars to the windows as they are quite low to the floor and any children leaning out could easily go over so this has now given them something to hold on to and to be honest they look quite at home on the windows.

We headed back for this last evening to Hotel Alexia (www.hotelalexia.com) and had yet another meal in the restaurant there, would highly recommend a meal here and at under 50euros with wine for 2 it is very good value.

And so, our last day, everything was spick and span for the new arrivals and just as we were tidying the last bits away and putting the padlocks on the attic and private cupboards our new guests arrive.  a lovely couple with 2 sets of twins under 6 and a gorgeous cat called sepia. 

There was something quite unerving about walking away from your home with a family looking like they had always been there.  It was good to hear the children laughing and running around though, the house suits it!  Heather and Steve arrived to take us to the airport and as I looked back as we drove away I couldn't help but feel proud of all that we have achieved in just a year and most of this is down to Phil with finishing touches from me.  But it is also with thanks to the many friends and family that have also contributed to our home here. It's sad to be leaving but its always lovely to think that you will be back again soon to our little peice of French life!

Next update due September 2012.

Note: Our new website is now up and running with a full availability calender to take a look go to: www.leseauxdelapetitefontaine.com