fete maternelle

well, to show support to our neighbours granchildrens school, we went to our 2nd fete supporting this worthy cause -

We arrived at 19.45, and drank apperros til 21.30 - obviously drank far too much, then it was wine time - a carafe of vin ordinare on the table which was perfectly drinkable, but in fine French tradition we bought a couple of extra good bottles for good measure (well, it supports the kids).

The meal itself was a Moroccan affair, with couscous, lamb, spicy veggies, lamb hearts, saussice, prunes all sorts - very yummy - a salad to start, with cheese and apple tart after - great!

There must have been a million kids upto about 12 years old there, but most were under 8's. On the hole very well behaved, a few tears but how much noise can kids make! They will sleep well today - most didn't leave until well after midnight and then we had to put the clocks forward too!

Cost of this supper - a measly 12 € each, including the ordinary wine!

really good value indeed!

Repas de Chasse

The annual end of season hunt dinner was held on March 10 at the village hall. A little bit different this year as an outside catering company was called in to cook and serve the dinner. This is usually done by a local chief and the hunters and their wives, and in all honesty, is a little bit better, both in the quality of the food and the service - don't get me wrong, the service was good, but hunters and their wives are not as organised, so each coarse takes longer to appear, giving extra dancing time!

All the wine is included, and the cost this year was 22€ each. There was no menu this year which is a shame, but what I can remember is listed below.

The band was a mixture of cha cha's, waltz's and traditional accordion music - not a great mixture as in past years for the 'young lings' - we like a bit of funk and disco!

We started off for apperros round our neighbours where we were met by 6 other couples and we went off in convoy to the village hall. We got home around 2.30 or 3.00 am. Marks out of 10? perhaps 7.

Food was:

mushroom soup

Pate de fois gras

coquilles st jacques

deer stew

Sorbet

roast wild boar and roast deer with puree potatoes

Cheese

Apple tart and ice cream

Annual old peoples dinner

13/01/07

Every year the village holds a dinner for the over 60's - if your over 60 its free, if not you pay. This was the very first event we went to when we moved into our house and until last year were the only Brits to attend -This year was our 4th old folk event - its usually a great meal held on a Saturday Lunchtime, and after the meal, the old folk get up and sing songs, tell jokes and stories - great fun except a lot of them speak in the old local language (Occitane) that doesn't resemble any French we know! Still, very entertaining.

No pictures this year, but Menu is below:

new years eve 2006/2007

Phew, where to start - we live in a tiny hamlet that is attached to a small village that is attached to a commune. I reckon we have one of the busiest communes around, with several 'societies' actively engaged in entertainment. We also have a great group of both French and English friends.

We have car boot sales, jumble sales, theatre nights, several organised meals including the best one of the year at the end of the hunting season. Its easier if I start with 2007, and list them as we go!





News years eve 31st December 2006.










We started at 7pm around a friends house for appero's, then at 8pm we trundles off (all15 of us) in convoy to a local village hall for the celebrations. There was a great disco who played everything - traditional French folk music, rock and roll, house, everything. It all got too much for Gerrard (cotton wool in his ears!) see below!
















We got home around 5am, so not a bad night - menu is below:

aperitif cocktail et amuse-bouches

6 huitres no 3 ses accompagmenents

assiete de foie gras, magrets seches, fruits de season et son verre moelleux

queues de langoustines a la creme

mandarine giveeau grand marnier

magret de canard sauce aux ceps, tomates provencale, pommes de terre sarladaises, pommes fruits et sa gelee

plateau de fromage et sa salade

bavarois aux framboises

champagne

cafe et son chocolat

vine compris


phew!

house renovations

Our Little cottage is a semi detached property. As far as we can find out, it was built in the 15th century and was the 2nd house in the hamlet. The first was a hunting lodge for the local gentry.

Originally it was one big house, with a huge central fire place. The Cavalry used to stop here to rest and the stables were opposite. The central fireplace (which is now in our neighbours half of the house) was where they dried off the wet uniforms and kept warm, - the cooking fire place and bread oven was in our half - unfortunatley in the 1970's modernisation, both were ripped out and filled up. We have since installed a cheap and chearful wood burner that heats the house completely. We have also added a large covered outside eating area, as we found in the heat of the summer there was very little shade in the garden. Next project when we are rich enough is a pool! (Although as we look after 18 of them already, we might be sick of the sight of them before we could actually afford one!)

Meet the gang

We have a big family of furs and feathers - Cassy a small Labrador chose us when she was a 10 day old blind baby, confirmed we were the humans she wanted when she was 3 weeks old and we collected her at 8 weeks - see below:

Cassy at 10 days

Cassy at 8 weeks

and at 10 weeks






After Cassy arrived we ended up with some chickens, who took great delight in robbing Cassy of anything tastey!

After reading a horrific report in the paper about some abused Labradors we contacted the SPA to rescue one of the unfortunate puppies, but we couldnt adopt as they were 'evidence' in the forthcoming court case - this would take a year and the dogs would be no use to anyone after being cadged for the best part of their lives - however through Pheonix Rescue we ended up with Lola - a Labrador/ hunting hound mix - To say she was hard work is an understatement - completely off her trolly would be a better description.
Dawn took her training once a week for a year to a special dog trainer in Angouleme who worked a miricle - turned a no hoper into a dog with alot of character.... Actually Between Dawn and the trainer they have calmed her down and turned her into a kind loving dog who likes nothing more than to sit on your knee!

Lola in a 'happy' mood

















The terrible two! (Lola's still laughing...)


After Lola, we rescued a tiny kitten, that we called Dusty - same colour as the dogs (well nearly) and twice as brave - not scared of either of them, or our neighbours boxer dog! He has grown into a Puma sized cat - He struts around the village and even comes on forest walks with us most days - apart from hunting days as he does tend to stay in the forest untill he gets hungry or we collect him the next day!

How do we live?

Once here we thought about how we would earn a living. We had never been self employed before, let alone let loose in a new country! Until our house purchase was finalised in the September of 2002, we helped our freinds in Eymet run their holiday business - hard work but great fun. Whilst cutting the grass (all 20 acres of it) It occured to us that we could make a living by looking after peoples holiday homes, pools, gardens that sort of thing and so D & S PROPERTY SERVICES was born. After getting properly registered and insured, we set about looking for customers. We advertised in the French Property news, local shops etc for years 1 & 2 and lived off our meager savings over the winter of 2002 / 03. Our business began to pick up in the spring (not much grass needs cutting until then!) and grew steadily through the year. Unfortunately, there was not enough honey in the pot to see us through our 2nd winter, so poor Dawn had to return back to the UK to do some contract work.


The year of 2005 was good - the business doubled, and again in 2006. We now have 18 pools, 32 gardens and half a dozen change overs - quite enough thank you!

The down side is I have bought a total of 4 ride on mowers - each one bigger and stronger than the last and have just invested 8k in a new Countax machine that collects the cuttings and gives stripes - very impressive! here is a picture of me during the demonstration of the machine outside our house in October.All I have to do now is work on getting straight lines......

We have several smaller mowers, for various tasks, a couple of strimmers, leaf blowers, rollers etc - everything needed to look after your garden in France.

the beginning

At last!
caught up with the 21st Century - we are on broadband well, all 500k of it anyway.

Where do I start? Well, this is me, the tall, slim handsome guy, munching his way though a kilo or so of mussels.......



This is Dawn, the better looking of the crew enjoying the same.








Picture the scene, a hard working, career couple, being taxed to the hilt for not having kids, enjoying wine & beer, driving a sports car and having a company beemer. We were working long days and barely returned home (when not staying away) and it was bed time! Things had to change.

We decided we had had enough of the daily grind and sold everything - house car, furniture the lot & bought a camping car to tour France with and look for somewhere to live and something to do.........Brave or stupid?


We came over in April 2002 and spent a couple of months looking round for a house we could call home. We looked at ruins, mud floor barns and decided the Dordogne was too expensive for us - we have friends near Eymet and love the area. We decided that we would look in the ever-so-slightly-cheaper Charente area, but stumbled on a little cottage in a Tiny Hamlet near Vieux Mareuil, called Lecoussey, in the North of the Dordogne. It had a new roof and was 1970's modernised - it even had Central Heating, brown wallpaper, brown bathroom suit, you know the sort of thing, but it was dry & warm (ish)