Tempting Fête

June and July are the month for fêtes in France. Pretty much every little village with have one at some point, often tying in with its ‘saint patronale’ (patron saint). Nouzerines is connected with Saint Clair, whose day is 1st June. So the weekend closest to that is when the Nouzerines fête takes place. The [...]

June Dictons

It’s the start of a new month, so time to turn to look at some French dictons (sayings) about it. Rain and/or the harvest seem to be the subject of most of them, reflecting what the major concerns of country people were in the past. And they still are today. We’re waiting for Edouard,  our [...]

Late Again

Every year we’re late getting going on the vegetable garden. Something always crops up at the wrong time (but not veggie crops). But to be fair, there is only a short window of opportunity between the end of the ferocious Creuse winter and the growing season. I’ve heard that round here you’re crazy to even [...]

Blog slog

I always find it a bit of a slog to blog in summer. It’s not for lack of things to write about – summer is our busiest time. The trekking season has got underway, our gite and lakes have had clients since March and are booked through to October, we’ve celebrated the end of term [...]