Bonjour
Hope you had a good week. Here in my part of France the weather has got much cooler, in fact we had the first frost of the season on Wednesday. Newspapers are predicting a long cold winter. I remember when I first bought my old farm house in the middle of nowhere France, the roof had huge holes in it, doors and windows were loose and the wind would howl around the house and enter through every gap. It was so cold and damp that ice would form on the inside of the windows and water would freeze in the pipes for days on end. These days it’s a lot better as we’ve renovated and used as much insulation material as possible without actually creating a whole other house from it!
All week we’ve been chopping wood to fuel the fire for winter, its old wood that’s nicely dried out but needs to be cut into more manageable chunks to be effective. It’s not a job for the faint hearted or feeble. My other half chops and I stack and I’ve learned not to look too closely at the spiders that stare up at me, camouflaged against the bark. Enry Cooper who is the boss of cats (in his opinion) sits on the roof of the wood store, staring at the humans who work so hard to keep him warm and dry. I don’t think I detect gratitude to be honest. Cats don’t really do appreciation on the whole.
Enjoy all the fab new features on the website this week and have a very bon weekend,
Bisous from France
Janine
Editor
Don’t miss this week:
Perfect Provence Christmas Tour: Yes it’s only October but if you want to book a brilliant Christmas stay in Provence with the fabulous Your Private Provence – you’ll need to book soon!
The Paris Librarian: We review Mark Pryor’s best selling book and fall in love with Hugo Marston, the hero!
Take a walk on the wildside in Paris: Off the beaten track – literally as I walk the line on an abandoned railway track in the heart of the city that’s been reclaimed by nature.
Hautvillers Champagne, in the footsteps of Dom Perignon: Did you know he spent much of his time trying to get rid of the bubbles in Champagne!?
Carcassonne Limoux and beyond: Mary Nonde visits Carcassonne after a 30 year gap and finds it’s just as magical as she remembers and there’s loads to do around and about.
4 great restaurants in Poitou Charente: Lucy Pitts takes her kids to review family restaurants in Charente-Maritime.
Little Noelle’s Christmas Wish: One for the kids, we review a charming book about a little girl who loves the Eiffel Tower!
How to make Kir Normande: A Normandy speciality which you need to drink sitting down, one for those cold nights maybe?
Le Train Bleu: J Christina investgates the legendary posh station buffet in the Gare de Lyon Paris.
