Latest News.

8th December 2024

After a warm November winter has arrived with cold rain and winds. Its definitely log fire weather now. Cooking classes have finished until January. We are now in the run up to Xmas with lots of smoked salmon production underway. The solar panels are up and running although not contributing too much this time of year about 7% to total electric. hopefully summer will  be better although we still have some trees to clear which are providing shade. Ann and baby Ruby are doing well and with us until the end of the year before returning to the UK.

2nd November 2024

Its been nice and warm and sunny the past 2 weeks and looks to continue for at least another week which is great as it delays winter. Weve even ridden the horses a couple of times. Baby Ruby Ann is growing fast and has brought quite a fun change to our house life.

The cooking classes have been going well with good bookings for November.

Not quite finished the solar panels yet but have the rails and DC to Ac inverters installed and most of the cabling and consumer unit, things were delayed as we had a burst pipe in the old bathroom last week which flooded the house and caused the ceilings to collapse, so new floors and ceilings have delayed the work on the panels. Its good to busy I think!

12th October 2024

September done and dusted. Bit of cool damp month all in all, however it ended on a high with little baby Ruby Ann being born,. both baby and mum and doing great.

Our gite is now closed for winter as is the pool. We are in full swing on cooking courses again. The big new DIY project is installing 8 solar panels on the barn roof then connecting into our 3-phase supply. Hope to get this online my the end of Oct, however Im not great at hitting my DIY deadlines.

3rd September 2024

Its raining today after weeks of dry hot weather, I guess the garden needs it. Gite has been full all summer with great reviews. Horses are chilled out and seem to really like their new stables.

We are heading off to Bordeaux today to the Bassins des luminieres to see the expo of the Dutch masters from De vermeer to Van Gough. Sounds a bit cultured for us but I hear its amazing, projected onto the walls of the old submarine base.

Ive just advertised the Autumn cooking classes starting 12th Oct.

The next few weeks are concerned with cutting logs buying hay oh and of course new baby arrivals. Never a dull moment!

2nd August 2024

I must get better at updating the blog.

Mid summer barn is built and working, the horses seem to spend most of their time in there avoiding flies. Still need to finish the rendering in Autumn when the weather cools down. Gite is fully booked until late August.

Ann and Dexter are back here until after the baby is born which is due in late September.

Weather is currently very hot after a cool start to summer.

March 2024

First blog of year and its March, as always time flys. Last few weeks have been dominated by cooking workshops and barn building. Almost finished the block work and started on the roof, there is a reasonable chance the horses will have some shelter this summer.

Weather has been particularly wet since Christmas but not very cold. Spring seems to be here now which is a great tme of year here. Just about to saddle up the horse and go for s Sunday morning trek.

23rd Dec 2023

We ve been here now 5 years. Time flys!

December has been a busy month. We had Tom and Suzie visit from michigan which was a great catch-up. We went to the wedding of Nicole and Ryan in Munich which was great fun. We also hosted more cooking classes and still found time to do a bit of decorating. The kids arrive today from the UK for Christmas so looking forward to a relaxing family Christmas. Happy Christmas one and all!

29/10/2023

The weather has turned wet after a great summer. Weve even fired up the log burner.

After a slow start the cooking courses are doing well with good bookings up to christmas.

Im busy with swimming closures for the winter and Debbie is dodging rain showers with her Gardening projects. Its that time of year to collect the walnuts, chop logs and go mushroom hunting.

15/09/2023

Its mid September and over 30C today, Probably have a dip in the pool later before the gite guests arrive who are the last gite guests of the season coming  today for a week then we close the gite and open the cooking school until May 2024. We have advertised 6 courses so far which are filling up nicely.  We have an all new course on Fermented foods which provide excellent health benefits. 

Around the farm we are preparing for winter. Most of hay is bought and stored. Lots of tree cutting and logging ongoing. Chickens were taken by something last week, probably a fox. We will probably wait until Spring to replace them. Horses are well. Its easier now we are now to just 2 horses. Jess seems to be doing well at her new home. Ann and Carl have now returned to the UK which is shame for us but great for them as they have new jobs and a new house in Wiltshire.

10/08/2023

Its been a cooler more temperamental summer this year, which has been quite pleasant as we havent had the crazy 40+ c temperatures from past years. We managed to get a 1 week holiday in Provence which allowed us to travel by train which was great. We have also had a few days out locally. We reduced or horse count from 3 to 2 by finding a new home for Jess. This will make life a bit easier. The cooler weather meant we have ridden more over the summer. The gite has been full and continues so until mid september. Ann and Carl return to the UK in September to start a new adventure with new jobs which is sad for us but great for them. The cooking school  was busy upto late June with the last couses held outside under a marquee on the patio, the school kicks off again in October with some new courses and some of the old favourites. The barn build project moves on slowly, there is always an excuse not to work on it. Hopefully today I will lay a few more blocks.

13/06/2023

Summer is definitely here. Warm weather gite fully booked . Horses have  moved to their summer grazing.  We have lots  of garden and  pool work

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24//05/2023

I cant believe its 4 months since I updated the blog, its been a busy spring. The cooking school had great levels of attendance for the curing, smoking and baking courses. We then started the Indian courses with Imtiaz Hasan which were quite a revelation in terms of complexity of tastes and flavours of southern Indian food. These courses named SPICEWORKS run until mid June. The pool is now open, we are just getting the Gite ready for the season, currently our first booking is 15th of July so if your thinking of visiting between now and then we have plenty of space. Meanwhile we are very busy with gardening and pool openings for other people. Thursday this week we take a mini break in San Sebastian to sample some Catalan cuisine.

24/01/2023

Blimey its cold. We had the most snow last Thursday since we lived here. It all looked lovely but causes problems around the place. All the fences were down due to weight of the snow on the electric tape also we had a few trees down. The upside is the firewood they provide which we are using a lot of this year. 

James arrives back from Australia and Thailand today, hopefully he will stay for a few weeks. Ive got lots of outdoor work ready for him to keep him busy.

We are off skiing in Andorra at the end of February, assuming we can get the car fixed which has a broken Turbocharger.

Cooking is school is really busy with 2 classes  this week and at least one class most weeks into April. Roll on some warmer weather!

21/12/2022

As Christmas approach's fast, we are just about finished on the smoked salmon Christmas orders which have been a bit crazy this year. Using the Gite as the cooking school has worked out really well this year throughout the Autumn and winter months. We will revert back to running the Gite from May next year and close up the cooking school between May and September. Its nice to have the diversity of activities throughout the year whilst having a continued income stream.

The barn build project limps along at a frustratingly slow pace. There is always an excuse to not work on it. Hopefully completion in 2023, we will see! Otherwise all well and life is good!

08/11/22

Autumn is here now log fires at night but generally nice sunny days with a few days of rain mixed in. The fields have returned to a green colour but still not much grass for the horses. Luckily we managed to get hold of plenty of hay albiet at a much higher price than previous years. The cooking school is relocated to the Gite and the scheduled Autumn courses are going well. The gite gives us more space for the cooking school and provides a dedicated space. to run courses We have 2 ovens 2 fridges and two large stainless prep tables  and a cosy log burner, so it makes running courses easier.. Village life seems to be getting back to pre-covid levels with French lessons back on track, the village cooking club is back running which I attended last night. Work on the new barn / stables continues very slowly. definitely a slow burner project. i manage about 6 blocks per hour, with 750 blocks needed to be laid to finish the walls.

01/10/2022

I cant believe its October already. Weve just returned from Walking the Portugese camino de santiago de compostela.

Around the farm the fields are still brown with little grazing for the horses. Its raining today so hopefully things will start to grow again to provide some winter grazing. next few weeks are occupied with cutting logs and buying hay to sustain us through the winter. The Saunerie Cuisine courses restart on 29th October, with the location moving to the Gite kitchen which provides more space with a cozy log fire. The gite is closed now until May 2023 except for cooking course participants.

01/07/22

 where have the weeks gone? its July already! We are all recovering from the wedding of Ann and Carl . we had the ceremony and lunch at chateau Neuvic for 52 people then hosted the evening party at Saunerie for almost 100 people. Despite a very unsettled weekend we seemed to avoid the majority of the showers for the big day with food music and dancing late into the night. Music provided by the fabulous Candy's. We have almost got back to normal as the gite is booked throughout July and August starting next weekend.

30th April

Starting to feel a lot warmer with the grass growing like crazy. We have finished the scheduled cooking courses until October as we are busy with gardening, barn building, pool maintenance and Gite bookings.

Ann's wedding is now less than 2 months away so lots to do to prepare for that.

The base for the new barn is slowly taking shape. The walls can commence early May. Definitely a slow burner of a project!

24th March 2022

The frosts are just about over so the barn work can restart. Every year seems to be different. This year we had frosts throughout Jan, Feb and half of March.

The cooking school has been very busy with at least 1 course per week. The new bread making course has proved popular focussing on sourdough bread. The cooking school will wind down in April until October as we are busy with Pools, gardens and barn building.

The Gite is ready now for the season also.  The trees are now in flower and the grass is growing. Spring is here!

5th February 2022

Its been a very cold winter with weeks of overnight frosts. Every year seems to be quite different in the Dordogne! Unfortunately the frost has halted the work on the barn as its too cold to mix concrete and mortar.

Ann and Carl finally moved to their own house in Queyssac near Bergerac, which is a lovely stone cottage in very pretty village. This means the Gite can be upgraded ready for the new letting season. This work is now fully underway.

The pressure is now on to turn the building site of the barn into something presentable before Ann and Carls Wedding in June, whilst completing the Gite.

The cooking school has been very busy this year with all courses booking up quickly and lots of return bookings. Exhausting being retired!

3rd Dec 2021

It really feels like winter after a cold but sunny November. We had no central heating so it felt particularly cold, thankfully we are back up running. Ive had an operation to take out the screws and rod from my leg, so I'm off work for a few weeks recovering and hobbling about on crutches again. Debbie has mostly finished gardening until the new year. Ann and Carl complete on their new house on the 16th December, so we can start on the Gite refurbishment after Christmas.

Cooking courses resume in January and are booking up quickly. 2022 promises to be a hectic year with Barns to build and Anns wedding along with everything else.

3rd Nov 2021

Tomorrow is the last of  the Autumn cooking classes. We will be making pancetta and pastrami on this course. Due to surgery on my leg, I'm taking a few weeks out, with courses starting again in December.  Its been a busy few weeks for all us with the gardening business, cooking business and work around the farm. We were struck by lightening a few weeks back which caused quite a bit of damage. It fried the central heating controller, water heater, electric pool cover controller, TV sat box, cooker and the bathroom lights. We  are slowly replacing things, although still no central heating yet. We've just installed a new log burner which is much improved from the last one. We've put the foundations in for the new barn now, so at least we have made a start.

Ann and Carl have signed the purchase agreement on their new house, so could be moved in by Christmas.

21st September 2021

Summer is coming to an end and preparations for the winter underway. Biggest job is cutting trees and logging to have enough wood to keep the wood burners going for 6 months. We start the cooking courses this week, with the first one being filmed for chanel 4, followed by a further 4 courses in the calendar so far running into early Nov.  The Walnuts are dropping from the trees now and veg garden is mostly finished. Mushroom season is just starting, with the Perigord Mycologique Societe running a wild mushroom pick and identification next Saturday in Manzac sur Vern

15th Aug 2021

Its been and odd kind of summer so far and quite cool and wetter than normal, although this week and the next few weeks look dry sunny and warm.

We've all been busy working this summer, perhaps more busy than we planned. We hoping to take a bit of time out over the next few weeks.

A lot of public events have been cancelled this summer due to covid concerns, so its been a quieter summer. 

 Most people lost their fruit from their trees around here this year due to the harsher weather, but we were fortunate as we are a little more sheltered. Too many tarts have been made and eaten and lots of jam and sauces.

The sunflowers are out and the area looks spectacular this time of year.

Cooking courses are being scheduled from end of September, a couple are fully booked already and a few places are left  on some dates as shown on the events page.

26th  May 2021

Well May has been a right wash-out, after a nice March and April. however it looks like the weather is changing for the better today. The pool has been  open for weeks but too cold to use so far, maybe later this week!

The patio and remodelling of the garden is finally finished, blimey that was a task, coupled with the lousey weather and two crazy dogs running round, proved quite difficult. All ready now for the summer.

Next job is to start on the stable block.

Ann and Carl are still trying to buy a house, so I think our gite will remain closed this year.

We have all had our first covid vaccines. The numbers are now coming down significantly in France, although there is still some cases in neighbouring villages.

21st March 

Spring is definitely on its way! We have been crazy busy sorting out the garden after the winter, starting a new 70 m2 Patio in the front garden which will take a few weeks. We finally got planning permission for a stable block, so we had the foundations dug out. We rennovated out downstairs bathroom which gets used for the cooking school and Im nearly finished installing a new ston tiled floor in the hallway.

7th Feb 2021

We are well into 2021. All well here and keeping busy. No lockdown but there is a 6pm - 6am curfew in place due to covid. 

Xmas was nice, although disappointed that James was not permitted to travel here. We celebrated Ann's birthday in January with a Spanish evening which was delicous.

Ann and Carl are looking to buy a house in the next village this year, both of them are busy at work. 

We have received our 5 year residency cards now, so this provides some stability. We have just submitted a planning application to build a new stable block, so fingers crossed. French lessons are back-up running on google meet.

The Gite and cooking school remain closed for now, although I have done a couple of small cooking classes in December and January.

The weather has been ridiculously wet for the past two months and quite cold. Yesterday I braved the storms and went to buy more hay for the horses. After two hours of battling in the rain to get the hay upto the polytunnel, swapping between the car and the tractor, I thought I would treat the horses with some of the new hay. Raz sniffed it, then proceed to piss over it. That was my thanks!

Looking forward to some warmer dryer weather.

A bientot!

21st Dec 2020

What a strange end to the year, with France suspending all travel from the UK! James is booked to come out on Xmas eve, but that now looks difficult, he may be able to get a PCR test and be admitted, we will see.

The weather is damp and cool but we are all well and busy preparing for Xmas. We've been busy making lots of smoked salmon this week mostly for neighbours for their Xmas lunch. Its the first Xmas living in France for Ann and Carl who moved into our Gite in August while they look for their own place. We have installed a log burner in the gite to keep them warm over winter, so myself and Carl have been busy harvesting logs from the woods over the past weeks.

Ann and Carl bought a puppy in September called Dexter and we bought a puppy called Riley, so its all puppy chaos here currently and promises to be a crazy Xmas day with another 3 dogs coming over with their owners for lunch.

Its difficult to plan for next year as the uncertainty continues for now. We hope to reopen the cooking school and the gite probably early summer but lets see what happens.

We wish all our readers Merry and safe Christmas and a Happy New Year!

9th August 2020

Its been a warm few weeks. The pool has been a great relief from the heat.

Ann and Carl moved out a couple of weeks ago and are living in the gite until they get established and find their own place.

Normally its the season of fetes in the villages but these have been reduced this year. The Manzac fete on bastille day was good with people trying to keep a short distance from each other.

The veg garden has yielded lots of produce with more to come. The fields are now all brown with little grazing for the horses so we started feeding hay this week

4th July 2020

Our first Gite booking today since February. We are only opening the Gite for July, then closing until May 2021 as Ann and Carl are moving into the Gite From August, as all our UK August bookings cancelled. The weather is nice, pool looks great and we achieved a 3 star rating from the tourist office for our Gite which we are pleased with. Unfortunately our lovely dog Flo died a couple of weeks ago which broke our hearts.

The garden is full of lovely produce, as the veg garden is doing well, the cherries were good and we made lots of Cherry vodka and pies and Jam. Its now Plums so lots of Tarte au Prune.  I finally found Girolles in the woods, so I made a risotto and a fab soup with Girolle, bacon and cream which was amazing.

13th June 2020

The weather has been quite disappointing the past two weeks, as the rain arrived in force. At least everywhere looks nice and green again. The weather promises to pick up next week and the continue for the following weeks of July and August.

The chickens are in full lay now, the veg garden is looking great with everything flourishng. Ive finished the bedroom renovations in the main house and I'm working on re-pointing the patio around the pool. The pool is nice and blue which we used a lot in May this year. Horses are all well and we are back riding.

3rd May 2020

After weeks of warm dry weather we have had almost a week of rain, so everywhere is very green.  We are awaiting new parts for the lawnmower so the grass has gone crazy. The veg plot is flourishing with potatoes, carrots, leeks, sprouts, broccoli, aubergine, squash, tomatoes, chillis, peppers and rubarb. The Chickens are now installed, although egg laying is a bit sporadic so far. Horses are looking well and seem chilled out. The new cat is very much settled and flo is doddering about in her old age. Im working on one of the bedrooms in the main house which has a damp problem so Ive installed an air circulation system, cleaning up and re-plastering the walls, then replacing the built in wardrobes with something upto date.

We exit confinement on the 11th May, although movements are limited to 100km from May, so Gite bookings are very uncertain so far. We have 5 weeks booked but mostly from England so travel may not be possible. Deb is busy with her gardening and I have some sporadic work but plenty to do around here. 

14th April 2020

Its Easter Sunday, another beautiful sunny morning. The weather has been amazing now for about 1 month. All is well here at Saunerie, pool is opened and looking great although a bit chilly yet. Our new cat Willow is settling in well, veg plot is coming along, but awaiting some chicken wire to finish the new Chicken run, just need to find some chickens. We are 4 weeks into lockdown with a few more weeks expected, but life is good here.

24th March 2020

What a difference a month can make, we sure live in interesting times. We into our second week of lock-down due to Coronavirus. The weather has been amazing so we have been out working in the garden. Deb has continued her gardening rounds as she is allowed to work on her own, so we still have some income. All the cooking courses are cancelled which is a shame as they were going well. We are very lucky to be here as we have lots of space and its a beautiful location so we don't have anything to complain about, we can still buy food and wine. I have started a vegetable plot, its something I've talked about for ages, so no excuses now. I have some seeds so getting stuck in. Once we get through this pandemic I will advertise some more courses, probably in Autumn.

17th February 2020

The 1/2 day scheduled cooking courses seem to have been very popular with 10 courses running upto end of April all fully booked.

The appearance on A New Life in the Sun on channel 4 from 10th to the 14th of February was quite fun for us to watch., although we are both going on diets now! The TV appearance has generated some new inquiries but not as many as we expected. Perhaps the footage of grass snakes put people off particularly as the TV show didn't explain we actually managed to clear them away.

Debbie starts back her gardening business next week after a winter break and I'm busy on house renovations and my cooking courses.

The weather has been quite surprising as Winter has not really occurred so far, the grass is growing in the paddocks and flowers are coming out already.

23rd January 2020

its been a great start to the year with very dry sunny weather. the fields have dried out. We managed to recover the polytunnel over Christmas which was pretty difficult. 3 days of digging trenches then a day assembling the cover then another day filling in. Christmas and New year were great fun. Great Karaoke on new years eve.

On the cooking front we are running initially 6 half day workshops for curing and smoking. The smoked salmon one is very popular with both French and English. All courses for January, Feb and March are fully booked. We had the first one last week which seemed to go down well.

24th December 2019

Well we survived a full year in France. Great year despite messing up my leg. We are all set for Xmas with a full house. The fridge is full of smoked salmon and cured hams so we wont go hungry and of course the seasonal goose. My particular favourite is the annual goose curry.

The village party went well and resulted in quite a few requests for smoked salmon. I must of made 10 kg of smoked salmon on the lead up to Christmas.

Lots to get on with in the new year. We have a new cover for the polytunnel, so we are going to need quite a few people to help with assembling that. Im half way through the new bathroom. Im planning a smoking class for locals in January and We have Gite bookings from 25th Feb and we appear on chanel 4  'A New Life in the Sun' from 28th January. Promises to be another fun year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

24th November 2019

After such a dry summer we have seen a lot of rain in October and November.

The pie night was a great success with some great pies. We all ate way too much.

Walnuts are all picked and drying out.

We are currently making hams for Xmas and curing and smoking salmon for xmas and some neighbours and for the village xmas party on the 9th Dec.

Im walking better now but still limping about, but strong enough to start the new bathroom in the house which is turning into quite a project due to  existing structure.

We are 4 weeks from xmas now but we have a lot to do before then both inside and outside.

4th October 2019

We have finished the TV filming so stay tuned in February for output. Saunerie cuisine is up and running. We had a great day picking grapes in Grignols.

Just planning a Pie night mid October.

We have almost picked all the walnuts, hazelnuts and chesnuts, just need to dream up some uses for them.

24th September 2019

Fabulous first cooking weekend completed. We had the best participants that seemed to love the format, food and accomodation. Next one planned for October.

The weather is getting more changeable now with the first rain for about 3 months this weekend.

TV filming finishes this week.

24th August 2019

Weather continues to be fabulous, luckily we have the pool to cool down.

We have been booked up all August in the Gite with great reviews so far. People seem to love the decor of the Gite and its layout.

We are planning some cooking weekends for Late September and October which will probably be filmed for the TV show that is following us.

I'm walking on one crutch now and can drive again.

We had a great harvest of cherries and plums, looking forward to the walnuts, hazelnuts and chestnuts in late September. Also we found cepes in the woods (see pic).

1st August 2019

July was very hot so thankfully we had the pool in full use.

We had our first Gite guests which went well and we hosted a tapas day with was attended by over 30 people with most bringing their own tapas creations. The weather was fabulous so a great day was had by all.

My leg continues to recover slowly. I still cant walk without crutches but I can in the pool with the water to support me. We still have the TV crew following us which will continue until October.

We have no bookings in the Gite for September as yet which is surprising as the forecast is good.

17th July 2019

Its been another crazy month, with lots of pool problems and Deb trying to finish the Gite in time for our first booking on the 20th July. All that said the pool and the gite look absolutely fab now and ready for the guests. the weather has been amazing, I hate to say it but we need some rain as the horses have run out of grass.We are now feeding them on hay as there is no rain in the forecast.

Last week we had a fabulous picnic in a vineyard with the French club from Gignols. Awesome food, wine and  people.

Im starting to be able to do a bit more although Im still on crutches. The pool is great for exercising my leg.

weve got a tapas afternoon planned for this coming Sunday with lots of people coming bringing their own tapas creations. Ive been making smoked bacon and homemade bread and samoas now I can  stand up for a short time.

18th June 2019

Blimey that was some month. Working like crazy to finish the Gite then fell off a ladder and broke both tibia and fibia. Now im laid up for at least 6 weeks.

Luckily Craig, James, Carl and Ann came out to help finish off the Gite so we are ready for bookings with some bookings taken already for July and August.

The Sausage competition was good with my Black olive and sundried tomatoe sausages taking first prize.

We have a TV crew filming us over the summer for a popular Uk program which is interesting.

Summer is here in force with some fabulous weather.

18th May 2019

Kitchen is just about finished in the Gite. Just painting and flooring to complete so on target for end of May finish.

Had a few new issues to deal with over the past 2 weeks such as discovering a 2000L fuel oil tank  hidden behind a false wall in the Gite building. Managed to Siphon off the  600L fuel into oil tanks and find somebody to take it. Tank being removed this week. Other issue was the  water main developed a leak and flooded the meter chamber. This is now repaired and back to normal.

The pool is up and running now and the kids and their friends used it  on the 1st of May.

Lots of cooking this month. The Fishcake demo and dinner went down a storm in the village cooking club, as did Debs Chocolate Brownies. Marie-Claude our French teacher was on hand to translate as my French is still quite bad but everybody had a good laugh at my  French explanations.  Everybody was keen to get hold of the recipes afterwards.

Today we are entering the Saint-Germain-Du-Salembre sausage competition which promises to be a laugh. Various British bangers competing against the French Saucisson offerings. I'm offering 3 variates Pork and leek, Pork Caramelised red onion & sage and also Pork Black Olive  with Sun-dried tomato.

30th April 2019

April has been a very busy month. We registered our business with the chamber of commerce and received our registration number (siret no.) Debbie has been busy working as a gardener for different people whilst I have been busy preparing the Gite. The re-wire is complete which turned out to be a big project. The bathroom is completed. The Kitchen is well underway with extractor duct fitted and all lighting and electrics installed. Hopefully things should get completed in May. Its not all been plain sailing, the pool drain valve was damaged so we had to drain the pool to repair the valve, also we discovered the filtration system was  wrongly installed so this had to be corrected. The pool is refilling now.

Poor old Flynn contracted another Tic borne disease Piroplasmosis which has really knocked him about and the bank balance.

We attended a Truffle tour and lunch organised by the chamber of commerce. I  am even more convinced now that we have truffles growing under our oak trees just need to find them during the winter season before the wild boar do.

We have the kids and their friends out tomorrow for a few days, so a good chance to test out the Gite facilities and maybe even the pool .

Next week we are preparing dinner and doing a cooking demonstration for the village cooking club so that should test the language skills a bit. On May 18th we are entering a sausage making competition in a near-by village. National pride at stake so no pressure!

30th March 2019

Its been a very busy month working on the Gite. The bathroom is now replumbed completely, the ceiling and walls plastered ready for tiling. The wiring was so bad we decided on a complete rewire, so this has created a delay to the kitchen installation. The Gite should be complete by start of May.

Weather has been fabulous hardly any rain mostly sunny warm days.

We hosted our first Sausage workshop for a few of our new friends which was great fun followed by slap up meal to taste everybodies creations.

1st March 2019

Exciting start to March with a knock on the door at 7am apparently 3 horses were loose on the Saint Astier road. Turned out we had left a gate open and the horses went exploring. We found them in a garden about 3km away none the worse for their adventure.

The new menage is finished and now in use but still needs post and rail fencing. See our Menage page.

Weather has been amazing beautiful sunny hot days for the past two weeks. Spring has definitely arrived with the trees in bud and the daffs in full bloom. I managed to break the ride on mower last week but new parts arrived from the USA within 3 days and its back in service, as its much needed to get all the paddocks under control.

Gite is progressing. Walk in shower is dug out and base installed. I am currently working on the plumbing. 

We are getting to know a few people in the area now and really feels like home. We are running a sausage making workshop next week for some of our new friends. Wild boar sausage is on the menu.

19th  Feb 2019

Weather has been great. Blue sky everyday over the past  8 days with more good weather in the forecast.  Lunch outside most days. New sun loungers and parasols arrived today.

The Gite is progressing well. Bathroom starting to take shape. New kitchen on order arrives early March.

The Menage is coming on also with the sand due next week 180 tonnes. We can't get the lorries to the Menage so the sand is being dropped in the car park in the centre of the village then moved in smaller loads up the hill. This weekend we are putting in the retaining boards and the post and rail fencing.

A few issues with horses this month. Flynn is being treated for Lyme disease but is on the mend and Jess has a foot abscess, so spending way too much on vet bills this month.

Deb has been working on the garden which looks good.

With the warm weather we have had to start cutting the grass, although I broke the ride on lawn mower on Monday but new parts are due on Thursday from the USA to enable me to repair it.

French lessons are great and we are making slow progress.

1st Feb 2019 

Its been quite a wet couple of weeks here in the Dordogne, although not particularly cold.

We fenced the large field by the side of the lawns so the horses had more grazing, however they have been plagued with ticks. The vet came out this morning to check them and provide some treatment to deter them.

We decided to crack on with the Menage plan. We cut down half the walnut orchard as the trees seemed to be rotting, however once we started digging out the ground we found it is mostly clay, therefore we need a lot of hardcore to  get the levels right, based on this we moved the location of the Menage to the bottom paddock. This is now half excavated out.

After a visit to maries office I found that building a barn is going to be difficult with respect to planning permission, so we are considering our options. While I was there the Mayor had a word about my trees overhanging the road, so yesterday we had an unpleasant day cutting trees over the road in the pouring rain, trying not to take out the phone lines. The tractor came in very useful pulling trees upright so we could fell them.

On the food front I made lots of smoked bacon, smoked salmon and bread. I actually sold a couple of packs of bacon in the pub last week to some Brits missing bacon.

This coming week we plan to make some progress in the gite. Starting on the bathroom, and ordering the kitchen now the walls are completed.

15th Jan 2019

New years eve was great fun in L'Estaminet  in Manzac. Since then all the visitors have gone back and we are getting stuck into the hard work on the Gite. The living room has been opened up by removing the wall to the would be kitchen. Started work on the lime mortar walls. Finished the outdoor horse tacking area  / additional parking now we have a wood chipping machine. We now have the horses in the orchard all newly fenced thanks to help from Sophie and Craig during their visit.  I have started fencing the large field in front of the house this week.

We did manage to fit in a bit of riding as well this week in between the work.

We have had two weeks of French lessons now which are really good in  the next village called Grinols. Last night we attended another village dinner party which was the French residents returning the favour following the English meal prior to Xmas. I did have a bit too much to drink last night but it seemed to improve my spoken French quite a lot.

Tomorrow we are off to Brive to collect our new 4x4 car complete with tow hitch.

The weather is quite a bit colder now but we have had some lovely blue sky days as well as some wet ones.

 Years Eve 31st Dec

Very misty day and temperatures dropping now.

We had a great Xmas with lots of visitors, the kids came over, my mother came for a month, Sophie and Craig came out for the New Year and my sister Clare is coming over next week.

We started clearing the woods of fallen trees but quickly realised its a massive task, after three days of logging it looks no different but at least we have loads of logs for the fire.

We made a new car park / horse tacking area using some the wood from the pine woods, after managing to get hardcore delivered which was a challenge for my French.

This week we are moving the horses upto to the Walnut orchard as they have just about cleared the bottom field. We did manage to find hay but its definitely in short supply due the very dry summer.

Off to the village bar this eve for New years Eve celebrations. Happy New Year!

16th Dec 2018

Outside lights are up as is the tree and decos.

We cleared the Shelter in the lower field, so that the horses have some protection from the rain and wind.

We attended the village Christmas party on Monday which threw us into the deep end with our spoken French. We made the smoked salmon starters for the 36 people that attended which seemed to go down well, as did the Granary bread we baked.  We were a bit apprehensive making bread for French people, as the local bread is very good. 

Deb mastered the Quad bike and we took the tractor out to collect logs.

The plan this week is to source some hay for the horses, which has been surprisingly difficult to find due to the very dry summer, get a French MOT on the car so we can re-register it and start clearing the fallen trees in the woods then chop them for firewood.

7th Dec 2018

First week in the Dordogne! Long journey from the UK for both us and the horses, we made it through the protests  and barricades in Angloume from the yellow vests.

We now have Internet, UK TV and a phone. The horses seem settled in their new home as does Flo.

In the kitchen we made bread and after a trip to Saint Astier market we have bacon being cured ready for smoking next week and we made both hot smoked and cold smoked salmon for the village Christmas party. 

The next job is to sort out water to paddocks and outside lighting.

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