White gite

All the hard work has been done. The white gite is ready for its first guests...


The White Gite


The entrance and garden


The living


The kitchen


Master bedroom


One of the two twin bedrooms

Hay biologique

Yesterday a big tractor came to cut the hay. Over the next few days we are expecting nice sunny and windy weather. Contractors will come and shake it and rake it and bale it into 400kg(!) bales. No more romantic & sweaty bale stacking with the whole family; one guy in a shiny John Deere can do 12+ha all by himself.

Haymaking these days doesn't make you sweat or itchy anymore, but lucky me this time it doesn't take any organising or money or knowhow or storage either: Yves & Veronique, a lovely couple we know form the market are organising it and are taking the hay for their organic dairy cows. A man from Ecocert declared the pasture biological by looking at the diversity of the grasses... And I get to keep hay for the horses. Now we just have to clear some dry storage space in our very leaky sheds...

Well, just in time before the big cut some shots of the biodiversity :-) I've pulled out some ragworth and won't touch the hay from the top field with the digitalis. They do make a nice picture though.

Happy Birthday Charlie & Lola!

Charlie & Lola are 4 today! Their opa Karel and Granny Auriol have given them a trampoline! And there were many little presents and a new dress for Lola (She's very happy to work it a bit in front of the camera!). C&L brought sweets to school to share with the other kids, but they didn't sing happy birthday. Or joyeux anniversaire. Weird.

We haven't got a clue what's going on in school, but it must be quite effective. I guess before summer holidays start (in 3 weeks) Lola will be probably writing... Not sure in french or english...

On days like today I miss their oma Hannie very much.

On Sunday we had a little family outing to Concarneau, a beautiful little seaside town with a quai and a port and a bastion. We had lovely icecream, a picnic in the sun on the steps of a building and a ride on a caroussel. Silly mum forgot the camera!

We were all very tired when we came home.

Sian, Mabli and Auriol :-)

Last week Sian, Mabli and Auriol were staying here and it was great to have them. Charlie and Lola loved every minute of it: drawing, reading, hair platting, nail polishing, baking and going for drives...

In the mean time normal life continues: The white gite is coming together, the chickens are laying (sort of), the grass is growing. Most days it's summery and sometimes really hot, time to fill the bucket baths! The horses are huffing and puffing in their winter coat... It gets dark very late at night (11pm), so I get the chance to ride both horses quite a bit. Milo is doing very well in the arena. He has a new saddle, we've been cantering and we're almost ready for a first ride out on the road.

Rod and me are gathering more and more information about becoming certified organic. Rod has set the process in motion to become an auto-entrepreneur (self-employed) and applied for a license to sell stuff on the market. French bureaucracy is extensive but so far I haven't got the feeling it is suffocating. People have been very helpful so far and even rang me to ask if I need any help filling in very incomprehensible french forms. Oui merci!

A few more pictures...

Warm and wet....

Greetings on another Monday morning, last day of May and the land is being quietly watered by that soft, gentle air that lies somewhere between mist and rain..

C&L just dropped off to school inspite of them having coughing and snotting...they wanted to go!? We notice all kinds of little things emerging from their time there. A French word here and there, holding their pens just right, drawings etc. all clearly evidence much goes on in that 3 hours four times a week.. and the fact they wanted to go this morning says it all, very nice...

Sian, Mabli and Auriol are here for the week, lovely to see them and generally catch up with their lives etc. We had a lovely day yesterday, we drove to Trez-Bellec-Plage which is half way along the Crozon peninsular. Huge (empty) sandy beach with rocks etc. at either end with a little shack cafe where we had moule marnier, lovely. I collected a sack of seaweed to make a brew for the garden and shall certainly return on a sunny day for a swim.

Still having car troubles!! Just pulling into Brest airport to meet Sian and co last Friday when I felt the car pulling to the curbing. I assumed I had a puncture, pulled over to find the front brake unit on fire and the disc glowing red!! After putting it out the car refused to move so I walked to the airport, met Sian and Mabs, found that Auriol's flight was delayed by 4 hours(they like striking here) so returned to the car and took the brake unit apart. A local garage sent out two mechanics who could not offer a great deal of help other than moral support (they did not charge me either bless em). We did get home eventually with minimum braking and choosing fast roads with few corners/stops. So new seals & pads are on their way from the UK...

We had a visit from a chap from Eco Cert last week to look at out pasture to see if he can certify the crop as organic. We are letting a local organic farmer to take the hay this year and so he needs to know it is certified. The Eco Cert chap instantly gave the pasture a tick of approval based on the variety of plant etc. therefore the good news from this being we can get cracking on certification and splash biologique across our product. In France you cannot claim to be organic (biologique) without certification (current). Classically, the previous owners were riding a very short wave but I think we should be certified by next year...

Okay, time to play memory with Charlie before a grocery run to Huelgoat... I think we are beginning to see it will take some time and patience to do all we want here (not to mention money!) yet I feel it will be a good investment in the long run...perhaps the trick is not to look up too far!

Shall get Heleen to put some pictures on as they say much more than afew paragraphs...

Hot n sunny.....

Greetings from the sun! As if a switch has been thrown the frost has gone and the warmth arrives... must be 20 degrees today and the forecast is 27 by Monday. The locals talk of Saint Glace, a particular late frost that arrives around the 12th of May and leaves by the 16th...true to form it arrived and took most of my veges with it! By next year I will have some form of poly tunnel/glass house, an essential it would seem.

Alors, life continues to be tres occupé mais je pense once the gites are ready I can relax a little(?).. Hugely enjoying the markets, a lovely way of being part of the local community without the awkwardness of the observer (just the language).. Heleen is slowly upgrading the'look'of our produce, new labels etc. I am making some pretty good jam with people now returning for another (red gooseberry is my favourite). The eggs are selling well although with so many new girls I do get the odd comment re trop petit (inspite of them being cheaper).

We bought a young rooster from the market, a scruffy little chap we named Jonnie, sadly he got mercilessly picked on by the new girls and so after repeated attempts to escape I put him in his own little hutch. The fact he came up to me and happily snuggled in when carried suggests he finds us far less a threat than his own! I shall feed him up and boost his sense of self before attempting a reintroduction.

There is a great (actually quite poor in design!) website here (and in other countries I see) called angloinfo (for those brits around the planet)...I find it a great site for most things..Sam wanted a lift to Bristol, within a day he had just that from Roscoff for €14... I had bought a topper for the tractor for €300 off the site yet it was a little narrow, I put an ad asking if there was someone looking to downsize and low and behold I now have a 1500cm seri-arse topper as a straight swap..very nice.

C&L are settling into school and I notice their curiosity re language and life coming into focus. People say that the French education system is very good and the fact their class holds such a diverse range of age and ethnicity and works perhaps is testament to this. I continue my French lessons and surprise myself with how much I enjoy the process, I wish I had got that 40 years ago!!

D'accord, back out to work on the white gite for me and perhaps a stroll down to the river later with the kids for a paddle..

â bientôt...

Friends, family, neighbours

I'd love to be one of these people that have time to write a blog entry every day. We are just zo busy with kids, work, animals, DIY & life! And lately we have been also doing lots of social stuff with lovely people visiting.

Sam is staying here for a while and is doing a great job painting, wood chopping, kite flying with the kids and of course Yummmmmy cooking! Another week and he'll be of to Asia. We'll miss him!!

Last week Hilmar and Wim and Stafe and Jules were here for a short (and chilly) holiday. It was so lovely to see them! The boys were helping with the chickens and playing with C&L like older brothers. As a family they've been trying out several daytrips in the area. Unfortuanaltely the weather wasn't really cooperating, but they felt very 'Breton-zen' when they left.

It's great to have neighbours that are dropping in for a glass or cuppa. On the photos Joelle & Lars from the cottage up the lane.