We have shortly returned from La Rochelle, where after a fabulous lunch outside a restaurant next to the old harbour, where a set price three course lunch, with loads of choices (except for me with oysters as one of the starter choices, there became no real choice!!), gives you change from £13-00!, we delivered guests 15 and 16 to the airport ready for their flight back to Stanstead and onward journey to York.
During the meal, Anne one of our guests, with a satisfied sigh, pushed her chair back, sank into said chair and somewhat dreamily said “This is the life!!” To which Linda hastily replied “Yes it is!” Which seems a good moment to remind you all that you are welcome to join us as part of this new life, and have an opportunity to see the sights and sample the food and wine! But “book” early to avoid disappointment!!
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible, either here in the sunny Vendée or on our forthcoming visit to England, which promises to be something of a mad dash, fitting in as many people as possible (Stroud, Forest of Dean, Broadway, York and many places in between!
Love
Roger
85410, Vendee, FRANCE
rogerhiggs@hotmail.co.uk
Mes chers amis
What a Wonderful World!
It is some time since the last missive, and not only have we had other visitors (My Mum and Dad and one of their old friends, all en route for a holiday further south, and Anne and Steve, friends from York) but I’m on a mission!! And, this mission is one of those that is likely to run and run, with hopefully some sort of “holy grail” at the end, but lots of cans of worms along the way. Some of you will know that, in October I was elected as the chairman of the Association of Countryside Volunteers (ACV), formerly the Association of Countryside Voluntary Wardens (ACVW), a small national organisation that exists to bring like minded people together, set up training opportunities and "to promote effective and enjoyable work by volunteers throughout the countryside." Having then moved to France meant that carrying out this role was going to need good reliable internet access, particularly as I have set myself the task of tracking down an estimate of how many countryside volunteers operate in the UK and as a by product of this research, trying to promote the ACV and make a small organisation bigger. Well over 500 emails down the line: 15 National Parks (not good responders to date!), 48 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (even worse responders to date!!), Wildlife Trusts (the worst responders so far!!!), 448 Local Authorities (at present the best responders) and various other groups and organisations, the multitude of replies is keeping me busy, but providing some very interesting leads!
Mid May and warfare broke out in the surrounding fields!
It’s a while back now, but in mid May the peace and quiet of our rural idyll was shattered. Warfare had broken out all around us and the brown earth turned imperceptibly green as a result. Why? I hear you ask, concerned no doubt for our safety in this corner of a foreign field! But, don’t worry our lives were not at risk* from either the crops that were shooting up at an alarming rate, or from the distant gunshots, that it transpired were simply bottled gas operated bird scarers!! All we could think was “Thank goodness Max is now all but deaf,” that’s unless you count being able to hear a baguette being drawn from a cotton bread sack and the subsequent cutting up!!
*However, the numerous coypu (see below) might not be so lucky!!
Also, shortly afterwards, we seemed to be under siege each evening when we went out and walked down the inner avenue of lime trees, towards the moat that surrounds the tightly shuttered chateau. We were followed and surrounded by a strange hum, not some strange new doodlebug weapon designed to eradicate the coypu population, or indeed the “incomer” population, or caused by a lack of showering during the preceding hot sweaty weather!
No, but it was an invasion! As the lime trees came into flower, the bees set to work collecting the pollen, if you stopped and focussed on the fair sized trees surrounding you, you were indeed surrounded by the busy bees from miles around, the whole outer edge of the tree buzzed and moved, as the bees frantically collected pollen from the multitude of insignificant flowers that proliferated on each tree. Fortunately, our own body smell that had developed since our last shower was not at all attractive to the thousands upon thousands of bees we found ourselves in close proximity with!
Wildlife Watch
One of the great things about living in the deepest countryside is that we are privileged to share it with some incredible wildlife, and as the weeks go by the list of “hidden glimpses of our secret nature” keep on growing:
The list of deer sightings continues from the first distant fleeting glance to a better view when Linda and I were walking quite noisily back from St Laurent, on our evening amble. We passed a line of trees to be confronted by a deer grazing in the field. Not sure who was most surprised the deer or us, but certainly the deer moved fastest, after the initial shock, nimbly leaping into the nearby trees. Then, close by the same spot, when walking with my mother, we again disturbed a deer that took flight, not into the nearby wood, but jumping wildly and high as it made its way across a wide field of standing grain into the cover of a distant wood.
On another occasion, when on the search for the last few elderflowers to make another batch of cordial, I took off on my own on one of the circular walks from our house and taking in a number of grassy green lanes. Walking along minding my own business, I passed a break in the trees that opened into the middle of the wood, and had all but gone passed when I thought to myself that one of the tree trunks didn’t look quite right and stopped, took a step back and came face to face with a roe deer, frozen and watching, thinking it had got away with it. I then froze and for a fleeting moment or two we stared at each other, before it realised that it hadn’t got away with it and with surprising agility and surprisingly quietly, it leapt away from me through the dense undergrowth of the surrounding woodland. And, finally for now the latest sighting, deep in the chateau woodland and close to the wolf pit, showed the remarkable jumping ability that deer’s have. Along the path in front of us a deer that had probably gone to ground and then realised we were getting too close for comfort, broke cover and ran down the wide woodland path leaping quite two metres in the air and twisting backwards and forwards in case the excited finger pointing it out was a gun being levelled to the shoulder, and in a flash it was gone bounding through the dense surrounding woodland.
They’re big rodents, or rats, but there is something rather endearing about the huge number of coypu who seem to frequent any patches of water, and there are lots of those, in the area. I guess it’s the British Wind in the Willows syndrome, as we get up early, make special journeys to and stand for long periods to watch and shoot these engaging creatures, with a camera I hasten to add, whilst the natives, who really are very friendly, try to capture them and shoot them in a totally different manner! One evening amble, or dodle as we tend to call it, courtesy of M. Chateau, strolling as if we own the place down the grassy tree-lined avenue, there was a scurry of activity as first one then two, three, and four young coypu followed by mum ran back to the safety of their pond and close proximity to their burrow, before stopping to look at us and posing long enough to allow Linda time to get out her camera and take a photo.
Then, early one morning, the rising sun beckoned and I quietly walked to the lake just up the tree-lined road and spent a little while watching and photographing a swimming coypu, that was obviously oblivious to my presence, a convenient clump of brambles providing useful cover over which to poke the telephoto lens! Such encounters are all the more satisfying knowing that you have glimpsed the animal’s secret world, without disturbing them and frightening them away, or indeed them knowing that you were even there.
As we walk along the many tracks and green lanes that surround us, there are often scurrying noises from the undergrowth, as animals that hear us coming and go to ground, decide that we are too close for comfort and make a dash for it. Often these frantic sounds of escape are no more than that, and the animal; mouse, rat, coypu, lizard or whatever, remains hidden and unobserved and on the occasion I thought the snuffling sounds might have come from a foraging sangier, or wild boar, I was quite relieved not to be confronted!! But just occasionally, the cover is broken and we are rewarded with a tantalising and exhilarating glimpse, like when with a loud and hurried flapping of obviously very large wings just the other side of the hedge revealed, as it lifted off, an enormous buzzard with trailing bright yellow legs and enormous talons – thankfully I was too large a prey!
Whilst on our feathered friends; there was the family of goldfinches, like a group of excited children on an outing, chattering as they flew hurriedly around, seeming to chase one another as they searched the thistles for seeds but also flew hither and thither for the pure joy of it, twittering noisily as they went. Then, whilst lunching on the terrace one day the peace was shattered by an altogether different, more persistent and urgent tweeting, and looking up we were confronted by three young swallows precariously and not very proficiently clinging to our telephone wire, indeed one of them seemed so nervous that it was very reluctant to leave the safety of the bracket that holds the wire to the post. As we looked at them the excited tweeting had all but stopped, until one of the long suffering and hard working parents were spied by one of the youngsters, who all continually scanned the sky, whilst clinging on to their wobbly claw holds. At the time they were spotted and food was imminent then all hell let loose, seeming at first that the chick that could tweet the loudest would get the next tasty morsel. But, further watching showed that both parents were very fair and shared the food they constantly gathered, with little time for themselves to take a bite. These carefully choreographed antics went on for some time, with the tweet crescendo followed by the careful watching, until with some unseen sign the parents coaxed their offspring off the wire and into the air, albeit initially rather shakily.
Sometime later in the afternoon, the lunchtime performance all but forgotten, a less frantic tweeting made me look skyward and there were the three youngsters and their parents performing an incredible aerobatic display as if to say “look at us now!” indeed, so proficient had the three timid chicks of earlier become, that it was impossible to tell them apart from their parents, who were obviously seasoned fliers as well as great travellers, returning to this corner of France to rear their young before flying back thousands of kilometres to somewhere in North Africa – a mind boggling feat and for me one of the natural world’s greatest secrets, just how do they find their way and above all keep going without stopping! In honour of today’s maiden flight and with a huge amount of respect for the speed with which the youngsters had progressed, I found myself laughing out loud and giving the family a cheery wave, to which I’m sure they dipped their wings in acknowledgement –it reminds me of those famous words of W.H. Davies, famous poet who spent his last days in Nailsworth, close to Stroud: “What is this life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.” It also reminds me of home and how so often when “full of care” I didn’t have the time to “stand and stare.”
See the blog “It happened one Thursday in February,” and in particular the slide show called “Blue Sky Thinking,” to see that time isn’t now at such a premium. Also, watch out for the next missive – see below!!
Then there are the hares, sightings of which are too numerous to mention, suffice to say; they’re huge, incredibly fast over long distances and by far the best stolen moment was when one grazing on the chateau lawn outside out sitting room window, being oblivious to our presence, sauntered right up to the roses outside our window, nearly close enough to touch, before unhurried and certainly unafraid went about it’s daily business.
Then there’s: The Red Cage ~ Strange or what? See below:
Fortunately, the natives are friendly!
As I write this the natives are partying by the lake, it’s Bank Holiday Weekend and it seems that M. Joe’s family are celebrating, or as we now know M. Jode’s family. It seems to happen a lot around here, no not the partying, although the French are good at that too, but rather the changing of identity, remember Madam becoming Monsieur? I think I also missed out on an invite to join them, as I wasn’t sure if when I waved and shouted Bonjour, if the raised hands were a greeting or a bottle and glass being proffered!?
Well, we recently greeted a walker passing with her two dogs in our best French, but on her return I forgot where I was and called Max back, from seeing off her dogs, in English, at which point she said “Oh, you’re English!” So we must be making some progress with the language and trying to blend in, although I would have thought that the English car parked at the front might have been a give away, but even that is soon to change as we have had to reregister the car in France to obtain insurance. The new number will be going on when we return from England in a couple of weeks time. It seems a bit strange going on holiday to England. So it transpired that the English woman lived in La Goupillaire, our nearest very small hamlet and in the two years that she has been there has begun to sort out who is related to who, and many of the families seem to have a Jode connection! So our detective work was advanced some way with one short conversation, and we’ve been invited for coffee so may be able to find out even more!!
But, I’m jumping ahead of myself as I need to go back to when we first moved in. From that very first day, when suddenly the normally quiet road seemed to have a constant flow of traffic, heads turned our way as they passed and waving vigorously if we happened to be in sight, the natives, or perhaps locals would be better, have been very friendly. And, even after the initial surge of interest, any walkers, joggers, cyclists or the occupants of vehicles that chance to stray off the beaten track and down our way all wave and greet us in the most friendly of manner – no simple nod or raised hand but a real backwards and forwards friendly wave, as though they really mean it! We did for a while wonder if there was a local sweepstake to see who could get the incomers to wave at them the most!!
But even out walking, cars were passing us and all the occupants energetically waving, with even the driver turning so obviously towards us that they were in danger of leaving the road! It’s also not uncommon for a car to stop and the occupants to pass the time of day, as when we were waiting for my brother and heard a car pull up outside the chateau. Thinking they had arrived and were admiring the chateau before turning into our drive, Linda and I both strode out to be confronted by a strange French car, with a couple in it who wound down the window and chattered happily for some time, even telling us about all the English people who had moved into their village.
M. Jode, as we now know him and it wasn’t the rather bemused man that Linda had accosted some weeks previously and asked if he was M. Joe. At the time he agreed he was, perhaps to appease the mad English woman, but there again he may simply have been one of the Jode’s boys as there seem to be a lot of them around, but not M. Charles’ guardian or caretaker, who with his round smiley face waves like a long lost friend whenever we see him, at times leaning precariously out of the ancient tractor that he often drives! His son, Michel, is the farmer who usually collects the water from the trough outside our house, to fill up the cow troughs out in the fields, and he always makes a point of coming over, shaking hands and passing the time of day, even if it is only a comment about the weather! But when my brother and family were here he was passing as they were in the car about to drive off and he speeds up, screeching to a stop in his battered old tractor, emulating his father and leaning out and waving through the car window to then wishing them “Au revoir et bon retour!” Good bye and good return journey!
Then, seemingly at pains to make sure we were invited on the annual parish walk, we had two albeit rather vague invites, pushed into our letterbox – buts that’s for another missive.
They are also obviously beginning to feel comfortable with us being around, as the other day, admittedly something of a scorcher, Michel arrived stripped to the waist and in a pair of baggy shorts, as well as heavy work boots and a baseball cap, certainly not a pretty sight!! After the initial pleasantries, talk turned to the heat and how he needed his hat today. As I was wearing mine I agreed and indicated how important it was when you had little hair on top, although mine continues to grow back! With a chuckle, he removed his cap and indicated his own, somewhat smaller, bald patch!!
Any ideas for courgettes!?!
Well, the baby courgettes have grown and generally seem set to take over the world, well perhaps our little part of the Vendée! It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, some of the first plants that we put in the garden were ten healthy looking courgette plants, but conditions; hot very dry weather and a long journey with the watering can, meant that although they flowered quickly, by the time that our first vegetable expert visited they were looking rather sad for themselves, despite a stern talking to each morning! So the expert decided that we needed some new plants and another batch of ten, the label promising them to be prolific producers of wonderfully flavoured and beautifully coloured courgettes, were duly planted. However, at the same time Linda, under the guidance of the expert, gave the first lot of plants a bit of TLC and some compost.
Now whether it was the TLC, compost, stern talking to or the desire not to be outdone by the new-comers, as the new-comers romped upwards, most of the first batch decided to keep pace and so two or three weeks of picking has seen us harvest over seventy courgettes, ranging from mini pan-fried and too young to be taken from their mothers to monster, size fours, well stuffed with lentils, rice, onions and French beans (both from the garden) as well as some further cunningly disguised grated courgette to bulk it up a bit and get rid of some more courgette.
Fortunately, courgettes are versatile, and our present visitors are partial to a courgette or six!! But, despite frying them, grating them into stews and raw in salads, adding them to casseroles, lasagne and ratatouille, barbecuing them, making them into crepes, pickling them and generally stretching their versatility to the limit, they continue to grow and grow, and you can almost see them sneering at you as they stretch a little more between trips to the tap with the watering can, and muttering under their breath “That will teach you to talk sternly to us!!” I’m sure that I’m not alone in having a glut of courgettes, so why not send me your favourite disguise (edible!!) for courgettes, or better still add them to the blog! “It happened one Thursday in February”
But, the gardening is repaying the initial hard work, and as well as courgettes we have harvested lots of leaves (a local type of chard), leeks, onions, shallots and handfuls of French beans, which pan-fried in some oil go with everything and I think I will never tire of! Amazing really, as we only moved in in the first week of April!
We also have tomatoes, peppers, cabbages, beetroot, carrots, potatoes and broccoli still to come, so we are hoping it rains at least some of the time when we visit England next week for a couple of weeks, in France that is!! The only things that didn’t take were two melons, which are grown locally, but didn’t rate our garden and we only got three lettuces (2 rather scrawny and the other a real whopper!) out of the eighteen we planted!! The others succumbed to a strange fate, appearing to dissolve into the soil –caused by some sort of insect we have been told – all very sci-fi, but then how about this for sinister goings on:
This is a red cage or lattice fungus, that starts as a simple small puff ball like fungus, that shrinks, develops a honeycomb pattern before slowly splitting and revealing the red cage, up to about 8 - 10cms across, that appears irresistible to flies that devour it until it collapses!! All very Steven Spielberg!
A Question? Did Delia get an MBE because Gordon Brown mistook everyone saying how patronising she is*, for how patriotic she is!?! Many of you will know my feelings about said woman!!
(*I got no further than “This in the trade is what we call an egg!” when watching the first and last Delia TV programme that I have watched!)
Kind regards, Best Wishes and Love
Roger, Linda and Max ~ (“Off oyster shells now I’ve discovered the delights of “Moules à la Bretonne” and realised there’s something soft and delicious inside the shell!!)
And to come next time, maybe: The Moon’s in “A,” Why’s that jogger up in the sky and Blog UK?, where some of the less adventurous, who haven’t ventured to our “back of beyond!,” might feature!!
Oh, and I hear you say – “What about the Citizen Blog?” Well, it’s not forgotten, but “my Editor” (sounds rather grand doesn’t it!), tells me there is a slight delay!!
(*I got no further than “This in the trade is what we call an egg!” when watching the first and last Delia TV programme that I have watched!)
Kind regards, Best Wishes and Love
Roger, Linda and Max ~ (“Off oyster shells now I’ve discovered the delights of “Moules à la Bretonne” and realised there’s something soft and delicious inside the shell!!)
And to come next time, maybe: The Moon’s in “A,” Why’s that jogger up in the sky and Blog UK?, where some of the less adventurous, who haven’t ventured to our “back of beyond!,” might feature!!
Oh, and I hear you say – “What about the Citizen Blog?” Well, it’s not forgotten, but “my Editor” (sounds rather grand doesn’t it!), tells me there is a slight delay!!
