It's been a busy time with lots of guests and a few friends, the pool has been the daily magnet drawing all guests to laze by the pool and swim to cool down. As you can probably guess August has generally been a hot month and the pool has seen plenty of use.
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| All cool in the pool |
Beach
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| Fish at the beach bar |
Gruissan Plage near Narbonne is well worth a visit, make sure it's not windy as the sand can get blown in your face. The sea is shallow, ideal for kids, the beach long and sandy. The beach bar does good food and is very cool with outdoor beds, tents and tables with big parasols. Betty Blue was filmed here in the clapper board houses on stilts. We had a great time.
Sidobre
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| Sidobre granite |
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| Well balanced |
We visited the Sidobre with friends, about 30 minutes away. The stone land north of Castres is a unique geological event in Europe. Legend says that the gods would have thrown the granite stones in an evening of anger. It is a great area to explore, children of all ages love to climb the rocks wether on land or in the water. There is a fabulous hut with a log fire at its heart ideal for a coffee or ice cream and within a stones throw a fantastic museum, which costs one euro an adult with kids free!
Hikers, fishermen, mountain bikers or families out for an adventure, the Sidobre is for you!
Fruit
The orchard is now providing plums, apples and mirabelle fruit. We have already eaten the nectarines. Chickens will be running in the orchard shortly as the coop is built.
Stars
The night sky has been amazing, with no pollution to affect your gaze. We often sit and look up at the plethora of stars, planets and satellites. This month has been the best time to see shooting stars with the Perseid meteor shower, one of the brighter meteor showers of the year. This meteor shower occurs every year between July 17 and August 24. The shower tends to peak around August 9-13. The best time to view the Perseids, and most other meteor showers, is when the sky is the darkest.
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| Canoeing the Tarn |
We went canoeing again and we all got wet, but what fun. We drove to St Antonin Noble Val (about an hour and 45 minutes) and canoed 10K down the Tarn, through gorges and picnicked on the beach. We swam the river, canoed down rapids and enjoyed nature on the way. We saw Little egrets, Dippers, Heron and very large fish, also what looked like trout! We were picked up at the end by the great team at Canoe Loisirs.
Gites
With the farmhouse kitchen and downstairs bathroom completed, we are already considering updates to the cottage shower, kitchen and outdoor terrace over looking the meadow. Roll on November!
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| Bread Festival |
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| Poster |
August is also a great time for festivals with the Garlic and Bread festivals in Lautrec, we visited and enjoyed the stalls baking and selling all types of bread, as well as the best croissant competition.
There is also a fantastic car and tractor fête in Cuq. Every year they hold a ploughing competition and people bring concourse condition cars for everyone to see. This is 15th of August (French holiday) and the same day as the Bread festival in Lautrec.
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| Tractors |
Lakes, swimming and Accro-Branche at http://laccroparc.com
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| Lac de St Ferreol |
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| Going Ape |
We visited a number of cool places this August with friends and family. The Montagne Noire, 30 minutes away, above Mazamet with swimming in the lake and going ape in the tress. Amazing to see my six year old daughter travel down a Zip-wire. Revel with the large Lac de St Ferreol for a swim and picnic with friends on the beach, beautiful.
Badgers
We have a badgers sett on the hill and one night we saw our first badger on the road to La Bastide. The Honey buzzard has called all month, circling above in the azure blue sky and a Roller visited again. Over 30 bee-eaters call overhead and will soon be on there way back to Africa with the hundreds of swallows that will gather in September.
Producers markets
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| Tomatoes my favorite |
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| You hum it and I'll play it |
Finally the producers markets continue this month and we have taken friends a few times as the food is great and the outdoor setting very French. Everyone is catered for with BBQ trout, sausages, chicken, or steak. Baked cheese, plancha vegetables, salads, wine and beer plus sorbets for afters — yum.
September will also be busy, but it's our last full month, then a well earned holiday in Spain for us and the kids.
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