September - end of season and friends

Apéro sky

End of season

Oysters

September saw the last of our guests leave to drive 1000km back to Belgium and the Netherlands 1100km.  They had a relaxing time and enjoyed the quiet of La Bastide.  Guests gave us fantastic local wine-very crisp and fresh oysters, Evie and I ate the lot, I drank the wine!

Friends who visit

The pool is now used by friends who visit, and myself.  The kids' Grandad and his wife Sandra have visited for a week,  I certainly made the most of apéros and visiting restaurants.  The French now have the Pass Sanitaire to access restaurants, though some bars and restaurants do not ask to scan them.  It has been good to visit places that enforce the "pass" and I do feel safer.

Duck with polenta chips

We enjoyed great food for Grandad's birthday, at Le Jardin du Clocher in Lautrec, with champagne, fantastic food and an excellent bottle of La Clape red wine.  We visited Réalmont market, to buy garlic and take coffee.  We also went to Castres open air market, which had an amazing buzz, a fantastic offering of fresh produce, cheese, meat, fish and freshly cooked dishes.  We sat in the square drinking beer and coffee before an enjoyable lunch of salad with a choice of flan.  I enjoyed a duo of ham with mustard. YUM.

We tried two more restaurants, La table de Serviès sitting under the cooling plane trees, which provided a fantastic starter of foie gras and cured duck breast salad, then a very tasty main of pink seared duck breast with fries and vegetable puree.  This was washed down with French south west Beret Noir excellent!  

Duck the simplified
description!

Presse de foie gras et 
boeuf confit, condiments
aigre doux, jus reduit
poivre de Jamaique

Our final restaurant of the trip was the replacement of the sold Clos D'adèle, the L'oc-xalis.  The food was beyond excellent, with amuse bouche, gazpacho, an amazing starter of prawn followed by duck.  The pictures do not do justice to the incredible flavours.  It is run by two thirty something chefs and I am sure will become the place to eat in Lautrec for fine dining.  I am already looking forward to a return trip

Merlu (Hake)

Prawn - yum

So good I had to add two more pictures!

My friend Neil is here for four weeks, so we are enjoying beer, wine and home cooked food.  Walks with Lilou, the mad Border collie/Labrador cross.  Other friends arrive 1st October, so more apéros, restaurants, town and countryside visits.

View from near Bald Hill

Trips into the countryside

Walking to Bald hill in the heat is a chore for Lilou and I.  It's about a forty minute round trip, we now go at a cooler 7am time to enjoy the Tarn views.  On the last few occasions I have seen a female Sparrowhawk and young Sparrowhawk calling for food.  Hunting season started in the Tarn on the 12th, so we have to avoid hunters now until the season closes on 28th February 2022.  This is not normally an issue as their dogs wear bells and the hunters fluorescent jackets.

View from the top

Bakery

Marti our local artisan bakery, has changed hands.  From 2008 it was Laurent Marti who baked and won numerous awards.  It has been taken over by an artisan baker Romain and his English wife Natalee.  Romain has been an artisan baker for 20 years and the bakery will be called Le Pancossier.  The tradition of great artisan bread and pastries will be maintained, the interior had a refresh during the traditional annual closure (15 days holiday) and the bread is as good as ever.

Wildlife

Most of the bird summer visitors will head back to Africa this month, if they have not already.  We have a black winged kite quartering the fields behind La Barthe, a small village adjacent to Puycalvel.  I have watched this bird hovering over fields and perched on a wire, I am sure it is on passage, but some over-winter in the Tarn.  A group of sand martins (around 60) appeared over the top fields feeding, before migrating south.  This week I heard a black woodpecker, I have heard one over the past few years, but have never identified the call.  Birds always surprise me during the autumn, whether a hobby, roller, Scops owl or redstart passing through.  

 A big thank-you to all who travelled to stay at La Bastide, you all made the season memorable.  You all helped us became a Premier partner with VRBO, partly due to the 4.9/5 review ratings. 

I think 2022 will be even busier.