Very late blog - Inspired by travels

View from the terrace

Great cookbook

Food is a favourite topic, I had a super beef bourguignon in Weybridge, so decided to cook a traditional French version using a Elisabeth Luard recipe. YUM.  My guilty Sunday morning pleasure is watching Saturday morning kitchen with James Martin and his guests.  It is finished by 10:30 and I always come away with lots of foodie ideas.  I had some great conversations in Bad Gastein with Alex Hollywood, a food writer who has an instagram food blog.  I must say the food on Instagram looks great, so much so I bought her book " Cooking Tonight: Simple recipes to put the joy back into weekday suppers".  I look forward to reading and trying a few recipes.

Well it's finally happened.  I have ordered fibre and they are coming on 20th February.  Tom's very excited as his games will not be laggy.  The fibre boxes have arrived so I am ready! However the technician arrived to install 20th and explained that I had to trench and put in the plastic pipe so they could run the fibre.  I went to the Orange shop and have Orange et Moi application, not once did they mention this requirement, so I'm pretty pissed off.  I have to run one from end point pole to access point then one to the house (the current one is too small) and 150m to gite....arrrgh.  I am now looking at SFR, Free etc. as I have heard they offer to install the full access for fibre.

It's February and towards the end of the month I have had a few eggs from the ducks!   The chickens finished moulting so I now have a couple from them also each day.  It's great to be self-sufficient for eggs, and they taste better than shop bought.  The sad news is "Bobby" the duck we hatched from an egg disappeared.  My guess flew over fence and taken by a predator.   We looked all around the property including the small lake at the bottom of the valley.

Last night at Ian's I had a great meal, tatties, neap's and haggis with a whisky sauce followed by succulent roast pork with crackling, roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower in a white sauce and gravy. This was followed by a cheese course, then creme brulée.  Lots of good wine and finished with armagnac.  Good food and great company .  It was Ian's birthday a day earlier and most of us were away on Burns night.  Hence the haggis!

Almond in blossom

Spring is here with warm days, too warm for our ski holiday in Baqueira. I hope there is good snow in a few weeks.  My friend Neil arrives 21st and will come skiing with the kids.  He will stay until March 14th, so plenty of time to experience spring at La Bastide.  Violets are blooming and the first daffodils are flowering, it seems like a very early spring.  The apricot is flowering as are the blackthorn,  I have put the geraniums in the sunlight rather than the light in the écurie.  A feed and water and they should start to do well.  Celandine and cowslips are appearing on the verges.   Next after skiing, I will move the citrus trees, that are in the boot room for winter, back outside.  

Steps to apartment

I have a new robot pump coming soon, as the last one failed when the filter broke.  I am also considering a motif around the top of the pool to help hide the yellow stain that I cannot remove (suncream).  I went to see if Codina had any old pool fence clips as I have run out and the 3D printed ones that the boys at the chateau made are not as strong.  No luck there (even though they are the manufacturers) so I'll try eBay.  Started to organise outdoor work for JP and me.  The main work is to concrete the steps and install a metal fence above the granite slope, paint the soffits and rest of the door surrounds. I have started a long list and hope to complete all by end March.  JP arrives tomorrow to continue the work.  I have even ordered a blind kit, to repair a blind in the cottage.

I have my first bookings (six plus some enquiries) in the farmhouse, grange and cottage, I am starting to get more interest in the gites, now people are starting to think about their summer holidays.  I even have some friends arriving in May and maybe a few more, depending on a house purchase, where the vendor is dragging his feet.

EDF arrived mid week to survey and arrange the electricity underground.  This will be good news as all the overhead cables will disappear and the large concrete post near the farmhouse.  It will happen after the season.  I may even get some compensation as they have to dig up my land to lay cables.  I believe once completed EDF will save on maintenance of the current setup.

As in the UK, dentistry is an issue.  My dentist closed and the dentist is moving to another town to setup a new practice.  The twelve practices contacted so far are not taking on any new people.  So the circle will have to widen, as I need a regular dental practice.  Evie has a cavity and so far I cannot get her an appointment.

More work at the weekend, continuing with the path.  It will look great this season, once completed and the new fence is in.

The good news is it's -7 degrees this week in Baqueira and snowing.  We have a chalet with log fire which I am sure will be used,  The kids are very excited.

Era restaurant my favourite

Kids ready for the slopes

Well getting to Baqueira became a nightmare as my car broke down on the Toulouse périphérique in the south.  We ended up with three policemen slowing the traffic down, then a breakdown van with huge warning triangle.  We were finally on our way to a secure yard onboard a large lorry, car on the back.  We waited 3 hours for the insurance company to arrange enough taxis for five people and a huge amount of luggage.  We spent a night at the closest hotel (Moulin de Rudelle a boutique hotel that specialised in weddings) that had rooms, unfortunately no bar or supper, so we got pizza using Uber eats. Lucky we had beer with us so the holiday started.  The following day we hired a Mercedes van (the director of the hotel was brilliant and incredibly helpful) that could accommodate us and all the luggage including skis.  We arrived, were snowed in and without winter tyres had a few shopping issues.  The first night we had over two feet of snow, and the following day was a white-out.  However, from then on it snowed again and the sun came out and Neil and the kids had fantastic conditions.  We met for lunch most days and sat outside in the sun enjoying local stews, soups and tartelette (it is close to France).  I cooked breakfast and evening meals.  The kids wolfed down everything!  On the Saturday (March) we left around noon and arrived at La Bastide.  The van was returned Monday and a small Renault Clio hired.  My car arrived at the garage, its fate unknown!

This weekend Janine and I arranged trench digging for the fibre, hopefully that will be completed by the end of  March, so that I can sow grass seed and finally arrange the Fibre installation (other providers wanted the same underground pipework)   Well that's about it, sorry so late, but I had lots of excuses.  Good news for me: the kids start school Monday!