After the last post about our poultry drama,we thought we’d finally beaten nature and won the battle  - hens versus weasel.

How wrong we were. On Friday when I went to open up the hen house I found Candy,one of our new young guinea fowl missing ( or it could have been Prada) and Dolce lying dead on the floor – or it could have been Gabbana as they all look exactly the same.

How the murderer managed to get in and out is a mystery. It must have had lessons from Houdini. The only possible way would be through the wire netting “window” but after the last incident we connected it to the electric fencing.

It was definitely working – Amar tested it with his bald head. Unwittingly, of course. The force knocked him clean off his feet. So there’s no way this mystery creature couldn’t have felt it too, unless of course it had a lot more hair which …no, best not go there. It’s a sore point, even more so now that 7000 volts have been there!

The birds, now hopefully safe inside their electrified house!

We have now double wired the window and sealed every tiny gap in the wood even the ones which were obviously far too small for anything remotely dangerous to get through. 5 days on and all is well.

The birds have bonded together in a display of French solidarity, which I suppose initially was fear but at least they all seem to be getting along well. We had intended to add some more hens and some bantam decorative ones to replace Coco & Chanel but I think we’ll wait a bit until the nocturnal thief has definitely got the message.Hopefully it won’t be too long…

Coco, a frizzle leghorn

Chanel, a white silkie

Part 1

You can do a lot in 4 days. On our recent very last minute visit to Scotland Emma & I managed to notch up…

…2 flights , 8 bus journeys , 5 train journeys , visited all the family ( sadly didn’t have time to fit in friends, that’s for the next time) went to see 2 musicals, went out for  2 lovely lunches ( if you’re ever in Fife try The Muddy Boots or The Pillars of Hercules - both very nice!)  hit the shops & melted the credit card – only just round the edges though as we were travelling light and only had a 10 kg allowance ….if only we’d known they wouldn’t weigh the cases….

Pillars of Hercules - organic farm shop & café in Falkland, Fife

A lot can also happen in 4 days.  In our absence Giorgio the cockerel, not having me to focus on, turned his attentions to Amar & Alistair, both of whom were on the receiving end of his pent up emotions – all that chicken testosterone vented in much flapping of wings and several perfectly placed attacks with his short sharp beak.

Giorgio will now be moving on to pastures new. We got him from Brive but the hen producer at Terrasson Thursday market has agreed to swap him for a bird with hopefully less aggressive genes. Probably best all round.

Cacharel the one eyed Gingernut ranger

We will also have to get a few more hens while we’re there to replace Cacharel, our friendly one eyed Gingernut Ranger & Prada ,one of our guinea fowl (or it could well be Dolce or Gabbana as they all look the same). They were both taken by a fox 2 nights ago when Alistair & Amar forgot to lock up the hen house – not their fault as this is normally my domain & obviously not at the forefront of their minds, especially when Marseilles are playing Barcelona.

Lempicka , a Miss Pepperpot

Part 2

All of the above was written on the plane on the way home & the unfortunate events don’t stop there. The weasel ( for we have now established that it must have been a weasel & not a fox ) came back & in spite of Amar having secured all the hen house, it managed to wriggle in through a gap in the wired window and killed Lolita, Lempicka our 2 docile Miss Pepperpots and Giorgio, the feisty cockerel. Even though he gave me a hard time I was particularly upset that this proud & magnificent bird should end his days like that.

Proud and feisty Giorgio

The henhouse , now almost empty with only the two guinea fowl, Dolce & Gabbana and Nina the white Sussex left, was covered in electric wiring and so far this has kept the thief at bay.We went to the market yesterday and got two more guinea fowl ( Candy & Prada ) & two new hens , a Miss Pepperpot and a Gingernut Ranger just like Lolita & Cacharel. We may just have to give them the same names  - Emma has a theme going there !!

Choosing a Miss Pepperpot at Terrasson market

Monsieur Lacoste ( yes, really, the hen producer’s name also fits nicely into Emma’s theme- how convenient!! ) had also brought the exchange cockerel for us. Not a bantam though , this one was HUGE & I have to admit I was apprehensive even just looking at it. Having had a day or two of being able to go back into the hen pen without the added protection of a big stick & bin lid to ward off any attacks, I was very reluctant to throw an even bigger potential into the equation. M.L. understood and was happy to take him home again.

I know I will miss the homely & rustic cock-a-doodle-doos and the prospect of hatching cute little chicks but it’s a small price to pay to feel at ease again!

I remember the time when it was fashionable if not de rigeur to slip the odd French word into our conversations -made us look chic and gave us that certain je ne sais quoi which was so desirable back then.

Not so for the French – their language was sacred and would never be compromised. Well, changed days, monsieur.

The Daily Mail once published an article about the French culture minister trying to stop English ( & not so English!) words from invading the French language. It obviously didn’t work.

Since moving to France 6 years ago we have heard more & more English words & phrases creeping into the French vocabulary.

Some which have been around for a while or are fairly obvious such as cool, weekend, parking, too much, wi-fi (although this is pronounced wee-fee), hard discount ( and this is pronounced ‘ard deescoont otherwise no one knows what you’re talking about) etc need no explanation.

Don't look so worried, dear - eet ees a feenger in ze nose!! Ne t'inquiete pas ma cherie, it is a finger in the nose!

Others need a bit more thought:

“Je suis carpet ( pronounced car-pet)” = I’m exhausted- literally flat out like a carpet on the floor.

“Je suis over booké” - I’ve taken on too much/got too much to do- overbooked as in hotel reservations

The latest addition , at least around here , is…wait for it…..” It is a finger in the nose”. For full effect this has to be pronounced Eet eeze a feenger een ze noze. General meaning = It’s easy. No prizes for guessing how they came up with that one!! And if anyone has ever actually used that phrase please do let me know!!

Plume de ma tante! – as Del Boy would say!

At last after the long and arduous Winter, Les Crouquets is now once again back in full bloom. Surprisingly not as many lost plants as we’d thought – Mother Nature has taken good care of most of her charges. Another week or two of this glorious weather (& some rain during the night hopefully!) & we should be back on track for our usual kaleidoscope of country colour!

Hawthorn flowers

Apricot blossom

Apple blossom

Plum Blossom

Peach blossom

Sadly no cherry blossom this year as our cherry tree which was always laden with plump juicy cherries blew down one windy night last June.

broken cherry tree

Windfall cherries!

We had to pick all the cherries at once – when we got sick of eating cherries we had to find other ways of using them up. Absolutely delicious!!

clafoutis

Yesterday was Jayac’s soirée crêpes – well it was actually l’après-midi as the original soirée was cancelled due to the snow. Sunday afternoons are usually kept for sporting activities, family outings & gardening if the weather’s good (which it was yesterday) so we didn’t expect a massive crowd but enough people made the effort which was good.

roadside advertising!

These events are more for boosting the community spirit rather than making a profit which is invaluable for bringing some life into little villages like Jayac which could so easily drift into a ghost town state outside the tourist season.

We like to volunteer when we can as a huge amount of preparation is required to pull it all together. This time Amar was assigned to the chicken & mushroom crêpes. There was also a more traditional ham,emmental & very runny egg version and an array of dessert crêpes with sugar, jams, honey or France’s favourite, Nutella. This was all to be washed down with unlimited jugs of red wine or cider.

lots of chickens to roast

lots of roasted chickens!

dessert crêpes

Entertainment came in the form of drums by Yves and accordian by Nicholas Peuch which was much appreciated by our little crowd.

music by Nicholas Peuch & Yves

There was also the obligatory conga which is so very un -Périgordine but always seems to make an appearance at these gatherings and for some reason attracts good audience participation!! Note to self : when everyone else has their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them maybe it’s not such a good idea to grab the mayor round the waist!The next event will likely be for the Fête de St Jean in June which will certainly be an evening affair with BBQ and bonfire and should definitely be a bit busier as the tourist season will be in full swing by then.

As yet no more mention of the Scottish evening I was volunteered for,thank goodness! Can’t even begin to imagine how much time I’d need to spend translating the country dances…mind you if the conga is anything to go by there should be no shortage of people willing to give it a go…watch this space!

Well, after hoping at the end of the last post to get back to normal fairly soon, life since then has been anything but! The cold spell continued and although we weren’t the worst affected, the Dordogne saw the hardest Winter in over 20 years. With no school transport for 10 days, getting up to take Emma & Alistair to school in temperatures of -14°C was not funny. They got some extra days holiday out of it though and lessons consisted mainly of extra sport and watching films ( not enough pupils or teachers  to warrant  proper classes) so they weren’t bothered!

A day on the snow covered pitch & putt course - better than school!!

On the surface of it our little corner of the world is more or less back to normal apart from the country roads which are still shut to lorries while they gently defrost.

country roads are still closed to vehicles over 7.5t

As the big thaw began though, so did the problems. We had of course taken all the usual Winter precautions but like so many others we weren’t prepared for it being so cold for so long. When we realized that  this was exceptional it was too late – we just had to sit & wait for the pipes to burst. Which of course they did.

newly painted beds in flooded room

Of the face of it we’ve been lucky with not too much damage – a few pipes to fix, possibly some flooring to change & a lot of inconvenience. The pool may be a different story though – it’s still slowly defrosting. Time will tell.

A waterfall of ice coming from the pool filtration system

The plants though maybe haven’t got off so lightly. Not being used to an arctic climate some are badly frostbitten and we are hoping most of them will somehow recover. One which definitely won’t recover is this poor tree which met its fate when Amar reversed into it. He almost killed the car too when he got out to inspect the tree damage & then saw it rolling away towards the gamesroom wall! He had luckily left the car door open & only just manage to jump in and stop it before its fate was sealed. I missed all this drama though so unfortunately don’t have any photographic evidence of the great chase!

What a way to go - run over by a car!

I also managed to add to the injury count by cutting my thumb & one of the tendons on the rough edge of a mirror. This meant a visit to Sarlat’s A&E dept, a trip to the operating theatre & my first real taste of the French medical service. I’ve never been a fan of the French bedside manner, finding it cold, mechanical & severely lacking in sense of humour which I always find indispensable in times of panic! I’m pleased to report they looked after me really well and my view has now changed slightly.I felt well & truly cosseted from the surgeon’s witty asides, to the cosy bed ( heated up by an electric blanket) waiting for me after the op to the daily home visits from the nurse to change the dressings. I dispensed with this last unnecessary luxury though & took myself to the surgery when I couldn’t face doing it myself – no point in adding to the already stretched health service! In spite of the pleasant attention, I’ll be a lot more careful in future.

To finish off this run of bad luck, Caramel, our little lionhead rabbit died this week.

Caramel, the lionhead rabbit

He was a cute little thing with loads of personality & we miss him hopping about the house & throwing his toys out of the cage. This year’s returning guests will certainly miss him too.

Yes it’s been a difficult couple of weeks. But onwards & upwards – lots of positive things to come in the next posts!

With parts of France hitting -25°C this week we should be pleased that it’s only -13°C at Les Crouquets!

This weekend saw the first snowfall of the year here – not very practical when you need the car to go out  but it’s so beautiful to look at it really does make the inconvenience all worthwhile!All this prettiness though is not welcomed as much by the animals or the wildlife…The morning skies are also wonderful and show up the tracks of all the animals which have wandered out of the woods & all over Les Crouquets during the night!The cold spell is set to last for the best part of the week  - after that we’ll be glad to get back to normal!

One of our guests gave me a present of a deliciously creamy bar of donkey milk soap…..gorgeous! It smells all cosy & comforting almost like a bar of posh baby soap and it really does leave your skin feeling lovely & soft. Cleopatra obviously knew her stuff.

A cosy & comforting bar of posh baby soap!

You can get all sorts of donkey milk soap at Sarlat market –  rose, lavender,  tea tree, citrus…I’ve promised myself some more next time we’re there.

Sarlat has all manner of markets….Saturday food market, all day market, Summer night market, organic market, covered market….all well worth a visit and a must-do for all our guests.

Sarlat is a stunning medieval town, steeped in history and has the most listed buildings per km than the rest of Europe. The old town is a charming labyrinth of cobbled streets and winding alleys with little shops and quaint atmospheric restaurants tucked away in the most unexpected corners.

Sarlat

We came across Sarlat completely by chance before we bought Les Crouquets and fell in love with its charm as soon as we saw it.

True, in the Summer it gets very busy and perhaps there are a few too many tourist traps lurking alongside the other wonderful stuff but maybe that’s what keeps it alive and bustling. Certainly to come to the Dordogne and not visit Sarlat would be a real pity.

Les Crouquets is just 25 mins drive away from Sarlat and many of our guests go there several times during their holiday.

Definitely one for the “must do” list!