Life in Limousin

I’m not sure we have any ‘typical days’ – every one is usually so different. However, I suppose we do have ‘fairly typical’ or ‘relatively normal’ days. Here’s how our winter ones are shaping up. We’ll go with a Monday.

It’s up at 6 to get Benj and Caiti to the bus-stop for the coach to lycée by 6.45am. The nearest stop is at Le Poteau, a small collection of houses by a dangerous bend in the road 11 km away. So we’re out of the house just before 6.30am. Cold and dark these days, but this last Monday the Christmas lights were still up at Le Poteau. There is definitely rivalry going on with four quite stunning displays. My favourite one has a flashing ostrich – well, that’s what it looks like. I’m home by 7, in time to get Ruadhri out of bed. He’s not the best in the morning, but once he gets a sip of tea in him, he starts to wake up. He sits right next to the radiator in the kitchen, and we have the portable gas fire on his other side. The kitchen is only 7 or 8 degrees C in the mornings just now, a bit chilly!

We leave the house at 7.50am to tramp up the drive to wait for Ruadhri’s school bus which picks him up from the gate. We wished it didn’t, as the driver has to do a tricky three point turn on the green lane and it’s only a matter of time before he gets stuck. Guess who’ll have to push him out!

So, free of kids, it’s on with the animal maintenance. We start with a walk down to the big lake, to check on things down there. On warmer days we take the goat with us to carry on her excellent ground-clearing programme. She eats anything and everything so we’re gradually reclaiming some brambly, practically impenetrable areas of banking. We feed the fish every few days, throwing in several bucketfuls of carp pellets. Nessie the dog and quite often a cat or two wait to catch the ones that we drop!

Llamas and alpacas next. Seamus and Brendan, our young male alpacas, and old Bernard the llama, now retired, share a stable these days. We walk them out to their field, top up or thaw out their water bucket and toss in a few armfuls of hay. The girl llamas have the freedom to go in and out of their stable at will, so we just have a chat with them. Honestly! And they sniff us and enjoy the attention for a while. We sort their water out, and then feed and water the little animals i.e. the rabbits and guinea pigs. Most days there are titbits for them – stale bread, apple and banana peel or pumpkin skin. Chickens, turkeys and ducks next. They all share one of the stable. They’re usually happy to come out, but on the very cold or snowy days, they prefer to stop inside, huddled up unhappily. We have to keep a close eye on Matilda, our muscovy duck. This breed is prone to frostbite, would you believe. We’ve lost a couple of ducks to it in the past. Luckily Matilda is fairly sensible and goes indoors at night, either with the rest of the poultry or with the alpacas. Usually there’s a cat in that stable too, so quite a collection of animals peacefully spend the night together. Then lastly it’s down to Oscar and Denis’s field (they’re llamas) with hay and water.

Wood next. Wood is our main source of heating – cheap but a lot of work. We brought up a lot of logs from our woods during the summer. Now Chris cuts them up smaller and I lug them to the shed. We probably cut wood once a week. Then each day we bring in at least a wheelbarrowful to the house to keep us warm. During winter we live in the living room, literally, once breakfast is over, only dashing to the kitchen to get meals or cups of tea. Everything happens in there – the washing gets dried, the admin gets done, poorly animals (fortunately a rare event) get warmed up in a cardboard box in front of the fire. It’s economical. Then I write or catch up with admin, while Chris updates the websites. Renovation is underway in the new gite so there’s plenty to do there, and also all the usual household chores. When it’s too snowy to drive to the shops in Boussac for the groceries, we walk to the small shop at Nouzerines for essentials and the best croissants you’re likely to find anywhere.

There isn’t time to get bored, and before we know it, it’s late afternoon and time to deal with the animals again – putting away, topping up buckets, replenishing hay, bringing the goat back to her stable. We meet Ruadhri off his bus at just after 5pm, so then it’s tea, homework, a bit of playtime and then the sometimes difficult bedtime process!

Our evenings at the moment are indoors, reading, computing and watching some telly. Summer seems so long ago – we were outdoors till 9 or 10 everynight then. But since it’s dark before 6pm these day, no hope of that at the moment! We’ll sometimes step out to look at the stars, or admire the moon, or listen for owls. We know that a lot goes on out there because of the myriad of tracks we’re finding in the snow in the mornings – deer, ragondins, birds, hares, foxes, mice – and several unidentifiable trails too.

Then lights out. We’re always ready for bed as our lives are very physically active. We haven’t yet gone to bed before 8-year-old Ruadhri but sometimes it’s quite close! Our two teens are well used to us going to bed before them.

Ready for another untypical day at Les Fragnes …