We’ve decided to go for a French country style of decoration. But what exactly is that? Taken literally, it would be sparse, dark and chilly! Most French rural properties are old farm cottages like ours so had few and small windows (when you’ve experienced a Creuse winter, you’ll know why!), only one or two rooms (and definitely not a bathroom or toilet) and furnished with just the very basics. Now that isn’t too appealing. So we’ll go with the modern definition of the rural look. This is all about mixing fabrics, having some items of antique furniture dotted around, beams exposed, a few old knick-knacks on display and an emphasis on natural products like wood and stone. Notaire’s kitchen is already spot-on with it’s gorgeous ‘butcher’s block’ work surface (i.e. oiled wood as opposed to formica or marble) and fancy brickwork behind the oven. The stone-coloured crepi wall covering we’ve used is perfect too, and so are its ceiling beams and supporting ‘trees’. Wooden flooring mixed with ochre tiles and a beautiful rug clinch the deal!

We’ve already brightened up the house with extra windows and skylights and warmed it up considerably with insulation and double glazing. We put in extra rooms and a bathroom upstairs the year after we got here. So we’re bigger too.

There’ll be an elegant rural feel to the bedrooms. The master bedroom will have either a four-poster bed or some kind of canopy to make it extra special. We have some lovely framed pictures to go in the rooms, my sewing machine is poised to make cushions, door curtains and blinds – it’s going to look great. I’ll be posting photos to show our progress, so watch this space. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to try the French rural look at home too.

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 …

Term ended in disarray before Christmas because of the snow. Caits was already home sick, but the two boys missed their last day. Rors had presents ready for his teacher, beloved dinner lady, classroom assistant and one of the bus drivers. He’s not that fussed about handing them out anymore. The Christmas spirit has gone!

It was the Feast of Epiphany yesterday (Sunday 3^rd January). In France it’s held on the Sunday closest to the 6^th January. So I made a galette des rois for tea. This is a delicious pie made from puff pastry with a frangipan filling. It also conceals a ‘feve’ – literally a bean, but in actuality a ceramic figure. The person who gets the feve will have luck all year, or so the belief is. The correct way to serve up the pie is to put the youngest family member under the table! He or she then dictates who will get which slice of pie as it is cut. We haven’t actually tried that out ourselves. Rors prefers to keep his gimlet eye on the proceedings so he can suss out which slice has the feve. He’s not a great one for leaving things to chance. I posted a ‘how-to’ project on making a Twelfth Night Cake at http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/search?q=twelfth+night+pie&x=8&y=10 so do check that out.

Alpacas in the snow

Now that the big lake is ice free, it was time to feed the fish as well. Caitlin tried to row out the other day but the seemingly thin layer of ice was deceptively strong. Benj and Ruadhri did the honours today. Chris and I threw food in from the bank so there should be enough carp granules for our recently expanded population down there to share.

It looks almost spring-like, but it’s getting chilly. Yesterday the farm was the wettest I can remember seeing it. We went for a walk in the top fields above the little lake, and every mole hill there had become a fountain! I’ve never seen that before. The lake was full to the brim and water was gushing down the overflow into middle lake, which was full too. The big lake, which we drained in November – not completely, but just to be able to clear snags out of the way – has refilled. That didn’t take long at all.

Washing is on the line, the little animals (ie the rabbits and guinea pigs) are out on the lawn in their runs – not at all what you’d expect for the last day of the year. But I’m not complaining. If we can’t have snow, then I’m more than happy with sunshine.

Caitlin is determined to stay up to see the New Year in this year. The trouble is, we won’t see her again till Sunday. Caits is hopeless at getting up at the best of times, so after a late night, there’s no hope at all! I don’t think I’ll join her. I prefer just to wake up next day and find that the next year has begun. We’re looking forward to 2010. All being well, it will be our busiest yet for the gite, the fishing and the llamas. And we’ll certainly be busy for the first few months, finishing off the renovations and decorations on the Notaire’s House. We’ll keep you posted of how it’s coming along. The children have exciting challenges ahead at school and we have ambitious plans for enlarging our smallholding to include pigs and broilers, and maybe a sheep or two.

My plan is to blog regularly so keep checking back to stay abreast of events at Les Fragnes. I don’t foresee many dull moments!

Bon nouvel an !

The plants fared much worse and the tomatoes and potatos have been damaged. The pumpkins and courgettes which had been growing at a prodigous rate on the llama compost fared worst of all. their broad leaves were shredded by hail and many of the runners broken up, we will have to see if they can recover fast enough to support their pumpkins.

July is also Ruadhri’s birthday, here is his cake, a Mechwarrior after the computer game he inherited from his big brother

July is Tour de France month as well, we were fortunate enough for the tour to pass close by again on Bastille day, the downside was that most of La Chartre was there as well. Still we found a good place at the top of the hill and landed lots of goodies from the circus. It wasn’t as good a position for the cycling but you have to have your priorities right!  When we got home we watched the race highlights on ITV4 and they showed the start in Limoge and then cut to the last 30Km in excruciating detail. Come on ITV, the highlights are supposed to be the highlights. The coverage used to show some of the beautiful places in France but the tour crossed 150 Km of Limousin without a single picture. Thats the second year that they have expunged Limousin from the racing map!

On the knee front I progressed rapidly off the crutches and got back to normal. It’s a little stiff after any inactivity but I’m really pleased with the op and am much more confident when working. Thanks Dr Chatta !

Posted on 24 July by Chris

She is a lovely, healthy little girl, as pretty as a picture. We found her at about midday, after we got back from a lovely sunny walk around the local green lanes. (It was eventful – we found a fox in a snare which bit Chris as he tried to free him. Later Chris and Benj freed him using boltcutters and we had a trip to the doctors for antibiotics. Luckily there is no rabies in our part of France so Chris didn’t need to undergo a horrendous series of anti-rabies injections.) But back to Lulin. She can’t have been born very long, as she was still wet and had a lot of her membrane ‘envelope’ still on her. We brought her and mum out into the sunshine and dried her off. She soon warmed up and began trying to stand up. She rolled into a kushing position first and we carefully carried her back into the stable where we’d spread out a thick carpet of clean hay. We left her and Gabby to bond but kept an eye on things and were delighted to see her struggle to her feet. She could only walk backwards to start with, and not for very long, but gradually she got stronger and more co-ordinated. Today (4 March) she is suckling well and trotting around next to Gabby, who is proving to be a super mum. Chris and I are doting ‘parents’ too! I was up between 3am and 5am making a cria coat for her, and Chris has mended the battered stable door to keep the draught out. Keep checking in for progress reports!

Here is a photo of her at about 2 hours old:-

Lulin

4 March 09

Feb 09

We are now the pleased owners of two alpacas who have been named Seamus and Brendan. The alpacas were very well behaved and made themselves comfortable in the back of the Scenic. It was worth the long drive to watch the reactions of the other drivers when one or both of the alpacas lifted their heads for a look around!

Brendan the Alpaca

Seamus the Alpaca

Dec 08

I hit the brakes and pulled over. The kittens were tiny, wet and shivering. Somebody ‘up there’ must be having a joke on me, given what I had threatened the children with if they brought back any more waifs and strays. I put the kittens in the back of the car for safety and looked around for signs of a nest or mother cat, there was no sign of either and given the average drivers age and eyesight in Creuse it would be certain death to leave them. I piled a spare jumper around them and finished my errand.

On the way back home there is a sharp turn into our private lane and when I eased on the brake it squealed, bang goes another cat life I thought. We negotiated the turn and stopped to open the gate, the errant kitten was under my seat and seemed none the worse for wear.

So now we have 4 tiny kittens approximatly two weeks old : Paddy (ginger tom), Treacle, comrade Pushkin and Wild thing. Steph made an emergency dash to the vets and bought some kitten milk and a feeder and we have beeen feeding them every 4 hours or so. Paddy gave us a scare yesterday and seemed to be fading but he is feeding and lively again today.

Once again we will have to start the search for new homes for the cats but we will look after the ones we can’t home, have you considered adopting a beautiful little kitten?

cute kittens

19 Sept 08

It’s been a busy summer but great fun. We just completed the gite as the first guests arrived, we were still wiring up the tv and dvd as they come through the door! We made a lot of new friends this year and renewed some old frienships as well. The response to the gite has been very heartening and all our guests were very complimentary about the gite and its location. The common theme was how much they appreciated the peace and quiet. The fishing lake was also well received and the peaceful location was admired, fortunately the fishing was pretty good as well. The Llama trekking got off to a busy start at the begining of summer but slowed down as the holidays progressed. All in all a good start and hopefully the word will spread and we can do more of the same.

Benjamin spent most of the summer picking Myrtiles and picked up a fat pay cheque this week, some has been converted into a new electric guitar and plans are afoot for further aquisitions.

Caitlin was working hard as well, having requested promotion to her final year she spent all summer cramming quatrieme into just 6 weeks.

Ruadhri played and played and played, he played with the ducks and the cats and the dog. He played with the duckpond and fell in. He fished and played with visiting children and helped out on llama treks, he says that he had a great summer!

The weather this week is cooler but still very sunny, it’s a great time of year to go walking or cycling here in Creuse as the temperatures are not too hot and the hedgerows are filled with wild fruit. The champignons are starting to come out so soon the fields and woods will be populated by brave mushroom hunters out to gather the tastiest wild goodies. Needless to say we can accomodate you at our gite!

14 Sept 08