Steak Anyone?

Hmmm connecting one thing with another - hope we have enough gas!

And by the way Mary...

We have started to tidy up the garage!

Today's Big Event in Marsilly

The Ecofrais is the local supermarche and starting to day they are selling the meat of one particular, award wining cow. We spoke to the butcher and we think he said that its name was Daisy.
And it is a nice picture of its backside aussi.

Domesticity

We are beginning to think that the gnomes have gone on holiday, or else been kidnapped. Since we have not had any ransom note we are thinking the holiday option is prime - but you would have thought that they would have left a note  - or at least send us a postcard!

Direct from Willow Court to Nantilly; the vegetable rack is pressed into service right away, it nestles nicely into a spot in the Pantry and is laden with more fruit and vegetables than this house has ever seen before. Conscious of "food miles" one has started to notice the source of fresh food and it is interesting to note that the sort of fruit that the UK sources from the Caribbean and South Africa tens to come from former French colonies in Africa

It might have been too cold to eat out last night but that did not stop us from cooking on the bbq - note the pans with vegs cooking away on the bbq griddle.

Splendid morning with the sun streaming in the fenetre de cusine. A bientot

Chilli chicken and pineapple kebabs anyone...

...well that was the plan.
After a productive day that included getting the electricity supply upgraded, clearing out the garage, washing down the patio tiles and pruning the olive tree, the idea was to basque in the evening sunshine and rustle up a bbq!
By 17.30 we had the chicken marinading, the skewers ready and the pineapple ready to slice so we settled down, in the sunshine to read for a bit before dinner.
Fast forward to 7.00pm and we are sitting in front of a blazing log fire wondering (a) where the heat of the day went and (b) who will go outside in a winter fleece and anorak to cook the kebabs!!??

Final note on the Olive tree - sad to say it was in a very poor state when we got here, with much of its foliage dead. Not really knowing what we were doing, we none the less thought that a hard prune was in order. The poor thing was clearly not going to prosper as it was and so a kill or cure approach seemed best. Our next visit in May / June time will likely indicate the effect of our TLC. (The photo is before the pruning.)
The hard winter and heavy snow has also killed of the "other" semi-tropical palm tree like plant in the corner by the garage and we don't even want to think of the job involved in getting rid of that one. Perhaps it is time for a bit of a rethink of the "planting" or otherwise of the back yard. Ideas on a postcard.

Palm Sunday in Nantilly

 The journey to Nantilly began on Saturday with a visit to Tillington to see Mary and Jez. They had popped over to their local with friends Dana and Robert and we arrived with the cheese board - very nice too!

Tillington is just outside Petworth and is about 45 minutes from the cross channel ferry terminal at Portsmouth and so providing a quick last part of the trip. Arriving at around quater past six the boarding "checking-in" had begun and we were quickly through the check-in and joined line 11 that was soon waved through customs and border control. There was quite a long wait before embarkation but none the less the ferry departed promptly at 8.15pm with the two of us in the Restaurant ordering our meal.


As has become our custom after dinner, we went to the main bar to see suss out the evening's entertainment. "Live" music was supplied by a duo of voice and drums delivering a very pleasant of songs, most of which we recognised. In the end it was a shame that they didn't get too much attention from the family dominated crowd. There was also a magician Rick O'Shea!!!! He was brilliant with the little kids and delivered some very good illusions and feats of  prestidigitation. 

 Getting off the boat took rather a lot of time and it was 9.15 before we were on the "high road" but we had a very smooth trip south and pulled up outside number 8 at 12.30.

The most significant element of packing the car was putting our bbq from home into the boot. This required it being dismantled and it still filled the boot and so I was determined to get it rebuilt and ready for use as soon as possible - hence the first of the photographs, proud bbq engineer.

That done we had a bit of a spin round the immediate locale. Pleased to report that Viviers continues to develop with the conversion of the old dining room into a shop and a modest boardwalk added to the frontage along with timber cladding. And good news, the restaurant reopens on April 6th.


At the end of summer we reported that Viviers had competition, right across the road from them and it is good to see that it is not only still here but it looks like they are near to completing a deck for outdoor dining in the season.

Les humans left la porte arrière unlocked....

...and zo we snook out of zee garage through zee cat-flap ("Eh, ou est le chat?") and in through the back door and now we are settling down to hibernate until les printemps.

Bonjour Mr Michael

Bon Anniversaire

Friday Fun - Ile de Re

The posh side of the harbour in St Martin

"There’s something oddly egalitarian about the French island of Ile de Ré. It’s Unesco-protected, attracts wealthy Parisians and British holidaymakers, and St Martin, the capital, has restaurants and boutiques that post prices to rival Paris or Nice. And yet its former citadel is home to France’s largest correctional facility, and until 1938 was the departure point for convicts bound for the French penal colonies.

The island is in its prime in the summer, but is equally appealing off season... " or so said Simon Horsford in a newspaper article a couple of years ago and so we went to test his view.

...and the not so posh - see the difference

The bridge is as ever a brilliant site as it crescents across the water. In the low season the tariff for a car is 8 euro - the tariff is now an eco-tariff, replacing the bridge toll as of January 1st. We passed by Rivedoux and pottered through a picturesque but (all bit) deserted La Flotte and pulled up on the quay in St Martin. It was - very cold - as it had been all week - but with less wind around we were able to have an amble around. There was plenty of life around the harbour including a several cafes open for lunch. We settled for a coffee and a snack in Fred's at Rivedoux before returning to Nantilly to settle in front of the fire for the rest of the day.

Wednesday's Wandering

With the main roads clear and the secondary roads OK to use with care, we decided on a day trip to Ile D'Oleron and Rochefort. Now this would be a rather big itinerary in spring or summer but on a freezing cold day in February it was more than possible. Our first target was to do a first time visit to the Phare de Chassiron that is at the far end of the island.
The whole island was eerily quiet and then we realised that we had arrived during the two hours of lunch time, that is clearly still observed, at least during the off-peak winter season.
The extent that Ile D'Oleron is a holiday place becomes very obvious on a winter visit by the number of businesses that are "closed until April", even most of the garages selling petrol have closed up.

Once at the Phare we parked up and donned every item of clothing we had with us set of for a cliff top walk. Most of the photos in the collage are from the point. Note the condition of the trees in the bottom left and you get some idea of the wind. The walk did not last long and was dominated by a discussion on the merits of thermal underwear. Oh for the days of summer when we complain about it being to hot!
We left the Phare and drove down to Le Chateau D'Oleron in search of a warming coffee but everywhere was closed and we found ourselves in the the square in Rochefort before settling into a cafe for cafe.
The photo in the bottom right is the Ecofrais Supermarche in Marsilly that has become our second home as we have bought just about everything we wanted there. Looking at the receipts we have made a significant impact on the local economy!