Fireworks and fruits de mer at St Trojan

Antigny’s fireworks were splendid as usual though the night was chilly and people did not linger afterwards as they usually would have done had it been more pleasant to sit out. RPO and BBC concert orchestra musicians Dave and Karen arrived for a stay in the small gite and although tired after their journey they managed to enjoy the fireworks before crashing. They have had a terrific week visiting the valley of the monkeys, the Abbey of Saint Savin, Angles sur L’Anglin and the Roc aux Sorcieres exhibition, and eating out at some wonderful restaurants. They have had a good week of lovely sunshine and enjoyed some of our vegetable produce. Andrew Bentley – manager for Royal Ballet Sinfonia, has been here just for two nights with his wife Rebecca. They too are enjoying the area and having a good and restful stay.

Nagged by the children to get out of La Faye and go somewhere we hit the coast on Wednesday and drove to St Trojan in Ile D’Oleron where most of the lovely seafood comes from. We had a fabulous day at the beach jumping through waves and sunbathing. At night we had a spectacular dinner of seafood - my platter of ‘fruits de mer’ being exceptionally delicious. It had been a hot day and we were able to sit on the terrace and watch the sun set as we ate – very relaxing and a place we would love to return to.

Harmonicas, fireworks and beefsteak ‘bien cuite’

It has been a social time here at La Faye with some really good moments with friends. Phillippe and Manu very kindly invited us to participate in a family dinner with some of their relatives from Algeria. Apart from a delicious meal and a warm welcome we were treated to some exuberant singing and guitar playing and some very evocative music on the harmonica. They were all so kind and hospitable and warm. It was a wonderful evening.

Today the commune of Antigny
congregated down by the river to participate in the grand BBQ. It was great to see so many friends and local people. It was a good opportunity to catch up and take part in community celebrations. There is quite a large group of British now who are either here as permanent residents or as holiday visitors. Stephen helped out with the committee des fetes and was largely in charge of cooking the steaks for the English who on the whole prefer their meat well done. Tonight we have the fireworks to look forward to.

We have been harvesting beans and freezing them like mad and giving away cucumbers as we can’t eat them fast enough. Same with the courgettes. Our water butts are quickly emptying so I am hoping for some good overnight rain at some point as the garden is quite dry. Although still fresh in the mornings and evenings the weather has been quite good. We have guests who arrived today in the studio gite who immediately said how happy they were to be here and how lovely it is.Madeleine - La Faye's gardener & Blogger! Taken at the Antigny BBQ.

Haricots verts and wheat and rape harvest

More gardening today to get rid of the weeds which seem to have taken over various parts of the vegetable patch. We are picking beans with speed to par boil and freeze as there are so many. Last night we enjoyed a simple but very tasty dinner eating salads of red cabbage, beetroot, beans and cucumber – all freshly picked from the garden. This was accompanied by an omelette using our own chicken’s eggs. At lunch I made a gratin of courgette with cheese and butter and garlic and parsley using courgettes from our garden that were a little larger than usual but luckily were still soft after cooking and were not in any way bitter. The challenge at present seems to lie in being able to conserve all that we are producing and not let any go to waste. Our favourite cucumber recipe is just to serve it finely sliced with chives, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and salt. However, the word ‘cucumber’ is apt to produce a rolling of the eyes from my girls who are eating it every chance I get to serve it up!!

The farmers meanwhile are hastily doing the harvesting of the rape and wheat now that the weather has stabilised into a dry spell. The sound of the combines can be heard until late and the air is filled with a fine dust. No doubt they may be partaking in that refreshment they like here called ‘mijo’ – I don’t know exactly how it is spelt but it is red wine with sugar, pieces of bread and sugar. It is served cold and some of my elderly people have it for their supper. I don’t like it at all but it is supposed to be a refreshment specifically for the time of harvest when the weather is warm.

Bastille day

Last night we enjoyed the 14^th of July firework celebrations at Saint Savin. Leaving the girls to the delights of the dodgem cars with their friends, Stephen and I found a wonderful spot right near the river without any obstruction to our view. It was as if the fireworks were just for us they were so directly in front and overhead. This year they were as spectacular as ever - the reflections on the river and deepening blackness of sky with the spire of the Abbey beyond made it a very lovely spectacle. We then endured the long wait at a noisy bar while the girls finished their goes on the dodgems amidst loud and awful music.

Today we have been back at work in the garden as it has been neglected of late. Maggie’s grave is right near the veggie plot and although we miss her greatly it makes us feel like she is still around. In the evenings she used to accompany me down the garden and often sat there while I weeded – usually annoyingly right in the middle of some lettuces or onions. We have been harvesting beans and peas to freeze and tonight made salads with cucumber, red cabbage, beans and beetroot. It has been very hot today – one of the warmest days in a long time. After some hard work in the garden we took a rewarding dip to cool off. I started the day with a walk with Avalanche – we will finish with a cycle to give her a bit more exercise.

Maggie

We would like to use our blog to pay a small tribute to our dog Maggie who died peacefully last night here at home. We were fortunate to get Maggie from Battersea Dog’s Home seven years ago. She had been found wandering around Palmers Green with no identification and had been handed into the local police station. Some person either sadly – or deliberately – lost her. But we found her and were lucky to have many happy moments with her. She was just a mongrel – a grey fluffy mix of terrier and poodle – and we will never know how old she was when she died. At a guess she was probably between five or eight when we got her. She certainly was starting to show her age in recent months but she never lost a kind of youthful joy - even when she could no longer go for long fast walks and when her breathing had become more laboured. She was always so happy to be around us, loved her food, enjoyed chasing the cat and had a remarkable sense of humour. The mornings were usually a ritual of rolling about, kicking her legs up in the air and making sniffing sneezing noises that on her more buoyant days ended in a good fit of tail chasing. She was a villainous thief when it came to food but I always found her zest for my cooking flattering. Guests at our gite loved her. She seemed to attract great affection from everyone. Old and young stopped to stroke and make a fuss of her. Her passion in life when we were in London was the post woman and lamp posts. Here, when we moved to France, she enjoyed bouncing through the fields and doing the gite holidays barbeque circuit. She was such a good-tempered, no-fuss kind of animal – never making a nuisance of herself and always there as part of the family. We will miss her terribly and thank Battersea Dogs Home from the bottom of our hearts for giving her to us that lucky day we turned up to find ourselves a pet.

Le Roc-Aux Sorciers

A recent outing to one of the latest tourist attractions in the area needs to be mentioned. The archaeological site Roc-Aux-Sorciers was both interesting informative and pleasurable. A newlybuilt discovery centre opened in March this year allows the public to be informed about an important and fascinating Magdalenian site which was discovered by an eccentric British archaeologist Dorothy Garrod in the 1940's. This discovery of a large settlement of nomadic people who returned habitually 15,000 years ago to this area by the river has been hailed as important as the cave paintings of Lascaux. The newly built discovery centre enables the visitor to learn something of the history of this site before passing through a chronological time zone that explains in context this archaeological find. 15,000 years ago a large settlement of 'homo sapiens' not only made this part of the river Anglin their home but into an overhanging sheltered rock surface they carved a story of their lives. This incredible freeze of horses, bison, women & men is as yet incomplete as it waits for other excavation to reveal the artwork of these ancient people. 20 metres of sculpture have been recovered but it is believed there is possibly many more metres not yet recovered. Therefore available to the public is a reconstruction of the sculptures currently exposed as well as a fascinating multi-media film that brings to life in sound and images the creation of this important find. We found the visit to 'Roc-Aux-Sorciers' a truly moving journey into the lives of people in the past.