Night Falls !

The end to another perfect day, aahhhhhhhh!!

Our New Piece of France

Joanne & Chris now own a little bit more of France than they did yesterday, yes, we are expanding. We have bought a small field next to La Petite Maison and are dedicating this area to the animals, Chris was triumphant when he broke through the existing boundary and work has now commenced in preperation for the big day when our livestock will be on the move, lots of brush and scrub to cut down and burn and fences to repair, watch this space to see how we progress.

Wysteria in Full Bloom

It is just perfect, a glass of Sauvignon, warm sunshine, the scent from the Wysteria and the sound of the bees collecting pollen, yes, the upper sun terrace here at La Petite Maison is that perfect place to relax and unwind after a hard days relaxing and unwinding Ha Ha!

Wysteria in Full Bloom

The weather here in the Limousin has been exceptional during March & April, lots of sunshine, high temperatures and very little rain. This combination has led to perfect conditions for Spring time growth and produced the best show of flowers we have ever seen on our Wysteria, the scent is just beautiful and the colour amazing.

Busy Bee Corner

The bees are very busy here in Chassaing Cheval due to the glorious weather we are having, 32 degrees yesterday, the Oak tree experiment has worked well and the bees have began to draw honeycomb, Michel and Chris decided it was time to transfer another swarm from one of Michels old hives into one of our new ones, that gives us three working hives, more than enough honey for La Petite Maison with surplus to sell. We are not sure how the move has gone because they couldn't find the queen but hopefully she entered the hive, more news later on this one, fingers crossed.

We eat well tonight !

Well you wouldn't want this to take a bite out of your leg would you, yes, the hunting season is over and the fishing season is underway, Chris was amazed when he landed this Zander, it is a cross between a pike and perch and they are known for their ferocity. A real delicacy here in France and much sought after, also very expensive in restaurants. We will eat this, filleted and descaled with butter and garlic sauteed spinach, a famous recipe by Michel Lemoine, yummy, can't wait.

Another Fishy Tale !

Chris set out for his first carping session of the season last Friday morning, the three day session on Etang Neuf close to the picturesque village of Dontreix (25 minutes from La Petite Maison) produced 2 Carp for Chris. His first weighing in at 23lb 6oz and his second at 20lb 3oz, needless to say, even though he said it was hard going and slow, he was of course delighted. Hard going and slow my foot, the weather was glorious and he came home brown as a berry, a little fatter than when he left, Ha Ha ! His objective this year is a 30 pounder so watch this space!