We've been on the tv - it's all over!

Such a long time since the last blog - I always seem to start a blog like a confession - forgive me, it has been six weeks since my last blog!
I have been busy - of course - some guests, some decorating, some gardening, much cleaning/tidying/stacking and moving of logs/lighting and cleaning fires etc etc. I've spent a week back in the UK, visiting family and friends and getting my M&S fix!
But mostly it's been a time of waiting and watching the tv to see how we would be portrayed on ITV's 'Little England'.
Well, its over, we've been on the telly, and it wasn't too bad! So, here are some pictures of our film 'crew', back in the early summer. We'd like to say thank you to them for making us look good, for being kind and gentle, for the lovely photography of this very beautiful area of France that we have made our home.
So, Kate and Suzi, Simon and Ashley, and everyone involved in the editing,...Thank you from all of us.

Filming Morgan - the 'chicken whisperer'!

Right....what next?!

Off to the Marie with my dictionary. Note Tom in the background, pretending he's not there!

The chicks are in a box in the car, and we are at Domaine Gourdon!

Ssh!...quick they haven't seen us......!

'Dutch Courage'

Take a break!

'Cheers!'

Nearly done.

After the rain..

Photographing the photographer!

You want me to do what...?!

What did she say?!

Ash in the gite......

and outside.

All finished and ready for guests - and not raining yet!

So. What next at Vue de Duras?

The January edition of Living France (out later this month) has an article about us, just in time for Christmas reading.

Our bookings for the gite are going very well, just one week left in the whole of July and August next summer, how fantastic is that? So if you are thinking of booking a week, do it soon! Go to www.vuededuras.com for availability. 

Christmas is coming, and Hugh will be here for a couple of weeks - I may even let him have a bit of a holiday!
March will see Hugh finally giving up the day job and taking up his new job as full time pool maintenance man/marketing and accounts manager.....
and I may even do a bit of teaching!

We got there!

Another long gap, with so much to blog, that I will have to use photos and captions to prevent boredom in the reader!
In the (almost a) month since my last blog lots of things have changed.
The chicks have grown, and grown again and are now pretty much free range, ranging wider and wider, into the vines, the plum trees, our neighbour's garden and the gite! They return pretty quickly though, if they think there might be treats involved!

Mike with treats.

Waiting to be let out!

Table birds?

Oven ready?!

The gite was finally finished and furnished.

Jim the digger, digging another pond, leveling out the car park and filling in holes.

Mike putting finishing touches to furniture for the gite.

Just waiting for the grass to grow.

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2 

 

Lounge and dining room

Kitchen diner

Spot the camera man!

 We are thrilled with the way it has turned out. We wanted to celebrate the end of this part of our adventure, and thank everyone who helped along the way. So we planned a big party and invited everyone who helped along with the mayor to make it an 'official opening'. Unfortunately, we were too busy to take any photos, but we're hoping that other people did, and I will publish them when I get them.
After weeks of very hot and dry weather, it started to rain just 10 minutes before the party began, and rained for a couple of hours - real, steady, wet rain, much to the relief, I'm sure of all our local farmers and wine growers, so we couldn't really complain! We just got on with it, enjoyed the afternoon, and when the rain finally stopped, it turned into a beautiful evening, with petanque, led by Jean-Claude (playing his rules apparently!) and an impromptu (albeit "one we prepared earlier") chilli on the terrace until well into the night.

The petanque pitch, scene of a battle!

So....thank you to everyone who has helped us on our way (not just those in the photo!) and to everyone who came and joined in our celebrations.

Ash, filming the party

The last six weeks or so of our story have been filmed for ITV, to be screened, possibly in September. We're not sure what it is going to be called yet, or exactly when it will be on, but watch this space!

Nicole also had a birthday, celebrated with a visit from boyfriend, Mike and her brother Dave and his girlfriend  Neesha.

After the parties were over, we took a couple of days off and spent one of them in Bordeaux and the sand dune at Pyla near Arcachon, the tallest sand dune in Europe.

From the top of the dune towards the sea

From the top towards the forest.

On the Miroir d'eau des quais in Bordeaux

Taking photos of the photographers!

Chicks......

The chicks are growing, day by day. They now sleep in the big coop, although they haven't progressed onto the perches yet. It took a couple of days for them to put themselves to bed in their new accommodation.

Our other chicks have hatched, four baby redsarts in the box, getting louder and more demanding every day. The adults are very brave, totally ignoring all human activity going on around them.

The garage is now complete, which means we can start to clear other areas of the house.

Just needs the doors painted now!

Hugh and Tom are taking over for the weekend, while Nicole and I have a weekend off! 

Me, Tom and Nicole

Tom in the pool and Nicole thinking about it!

Filming the preparations for a visit to the Maire, me clutching my trusty dictionary, just in case!

They also filmed us putting these coins back in the wall, where they were found.

The kitchen cabinets, made up in preparation to be fitted at the weekend when the tiling is finished.

The beautiful tilleul, or linden tree, in full bloom.

And finally, this amazing moon rise last night, which we watched while sitting on the terrace.

New arrivals

Lots of news to report in this blog, but I'll start with the promised pictures of our bargains from last weekend's vide grenier....

a treadle sewing machine - complete - to use as a dressing table in one of the guest bedrooms

a sweet little table for another room

the marble top for the table below, for one of the bathrooms

Lovely bargains, can't wait to get started on a wash and brush up to get them ready for public viewing.

But now, the really exciting news......the arrival of our new chicks.....
first... the erection of the fence to keep them in

Celebrating the completion of the fence - we're ready for the chicks!

And here they are - or at least some of them! We have five hens (we hope!) and one cockerel.

Examining her new (temporary) home

We picked up the chicks on Sunday morning, but we were not alone! We were accompanied by a film crew (the lovely Kate and Suzi) from ITV making a TV programme about Brits living in this part of France.

Us, Morgan in the middle, who did such a brilliant job of raising our chicks, Andrea and the two Jonathons from Domaine Gourdon, previous home of chicks and Kate and Suzi with the filming equipment.

A quick break in filming  - what to do next?!!

The coop has been painted and decorated, but is still a bit big and high for the little ones, so they are staying in the concrete hutch next door for the time being.

 

We have a couple more new arrivals too..in the bird box above the kitchen window (completely ignoring the new box with the infra red camera!) this little redstart is sitting on at least 4 eggs.....

 ... and these two chicks are the first brood of a pair of collared doves nesting in the palm tree in full view of one of the guest rooms. They are currently sitting on a second clutch of two eggs.

Another first today......the swimming pool is finally ready and we had our first dip

I almost forgot, the gite is looking good, the tiles are laid in one of the bedrooms and shower rooms, and looking great.

Hugh says he keeps on working because he thinks Nicole and I spend too much money when he's not here!........

I wish...........really a visit from Jerry, in his beautiful Rolls!
and this is what Hugh does when he's here anyway....

Only joking, his feet have hardly hit the ground while he's been here for the Easter holidays, and he's back to the UK tomorrow to earn some more pennies.