Morning mist and baby redstarts

This morning, as I was on my way to let the chickens out, I noticed that the chateau at Duras was hovering in, and then disapppeared into the mist. It soon burned off to leave a bright and sunny day.

The second brood of redstart chicks are growing, making far more noise. They refuse to make an appearance for the camera though, obviously on strict instructions not to talk to strangers! I rush out every time I hear them, but they go completely silent when I approach.

P.S.

Thought I would just share this. I was on my way down to the coop, to lock up the chickens and this was the view that greeted me at the front door. Wow! (Looses a bit in translation though.)

Jim the Digger

Jim the Digger was here today, Filling in the old pond (nice and level - so perfect for camping on!) and digging a channel for the electrics to run a UV filter and pump, to keep the new pond clean and the water fresh to water my plants. The fence around the new pond is going up later in the week, so all will be safe in the Vue de Duras garden.

Who is that lurking in the sunflowers?!

Hugh was here at the weekend, and trying to relax a bit more than of late. We still managed to pack a fair bit in though. New tyres for the car, house full of guests, meals to cook, tv to buy and set up in the gite. Still time for a fantastic meal at Famille Moutier (look at the menu - well worth a visit if you are staying at Vue de Duras), and for some lurking in the sunflowers! 

The weather has been great, the pool is at a fairly constant 30 degrees, all meals have been taken outside and we had a lovely weekend with Chris and Sarah. 

Bookings for our lovely chambre d'hote and gite are coming in thick and fast - Hugh WILL be able to retire soon! Roll on the day....

Bits and bobs

The chicks have become a little too free range when it comes to wandering into our neighbour's garden, so their wanderings have been curtailed a little.

They're getting just a bit TOO confident!

They are now confined to quarters until a bigger pen is made around the orchard for them.

The winner of the 'I can keep the dead toad long enough to eat it' competition!

The B & B and gite are filling up - Hugh will soon be able to retire! We had a house full of perfect guests, celebrating a silver wedding anniversary, last week. Thank you, Vince and Julie, Joy and Steve, Rae and Mia, Andrew and Lesley, we thoroughly enjoyed your party - all week!

The perfect guests!

Vince opening Champagne to get the party going. Apparently all the
jokes have already been made by his colleagues!

Missing from the picture - the photographer, Hugh of course, and lovely number one daughter, Ellen, on a weeks 'holiday'. She somehow managed to stay out of all photos. I'm sure Nicole must have some on her antiquated film - I'll publish them as soon as they arrive so we will have proof of a lovely week.
During the week, a visit to Domaine Gourdon for a spot of wine tasting and buying. Thanks to Jonathon for an enjoyable and educational session, and coping with all Steve's questions!

No spitting!

Plenty of drinking - and buying.

It's sunflower time in the south-west of France. As well as the beautiful green of the vines, the growing maize, and the ripening plums are fields and fields of sunflowers. A small selection of  all the photos - you just HAVE to keep stopping and snapping!

This one because I love the way the one flower is facing the opposite way
 to all the others - confused or independent?

Two flowers for the price of one!

And this one because this is the vegetable garden I aspire to. I was supposed to be looking at the pottery on display at Castelmoron d'Albret, but this caught my eye over a low wall above a long drop!

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.