Marguerita Chère...

We’ve just returned from the déchetterie at Le Grand-Pressigny. We finally feel that we have 'arrived'! The man who oversees the place approached us, shook our hands and said "Le Petit-Pressigny"? This means he not only remembered us, but also remembered where we lived!

Our first visit there in February of 2010 bordered on farce. We arrived with a large trailer nearly packed to the gunnels with hedge and tree cuttings. Not a problem as the skips are large. The problem was that we had committed the cardinal sin of not bagging the waste for speedier disposal!

The trailer.

Luckily we had a couple of large boxes also destined for the skip. We spent a frantic half an hour filling the boxes and tipping the contents into the skip while the man looked on tutting and a queue of cars built up behind us. We could imagine him rolling his eyes and saying "les Anglais".

Today he struck up a conversation about Marguerita Chere who we thought he said lived in Le Petit-Pressigny, and asked whether we knew her. We thought for a while and said that we didn't. He looked bemused, returned to his buddies who turned to look at us.

It suddenly dawned that he was talking about Margaret Thatcher so we told him that we understood and he nodded gravely.

The news of Lady Thatcher's passing had reached this little corner of France...

Rain, rain go away ...

It seems like it’s rained pretty much non-stop since the early hours of Thursday morning.

Le Pré Vert is in the Aigronne valley. Early Saturday morning we drove to the dechetterie at Le Grand-Pressigny,  and then, in the opposite direction towards Charnizay, en route for Le Breuil aux Gittons and another delicious lunch.

We thought we’d see some water in the fields but were surprised by just how much…

Looking towards Le Grand-Pressigny from the bridge near La Forge.

The football pitch,  Le Petit-Pressigny.

Le bief, Le Petit-Pressigny.

The lavoir, awash with water.

The overflowing bief at the bottom of the garden.

Going, going, gone ......

As ever, our half term holiday was a busy one, and  we find ourselves returning to work in dire need of a rest! Some hope of achieving that ……

We knew that we needed to do some gardening so were prepared for hard work. Martin and Denise keep everything tidy and under control when we are in the UK, but we love to work on the garden when we can.

We have a number of large specimen trees in the garden which would have been planted around forty years ago. How do we know this? Well, here's one reason .....

The trees are, in places, rather overcrowded and for a while we have planned to remove some of the trees in order to give others the space they need to flourish. We suppose that the first owner of our house planted lots of trees, then failed to thin them out as they grew larger and needed more space. One of the trees we decided to remove was struggling; very straggly on one side with many brown patches. 

Tim and Ben with the large bow saw which they soon realised wasn't up to the job of cutting down the tree and sawing it into small logs. Or did they mean that they weren't up to the job ........

I was then dispatched to Monteboeuf for reinforcements!

With the right top, a rustic garden table perhaps?

This old lilac suffered the same fate ……..

The larger pieces of wood have been stacked to dry out for a couple of years, and the remainder of the trees taken to the dechetteries at Le Grand-Pressigny and Charnizay.

Visiting friends... or should it be friends visiting.....?

One of the nice things about living (albeit for only part of the year) in Le Petit-Pressigny is that it is close to some of the main routes south. Our friends Sue and Dave called in yesterday, to overnight with us on their way south to Limeuil in the Dordogne. They arrived mid afternoon, having spent a couple of nights at Versailles, very kindly bearing gifts of Champagne, chocolates (my favourite Green and Black's) and a beautiful hibiscus.

We had a very British cup of afternoon tea, and fortified by some cranberry and white chocolate cookies, set of to the nearby village of Le Grand Pressigny. Antoinette wrote about the church a couple of days ago, and Jean regularly updates us on life there. In fact I think we might even have met Madame Andre ….

 Where did they get those hats.......?

We’ve only visited LG-P a couple of times, but yesterday the weather was perfect for a stroll up to the chateau to see the much talked about extension. I liked it and so did Sue; it was fitting and different. The views, both of the chateau and the village below were magnificent. We didn’t have time to go into the museum but that is something which has moved nearer to the top of our list of ‘must do’s’.

Whether it was the hard winter, or the hot and dry spring and early summer, I'm not sure, but there were an awful lot of empty 'planting holes.

We wandered to the river area where the Claise and the Aigronne meet. Sue and Dave are both camera enthusiasts so I took their lead and wherever they framed a shot I did the same with my little point and click.

We came home and enjoyed the champagne (well Sue and I did, Tim and Dave were on speciality British beers!) and a nice relaxing meal together with a lot of laughs and good shared memories. They set off after breakfast heading for their gite.

The weather this morning is beautiful – the best of our holiday so far – so I think I will sit in the shade and read, do a bit of gardening, take a walk and generally relax, because tomorrow (or by the time you get to read this, it will be today) we're off to the Brocante at La Celle Guenand.

Watch this space ........

P.S. If you are travelling our way, we'd love to see you!