History of Le Petit-Pressigny

We’d seen notices about an exhibition of the history of Le Petit-Pressigny, to be held in the Salle Jules Ferry. We hadn’t known what to expect but we didn’t expect the superb choice of interesting material and attention to detail that was evident. It was mostly the painstaking work of one man but I'm ashamed to say we didn’t get his name. My efforts to find the name have, thus far, proved fruitless. We did ask his permission to take the pics. He’d grouped the work into categories and I’ll just show some snippets here.

There was lots of fascinating information and photographs depicting the 'then', and contrasting it with the 'now'.

Perhaps my favourite bits were a couple of large maps which looked to be hand coloured and annotated showing the village in 1813 and 2013. In 1813 the bridge was wooden and there appeared to be a ford. 

Schools always interest us. We live in an old school and my entire working life has been spent in school!

I can thoroughly recommend the exhibition. If you live close and are interested, today (Saturday) the exhibition will move to the Salle des Fetes, and at 11 am there will also be a ceremony to name a square in honour of Axel Kahn, the celebrated geneticist who was born in the village. M. Kahn will be there to see a new rose named in after him.

The square taken last summer.

I believe there is also to be a vin d'honneur...

Dining in style...

Today has been a beautiful day. Well, as I type this it is actually pouring down with rain, but the sun is still shining!

We started the day with some gardening and a trip to the dechetterie. We then came back and decided to enjoy the sunshine and do some more gardening followed by a leisurely lunch - never let it be said that we don't know how to enjoy ourselves! The afternoon was earmarked for a walk. As we drove out of Le Petit-Pressigny we noticed these cars parked outside La Promenade.

I’ve written about La Promenade before, so if you haven’t read about the gastronomic experience on offer there you can read about it here, and here. If you live close enough a visit would be even better!

Well, this post is more about arriving in style to dine in style.  I can't think the owners of these cars were anywhere else but dining at La Promenade...

Whatever happened to the silver lady?

A sunny day in France...

Who’da thought this would be unusual?

We arrived on Saturday after a nightmare journey through the UK. We left my school at 3.30 and had a good journey (by bank holiday getaway standards until we got to the M25. Here we were met by almost solid queues to the Dartford crossing. Still we arrived at the Shuttle terminal just before 8, in plenty of time for our shuttle, only to be met with chaos – fairly usual for any busy period! We finally got to our hotel in Boulogne at midnight.

I know that others experienced even greater delays, but I’ll leave that sorry story for them to tell…

Our journey down to Le Petit-Pressigny on Saturday morning went without incident and we arrived around midday. We can't believe how green everything is! More about this in another post…

On Sunday the sun came out… 

If, as is attributed to Aristotle, "One swallow does not a summer make, nor one fine day”. What about two swallows?

Looking at the weather forecast I think Aristotle was probably right. The rain returns tomorrow.

I have lots more to write but there’s a busy morning ahead. Our friends John and Maureen are coming for lunch and I’ve a roast and a James Martin inspired ( I rarely follow a recipe completely, always thinking I know better!) croissant butter pudding to cook.

Watch this space...

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.

Missed it..... again, but not the sunset!

Today is the annual L’Art et Lard festival in Le Petit-Pressigny. The festival is always held on the second weekend in October, but due to work commitments in the UK we’ve never been able to attend.

Our friends Susan and Simon, of Days on the Claise fame, have reported on the event which you can read  here and here.

I’ll be looking at their blog to check out this years event. Rumour has it that Colin and Elizabeth might be there as well - if Colin has managed to get down off his roof!

The weather forecast isn’t good, so let's hope rain doesn’t spoil the event.

Just to show you that life here in Staffordshire can also be pretty good, here are a couple of sunsets Tim took on Cannock Chase.

 In our little corner of Staffordshire it's a beautiful autumn morning, with a cloudless sky and sunshine. The weather box on the side bar shows almost exactly the view from my back garden - our view is more undulating. I sent Tim out to take a photograph. He came back with this...  

Maisie and Lucy soaking up the sun!

La Promenade

We seem to have a 'nose' for picking homes in small villages with excellent places to eat. In Staffordshire it is the Hollybush, and in Le Petit-Pressigny La Promenade and Le Bon Coin. Different in price and ambiance but each offering good quality food. Last week we ate at La Promenade which is a Michelin starred restaurant run by Jacky Dallais. The food was fantastic and the wines of excellent quality and value. We've eaten here before and really think that it is an experience to savour and better shared with other people. Our partners in the gourmet experience this time were Maureen, John and their son Daniel (who live near to us in the UK and have a lovely home and gite near Chatillion sur Indre) together with Nick and Janet.

We all decided to take the 'Menu Tradition' and were expecting the fish course but somehow this was ‘lost in translation’, possibly because the first of our party to order asked for the fish as a main course. As things turned out it would have been hard to fit in the fish as well!

The tasters...

Janet, Gaynor, Maureen, Dan, John, Nick and the invisible camera man, aka Tim!

The menu - if you look closely you'll see Gaynor. Also if you click you'll see exactly what we ate. Better than my potted descriptions.

A glimpse of the food we enjoyed.

The amuses-bouche...

Thin potato crisp with black olive,a savoury concoction with onion and radish followed by a wonderful stuffed tomato.

The entrées

Salmon (yummy!)

Foie gras

Oysters - really inventive!

Chicken ravioli

Fish...

Roasted plaice

Plats

Roasted geline de Touraine -chicken (scrumptious!) 

Sauteed kid

Shoulder of veal

Cheese

Desserts…

Strawberry cheesecake

Paris Brest

Mandarin baba (perfection!)

Chocolate and coffee dessert

Petit fours…

With coffee we paid the princely sum of 41€! Cocktails and wines were extra (as you would expect) but due to the extensive and carefully chosen wine list didn’t break the bank! Not an everyday place to eat but certainly worth every cent and a real treat.

So if you are in the Sud Touraine and are feeling peckish give it a try, but remember to book first!

Autumn in Le Petit-Pressigny ......

Last week I wrote about Autumn in Salt. By contrast, here are some more Autumn pics taken on a 12km walk that Tim and I did around Le Petit-Pressigny on Sunday.  The walk is another one of the series I blogged about in the summer, which you can read here.

How did the bus end up in this spot?

Rhiannon and Ben were helping Ben's parents to dig some footings for steps to a small cottage they are renovating for some extra guest accommodation.

The weather was glorious when we arrived, although very cold at night. In fact the weather was even warm enough to sit on the terrace for aperos, but the instant the sun went down we needed to be inside, near the fire!

Just in the few days we've been here the signs of autumn are now more pronounced; the leaves are more vivid and falling fast!

Today is an anniversary of sorts. It is seven years since we bought our apartment in Thollon les Memises in the Haute Savoie, and two years since we moved out :o( .

Overall we probably made the right move. We love our house in the Touraine and have met some lively, interesting and friendly people who have welcomed us into their lives.

Autumn mist over the Memises, taken the day we bought our apartment.

If only there were mountains ...............