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Wishing all our guests, readers, friends and family a
– o — o — o –
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ps. Apologies for the lack of posts lately, normal service will resume in 2012!
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Confession – I didn’t grow these magnificent sprouts, my Mum did!
They are called ‘Green Marble’ for those gardeners among you….
x
We love this time of year.
After the intensity of summer the weather has mellowed into misty mornings and warm, calm days.
We’re hauling in produce from the garden and the hedgerows – the stars of this year are the tomatoes, borlotti beans, raspberries, sloes and walnuts.
The woodstack is getting bigger in preparation for colder days.
The faint smell of woodsmoke is in the air and the sound of the Chasse is in the distance.
haie nf hedge
We seem to be spending a lot of time in the hedges at the moment, it’s that time of year…
Eventually we would like to do some hedge-laying, but we’ve got a bit of tidying up to do first. In the meantime we’re making the most of the wild produce which seems to be abundant this year.
On the menu:
Sloe Gin (My favourite!)
Damson Vodka
Sloe, Bullace and Crab Apple Jelly (lovely with cured meat)
Crab Apple and Mint jelly (for roast lamb)
Hawthorn Berry Ketchup
Bramble Jelly
It always amazes me how free (and lets face it, pretty inedible) hedgerow finds can be turned into such sublime treats.
estivale adj (période estivale) summertime
Summertime in the garden
We’ve planted the grape vine, we’ve got the demijohns.
Now we just have to wait a couple of years for a decent crop of grapes, then we can have a go at making our first homebrew wine ‘Chateau Jonchere’….
It’s that time of year again where villages across France hold their annual themed Fêtes, a local get together and all round knees-up.
The little village of St Julien La Geneste (2.5km from Gite La Jonchere) celebrates the Myrtille with stalls selling local artisan cheeses, wines and punnets of wild blueberries, wood fired bread baked on the day, tales of folklore and this year a Mexican song and dance group (yes, you did read that right…)
Coming soon -
Fête du Bois at Sainte Christine (23-24 July 2011)
Fête au Pays de Desaix in Ayat sur Sioule (6 August 2011)
Some images from stage 8 of the 98th Tour de France.
Taken in Evaux les Bains , a lovely spa town 38km from Gite La Jonchere.
The elegant city of Vichy is a very scenic 67km drive from Gite La Jonchere
It has a fascinating past as a historic spa town and the de facto capital of Vichy France during the World War II Nazi German occupation, and has an air of glamour reminiscent of Paris.
La Grande Boucle (The Big Loop) is the nickname given to France’s biggest sporting event, the Tour de France. And guess what – in 2011 the Tour de France is coming our way!
Every now and then a stage through the Auvergne is included in the route, this year on Saturday 9th July part of stage 8 is just down the road from us.
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