This old postcard is a collectable from this website.
It’s the Castel Hotel, still operating today in our local town St Gervais d’Auvergne.
It doesn’t have a date on it but it could have been last year….it hasn’t changed much…!
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Feb 212011
Jan 272011
This month sees the 100 year anniversary of both the original UK HQ for Michelin (Michelin House in Chelsea, now housing a restauraunt and The Conran Shop) and the publication of the first Michelin guide to UK and ireland.
The restaurant is named after the famous Michelin Man, otherwise known as Bibendum. He’s a popular image in the Auvergne as this is the home to Michelin, with the famous tyre factory having it’s origins in Clermont Ferrand.
The original Bibendum slogan ‘Nunc est Bibendum’ is translated as ‘Now let’s drink!’
Cheers!
Jan 202011
We love winter – snow, crisp cold walks, wood fires and slow cooking. Now that the festive season is over however, our thoughts have turned to spring and planning the year ahead.
In 2010 the veg patch really came in to its own, providing us with all sorts of fresh produce throughout the summer. Triumphs came in the form of new potatoes, french beans, sprouting broccoli, a bumper strawberry crop in June, parsnips, carrots and plenty of salads and herbs. The tomatoes were also superb although an early hard frost cut down the crop of plum tomatoes before they could ripen. You win some you lose some….
Hopefully this year we’ll see more fruits on the blackcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries, now in their second season. The rhubarb was also putting on some serious growth early last year so we’re hoping for a bumper crop, and we’re keeping fingers crossed that the remaining globe artichoke plants have survived the frosts and mole tunnels. We’ll be experimenting with chillies and aubergine again (not so successful in 2010) as well as melon and cucumber, spinach, celery and fennel.
For future harvests we’ll be preparing a bed for asparagus this autumn, and hope to plant our first fruit trees in front of the house, probably apples so we can start thinking about cider making….
Making the most of the fresh harvests and great local produce, we are now offering Gourmet Holidays for foodies. Of course our self catering guests can still enjoy Tim’s delicious food – sample menus can be found on our website.
We are also making plans for a cookery school, to be held in September 2011. If you would like to know more about this please drop us a line – enquiries@gitelajonchere.com
We are now listed on the travel website Trivago. We would be very grateful if our previous guests would leave a review of your stay here. We can also be found on Google Maps!
So, we’re looking forward to a season of gardening, mountain biking, canoeing and lovely walks.
In the meantime I’ll just put another log on the fire….
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Dec 042010
Flybe have announced that they will be running 3 flights a week from Southampton to Clermont-Ferrand, starting in May 2011. Clermont Ferrand airport is about 65km from us, much closer than Limoges Airport (180km)
We would prefer to catch the train, but it’s good to know that flights are available should we need them…
Dec 042010
mouton masculine noun
1.Zool sheep;
2.Culin mutton;
3.(peau) sheepskin;
4.(personne) pej sheep péj.
II.moutons nmpl
1.(nuages) small fleecy clouds;
2.(petites vagues) white horses GB, whitecaps;
3.(poussière) fluff (non dénombrable) .
These guys are testament to the insulating properties of sheep’s wool They’re tough, coping admirably in the recent freezing temperatures and snow. Perhaps we could make use of their fleeces when the weather warms up, to insulate our chilly attic….
hivernal, ~e, mpl -aux /iv??nal/ , /o/ adjective
- (d’hiver) winter (épith);
- (comme en hiver) [jour, temps] wintry.
I think it’s safe to say winter has arrived at La Jonchère. The temperature has dropped and is forecast to keep diving, the gite is closed until next spring, the veg patch is under a duvet of mulch (along with an optimistic sowing of broad beans and peas for next year…) and the woodpile is high.
The webcam at Sancy is showing a promising start to the ski season with a sprinkling of snow and more on the way.
Click here for a panoramic view of the ski station at Montdore
Time to get the thermals out and dust down the skis….
“Then summer fades and passes and October comes. We’ll smell smoke then,
and feel an unexpected sharpness, a thrill of nervousness, swift elation, a
sense of sadness and departure.”
- Thomas Wolfe
Ok, I know it’s already November, but thanks to big list of jobs to do in the house and garden I’m a bit behind in the blog department…
Sep 192010
More articles in the press about the Auvergne …
When was the last time you went boating on a volcanic crater?
and Auvergne: The Puy-de-Dôme and the Puys range
… from the Lost in France newsletter
Picture courtesy of 'Lost in France'
Sep 072010
More reasons to visit the Auvergne according to The Telegraph…
The delicious delights of the Auvergne – Telegraph.
“Fortunately, Mother Nature has been generous: the same forces that created the soaring volcanic mountain ranges also bequeathed forests full of game, fertile green pastures grazed by contented cows, and sparkling, unpolluted rivers teeming with fish. The result is a regional cuisine based on the richness of the fresh local produce, with culinary traditions reaching back hundreds of years.”
Following the Chants to the Auvergne – Telegraph Blogs.
“There are 80 [volcanoes]  running through the region. One of them, at least, contains a lake, the Gour de Tazenat, which you can swim in (though I can’t say I did: too muddy for me). And the volcanic soil is what makes the whole place so fertile, so healthy (it’s a haven for French hikers, cyclists, canoists, and the otherwise outward-bound), as well as the source of things like Volvic water that percolates through six layers of volcanic rock in a vast natural park just north of Clermont-Ferrand before it gets siphoned into bio-degradable bottles on the bottom shelf of your supermarket.”
The undiscovered history of the Auvergne – Auvergne, France – Holidays in the Auvergne – Telegraph.
“The magnificent, often explosively dramatic, landscapes of the Auvergne both stimulate and soothe the mind with their sheer timeless beauty. And here, in this seemingly impregnable fortress of the Massif Central where geography reigns supreme, history has left its mark, bequeathing a unique heritage and a rich culture.”
Aug 212010
A spot of fishing and canoeing on the River Sioule. Lovely summer days….
