Monday 14th April to Sunday 20th April
Mon 14th April
Author : Jack
Second week of Beck’s school holiday and whilst she settles down in front of the television (again!) I am off to finish the decorating. On goes the gloss. I then decide to paint inside her built in wardrobe, as the walls are still bare plaster. I manage to finish it all by lunchtime and look forward to a more relaxing afternoon.
Much to Rebecca’s horror I announce that I have to go to the Maison du Vin in the afternoon. She is none too impressed. However I need to find out if there is anything we ought to be doing as far as they are concerned. Amazingly there is very little for us to worry about with regard to being able to produce and sell AOC Cote de Duras wine, as long as we have at least 3,300 vines per hectare. Think we have, just, and the vineyard audit (which I must finish sometime soon) will confirm this. No calculator in sight and a PC on the desk – at last somewhere that is up with the times! Anyway we are now registered with them and will apparently receive lots of information from them in future! Whilst there I check out some of the local competition and buy a few bottles to start checking on the quality of wine being sold (well and for me to drink as well!).
Tuesday 15th April
Author: Jack
Decorating having been completed it is now time to clean up and put everything back. Think I was over optimistic in my time estimate for this as it takes both Beck and I all morning and part of the afternoon. The window surround in particular was filthy and that took me much longer than I thought. Once finished I decide to hang up the new IKEA curtain rail above her wardrobe – bad move – manage to do it in the end but not without a great deal of frustration. Stupid thing! Doesn’t it know that its supports are supposed to be vertical! Manage to get all three leaning one way or the other! Having had enough of all that Beck and I head off to Marmande to do more pink and purple shopping. We are looking for a rug for her room but don’t manage to find one that is a good as the one we saw in Bergerac.
The quote from Agrifoy arrived today. It was very well put together but the grand total left me reeling. Hard to know whether AOC Cote de Duras is worth it. I mean – have any of you ever heard of it? Anyway at least we now have some idea of what it all might cost. We can but dream!
Enjoyed a very pleasant evening out with Anthony and Jane at the Italian restaurant in Eymet. One of the benefits of an Italian restaurant in France is that you can drink something other than local French wine. It is virtually impossible to buy wine from anywhere other than France in the shops and if there is any foreign wine it’s always the worst possible. So we made the most of the opportunity and had two bottles of a delicious Barbera D’Alba. Must go back soon to try some more.
Wednesday 16th April
Author : Jack
We have Tanya for the day. Tanya is the daughter of the lady, Joanne, who, last April, sold us the wreck in Puysserampion, not far from here. At that time we had grand ideas for its restoration. Now it is also for sale! Anyway Joanne and I have remained in touch and whenever we are here Rebecca and Tanya get together. They are American so the language barrier is practically non-existent! They are happy in each other’s company for the morning. An oenologist and a salesman visit me from a company called Euralis, whose speciality is Agriculture, and in particular vineyards. Am very impressed with the service offered and am optimistic that we may have found someone who can help us make our wine, despite the fact that the oenoligist’s credentials include a period working for Jacobs Creek! As well as providing a wine making service they are also able to offer a bottling service which is equally essential. This will mean that, since they guarantee the bottling, should there be any problems they will be liable, not us: for a price of course! However the services of the oenologist, compared to other services, seem extremely reasonable. And there is no way we can make any wine without such a service. I feel quite reassured and they offer me several reference vineyards, including one owned by an English couple. So I shall ensure that I visit them in the next few weeks.
But can’t keep dreaming of making wine so back to reality. After lunch we head off to Bergerac to purchase the very purple rug from BUT (yes BUT which means goal in French! And is pronounced boooooot with a very quiet tee!). Whilst there we also purchase an extremely gaudy fuschia coloured single bed that folds up into a chair (can’t think what the name for this is in English!). Back home we add these to Rebecca’s increasingly colourful bedroom.
And then it’s off to the pictures. Have decided that it’s time to visit a French cinema. On show is ‘Le Livre de la Jungle deux’. Am expecting very little from the cinema, especially since it is in a small old French town not ten minutes from here. However it is amazingly modern, as are the prices! It is only a small cinema but very modern; much better seats than in England. And what’s more there are no adverts at all. All you get is the film and that’s it. No adverts, no ice creams, no drink, nothing else! The fact that the film was in French was not much of a problem. Being a cartoon and based on a story we knew it was certainly not difficult to follow. Mind you whilst I knew the tune I certainly didn’t understand the words to the infamous ‘Bare necessities’ when sung in French!
Thursday 17th April
Author: Jack
Iain is back tomorrow for six days as it is Easter and in order to ensure that we make the most of our time together I set about getting all the boring jobs out of the way. So the morning is spent attending to the never ending pile of paperwork. Whilst I am wading through this upstairs in our ]makeshift study Rebecca is in her element watching TV. She has discovered that it is ‘S Club Heaven’ week on BBC. So whilst I am busy paying bills etc. upstairs she is happily signing and dancing her way through the morning downstairs – a blessing as far as I am concerned – and even worse I find myself singing along to some of the tunes (HELP!).
After that it’s time to give the house a spring clean in Iain’s honour. Have to admit that I haven’t paid much attention to the house and it is the first time that polish, floor cleaner etc. have been seen in them since we have been here. Beck and I work our way through the house and eventually, by round 8 p.m., we have finished all the housework, washing and ironing. Phew! Nice to know everywhere is spick and span. But will he notice? No doubt I’ll point my efforts out just to avoid any disappointment!
And whilst we were busy inside the sun shone it’s socks off! And we’ve missed it! Hopefully this won’t be the only hot and sunny day!
Friday 18th April
Author: Iain
Another early start - after driving back from Bristol on the day before Good Friday I’m really in the mood for it. Manage to drag myself out of bed and idly wonder what customs will make of the haul of Easter eggs, various Polly Pocket accessories and S Club 7 CDs that I have been talked into importing to France this time. I’ve even stashed a bottle of rich red Shiraz for Jack into my hand luggage – ironically now she’s in France she misses robust new-world wines. Not much room for clothes so I hope the stuff I left over there last time will be enough. Having just hand luggage at Gatwick means you can check-in really quickly (as well as a speedy departure at the other end) so I join the short queue trying my best to make my weekend bag – that by now weighs an absolute ton - look as though it is less than the statutory 5kgs. Amazingly I get away with it and even more amazingly get through customs without another embarrassing search of my hand-luggage-cum-white-elephant-stall. Flight goes well and get to Bordeaux on time. As my first treat Jack has decided that we should go shopping – so off to Leclerc for provisions for the weekend.
Arrive at the vineyard and, much to Rebecca’s disgust, we set out to walk around the vines. It all seems very big……. Some of our vine leaves, particularly around the edges of the fields, appear to have been eaten so we make a mental note to try to translate the information Nelly provided when she described exactly this problem about a month ago.
Decided that the grass was in serious of a cut – this was a rather obvious ploy to play with my latest toy of the moment, the sit on mower – but I think I got away with it.
Saturday 19th April
Author: Iain
Promised ourselves that we’d get up early to visit the market in St Foy in the morning. We both knew that actually we’d end up, as usual, getting there for the final knockings before lunchtime. In the end we surprise ourselves a little and arrive at the market before 11am. Having earlier decided that it was now a priority to brighten up the garden we search out some colourful plants (and a cucumber, melon and pepper – just in case the seeds we planted a couple of weeks ago don’t make it).
We finish shopping just before the 12 to 2 dead zone and hit Monsieur Bricolage (B&Q) before they shut. First, in their outside section we stock up on the cheapest compost they have (still expensive) with an ambition to break up the rock-like flower beds around the house. Inside, while looking for some gardening tools and fertiliser we spot a reasonably priced petrol strimmer (another vital requirement) so we snap it up – it seems that in France everything that you have in the garden needs to have its own motor.
Get back and give some of our new tools a try. Depressingly, a wicked three-hooked hoe-type thing doesn’t even scratch the surface of the soil on our biggest flower bed.
After a quick lunch we go to meet Jonathon Coulthard (the English guy who has just bought a vineyard nearby). We think he’s going to be a good person to keep in touch with as he did the 2-year version of Jack’s 7 day course at Plumpton college. He’s got the same amount of vines as us, as well as 3 hectares of plum trees. He’s optimistic about making his own wine this year but his cuverie-to-be hasn’t got a roof (or walls come to think of it) or any equipment apart from a few second-hand barrels. Ambitious but we wish him well!
In the evening we visit a restaurant in a nearby (picturesque) village (where Joel and Nelly’s daughter works – this is the main reason we decide to go there, afterwards Jack tells me that Anthony and Jane reckon the place isn’t very good). My difficulty with eating out in France is reinforced tonight. I have to send my plate back twice, first for the sauce that wasn’t on it and second because my well-cooked steak was still beating. They did the right thing and bought me a whole new meal but by then I was eating alone. It was ok but at 55 euros not the sort of value we’ve come to expect.
The weather turns nasty and out of nowhere we get rain and gale-force winds.
Sunday 20th April
Author: Iain
The Easter bunny has paid a visit overnight and Beck, who seemingly gets up at around 4am every day, has already located all the secret stashes of eggs before we awake.
Excellent, the rain has made our concrete flower-beds approachable. We set to, digging and mulching with a vengeance. By the end of the morning some colour is appearing around the house and we feel the better for it. Anthony and Jane are due round for a barbecue in the afternoon so we spend an hour preparing for it.
Good, but possibly too boozy afternoon. In spite of somewhat less than scorching weather (it begins to rain at various points during the afternoon) we brave it outside until it gets dark.
A&J leave and (this is a measure of the amount of alcohol consumed) we have immense fun testing each other with the big French-English dictionary. We suddenly remember to translate the cause of the eaten vine-leaves we saw on Friday. It seems that our vines are under attack from a plague of bedside cabinets. Perhaps not – my money is on deer.
