That 'Figuiers'!!

You know how it happens... You go out shopping for pea netting and come back with a fig tree..

It wasn't quite as impulsive as it sounds! Colin has wanted a fig tree, or 'figuier', ever since we arrived here but they seemed rather expensive. Today our luck was in. We can spot a 25% off sign a mile away!

Our first concern was how to get it in the car? But where there's a will there's a bag of shopping which can be moved..

Who needs a the full width of their seat anyway??!

A man and his fig; a happy sight!

And now for the planting. First the rootball must be submerged in water for at least 15 minutes.

During this time Colin dug and prepared the hole

ready for planting....

Job done! And one very happy figuier in it's new home.

And I can assure you it will be well and truly nurtured!

Loudun (18km from Braye) A first impression.

The last time I was in Loudun was back in November 2010 looking for Diesel at every possible service station. With no success I might add.

Loudun goes back to the stone age as described in the picture below.

If I had lived in the early times I could see myself worshipping a god with a name like LUG. He was the most popular and widely worshipped of the Celtic gods. Lug's name in its various forms was taken by the cities of Lyons, Loudun, Laon, Leon, Lieden, Leignitz, Carlisle and Vienna.

Loudun has some very interesting architecture and a few of the historic buildings are shown below.

 

 

 

 

 

The last of the pictures is the entrance to the Eglise Saint-Pierre du Marche and is one of the most decoratively carved I have ever seen. We will blog about the church in the near future. 

Our first impression of Loudun was that it is well worth a visit and the tourist information office is excellent. We will be returning as soon as time allows to explore more of its history. 

Richelieu comes to life!

Jean and Nick paid us a visit the other day and in the course of the conversation we talked about Brocantes and Vide Greniers, the French equivalent of our craft fairs and car boot sales. The point was made that we don't see them in the village or for that matter in Richelieu.

Then on May day Colin and I went into Richelieu and lo and behold there was a brocante and vide grenier in full flow! The town had come to life with stalls in every conceivable place.

 

............The imaginatively decorated comité des fêtes caught our eye... (!)

Yes; well..

The cafes were doing a good trade

and there were fairground rides and attractions for the children

The smallest bumper cars we've ever seen!

That will teach us to criticise the lack of such events in our local town! I only wish the day had been more widely advertised as we only came upon it by chance. Next year we'll be prepared!

Gluten free baking redeemed

After several disasters and disappointments experimenting on the gluten-free baking front - especially with bread - I decided to go back to basics and use my tried and tested recipe.

Success! I went from this:

gluten free bread disaster!

to this:

Encouraged by this success I went on to bake some almond cup cakes.  As these are the only ingredients, I didn't think much could go wrong:

And I was right! The result is some very tasty treats:

And a few extra inches on the waistline! (for those who know me, that last bit was a joke!!)
Thanks to my daughter, Jane, for the recipe!

Poppies as far as the eye can see!

The other day we blogged about the fields of yellow rapeseed flowers which seemed to cover the landscape.
Today it's a different picture.

The poppies are in full flower and even on the outskirts of Chatellerault they fill the fields as far as the eye can see.

Poppies, or Coquelicot, look equally stunning en masse or in a simple group

Tomatoes

I have for many many years now grown tomatoes and cucumbers in my greenhouse in England with reasonable success.

However I have never grown them outdoors other than the odd outdoor variety which has given poor results probably due to the north west England climate.

Today after growing several varieties from seed the first tomatoes were planted in the potager.

These two rows (6 plants per row) are English varieties, Moneymaker and Gardeners Delight, the latter being cherry tomatoes. I have also grown several tomato plants from seeds we took from some tomatoes the previous house owner had left growing. I have no idea of the type but looking at what was left of the plants they looked quite a large beef tomato. These have been christened Braye tomatoes!! I have also grown two more English varieties Cerise cherry tomatoes and Red Alert outdoor bush tomatoes.  All will be planted in the next few days. So if they all grow we should not be short of tomatoes!!!!!

The cucumbers I have nurtured from seed are French and chosen because of the name.......  Long Anglais.

Richelieu Galopade (21K / 10K Race)

Looking over the back of our house this morning brought back memories for me.

As a 40 something year old I used to run 10K road races myself and seeing all the runners passing on the back road made me think what a hard slog I used to find the last 3K. Especially the Oldham 10K race where the last 3K is a 1 in 5 hill. In the wrong direction for running.

We had seen the small boards by the roadside advertising the run but did not realise the scale of race until the runners passing the house went on and on and on. So after lunch we went down to Richelieu to take a look.

The order of events

The start

The Finish

The list of results show the large numbers involved and in 2010 a record 620 runners took part in all the races. For full details on the race see here

The Results

Looking at the results at my best I would only have managed 120 to 130 ish. BUT looking at the categories I would now be Veteran 3 so maybe you get a head start!!

Will have to start training again soon..... I think not!