La vie en France

Well we did it - we bought a house in Charente department of the Poitou Charente region. It is between Cognac and Angouleme in a small village called Moulidars. Last Thursday - 12th May we got the ferry from Portsmouth to Cherboug and drove the 380 odd miles for our first stay in our French house.

I give a massive thank you to Graham Downie and his wife Juli-Anne of Cognac Property Services who helped us find the place, negotiate our path through the French legal system and who went the extra mile in helping us at the last minute when my mother became incapacitated and passed away, resulting in a funeral on the day we were due to complete the sale - not necessarily the most auspicious start, but thanks to Graham & Juli-Anne definitely not as stressful as it might have been.

Graham also writes a blog "A little drop of Cognac" which is well worth reading for anyone interested in property in France and/or the Charente area in general - our house appears in his blog, but here are a few to illustrate just what a cracking place it is:

Imagine sitting there in 30 degree sunshine, sipping a cold G&T (or if we want to be a little local, then a glass of Pineau de Charente)

Does it get much better?







The view from the front is across a small dry valley populated with vines

Then if it all gets too much, just go round to the back of the house and slip into the pool












The wildlife is fascinating - lizrds and frogs  I expected, but not "Couleuvre verte et jaune" - the Western Whip Snake - completely harmless, but certainly gave me a bit of a start when I went to investigate a rustling noise in the hedge by the pool - this pair popped out and almost ignoring me carried on their mating ritual - well you would, wouldn't you?

mmm time for another glass of Pineau I think!

Catching up on events

It's been a while since I blogged. Perhaps that's an inevitable thing, you start with good intentions of writing a regular commentary on life, the universe and everything, but then the enthusiasm just tails off and perhaps, horror of horrors, you just have nothing interesting to say!

However, life rolls on and a number of things have happened so I feel that I should document them.

Firstly and most sadly, my mother has died - at the moment it's too raw a feeling to say much, but although her health had deteriorated to the point where she needed nursing care it still came as a shock when it happened so quickly.

A conversation I had with her just a very few weeks ago concerned the house we were buying in France - I showed her the photographs and she said how much she'd like to be able to see it one day - never now to happen which leaves me feeling rather empty. Even more poignantly the day of the sale completion is the day of the funeral.

Another event of note is the purchase of a new aeroplane, as I blogged earlier I rather fancied the CTLS (having flown a CTSW) so I am now the proud owner of G-CGRB and I'll write a separate blog entry about it.