June, July and August 2015

The glorious month of June, a month of endless summer days of sunshine and warmth. How wonderful it was. Cherry picking, jam making, pie baking and simply enjoying the start of delicious sweet summer fruits. Heaven! Our fields were harvested and the countryside turned golden, and was littered with hay bales. The harvest moon came out specially. Just breathtaking. But best of all, the children came over and the family had a lovely week together. Always such a treat as they are all growing up and moving on...

One daughter sang in the Edinburgh Chamber Choir which toured Berlin. Her twin, my best friend and the long-term Belle Vue gite guest, who by now was part of the family, and I had a few days in that amazing city, ate some wonderful meals (thanks to the Michelin app) and went to a stunning concert with the ECC! I felt very privileged to be part of it all. Nothing like a bit of terrible history to make me feel more grateful then I usually do. I remember talking to a friend, aged 16, and deciding that we would probably never see the wall come down in our life time. How wrong we were and how moving it was see it and how grateful we can all be able to be able to see it from both sides.

In July the weather continued to warm up and we ended up having a heatwave. We had no rain for about 8 weeks. Hot summer days! We got our act together and installed a pump in the small well so we could pump water out for the newly planted orchard. We welcomed our first La Belle Vue gite guests. We were excited and nervous for this was the first time we had 'strangers' staying. Would they like it? Would they be happy? Had all our hard work to get our beautiful gite ready paid off?
All I can say is that everyone was delightful and enthusiastic and happy! Big relief all round!!

Visitors came and went! We took them to the Bournazel village BBQ, several canoeing trips down the Aveyron Gorges, swimming in the river, and and acro-braching in Najac. Of course the apero-evenings, watching the sun go down over the vineyards of Chateau La Combelle continued to be popular. In fact our La Belle Vue gite guests thought it was a highlight of their trip, watching granny dance to the music of The Pulse, a local band, with the teenage grandchildren under the stars. 

Our youngest, Georgia, had friends over from the UK. My sister and children came  and cooked for us for a week. Friends came from New Jersey to celebrate my birthday. La Belle Vue guests came over for drinks and nibbles, or we were invited over the fence to have an apero with them. All in all, the summer was one long party...except that I was working of course...

The esate agency business deserves a blog of its own. I am not sure I am cut out to be a cut-throat agent in the cut throat world of estate agency. But I did spot a wonderful herd of beautiful prize giving cows in the field of one of the houses I selling. And that was very exciting! Beautiful girls!

We discovered two new restaurants. Chez Nico in Castelnau de Montmiral and L'Inédit in Cordes sur Ciel, both serving lovely local produce, beautifully prepared and served. Sitting outside with a chilled white wine...what more do you want? Heaven! Again!

At home we continued to enjoy the market produce, and our own home grown tomatoes and courgettes. Maybe next year we will expand the range a bit. This year we concentrated on getting the Vue gite's garden ready. We did it! The boule pit and lawn look great. What a difference it makes. We shall enjoy planting more shrubs this Autumn and see a riot of colour next summer. Fingers crossed!

The Bournazel Féte marks the end of the sumer festivities. Friends came over and all of us went and enjoyed the last big party. Tressle tables, fairy lights, disco music, tapas, Gaillac wine, fromage and dancing! Such fun! 

And so, the summer has come to an end! Thank you to all our friends, family and above all, our La Belle Vue gite guests who joined us here and made it so very, very special!!