Avocets at Mornac Dec 2011

From December 2011

New Year 2011

From December 2011

Enjoying a few quiet days here. Weather not great but managed to get a few pics with our new camera. Have tried out Carbus today and took the bus from Semussac to Royan. We had a beautiful lunch in 'Les Filets Bleus' a small restaurant off of the main street - what a find. Lovely bus driver dropped us off at the semussac roundabout to save us a walk on the way home. Much appreciated after two good bottles of wine and a cognac!!

Atlantic Sky

It has been a truly atlantic sky day today with dark rain clouds, hot sun & blue skies all in the same view. We went to the Cote sauvage which is not sheltered like the gironde estuary and the waves pound you to the shore. We had a picnic in the pine woods that skirt the coast (planted by the government to stabalise the dunes) before heading to the beach for body surfing, wave jumping and body boarding. Girls are now playing French monolopy and the dispute is breaking out over Musée d'Orsay, Gare St Lazare and Beaubourg!!

August 24, 2011

Ros & Haz arrive

The youth have arrived - Rosanna & Harriet here with Suzanne & Pete - first job of their holiday coffee in St Georges and then an afternoon on the beach

From August 23, 2011

From August 23, 2011

Taillebourg & Port d'Envaux (discoveries on a canoe)

Another beautiful day on the river. Our excursion took us north of Saintes to the pretty villages of Port d'Envaux where we enjoyed our picnic by the river and Taillebourg from where we set out with the canoe. The river was wide and peaceful we saw what we think to be a grass snake at least 80 cms long swim the width of the river in front of us and climb up through a tree at the water's edge. We also got close to a bird we have yet to identify but we have Suzanne working on a positive id.
Unfortunately Chris has to go home tomorrow but Suzanne et famille arrive on Monday.

From Blog

From Blog

Vélo et Train!

We cycled to La Tremblade today stopping at Mornac sur Seudre for coffee and wound our way through the vines and oyster claires on the quiet lanes. We stopped for a dozen oysters and a chilled charentais wine before catching the Train des Mouettes to Saujon. It was a steady cycle back through the sunflowers to Le Pré d'Are.

From Blog

From Blog

A day on the Charente river

Chris bought the Canoe so off we went in search of calm waters. A trip to the Tourist Office in Saintes pointed us in the right direction and with a detailed map we found the most perfect spot for a quiet picnic and then a leisurly paddle. With only the odd fishermen on the banks of the river we spotted several kingfishers and just as we were pulling up at the end of our excursion we got close enough to see him catch & eat his fish. We then sat for a quiet few hours in the shade while Chris fished - it was an amazing day.

From Blog

From Blog

Visitors

We were delighted that our dear friends Sarah & Richard Maddy and Godson Thomas were able to join us here for a week again this year. T & M are showing off their new French shirts! Despite an unfortunate accident and a trip to the doctor we had an amazing week enjoying the simple pleasures of the beach, the bikes and the white wine.

From Blog

Déviation

We took a detour on the way to La Valade this year to visit Chris' sister Karen at their beautiful house on the river Yonne.

From Blog

We stayed 5 days with Karen, Jacqui, Emily & Seth, Flora & Tim and had a fabulous time canoeing on the river and visiting the amazing 'Fabuloserie' a wierd and wonderful collection of art brut - check out the link below. We also spent Sunday morning at one of the largest ‘Brocante’ I have ever seen covering 6 kilometres of roads through the town Aillant sur Tholon.

Les cigognes blanches

From Blog

The white storks are always a beautiful sight at this time of year and a walk down the footpath at Saujon enabled us to see the stork on the nest feeding the young.

La Tremblade

From Blog

It has been a lovely week here, very warm and sunny but there has been no real rain for 3 months according to the locals so things are looking very dry. There has also been a ferocious wind this week which made cycling back from Talmont a real struggle. La Tremblade is always a favourite excursion and we enjoyed the oysters as you can see!

A culinary delight!

We have made the most of the sunshine and all the culinary opportunities. Fresh fish from the local market every day - sole from the estuary, mackerel, sardines, crab, and mussels. Let's not forget dessert and our latest discovery a tart of pistachio, ground almonds and apricot mmmm.....

From April 2011

From April 2011

Le Pré d'Are update

The weather has been amazing for our stay at Le Pré d'Are. There was hardly a cloud to be seen for 4 days. The bungalow and the garden are looking good in the sunshine. The rose tremiere is making progress and hopefully soon we will have a wall at the front!

From April 2011

Chocolat!

We are enjoying a few days here at the bungalow and the shop windows of every patisserie and chocolatier are filled with the most amazing displays of chocolate eggs and bells - just too many to resist!

From April 2011

Happy New Year

Happy New Year - we had a lovely cycle ride to Saujon on a clear and sunny day for a long lazy lunch in our usual restaurant. There are pot bellies back at the dog kennel farm.

From Blog

From Blog