We thought the summer jaunts and outings had come to an end. Very few B&B bookings, so back to the 'renovations'...but no...... suddenly we found all sorts of entertainment on our doorstep.
The grandchildren came for their autumn visit..and the weather stayed warm enough for a couple of dips in the pool!
We also took them to the wonderful 'Mediaeval fete' at Chateau Larcher...entrance free.... apple donuts and mead and knights in armour! The whole village participates, dressing up as peasants, knights, orcs (?--obviously around in France in mediaeval times!) and nobles. The highlight of the afternoon was the rescuing of the maidens from the wicked ( English!) knight's castle. First they were bombarded by umpteen schoolchildren... but then the siege warfare started...a great piece of wooden machinery...firing water-filled balloons at the baddies. 43 shots & they hit their target...but we'd all got soaked too in the process!
Our next outing was in our own village of Asnois. A picnic was being organised at the old mill at Roussille to show us the renovations being carried out there.
This time we were asked to dress up in nineteenth century peasant costume! A 'randonnee' was the morning's task...followed by the picnic at the mill... a guided tour of the mill and then songs, dancing and poems, and plenty of chat going on into the evening when omelettes were cooked for all! Of course, the alcohol flowed...we were surprised how much home-made wine and liqueur was present. Pierre came around with a bottle of clear liquid...many said......no-no-non....& covered their glasses with a hand! I said 'oui, merci!' ...one has to be daring occasionally...and was thrilled to taste a smoothe mellow drink. I was told that he'd taken sacks of windfall plums to the distillery in Availles Limousine and came back with 16 bottles of spirit! So that's how you do it!
It was lovely warm day...Geoff & I were the only English who turned up...which was quite a strain on our language skills!!...fortunately we were saved by American Dan, who, previously unknown to us, lives in the commune, works at Poitiers university.. and speaks perfect French and took a lot of stress out of our day!
Since then we've had house-hunters staying, and a little holiday ourselves..but more of that later!
