July 07.

Welcome to my first foto-post.  All pictures taken during the last three weeks.

The most beautiful time at La Ribiere is undoubtably when there is a great sunset, here the tranquillity is emphasised by the full moon rising.

Bamboo:   it spreads and grows at an amazing rate, spring up 14 feet in as many days and then sending a "runner" underground for the next shoot. 

As the sun moves round it catches the trees and they become alive: teh main drive down to teh lake is full of specimen trees each given space so that they can be appreciated to the full.

This place is wild flower heaven, at the moment areas are blue with cornflowers.

Last week there was a mass hatching of mayflyies and dragonflies: this one took a fancy to my finger!

Cooking is an dwill form a great part o fmy time here. I am investigating regional foods (of which more later) but I knocked out a couple of apricot frangipane tarts for us and the anglers.

Cep mushroom spotted on my early morning walk.

Day 2, same mushroom cooked with garlic and shallots finished off with some creme fraiche a great start to the day. The pharmacists here will sort mushrooms and advice on which are or are not edible.

The cigar tree or Catalpa: one of the specimen trees here. A wonderful tree native to north america and one of teh many imported trees here in the aboretum.

WItches claw fungus:  definitely not one for breakfast!  Amazing nontheless.

The old butchers market place in Limoges and home to the shrine of Saint Aurelien, patron saint of butchers.

After a productive time making a path through the woods using a mower without  the grass box!  And trying to become the green man.

Yes, I really was coated in grass and fern cuttings: perfect for camoflage.

This place is also butterfly heaven.

This weeks selection was a bit random but life here is also a bit random, The weather can dictate eventsas, for instance, this week we had a storm, it lasted only about an hour but took out nearly a dozen trees and we were without power for 26 hours.

More soon.  Au revoir.

Just in case you did not get my update:   (This is a newer/expanded version also!)

A big thank you to everybody who has written or texted to find out how I am doing in France. The short answer is that it just couldn't be better, it is all I had hoped for a so much more. Actually, I have settled in life here at “La Domaine” much quicker than I expected. Almost from the moment of my arrival I got stuck in. After nearly two weeks I have a routine which is basically fixed around the available daylight and also avoiding the heat of the midday.

The day starts at dawn, which is around 5.45 at the moment and by 6:00 I like to be on my first walk round the lake which door to door is around 2 kilometres. I feel very much the countryman: Cap, Green jacket, green tee shirt, green shorts, green wellies. It is very much my walk to work and is almost as magical a time as sunset. The lake often has a slight mist on it and all is quiet. Just of late the walk has become something of a foraging session, today for instance my 2^nd breakfast was based on a “Cep” mushroom that I found yesterday morning and harvested last night. Cooked in the Limousin style, with garlic, shallot, parsley and finished with crémé fraîche and served on toast. In France, you take any foraged fungi to the pharmacy where they will sort them and show you which are poisonous and which safe to eat. Very helpful in prolonging life! My 1^st breakfast is taken after my walk and before opening the pool.

Tasks so far have ranged from feeding the donkeys – now my regular task as I try to befriend Violette and Kind – clearing paths, cleaning sluices, and the two major tasks at the moment; 1. of getting the bed and breakfast accommodation ready and 2. this last week feeding six hungry anglers. The later being a task I have found a bit stressful as for instance tonight I cooked for them and four other guests no problem in cooking for 10 itself except that they were paying for the food and that makes a big difference. But I survived and they are all still alive.

The B&B project is very hard work but also very exciting as we prepare to have six rooms plus TV room /lounge and the large kitchen/restaurant ready for our first guests who arrive in just under a month and are staying for a week. It is great to have input into this project especially as we plan forward to 2020 and beyond (remember that David, Heidi and I all have worked together when we were all management consultants) and this combines with the 6 gîtes the chalet and the pool complex

By 10pm I closed the pool and am usually taking my sunset “walk home” round the lake in the opposite direction. The sheer beauty of this place just hits me every time. The walk home is normally when I see deer. But the is also something magical about walking in the woods knowing that you are alone save for the wild life and the more you blend in and slow down the more you see. My senses are getting attuned to listening and walking as quietly as possible.

In the 2.5 weeks I have been here apart from a Sunday afternoon walk round the locale - La Ribiere: all of 8 dwellings and then taking in the countryside adjoining this property I have only been off site to go shopping for food (Lidl and Intermarche) and a trip to Limoges - which also heavily featured food, courtesy of the central market and yesterday I went a bit crazy in Monoprix and Géant Casino (A supermarket) where I bought regional cheese and a couple of bottle of two different Chestnut based liqueurs, again very regional.

Days are full and long, the work sometimes hard, but I am very very happy and realise more than ever I was not ready to stagnate in Waitrose and Witton. This is a great adventure, David and Heidi so welcoming and fun to work with and the satisfaction great.

In terms of this blog  I hope to make it a bit of a photo journalism; lots of pictures with explanations, rather than a diary of my “doings”. David has kindly offered to lend me one of his cameras so that I can take better pictures than afforded by my smartphone.

I hope to have the first “foto post” type blog up soon.

Thanks again for your messages, I am sorry that I cannot reply immediately and individually, but I will do so in due course. …… About to make cherry vodka and also cherries in Cognac as we have an abundance of fruit which I am picking by the handful off a tree that must have 100kg of cherries on it, sadly mostly out of reach, (except I chanced getting on the barn roof for today's haul)….. well you gotta haven't you ... all those free cherries!