Back home in France.

Long day yesterday after 6.00am flight  from Edinburgh to Poitiers. Made better with an afternoon nap, dinner invitation with friends and lovely evening temperatures.

 

Wednesday is Loches day... under a blue sky today

  

Today you can wander the pretty streets of Loches under a blue sky after a visit to the morning market.

  

  

Working among the vines...

Spent yesterday morning helping my brother Richard tie back some of his vines here in Provence. As the sun was beating down on us I was thinking, 'who would have thought way back in our 'Ardgour Road' days in Kilmarnock that we would one day be tending vines in the south of France under Mont Ventoux?' and just as the thought filled my head Richard actually expressed the same!

Looking back towards the village from his'cabin'

A neighbour walked past as we were working and although he was walking normally, turns out he was Kléber Leduc who was in the Guinness Book of Records for walking backwards! 

     

          

Deflating experience...

So this morning I drove over to Yzeures-sur-Creuse for 9.00am for a pre-arranged rendezvous to have new tyres fitted,they were ordered last Wednesday. Arrived, however, only for the proprietor to go on a search for the said tyres, even to the extent of looking behind the building! but to no avail. Now I used to run a service based company back in Scotland and had a system in place where if materials were needed for a job for a particular date then there were checks to ensure that they would arrive in time to get the job done but should there be a potential problem we would advise the customer in good time - it is not difficult! Sadly from my experience the words 'Customer service' and 'France' do not always appear to be good bedfellows!

October in the gardens at Loches

Loches public gardens in October

World travellers stopping in at Le Grand-Pressigny

The lovely courtyard at 'Chez Grand Ma'

Said goodbye yesterday to our Australian guests who loved Le Grand-Pressigny especially the restaurants...they used all three! We enjoy exposing world travellers to our beautiful part of France. After a changeover we welcomed a charming American couple who are on a mission to find a home for themselves here...exciting times!

The welcoming 'Chez L'

'La Savoie Villars' dining room

Our Australian guests comments:

14/09/18

Thank you Jim & Pauline for a wonderful stay at 'Les Balcons', gracious hosts providing  lots of information...great stay!

Lyn & Carrick,

Rhonda & Robert,

Australia

This beautiful region drawing people back;;;

Our last guests at the Old Walnut Mill had previously stayed at Alex and Nicole's gites outside Le Grand-Pressigny and loved the area so much that they decided to return...and seemed to have enjoyed their stay again! Here is their comments from our guestbook:

18th August 2018

We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay in your comfortable cosy cottage. We only wish we could have stayed longer! It was great to find a supply of milk,juice,wine etc. on our arrival and we also appreciated the tour and explanation of everything in the house. We enjoyed many meals in the lovely courtyard and coffees in the sunny sheltered seating area. Jim's emails of ideas of places to visit was greatly appreciated and we went out and saw most of them. Our favourite was the chateau and gardens at Villandry, the art fair and lovely villages of Montresor and Angles-surl'Anglin.

Thank you Pauline & Jim

Val & Andy

London

An excellent time to be in France - Allez les Bleus

So how do you celebrate winning the World Cup in rural France? - naturally you climb on a tractor and trailer and circumnavigate the village a number of times over!

We ended up watching the final on a big screen in the Salles des fete in Le Grand-Pressigny with our guests who arrived in time to experience their first taste of Touraine Sud - think they enjoyed it - the locals certainly did!  

May, a good month for visiting the Garden Festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire

We enjoy visiting the Garden Festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire at any time of the year but especially remember some glorious May days - like the weekend we are about to have...we would encourage you to go...but be sure and take a hat!

Prepairing for first guests at the Old Walnut Mill

We have had some glorious weather while getting the 'Old Walnut Mill' ready to receive its first guests of the season (Australians) and it is set to continue for their visit, which is great!

Autumn comes to Le Grand-Pressigny dressed as Summer

Wild flowers and vines taken under a blue sky  and bright sunshine yesterday just outside Le Grand-Pressigny plus pic. of the 'view' from the bridge. Autumn has arrived here in Centre-Val de Loire but with temperatures set to climb to 27°C over the weekend it clearly thinks it's summer.

'La guinguette de Tours'

Visited Tours yesterday and thankfully it was nice enough to have a refreshment at 'La guinguette de Tours' on the banks of the Loire.

Reacquainting themselves with the Loire Valley

Saturday's departing guests at 'Les Balcons' were a lovely family who had visited many years ago and used their two week stay to reacquaint themselves with this beautiful part of France that is the Loire Valley.

Canoeing

Here is their comments from our guestbook:

12 to 26/08/17

Brilliant time - thank you Jim & Pauline. 'Les Balcons' was a joy and we had a great time seeing chateaux, canoeing and getting reacquainted with the Loire after many years away.

Thank you!

Lochlan, Ossion,Mary,Jo & Neil Thomson

North Yorkshire,

UK

Family fun in the Loire Valley

The family staying at Le Bourg  are just coming to the end of their 10 day stay and managed to pack a lot into their stay, from a day out in Tours with lunch at our recommended restaurant for families, Mamie Bigoude ...

...to an evening visit to Futuroscope

They also took in the fireworks at Angles-sur-l'Anglin...

...visited the beautiful Chenonceau

and were rounding of their week with a final visit to the swimming pool at Descartes

Helping guests make the most of their Loire Valley holiday.

Latest comment from our guestbook at the 'Old Walnut Mill' 

22nd June 2017

Dear Pauline & Jim, thank you so much for your wonderful hospitality, your invaluable guidance/advice on where to go, what to see, where to eat etc and especially for your invitation to the 'moules frites' night in the village which was an unforgettable experience!!! We have gained a fabulous insight into the beautiful rural France and will take home lots of happy memories.

Many thanks and our very best wishes,

Jennifer & John

Forest of Bowland.

England,UK

Preview of Chedigny Rose Festival' 2017 here in the Loire Valley

Yesterday we headed over the beautiful village of Chedigny to check it out before this weekend's popular 'Rose Festival'. We are preparing 'Le Bourg' today and the 'Old Walnut Mill' tomorrow for new arrivals, so will be otherwise occupied.

Disappointing to find restaurant closed for the day -  'preparing for the weekend'. It would have been nice if they had put a notice on their website! We would have to find another option.(more on that later)

A lot of people had the same idea as us and the village was busy which made taking these photographs difficult.

Now, if only cameras could record smells!