 La Villonnière Chambres d'Hôtes 
Bed and Breakfast near Argenton sur Creuse, Saint Benoit du Sault, Eguzon and La Souterraine a few minutes drive from junction 20 off the A20 autoroute, approximately half way between the channel ports and Mediterranean
WE WISH YOU ALL AN EXCELLENT 2008
I forgot all about updating the update until some guests arrived and asked ‘did Charlotte get a little brother or a little sister?’ they had read the ‘about us’ page and had been expecting a birth announcement to appear! The answer to their question is that Charlotte has a little brother; Thomas Samuel arrived into the world, very noisily, on the 13th September weighing 8lbs 7oz, undoubtedly the most beautiful little boy in the whole world. Charlotte loves him to pieces.
Thomas aged about 2 months
It is interesting to read that in March, I was expecting a long hot summer, how wrong could I be? April was glorious lots of sunny days with temperatures reaching the high 20’s, just right for Chris’s 60th birthday celebrations, we had a long, lazy lunch with family and friends and the sun shone all day, perfect.
Party Time
We really did think we were in for another scorching summer but it was not to be so I will gloss over the summer months and skip to September when the weather really picked up and we were treated to day upon day of clear blue skies and warm sun, which continued through October and well into November. We watched sadly as the Grues left us because we knew that the warm weather soon would have to end.
The autumn colours are stunning
R.I.P
ROY 26th OCTOBER 2007
Roy when we first bought him in December 2002
In October Roy, my old car, developed an electrical fault, caught fire and burned to a cinder! I was sad for months, those of you who have stayed here will surely remember him: an ancient, disreputable Peugeot 305. He was very old, dirty, rusty and full of dents and I loved him.
At least he went out with a bang and even made the local newspaper.
La Nouvelle République
PARNAC
Voiture en feu
Vendredi, vers 14h, les pompiers du centre de secours de Saint-Benoît-du-Sault, se sont rendus à hauteur du terrain de sport du Fay, commune de Parnac, pour maîtriser un feu de voiture. Malgré l'intervention, le véhicule a été entièrement calciné. La gendarmerie nationale était également sur les lieux.
One of the gendarmes asked to see all the paperwork, I explained that the documents had all been in the car and were now destroyed. Thinking that he would want me to supply copies I asked what I should do, he shrugged his shoulders and looked at the car, finally he replied, “Achetez une autre voiture ?” (Buy another car).
Roy October 2007 after the fire, you can just see the fire engine driving away
Chris spent last January converting the glory hole that I liked to refer to as my laundry room, into a very impressive kitchen for our guests.
This has proved to be a very popular addition because now, not only can guests make a hot drink whenever they wish but anyone staying for several days has the option of preparing an evening meal for themselves or making a picnic lunch for a day out. We are delighted to see just how much use has been made of it. We envisaged tea and coffee making and perhaps the odd snack but you would be amazed at the delicious meals that have emerged from that little kitchen. Parents visiting with small babies are able to heat up bottles and baby food at any time. Some Dutch guests said that it was the perfect arrangement, the independence of self-catering combined with the convenience of a Chambre d’Hote, high praise indeed.
The kitchen is equipped with a two-ring hot plate and microwave oven for cooking. A fridge and freezer are provided for storage
In the spring, our usual feathered guests arrived for their annual stay, the swallows in the shed, the nesting box sparrows and our favourites the black Redstarts who take over the barn. The poor Redstarts lost several of their babies and ended up with just one, he was a constant source of amusement to us and a great worry to his parents because as soon as he learnt to fly he would take himself off into the furthest corners of the barn on a voyage of discovery, one morning Chris went to get his wellies and discovered the little Redstart perched on one of them, the parents were frantically calling him but he seemed quite content to stay where he was.
Ooops this isn’t my nest!
To our great joy the Hoopoes also returned, they produced one chick who, thanks to his parents diligent feeding, grew prodigiously and by the time they left us, we could not tell which one was the baby!
Spot the baby
We have so many beautiful and unusual butterflies and moths in our garden, I commented to one guest that I wished I knew the names of them all and he very kindly sent me a book so I now know that my favourites are called the Humming-bird Hawk-moth, the Pearl-bordered Fritillary, the Purple Emperor and the Swallowtail.
Swallowtail Butterfly
Humming-bird Hawk-moth
Interestingly we had our busiest year ever in 2007, we thought 2006 was good but 2007 way surpassed that. My theory is that the weather in the north was so disgusting that everyone headed for the sun and stopped here on their way, either that or word has gone round that we are the best Chambre d’Hote in this area! Realistically I think the former is more likely. Maggie thinks that she is the main attraction, she could be right
Maggie the main attraction
These two children loved playing with Maggie so much that when they went back home to Holland; their parents bought them a puppy of their own! The children wanted to name the pup Maggie, their parents explained that Maggie was a girls name and that their puppy was a boy so they settled on the name Sheltie.
Party Girl
We went back to England in June for Charlotte's 2nd birthday, as usual we left the running of the house in the very capable hands of our eldest son Matthew. When we returned an unfamiliar dog greeted us, we thought that it must belong to a guest but no, it was Maggie completely unrecognisable with her newly clipped coat, our son and his ‘petite amie’ had taken her to a poodle parlour! She looked and smelled delightful but that did not last long.
Do you recognise this fox?
Matthew and Myriam, they arranged for Maggie’s transformation
In July we turned into a campsite again, two tents this time, it seems to work quite well, modern tents are so easy to put up and take down we had 13 for breakfast one day. We are so lucky because we always have lovely people staying here and no one seems to mind when we tuck in the odd stray!
When we bought the swing, we hoped it might entertain Charlotte it turned out to be a great hit with all visiting children.
FAMILY MATTERS
Our daughter complains that we never mention any members of the family except Charlotte, so to keep her happy we are very pleased to tell anyone reading this that our one and only daughter, Abbie, became engaged on Christmas Day, to Gareth. They hope to marry during the summer of 2009, if they get their way we shall have to have a ‘fermeture exceptionnelle’ for a few days.
Abbie and Maggie at Lac Chambon April 2007
Me and my soon to be Son-in-Law, Gareth, all 6’.4” of him!
Just so the others can’t complain I should also mention that we have three sons, the eldest Matthew, lives near us in France at Chaillac, he was a head-chef in his former life but his ambition now is to never again work in a kitchen, except when he house sits for us but that doesn’t count. Sam, our number two son, lives with Debbie, his wife, in Sussex; they are the clever people who created the beautiful and amazing Charlotte and Thomas.
Sam, Debbie, Charlotte and Thomas
Joe, our youngest son lives with his fiancée Christelle, in France near Chartres, Christelle is French and works in Paris. Since moving to France Joe, who is a graphic designer, has started up his own design company, he specialises in 3D images but kindly went back to basics to design our ‘epis’. If you would like to see some examples of his work please visit his web site. www.pixelconcept.net
Joe and Christelle
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© 2005-2010 La Villonniere Chambres d'hotes B&B, La Villonniere, Parnac, Argenton sur Creuse, 36170, L'Indre, Centre, France. Phone 0033 (0)254248905 e-mail chris@lavillonniere.net
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