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
a Very Happy 2010
I really cannot believe that I haven’t made the time to write any sort of update since 2008 and here we are in 2010!
We have had our swimming pool now for two seasons and it has provided a great deal of enjoyment to many of our guests. It was either new carpets or a little swimming pool and the pool won hands down.
Construction of the pool
We chose a wooden sided above ground pool, five and a half strokes take you from one end to the other but on a hot day it is bliss! We did think that if the carpets could wait another year maybe we might be able to install some kind of heating system to extend the use of the pool but good sense prevailed and in November the new carpet was laid and looks great. Maybe some heating might be possible next year. Chris had the first swim and Gareth made a daring leap in at the end of September, the water temperature was only 18 degrees so he made a very hasty exit
Not a lot report in this update, no heat wave or other freak weather conditions although we did have floods during May 2008, the water ran with such force that we were unable to walk across the lane outside the house our neighbour who has known this region for over 60 years said that she had never seen the water run like that, global warming? No, just that the commune didn’t do a very good job of maintaining our storm drains!
Early May Torrential rain
We began 2009 in some trepidation, how greatly, we wondered, would the current financial situation affect tourism in France? Given the strength of the euro would we see a decline in the number of visitors from the UK? We already have far fewer British house hunters visiting than in the early years, might we now also lose the holiday makers? Our fears were quite unfounded, surprisingly not only did we not see the feared decline in numbers but we have enjoyed our most successful season to date and we are not alone, the majority of chambres d’hotes in this area were equally busy maybe everyone just thought “oh to hell with it let’s go on holiday! “
All things considered a holiday in most areas of France is still good value for money, ferry costs have reduced over the last few years so getting across the channel is not too expensive (we are told that Tesco Club card points can be exchanged for Euro Tunnel tickets) once here, your day to day expenses do not have to be great. Accommodation is realistically priced and out of season most owners of chambres d’hôtes and Gîtes will be prepared to offer a discount, don’t be afraid to haggle.
Lakeside beaches are just as much fun as the seaside beaches and in France they are invariable very clean and well maintained with safe supervised swimming areas. The fishing lakes are well stocked, fishing permits are cheap and easy to obtain.
Eating out need not be expensive, especially at midday when you would usually expect to pay only 11 or 12 euros. for a 3 or 4 course meal including wine.
Our local Restaurant Au Bon Vivre at Lunch time with a Menu de Jour 11€
Entry to local attractions is realistically priced and sometimes even free. Certainly the actual ‘season’ is short but out of season there is still a lot to see and do and the weather can be superb, October is invariably warm and dry 2009 the temperatures reached 30c and the Autumn colours were spectacular, just the time to visit the Brenne Natural Park. In November guests can look forward to the chestnut fair at Eguzon, normally held on the first weekend, 2 days of entertainment and stalls selling all manner of delicious products the tempting aroma of roasting chestnuts fills the air.
Chestnut and Apple festival Eguzon
Summer 2009 was beautiful, lots of sunshine, guests picnicking in the garden just how summer should be and then we had the added bonus of glorious autumn days.
Family news
Family news, 2009 was an exciting year for us, starting with the safe arrival of our beautiful new grand daughter Chloé Andréa.
Chloé snoozing on her dads chest
Chloe made her entrance into the world on the 23rd of March, she had been threatening to arrive since New Year’s day so it was a great relief to her worried parents, Joe and
Christelle, that she was in the end only 3 weeks early.
In June I officially became an OAP, friends and family very kindly came from the UK and other regions of France to help me celebrate reaching this advanced age, they were rewarded by several days of the worst weather we had seen for weeks, it was cold, wet and generally unpleasant, of course as soon as everybody had gone the sun came out , typical!
Abbie and Gareth
August saw the long awaited marriage of our daughter Abbie to Gareth, a truly memorable day, Abbie looked wonderful, Gareth very handsome and Charlotte, taking her role of bridesmaid very seriously, looked absolutely beautiful. Thomas did not have a starring role but nevertheless managed to get into most of the photos and stole the show. The wedding was held at Craythorne Hall in North Yorkshire, a fabulous setting but the weather was not the best, we left behind sunshine and 35 degrees and arrived to find rain and 16 degrees! The sun very kindly made an appearance in the afternoon of the wedding.
Abbie and Gareth with bridesmaid Charlotte pageboy William and
I don't need to tuck my shirt in Thomas
Charlotte and Thomas continue to grow up at an alarming rate, when they visited in July 2008, we had a week of wall to wall sunshine so they turned into little water babies and spent most of the time either in our little pool or at the Lake in Chaillac visiting Uncle Matt.
Our eldest son, Matthew moved to France in 2004 just wanting a base from which he could travel the world, working occasionally if the need arose. Sadly an overactive thyroid and subsequent removal of his thyroid put paid to that scheme and meant that he had to lead life at a slower pace. Matthew decided that running a Chambre d’Hôte looked easy, if his ancient parents could do it so could he! Chris designed and constructed a web site for him and in June 2008 he opened his doors as a Chambres d'hotes - Bed and Breakfast, based in the center of the lovely old village of Chaillac.
Having decided to give women a wide berth for a while he runs it single handedly ably assisted by Bob his Border Collie. His venture has been very successful helped in some measure by the fact that Matthew is a very talented chef so his guests are treated to lots of extremely delicious meals, now he has become one of our main rivals, Chris keeps threatening to take down the web site!
