Quite a busy few weeks – two lots of visitors and some very changeable weather.

First came Brian Mitchell – an old RAF friend. He stayed for a very enjoyable week, although the weather wasn't as kind as it might have been. It was a bit grey and drizzly, but Brian enjoys long walks so he was able to do 3 long walks around Voutezac without it being too hot. We also took him to all the favourite places - Segur, Donzenac, Collonges, Brantome etc. Anyway he seemed to enjoy himself!

The day Brian flew back from Limoges, Sue and John Titchener arrived – friends from the RAF / Lechlade. They had stayed a few days with friends further South, and spent four nights with us. They brought the nice weather with them, and again we were able to show them lots of the nice places around here. We also had some very enjoyable meals, both out and in.

As they left the weather took another turn for the worse. We have had some very heavy rain, with lots of thunder and lightning. A lot of people have had their computers fried by the lightning, so I am careful to unplug the power (although I do have a surge protector) and internet connection.

I did my first paid job with my elevated photo gear. It's a small château in the Dordogne, set in a walled courtyard. The pictures show it off very well and the agent seemed very pleased – as was I.

If you like it it's on for €1.1m. Apparently Madame who is selling is a little discerning about who buys it – the agent said he had some prospective buyers from Russia who wanted to view the property, but Madame said “No Russians” !

I have also done a floorplan of another very large property in the Dordogne for another agent. This was a strange place, a beautifully restored old house, but with only two fabulous bedroom suites, another small bedroom and a studio bedroom. The caretaker's house has two bedrooms , and there are a swimming pool, lake and a lot, and I mean a lot, of land. Just €3.3m to you!

Domestically Judy has declared war on some Japanese Knotweed we found in the garden. She cuts them back and inject Roundup direct into them – nasty!

Yesterday we visited our friendly English farmer / butcher and picked up half a lamb for the freezer – wonderful meat. Does anyone know how you cook the cut lamb skirt ?

World Cup beckons – forced to sit in front of the TV. No tooting horns last night as France drew 0-0 with Uruguay – won't say anything yet as England play the USA tonight.

Had some building work done – the floor in the en suite to our bedroom was basically rotten, so we have had it replaced. I now feel much safer when I blearily wander in there in the middle of the night.

May is a month of bank holidays in France : the 1st (Labour Day), 8th (WWII Victory Day, 13th (Ascension Day) and 24th (Pentecost). Also May 30th is Mother's Day! Luckily our relaxed lifestyle means that everything being shut doesn't effect us too much.

We visited a “Flea Market” in the local town of Allassac a week ago. We expected it to be a small affair, but it is an annual event that takes over the whole of the town centre. It was really a car boot sale, and we didn't buy anything, but it was a lot of fun to nose around.

A couple of days ago we went to visit some friends who run a couple of very nice gites about 2 hours South of here in the Tarn et Garonne. I took all my gear and got in some practice by taking some elevated photos and drawing up some floorplans. We had a lovely day, and the photos seemed to come out all right too.

Today I have just returned from the dentist – and have several more visits to make unfortunately. Paying is a bit complex – the health service pays a little bit, our top-up insurance another little bit, and we pay the rest.

We have a new little chum – a squirrel who obviously lives in our attic. We thought he was rather sweet and photogenic, until he started eating our herbs and plants on our little balcony. We tried leaving part of Bertie's dog bed hanging near as the small should deter him, but to be sure we have put netting over the plants he seems to like most.

We have visitors over the next couple of weeks – ash clouds permitting!

I forgot to add that we now have an airline flying into our new airport at Brive - or will do shortly. From 25th June CityJet will have 3 flights a week from City Airport in London on Friday, Saturday and Sunday - initially for 3 months.

The main excitement since my last entry has been a really enjoyable week long visit by Rachel. She arrived by train at Brive only an hour late. Apparently there was some sort of rail strike, but nobody really bothered to mention it – later we couldn't even find a mention on the SNCF website.

We were very lucky with the weather while Rachel was with us – sunny and lovely and warm. We did all the tourist things – a visit to Rocamadour (our second in a couple of weeks), and from there to the Goufre de Padirac – the large hole in the ground with underground lake that Nick and his family had visited. I went down there with Rachel, and was very impressed – you descend deep into the earth and are then rowed across an underground lake – viewing wonderful rock formations, stalactites etc.

Another day out was to the Dordogne where we visited the Chateau des Milandes, a lovely old building which was the home of the American singer Josephine Baker. While Judy and Rachel looked at the house and the exhibition on the amazing life of Ms Baker, I was able to sneak away and watch the falconry display. We had lunch in Domme, a hilltop bastide village with wonderful views.

Rachel caught the train back to London (all on time thank goodness), and since then life has returned to its quiet pace. The weather stayed really nice until today – the temperature has dropped 10 degrees C, and we have had some rain – ah well, I expect the farmers need it.

We have a pair of kestrels nesting in the wall of a house opposite, so I was able to get a good picture just by pointing my camera out of my study window – bird watching in comfort!
 

Quite a long time since I last put keyboard to work – one very enjoyable family visit and various computer problems being the excuse for such laziness.

On the 30th March we went to a presentation by the Director of the new airport soon to be opened in Brive. This was organised by the Franco-British Chamber of Commerce, and was also an excellent networking opportunity – with a superb buffet lunch. The airport will open on 15th June, but so far the management are still in negotiations with the low cost carriers, although they hope to have 3 flights a week to the London area operating later on in the year. The only guaranteed flights they have are a commuter flight to and from Paris, which is apparently very expensive.

Nick, Lisa, Jake and Esme arrived after a very exhausting drive from Calais. They seemed to like the house and the village, and we tried to get out and see a few places, despite some indifferent weather. We had  a wander round Brive, sampling the hot chocolate in a coffee shop. Lisa was much taken by one of the Trocs – these are large secondhand / antique stores selling on behalf of customers. There are certainly some bargains to be had in the older furniture.

The next day we travelled down the valley of the Vezere – this is the area that contains many of the cave painting and very early remains. A big hit was the Roque St Christophe – dwellings cut out of the rock high up in a cliff. They were occupied for thousands of years – from cavemen right up to there being a complete mediaeval village attached to the cliff face. This is taken a step further at a site just down the road at Reignac. Here the ancient dwellings eventually developed into a fortified manor house – again built into the cliff high above the marauders who swept back and forth across this part of France.

After a day spent touring a bit closer to home – and dodging the rain showers, we all went to Rocamadour, a world heritage site and a pilgrimage centre almost hanging from a steep cliff.

We then split up as Nick and family went the Goufre de Padirac, and underground grotto and lake. Judy had already seen this some years ago, so we met up again at Collonges la Rouge, a very pretty village on the way home.

Sadly the visit just flew by, and Nick and family set off home via Honfleur on the Channel coast to break the drive. Hope to see them again soon.

Of course as soon as they left the weather started to improve! Unfortunately my PC decided to finally give up the ghost, so I am typing this on my all new Windows 7 all singing and dancing replacement. I was able to get it from an English supplier nearby – not that I have any problem with French suppliers – just French operating systems and keyboards!

On the 14th we had a very enjoyable wedding anniversary dinner at the Auberge sur Vezere, a small hotel we have stayed in a couple of times and where we eat on special occasions! We met a couple from Cheshire who were just buying a holiday home. He was an ex policeman, and she was a former nurse called Judy! There our paths diverged as he started his own business which turns over £18 million a year.

We are having a couple of quiet days now – I'm getting the new PC working, and we are both gathering our strength as Rachel arrives tomorrow!

Been busy getting ready for a visit from Nick & Lisa and our grandchildren – praying that the weather stays nice! Luckily lots of the tourist attractions open at the beginning of April / Easter, so there should be plenty to do.

Otherwise lots of minor events. Had to have some minor work on the car – replacing the thermostat. The unanimous vote was that of course I could do it, but if anyone was going to drop nuts into the depths of the engine, let it be Jean-Louis at the garage.

Starting to get my business running. I have a really good website http://imageriedelapropriete.com/ sadly not designed by me. To get some more pictures we went to lunch with a couple with some gites South of Brive, and I had a good time taking photos and drawing up floorplans. When I decided to try the elevated gear at another friend’s, I discovered a fault in the cable that connects the laptop to the camera at the top of the pole. After ordering a new one at huge cost, I tested mine again and…you guessed it, it now works. However I can’t have kit that I can’t trust, so a new one is on its way. I have new business cards and am printing off some fliers for agents, so fingers crossed.

Bertie had a morning at the dog grooming parlour, and came away looking (and more importantly smelling) wonderful. The lady in the parlour said he was “tres, tres amiable!”. I bet she says that to all the boys…

House-wise I have finished insulating the loft – really timely, as we haven’t had to have the central heating on for a week or so. Also we got another electrician to check our wiring, and he is perfectly happy with it – a big worry gone.

I was watching Bertie in the garden a few days ago when I noticed a squirrel (red of course) in one of the walnut trees near the house. He scrambled around, keeping an eye on Bertie (who was blissfully unaware of his existence) and then dashed along a branch, flung himself at the wall of the house, scrabbled up and disappeared into our attic. Ah well, at least it will be warm for him….

We have finally managed to decide on what work we need (and can afford) to do to the house. We have chosen a builder to rebuild our en suite to the main bedroom, which has some rotten beams supporting it. That should start ext month. We are also waiting for a quote for fitting a bath in the current shower room. The bad news is that when our electrician was fitting a couple of new lights, he found a problem with the earthing of the whole system, not immediately dangerous but should be sorted out. It should have been spotted by the firm which did an electrical survey for the buyers pack – so I have asked the estate agent we used to contact them to sort it out, but he doesn’t hold out much hope of them admitting responsibility.

In the “garden” at the back of the house we are now planning to install some decking to give us a decent sized flat space, and a large poly tunnel to enable us to grow our own veg secure from birds, squirrels, deer etc.

With some sunnier weather we have been getting out a bit more. Last week Judy went to a church service about n hour away in the Dordogne, and after we had lunch with a friend we met when we stayed in that area for our first month out here. There is also an evangelical group which meets much closer near Pompadour, and Judy and I were invited to lunch for Judy to decided is she would like to attend some of their meetings. Really nice people, and the husband is ex RAF aircrew – so we have a few friends in common.

We still hanker after a few items we can’t get easily out here, so a couple of weeks ago we met up with the travelling fish and chip van in a local town. It stops outside a small bar – you order and pay for your food, go in and get a drink and the food is brought to you – quite a fusion of civilisations! A few other Brits there – something we may do a few times a year.

The other item we have missed is bacon, although there is a wonderful range of hams and pork products. A small farm near Pompadour is owned by an English farmer and his wife, and they produce their own bacon and sausages, as well as beef and lamb. Last night’s bacon baguette was very enjoyable!

We are getting to know our way around the local area, and many of the local towns and villages. A few days ago we revisited the village of Correze (on the river Correze, in the Correze department), and realised that we had missed all the good bits on our first visit – it has a very pretty centre.

Driving through the countryside on a sunny day is a joy, although watching a car still covered in snow pass us was a worry as we couldn’t see any snow even in the high hills to the east, we guessed he must have come a long way.

My business is almost ready to be launched. I have had a website created, which I am very pleased with, and which will come on line as soon as it has been translated and the French pages added.