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Easter
Bunnies.... Have you booked your Easter break yet? We have plenty of gites available for the Easter holidays! Think of the wine, food, glorious countryside and sun! Forget the War, forget the bad news, forget the rain - book a break now! Needless to say, the tremendous activity on viewing French properties has not abated despite the war (or perhaps because of the war!). Be warned most Immobiliers are reporting that they are almost fully booked with viewings over the Easter period - particularly on the North coast. If you planning Easter viewings - check before you go to see if the agent can show you around. Where better to advertise your Gites or French property or Service? Your advert working 365 days a year, every day, every hour for just £25 per year. A big request- STILL!: We need articles for this newsletter!!
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We have been busy negotiating travel deals with various operators, so if you are looking for discount ferry crossings, cheap air-fares or budget car hire - please try our offerings...... We also have some great Wine specials if you cannot get to France on a booze-cruise! |
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| Feature Article..... A new life on the Cherbourg Peninsula |
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Having stayed in many and varied areas of France as a child, travelling with my Francophile parents, and living on a farm in Devon, I had no idea that at the age of 44, I would be moving horses, dogs, sheep (actually Foot and Mouth put an end to moving the sheep) and children to Normandy. Montpinchon, at I km away, is our nearest village with the obligatory bakery, general store, bar and church. Other necessities as far a Normandy villages go, ie hairdresser and flower shop, are in Cerisy-la-salle, a small hill-top town 2kms away. This ‘bocage’ area is typified by small grass fields, full of cows and their calves, and a bull or two, mostly very friendly ones, a few sheep and a bit of maize grown for cattle food. It is very like my home county of Devon, rolling hills with the sea never far away. I sit writing this on my computer looking out of the window over our 8 acres down to the river Soulles, a 15 ft wide meandering stream which might still have a few brown trout left in it if they survive the beginning of the fishing season, the heron and the otter!! This is the middle of March and the thousands of blue and green dragon flies have not yet come out of the water. The sparrows in our garden however, are convinced it is time to fight and build nests, much to the annoyance of the robins who are both trying to outdo each other. The line of huge poplars on the other side of the valley are just beginning to show a bit of green. The horses are wishing the grass was a bit greener, as they nibble at the tiniest of fresh growth. They have eaten all the hay we made on our fields last July, brought into our barn by a lovely local farmer called Monsieur LaVache – well why not! We use a wonderful vet called Monsieur Poisson! The three ewes which I had to buy locally here, (see note re foot and mouth) are well on their way to producing their lambs, in mid April if the visiting ram did his job. He belongs to a charming, educated Frenchman in our tiny hamlet of Le Val, who must be 80 + years old and who helps me with all things sheepish. I am actually very at home with sheep, having helped my father with 500 of the little darlings during my 25 years on our farm in Devon. There isn’t mush I don’t know about the inside and out of sheep, but it is nice to chat and practice my improving French with a neighbour. Talking of neighbours, ours are delightful. Madame who lives 10 yards away in a pretty stone cottage, was born 5 kms away, married the farmer who was born in the house we have bought, lived in this very house for 40 years and 6 children, and then moved next door when widowed some 14 years ago. She has always talked at 90 kph and never slows down to make allowances for my bewildered looks, but I now understand about 8 out of 10 words (it was as low as 3 when I first arrived) Monsieur who lives at the top of our field at the side of our Normandy long house, looks after sheep and keeps an eye on mine should we take a day off now and then. Another couple come over to feed our horses and dog sit my small, hairy, black Scottie. I sometimes wonder if the locals in our ex-home UK village would be as friendly to a French couple! Now that we have finished converting our two gites, and I mean WE have finished – I did not know I could plaster walls, hammer on roof joists, cement in windows, build stone walls, tile floors, bathrooms, kitchens, etc etc – we have time to explore a bit of the local area. I love the sea and Montmartin and Hauteville beaches are only 20 mins away. The golden sands heat up the incoming tide to a positively tropical temperature after a hot day, and I have swum and surfed more in the last two years than in the previous 10 in UK. I am a terrible wimp with cold seas! At low tides, we go to Hauteville and join many locals in walking out towards the lines of mussel beds. You are allowed to pick up any that have fallen off and take them home. Friends and guests love this ‘hunter-gatherer’ life and bowls of steaming moule-a-la-marrinere are often on the supper tables in our gites, or out on the gite patios, eaten before the bar-b-q’d food is ready. Mont St Michel is about an hour away from us, always worth a visit, always a crush of visitors, but a magical place, especially if timed to coincide with an incoming tide. The WWII beaches are 11/2 – 2 hrs away and every single visitor from our gites has enthused about the sight of the gleaming white cemeteries, the beautifully kept gardens, the fascinating museums and the very spiritual atmosphere. A family staying with us last year, saw the beach where their grandfather had fallen, killed aged 23 leaving widow and children. Eating has always been a hobby of mine. Luckily we are surrounded by good local restaurants, serving in season, locally produced food with typically delicious sauces and fine wines. Mind you a pizza in Coutainville before walking on the beach listening to a Friday-night open air jazz concert doesn’t go amis in July and August. This is just a taste of our beautiful and as yet unspoilt part of Haute-Normandy, the Cherbourg peninsular. Our life here is a good one and we are lucky and very grateful to have the chance to live it. Come and see for yourselves. Sally Wilson, Hotel Paris Gites, Cerisy-la-salle , Normandy. For details of staying at Hotel Paris Gites - click here
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| New Properties for sale / to rent.... | Advertising |
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| New properties
for sale this month .... Lots of new French properties for sale. Please check them on http://www.1st-for-french-property.co.uk/whatsnewEP.htm
Our Crete, Spanish and Italian properties..... New properties for rental this month ....
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