This week we have a house full of family staying with us. Last week, we had a house full of paying guests. On one hand it is hard to close for a week during peak season (€) on the other, it means we too can relax and make the most of high summer here. Of course, having extended family staying for a week comes with its own challenges! but it is lovely to have everyone together and great not to have to get up early for breakfast service every morning and worry about keeping everything clean and tidy all the time.
It was during July four years ago that we emptied our house in England, squeezed what we could into the back of the car and made the move to southwest France. This July was a lot less eventful, but it has been a lot of work for us as well as a lot of fun.
To celebrate la fête nationale française on the 14th, commonly referred to as Bastille Day in English speaking countries, the town once again provided an excellent evening in Parc Bretou with food, drinks, live music and an awesome firework display at the end of the night. This is among my favourite evenings of the year here.
We have also been enjoying the 3rd year of the Apéro Cadix events on Thursday evenings in the grounds of Eymet Château. With different local wines / foods on sale each week, live music and of course the Wholly Vinyl DJs to finish the night off, it is such a great setting to meet up with friends, have some food, wine and a dance. We were quite restrained for the first two weeks, but with no breakfast service this morning as it is only family staying…well last night was a good night and we are having a gentle day today.
In the house, we upgraded from copper to fibre broadband with the step change in performance you would expect. Also, having lived with aircon in half the house for a few months now, we have bitten the bullet and agreed a quote for the rest of the house to be switched over to reversible heat pump heating / air conditioning in September. This means we will be able cancel our gas supply contract and do our bit with more environmentally friendly heating during the winter, as well as benefiting from aircon in all the rooms during the heatwaves in future summers.
July was another busy month in the B&B. I counted 50 room nights during the month, which is about 20 down on last year, but with 4 rooms being closed for family for a week that is not surprising, and we’re very happy with the season so far as well as the advance bookings for next year.
Reflecting on our 4-year anniversary of selling up and moving to France, I think this deserves some more time on here, so I’ll do that during my next update in August.
