In a moment of weakness during the winter, we decided to close for a week during our peak season and book a week’s holiday in Greece, so I am writing this at our hotel in Crete where we are staying with some family. Despite the double hit to income and outgoings, we are thoroughly enjoying our first proper summer holiday for six years. One of my ‘kids’ has taken over our house for a week with friends while we recharge our batteries here in cooler temperatures than southwest France, which feels ironic but is very welcome.
I’m going to steer clear (again) of saying much about our 4th heatwave during July and the terrible wild fires, other than to say our worst disruption was thankfully some smoke from the fires west of Bordeaux and some disruption as our guests worked around the impacts farther afield.
As much as we are enjoying our holiday, I am a bit sad to missing some of the summer activities in Eymet. Whilst house sitting for us, my daughter and friends are enjoying the Tuesday evening night market in Eymet, Kayaking on the river from nearby Allemands du Dropt, the lovely Thursday morning Eymet market, the fantastic Apéro Cadix evening at Eymet Chateau, the swimming lake at Lougratte, the restaurants and bars in Eymet of course, as well as having private use of Le Portanel with our pool and air conditioning.
Before our break here in Greece, July was a little calmer for us than June in the B&B, but it was another good month with some lovely guests. Only once did we need to serve breakfast indoors after an overnight storm which lingered on, people have really enjoyed the summer activities in the area and having a glass or two out on our terrace in the evenings.
In not so happy news, we’ve had to bite the bullet and replace our old car which is starting to be more trouble than it is worth, find an artisan to do some work on our roof after our busy season and progress my 5 year visa renewal, but we have also had some lovely nights out with friends including eating Indian street food at Le Naked Vigneron, we’ve hosted our yearly summer garden party for the Eymet running group and…did I mention already that we took a week off for a summer holiday?!
We’re back to business as usual in a few days to welcome some new guests and some who have spent their summer holiday with us several times before already. As usual our bookings drop down sharply during September, so I’ll probably do one more update this season and the end of August and then see what the autumn brings.
