Life in France

I just re-read my 1^st May entries on here for the last 3 years. It reminded me how bloomin’ hard we worked to get ready for the B&B opening in May ’22 and what a relaxing winter we have had this year compared to the last 3. I also realised that we are getting into a routine as we move into the busy season here for the 4^th time. I think that’s a good thing? Before I quit full time employment and moved out here, I changed jobs every few years (I was lucky to be able to do that within the same large company for many years) so I wonder how I will feel if my new-found routine starts to become ‘too familiar’? Having said that, being ‘un étranger’ continues to bring plenty of surprises, and learning the language is a never-ending challenge to keep me on my toes.

We’ve had some beautiful weather in April. The sun lotion and straw hat got plenty of use while I was working outside, although we were still lighting the log burner most evenings. An exciting development in the house is the installation of a heat-exchange pump serving our living room, dining room and the two west-facing guest bedrooms. This will give us more flexibility with our heating in the winter, and the aircon will be a huge benefit to our guests in those two bedrooms which can otherwise get very warm during the summer months.

Along with asparagus and peonies, the famous local strawberries arrived in the markets so Tom has made a new batch of jam for our guest breakfasts which should see us through for a while. The pool is open and looking lovely…fingers crossed for a hot May to warm it up! We have the 2025 tourist information booklets from the brilliant Bureau d’Information Touristique in Eymet, and it looks like it is going to be a great summer season.

A quick update on a couple of new (to us) places that we’ve enjoyed during April.

– Le Croquant in Fonroque – I don’t know why it took us nearly 4 years to eventually go as we love this sort of place. 17€ for what was effectively a 5-course lunch with wine and coffee included. No frills, excellent value, very French, a great way to spend a couple of hours.

– Café À L’Endroit in Eymet – This cute oyster bar opened during April, and we popped in for a drink in the courtyard with some friends and again this morning for some fresh oysters, it has a lovely vibe and the seafood planches looked great.

Today being the May 1^st is a bank holiday here in France for La Fête du Travail, so apart from stalls selling oysters and lily of valley (muguet de mai) and the boulangeries for a few hours in the morning, the shops are closed. Our Eymet Thursday morning market went ahead as usual as it has done since 1270 and it was bustling. This afternoon was another local tradition of coming together in the village centre where volunteers are cooking huge aillet (young garlic shoots) omelettes served with salad, cheese, bread, wine and some strawberries to finish it off, all from local producers. After being rained-off last year, it was great to enjoy a couple of hours in the sunshine soaking up the atmosphere and of course, enjoying food!

Last week a pair of Eurasian Black Capped Warblers arrived in the garden as they do each spring. I love to hear them sing during the summer months, it is one of many things I enjoy as we leave the frosty nights behind us and turn our attentions to a new season in the B&B.

During the winter months we’ve had a good mix of holidays, home improvements and socialising as well as keeping the B&B ticking over…and running of course 🙂

Our travels included seeing Les Misérables at Le Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, some down time in stunning Freeholders on the beautiful North Norfolk coast, seeing family in Derby and London, a week in the Pyrenees and some winter sunshine in Maspalomas in Gran Canaria.

Our winter projects included a complete refit to our utility room, extensive replumbing of our central heating system (not planned but essential unfortunately) and ongoing maintenance / refreshment both inside and outside the house.

We spent time with friends to celebrate Christmas and New Year, time together watching some deliciously awful Christmas films in front of the fire, and some time apart due to a death in the family.

In the B&B we’ve been fortunate to once again host the visiting jazz musicians who play at the Maquizartconcerts in Eymet château every couple of weeks through the winter, and a handful of clients visiting the village for various reasons. Our bookings for June, July and August are looking good so it promises to be another busy season for us.

By the end of April, we’ll have the pool open and, weather permitting, the outside paintwork jobs should be nearing completion. Tom is currently experimenting with some new breakfast specials now that we have added a waffle maker and an air-fryer to the kitchen. I’m working on some website updates to provide more information including details of the local vineyards to sample and buy direct from the owners. We also need to try out the newly opened places to eat and drink in Eymet and surrounding area so we can make personal recommendations to our guests – it is tough job but …

Well, what a fun month August was! Against all logic when running a seasonal B&B in southwest France we were closed for 15 nights, but we had good reasons for this self-indulgence: the marriage of Ollie (my eldest) and Abbie (my lovely new daughter-in-law), Paris 2024 Olympics and some quality time with friends and family.

Having had wedding guests staying in our B&B almost every weekend over the last 3 summers, it was a such a pleasure to be able to close and host our own family here for a week while we celebrated Ollie and Abbie’s wedding nearby at the beautiful Manoir du Bout du Pont in La Sauvetat du Dropt. A three-day celebration weekend started with a gathering at the marché gourmand at La Sauvatat on the Friday evening, the main event at Le Manoir on Saturday was just perfect followed by a chilled Sunday pool party and barbeque. What a fantastic time everyone had.

Earlier in the month we closed for a few days in Paris. Tom secured tickets for 2 days of Olympic athletics in Le Stade de France so, after a full house, we cleaned all the rooms, caught the TGV from Bordeaux and spent 3 nights in Paris. It was a fantastic trip. Paris was looking beautiful, everything was extremely well organised, the atmosphere in the stadium was awesome, the bistros and bars didn’t disappoint, and I even managed to run a ‘Paris landmarks’ half-marathon one morning.

Before we re-opened for business, we held our 3^rd annual summer garden party for our running group friends. Despite the 39 degree weather, it was a very chilled afternoon with great company and some lovely food that people brought, and the kids (big and small) all enjoyed the pool!

For the two weeks of the busiest month of the season that we did stay open, we were much busier than we expected to be with a lot of last-minute reservations, so we were turning people down because we were full. During our busiest week we checked-in 20 guests over a period of 5 days which was another ‘Le Portanel record’.

Apart from our family wedding of course, the main event for me in Eymet during August was the fabulous Fête de l’Huître et du Vin Blanc which takes place every year since 1989 on Assumption Day, 15^th August. I have talked about it before on here so I won’t go over the details again, but it certainly lived up to expectations again this year and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

So, the peak season is behind us for another year and once again it has absolutely flown by. We’ve got around 30 room-nights pre-booked for September as it stands, which sounds nice and relaxing compared to the ~65 per month we tend to have during peak season. I’ll do one more update at the start of October to reflect on this month and what the winter has in store for us.

Well, I really enjoyed July this year. With the very wet winter / spring and having been so busy with the B&B during May and June, I was feeling very tired and a bit disillusioned with it all at the start of this month. I was struggling to stay on top of things in the house and garden and was often too tired at the end of the day to get out and enjoy the long warm evenings.

With this in mind, we closed off some days in July that we still had free (and to avoid the dreaded 4-room-changeover days) and after a couple of days at the start of the month with the house and garden to ourselves, I had already started to feel better about life and I am ending the month in such a better mood than I started it 😊

Of course the B&B, the village and the whole region have been extremely lively with the school holidays underway, but the atmosphere has been great. The night markets, marchés gourmands, live music, apéros at the château and of course the big party for La Fête Nationale on 14^th July have been a lot of fun.

La Fête Nationale Française is a big deal and is celebrated right across France. For the 3^rd year running we headed down to Parc Bretou where volunteers had set up trestle tables, a stage, marquee tents and were selling food and drink. With a band playing, the dancing and the fireworks it was once again a lovely summer evening.

July also saw the return of the Apéro Cadix events on Thursday evenings in the garden of Eymet château. Organised by Le Comice Agricole with a strong focus on local wines and food, with live music followed by Wholly Vinyl disco and in such a beautiful setting, this is one of my favourite events of the summer. To mark our 3^rd anniversary of moving to France Tom and I had a night away in Bordeaux by train where we did some shopping, ate some lovely food and soaked up the atmosphere.We’ve had B&B guests attending 6 different weddings during the month which I think is a record for us and it looks like next year’s wedding plans are being firmed up because we’re receiving bursts of long-weekend reservations for next summer. Meanwhile we are now in the middle of our first proper heatwave of the year which is making everything a little more challenging!