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 3rd 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, 15th 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.