return from France...........

Hope you all had an excellent Easter, I had an unbelievably wonderful time in France. I went back to work the day after I arrived home and it has taken me another week to catch up with myself.

The situation in France is that my sister and her husband have gradually bought up a row of tiny rural cottages situated in the heart of south west France in the middle of no where. They are both now retired and have finally relocated and are permanently resident in France. One end of their building is totally renovated and they live there, the rest is in various stages of neglect, decay and/or restoration. They also have a large garden plus a small field, which is good, but to start with it was all totally overgrown with brambles and trees, which was not so good, they have cleared the land little by little. They grow as much of their food as they can and hope at some point to be virtually self sufficient in food. They both have health problems and in order to get every thing done they take in 'helpers'.

Apparently there are websites that put helpers in touch with hosts and vice versa. The deal is; the helpers commit to working a twenty five  hour week over a five day period and in return the hosts give free accommodation and three good, home cooked meals per day plus weekends off. It seems to be a mutually beneficial arrangement for those wanting to travel and see the world on little or no money and those who like a rural life or have undertaken large building projects and are unable to do all the work themselves.

While I was there I met a lovely Japanese lady called Natsumi who helped with the gardens and cooked authentic Japanese food. Then a couple of Scottish lads turned up and helped clear part of the field ready for ploughing and planting. As I was leaving a lady called Erica from Texas arrived, she was a little older than some of the helpers and I think she was about to take over household duties and give my sister a bit of a rest.

Just before I arrived my sister had replied to an advert offering about 50 pond goldfish and various pond plants free to a good home. The lady who placed the ad was closing down her pond and just wanted every thing taken away. By the time I arrived my sister had put up a very old ( also very big) childrens pool in her garden and relocated the contents of this pond into it. I spent a large part of every day lazily walking around the pond netting all the fry I could see.

By the end of my stay I had set up a nursery tank with over 40 fry, set up a display tank with six of the prettiest adult fish and relocated a couple of the fry to her small wild life ponds ( more ex-childrens pools) because I noticed that the mosquito larvae was already beginning to appear. I can't begin to tell you how utterly relaxing it was to have nothing to do every day except listen to the birds, listen to the frogs, wander around the grounds, eat well and spend hours every day netting fish................ahhhhh bliss, can't wait to go back.

I have so many photos, I've already separated them into different folders and I'll post them all over the next couple of days. I thought I would be able to post something while i was there but her connection was very slow and I didn't really get the chance..........too busy enjoying myself.