It's hard to believe we are almost through January - and it's been busy. We started the year off with a visit from the lovely owners, and we all got stuck into a few winter jobs for the property.
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| One of the jobs was to recover two old cider barrels that had fallen into a pit which was filling with water. We were still smiling when we removed the first one, not having any idea how tough the next one would be... Photo credit B Claridge |
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| The second barrel was in worse shape and well buried with limited access to empty the mud and debris - a tough job but we got it out.....eventually! Photo credit B Claridge |
We also had some professional trimming done to the many oak trees but didn't get any photos as we were quite busy and the weather was a bit grim on the day. We have another day booked in March so will try to record it better.
Since then we've been planning our year, tidying the garden and doing some work on Bokkie. Toni has been left with much of the weeding, wood-chip spreading and edging while I have busied myself on Bokkie.
Many of the older parts on her (Bokkie) have never been removed so I have been doing this and repairing brittle plastic panels with fibreglass and cleaning everything. She's an old girl (Bokkie, again for clarification 😊) so needs regular maintenance to keep her in top condition. We've just taken delivery of some rose hedging, potatoes, shallots and onion sets to be planted to give the potager a head start for spring.
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| I thought this tit had flown into the window and hurt itself but it turned out it was just cold and had puffed itself into a ball. When I approached it, it suddenly righted itself and flew off. |
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| Lovely snowdrops emerging in the garden |
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| Practicing our French with the locals. |
Our year has also fallen into place quite well and when we leave our sit here in April we will dash across to the UK for a week or so, before flying out to South Africa. We'll spend time with family including a much anticipated driving trip into Moremi Park in the Okavango area of Botswana to celebrate Toni's dad's 80'th. In the middle of June our next appointment beckons and we will head to the island of Reunion to look after Pearl, the cat. It looks like a fascinating destination and has the added benefit of being French (our Duolingo skills will be further tested). Reunion is in the Eurozone in spite of being hundreds of miles away from mainland Europe. We will still have Euro privileges at that stage in spite of Brexit so it suits us well.
After that ends in the middle of September we return to the UK for another quick visit before heading back to Brittany. We've been invited to do the winter sit again next year and are thrilled to accept, as we are really growing attached to the place and Jasper and Jess.
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| Jasper having a nightmare that he had turned into a T-Rex. |
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| Do not disturb!!! |
After that, Brexit will have happened so we will need to do some planning to see what our next steps will be.
