Closing the circle in Henley-on-Thames

 Sunday 18/06/23

We've been rather lax with our blogging since leaving for our South Africa trip, which is now sadly in the past, but was absolutely wonderful!

Bokkie is back in the UK, in the campsite where our travels began back on a grey November in 2018.  This was our first experience (shock) of camping in Bokkie after selling our house and setting off into the relative unknown of our new life.

Now, we feel we are old hands at motorhoming (not a real word) but, unfortunate complications with registering Bokkie in France has meant we're having to sell her in the UK in order to carry on with our plans to get French residency.  It's very sad on the one hand but also very exciting to start a new phase of our journey so we'll see where the roads lead us this time.

Warbie (Sam Warburton) and Samson (Samson Lee)

The mercurial Muffy, loving one minute, 
teeth and claws the next. 

We've just finished a fantastic ten-day house sit in Henley for some wonderful Welsh rugby fans (hence the dog's names), and are now getting ready to look after a Kiwi cat called 'Dan Carter' in Huntingdon.  The weather has been sublime for the past week and the animals were such a pleasure, we're really missing them now that we've moved on.

No doubt about this rugby-mad families heritage...

The most loveable giant in the world.

Definitely the strangest expression on Muffy's face. 
Maybe planning her next mauling?

Hopefully we can find the perfect new owners for Bokkie and head back to France to enjoy the rest of the summer on the continent.  Watch this space for updates. 

It's à bientôt Brittany and au revoir to Jess

 Thursday 06/04/23

Although the narcisses are pretty, the fly takes the cake

We're winding down our time at La Basse Cour and preparing to hand the house and gardens back to the owners who return next week.  

As always, we've absolutely loved our peaceful time here although it was clouded by the, not altogether unexpected, passing of Jess, one of our feline companions for the last four years.  She taught us a lot about coping with adversity and patience in the last months and she will stay in our hearts.

The spring colours are stunning

The onions and shallots are coming on nicely.
The reason the salad bed looks like a sea urchin is that we had to use a million clips to 
attach the cover because of the severe winds we had recently

Next Friday we'll make our way to Nantes to fly across to the UK, meet Charmaine in London and fly to Cape Town for a few weeks.  A time to reconnect with the homeland, visit with family and enjoy the national pastime called load-shedding (rolling power blackouts).

The cows were so excited to be let into the long grass in the field at the bottom of the garden

Crabapple blossoms

We're not taking the computer this time so blogging will be very limited, if at all, as I'm an oaf on the phone.  We're back here in the middle of May to enjoy a couple more weeks before we hopefully go travelling again.

We hope you all have a safe and peaceful Easter weekend!

RIP Jess

Daffodil time in Brittany

Saturday 18/03/23

We've had a lovely showing from the daffodils this year with the weather initially being kind to them, but now rain and wind has been testing their durability.  We try to rescue any that get flattened by the weather and cut them for the house.

The tulips are coming next; it really is a lovely time of the year.

Poor Jess can't see the daffodils but she still enjoys daily
(supervised) walks around the garden.

The garden is looking magnificent at the moment.

Our trip to Rennes was successful: we have both been declared fit to stay in France, and also had a nice outing to the city.

This time of year is quite busy as the garden starts to spring to life.  We've planted the onion and shallot crop for the year and also have the new potatoes in the ground already.  Toni has the heating mat working hard at starting seeds off which she then pots out for when the veggie beds are warm enough.

The potatoes, having been chitting in the spare room, are now ready for planting.

At least the potatoes stay where we plant them.  The pigeons keep pulling out the onions 
so we have to pop them back every day.

The very dry summer last year has taken it's toll on the lawn and some of the burnt patches didn't recover so have been taken over by weeds.  We've been spreading grass seeds to see if we can get it to recover and managed to get this finished just before the rains set it - hopefully conditions are good and the grass takes well.

Lawn-renovation works

We only have a few weeks left on this sit before heading to South Africa for a holiday with Charmaine and the rest of the family.

The bird life has given us a lot of pleasure again this year.
This is the first time we have seen the buzzard all the way inside the garden.

Bonus video:

Even the young heifers are excited by the spring grass they are allowed to enjoy.  It didn't stop them from trying to race Toni on her jog.

Spring is on it's way in Brittany

 Thursday 09/02/22

In spite of the dramatic sky, we've not had much rain recently

Having spent the first couple of week in Brittany watching the rain falling non-stop, we've recently had a good run of drier weather, albeit much cooler at times.  

This has given a much needed crack at getting the garden ready for spring and we've settled into a nice routine.

The panoramic pic distorts the foreground before but we love this view from the bedroom!

Jess has slowed down a lot but still loves a bit of sunshine.

The setting moon doing a Christmas tree impersonation.

Spring is on it's way.

We spend most of the mornings indoors - doing a few chores, trying to improve our French (c'est dificile; très, très, dificile!), Toni does the day's cooking while I usually head out for a pre-lunch chore session outdoors.  After lunch, weather permitting, we head into the garden until we are either bushed or it gets to supper time after which we watch a little television and read until bedtime. 

I caught a few newts while clearing algae from the pond.

And a huge swimming beetle.

Toni keeps the feeders topped up and the bids love it.

They do need to keep an eye on these characters, though...
So do we as they have a bit of a reputation, French hunters.

We try to plan our work with the weather and also have the odd day away: we have been to Questembert for shopping, walked to nearby La Guerno for fresh bread from the boulangerie,  and tomorrow plan on cycling to Noyal Muzillac for coffee.  

We've settled into a nice, gentle rhythm at LBC.  We are enjoying watching the bird and animal life around the area - nature seems to be gearing up for spring, which is not too far away!

We've also been invited to our French medical examinations, part of the 1-year visa process, so we'll have to go to Rennes in March; all the more reason to improve our French!

Bonus pic: 

Learning to use the supermarket bread slicer - we had a 50% chance
of getting it the right way around.  😀

Back in Brrrrittany!

 Friday 20/01/23

Icy pond

It's hard to believe we've been back at the Brittany house for two and half weeks; time has flown by in spite of most outdoor activities being hindered by the weather.  

The incessant rain has finally stopped but it has now been replaced by very cold conditions so, while outside gardening isn't out of the question, it is best done in short spells - for our fingers' and toes' sake!

Having said that, we're thrilled to be back at base, reunited with Jess and Jasper and looking forward to the next three months here.

Some videos:-

We've noticed that often, when the wind blows very strongly, flocks of seagulls take to the skies and swirl around in the eddies as though they are enjoying a giant roller-coaster.  We're not sure why they do it but they seem to be having fun!

I had some trouble getting water to flow from a watering can that had been standing outside and when I blew out the blockage, it turned out to be a mass of rat-tailed maggots, the larvae of hover flies.  Gross-looking but very beneficial to the garden.

RIP Shadow.  Charmaine's beloved cat passed away very unexpectedly and is already missed hugely by all of us.  He was a character and shared our lives for almost 10 years!

Hornfleur - at last!

 Tuesday 03/01/23

One of our favourite aires, overlooking the Seine

We had four days of seemingly endless rain at our campsite on the hill but the upside was a quiet, firework-free New Year's Eve!  Perfect!

As is our tradition, we set off early on New Year's Day, travelling down to Canterbury on the quietest morning traffic you could imagine around the M25.  

Canterbury has a nice paid motorhome aire (a rarity in the UK) which is cheaper than the campsite we usually use for our crossings.  It is an easy walk (there is a free bus available as well) into Canterbury and, as an added bonus, is only half an hour or so to the ferry port or Eurotunnel station.

The White Horse of Folkestone, one of the more modern white horses

On Monday, we made our way to the station and were lucky enough to get an earlier crossing and, even though it was delayed, we still got to France earlier than expected.  It was clear when we set off that there had just been a major downpour although the sun was out.  We spent the afternoon either driving though rain showers or squinting into the sun, which is very low in winter and seems to shine much brighter in France.

We stopped at an aire in Yvetot but found it a little noisy as it was in the middle of a bustling town, so decided to press on to an old favourite of ours, a secluded aire on the banks of the Seine.  There was only one other motorhome and we sat in awe of the pretty view of Caudebec-en-Caux on the opposite bank.  We had a peaceful night in spite of the heavy rumbling of the occasional freighter heading up-river.

'Pretty France' indeed

Hornfleur, artist's delight

This morning we popped into a Lidl for some grocery shopping and stopped off in Hornfleur, a lovely village on the south bank of the Seine estuary.  We've wanted to visit here for ages but always seem to be in a hurry to catch a ferry, so it's nice to stop off at last.

Motorhomes along the quayside with the magnificent Pont de Normandie in the background

We can't believe that, even in the middle of winter, there must be over 100 motorhomes parked here.  It is a lovely place, full of character.

If you think your house is looking a bit weathered, 
take a look at this one.

We are absolutely loving being back in France!  Tomorrow we head down to Noyal-Muzillac to start our three month sit, and are looking forward to seeing the owners and Jess & Jasper again.

Bonus video:  Watching the huge ships pass up the narrow river was amazing; we would hear the rumbles coming from some distance away and watch them  through the window.

Confused at Hill Farm

 Thursday 29/12/22

Even though the snow and extreme cold has passed, there is still ice about.
These are the swirling patterns on a cover outside.

As 2022 comes to an end, we have completed our final house sit for the year and returned to our campsite at Hill Farm.  

When we arrived, the wind was howling from the South and is expected to blow until we leave so we decided to reverse into our parking spot.  We usually park facing the field for the view but prefer to take strong winds from the front of Bokkie as the vents then face out of the wind and the bicycles and bike cover are protected by Bokkie.

However, this caused an unexpected problem - confusion!  We have stayed here quite a few times recently and, for some reason, it felt completely wrong to be pointing the wrong way.  We thought it would improve when darkness fell and we lost our outside references but once Bokkie was all closed up we could hear the occasional car coming past on the road.  The only problem was, they kept going past on the 'wrong' side and sounded to us as though they we going straight through the campsite.

Aren't our brains funny things?

We had deliberately planned to fill 2022 with house sits for various reasons, and ended up doing just that.  We completed 11 sits, sitting 294 days in total and looked after 18 dogs, 5 horses, 4 cats, 7 birds and 10 other little furry creatures.

Although we both love dogs, looking after other people's dogs can be quite difficult and we are definitely ready to go dog-free (and dog-hair free!) for a while and are looking forward to our familiar Brittany with the cats, Jess and Jasper, starting in about a  a week.

Possibly the cutest - definitely the noisiest birds we looked after.

It was a pleasure looking after these two over Christmas.

The rough plan for 2023, with our shiny new French visas, is to spend three months in Brittany,  then a short trip to South Africa and finally to travel in Europe until October-ish when we will head back to Brittany if all goes according to plan.

We are now staying at this campsite until New Year's Day and will then travel down to Canterbury for a night before taking the Eurotunnel across to France on the 2nd.

We hope you all have a sensible New Year's eve and a fantastic New Year ahead!

Bonus pic:  We have spent so much time at the Brittany sit, that Google satellite has captured Bokkie parked on the property so we are now a permanent fixture there!

You can get an idea of the size of the garden / property.