view over the River Loire :- Balloon flight 15/07/2018
I thought it was time to put “pen” to paper with more news and stories from Monk valley.
Life continues is be good and not a week passes by, without enjoying aperitifs or meals with famille française and friends.
Some recent news, our friends Cathy and Nigel who ran le tasting room in Cumeray, have moved to Noizay a small hamlet in the Vouvray application near Amboise. They are continuing the wine tours and tastings. It is only 90 minutes drive away from here, so the “gourmet meals “ the fun and laughter will continue, plus we enjoy sleep overs.
The celebrations that started in 2017 continued into 2018. I joined the septuagenarian gang and Franck and Veronique celebrated 15 years of happy marriage.
The Reynard family presented me with a stay in a St Malo hotel, including dinner. We extended the stay in the Bretagne region exploring the beautiful coastal scenery around the town of Lannion.
Hotel,Aleanea StMalo
Last year also saw Sheila and Mirielle eventually taking their balloon flight after several cancellations due to adverse weather conditions. The date 15th July, remembered by many in these parts when France won the football World cup. It was a wonderful day shared with our famille française and our friends André, Pascal and Jérôme . Rendezvous-vous at 06h30 on a gloriously perfect Summer’s morning.
Bridge between Gennes and Les Rosiers from balloon
A group of 12 of us pursued the balloon through the French countryside, even less traffic about due to the fact it was Bastille Day the day before!
“The Posse”
Everyone returned to Monk valley for a full English breakfast to be enjoyed in the garden. A noisy affair! Monk valley temporarily becoming a “greasy spoon cafe” with vast amounts of English sausage, bacon, fried eggs and baked beans being devoured in the sunshine. A few bottles of fizz helped the food down.
During the afternoon Sheila, André and Jérôme and I drove to Doué la Fontaine to see the Rose Festival. An annual event held in the vast caves where tableaux of roses are displayed.
It was a lovely day, rounded off sat outside a bar, enjoying a couple of beers with André and Jerome in Doué listening to the shouts and cheers coming from inside. A great friendly atmosphere.
We love visiting Angers . We love the shops, bars and restaurants and of course the Asian supermarkets where we can stock up on our exotic herbs and spices.
During one visit I braved a professional beard trimming session in a French barbers!Sheila strolled through the centre and noticed a chocolate shop named Benoit chocolates – she recalled that 23 years ago we hosted a French couple who were part of a delegation of “European villages with twisted church steeples” – sounds bizarre, but you’d be amazed how many there are.
They came armed with chocolates naturally but Cointreau? . At the time we thought they lived in Fougeres a town on the Normandy/Brittany border.
When we returned home Sheila produced a brochure that the couple had presented to us, which was a miracle considering 23 years had passed since the visit and we had also moved to France during this time.
We contacted the shop and discovered that indeed Gillbert Benoit and his wife Françoise were the founders of the business and that they actually lived in a little village Fougeré (about 30 minutes from Angers and the Cointreau museam???) and where indeed they do have a twisted bell tower.
We talked on the telephone and were invited for lunch on 21 June. We had a lovely afternoon, and a return visit is planned this year where once again we will be hosts.
The daughter, who has taken charge of the firm, won many awards and at one time was named one the 12 best chocolatiers in France. Les Caramandes, her invention, definitely has a high profile in the world of fine chocolate.
Our french continues to slowly improve over the years but we still make the “odd” mistake sometimes with hilarious consequences.
Sheila called at La Post to collect a parcel the post man had attempted to deliver. The post office. staff couldn’t find it anywhere, Sheila ever helpful suggested we should go home and ask our neighbours if they had accepted it on our behalf , but what she actually said was :- “nous devrions rentrer à la maison et demander aux oiseaux s’ils l’avaient accepté en notre nom” – oiseaux = birds, voisin = neighbours!
One of the funniest moments came when we were talking with André and his two brothers who had recently returned from a week on the canal midi. Sheila and I have enjoyed canal holiday’s in England so we were exchanging stories.
It was then that Huebert asked Sheila “If she had opened her legs”!! What he meant to say was “had she opened the locks.
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