Ending on a high note...

On Tuesday we said goodbye to our last guests of the season at 'Les Balcons' and where we will miss the meeting and interaction with our guests,  we won't miss the hard work of 'changeover' days. The season has been good to us with guests from Scotland, England, Ireland, Australia and USA.I think it was our friend Nicole, who also offers accommodation locally, who said that one of the great things about this business is that the world comes to you! This is so true and we like the fact that the houses we offer are used to bring different parts of the world together - our last set of guests were couples from Australia and the USA

rendezvousing in Europe - like many before them.

 Our guests have been very generous with their comments in our guestbooks though some may be difficult to live up to like 'Jim & Pauline rock' (you know who you are) and our most recent inclusion:

09/10/2012

  

"Five star experience- thanks to Jim & Pauline for, not only, providing such a well equipped home but for all the advice and assistance - some beyond the 'call of duty'. We travel around the world a lot and you have made this 'world class'."

Art Shulman & Linda Roseman, Melbourne, Australia + Stan & Wendy Finger, USA

Where we do not think, personally, that we have reached these giddy heights, it is a good feeling knowing that the hard work we put in to making our guests' stay as comfortable and as interesting as possible is appreciated.

We wish to thank all our guests for choosing to take their Loire Valley Experience with us.

Loire river swimming...

Many visitors to our part of France enquire about river swimming. The idea of swimming in the Loire river itself must hold an attraction to many 'wild river' swimmers but sadly its not encouraged or even permitted in some sections because of its dangerous currents and shifting sandbanks. It's tributaries however offer many opportunities for river swimming with many towns offering artificial beaches.

We are very lucky here in our little part of France and the Loire Valley to be blessed with a number of options for river and lake swimming, with the Creuse river virtually on our doorstep offering safe and guarded swimming as well as itsbeach between Barrou and Lesigny.

This year because of the low rainfall the local kids had a great time in the river at Barrou itself and indeed some guests at Le Bourg couldn't resist its temptation either with daily swims from the bottom of the garden.

Here Comes...

'The Hurdy Gurdy man'...

Part the entertainment at Legueil's recent 'Fete du Lait'...charming.

You can listen to a sample of it here...

Energy conservation...French style

A recent set of guests at Les Balcons were really charming and also very considerate of their French neighbours.When we popped over to check they had settled in and were comfortable we also asked if they had any questions. They asked if the village people (not the 70's lot) had got together and agreed the light curfew at 11.30pm unanimously. Let me explain...
In Le Grand Pressigny, like many other villages in the Loire valley and indeed France, the lights go out at night to conserve energy, so, as to not have our guests be met unknowingly by this, we inform them during our introductory chat and in our information booklet (very professional don't you think?).This means if they do go out and are returning late they are not met (as we were in the early days) by a 'black wall' and have torches with them to find their way into the house.  However I may have to re-write this as the guests thought it meant a total voluntary ban on the use of electricity and had being going about for the first couple of nights (after 11.30pm) with torches - how sweet. When told they could of course 'light up' they were very amused and somewhat relieved, that this conservation act was over for their stay!

It is easy to understand their thinking this as we have often looked over our part of the village and found it difficult to find a light source - this will be a lot to do with shutters but also the careful use of an expensive resource!

As we were leaving they said it was nice that they could stay up a little later that night....

An area full of surprises...

As we have said before our location here in Southern Touraine allows us the advantage of having all the attractions of the Loire Valley on our doorstep plus we have easy access to the neighbouring department of the Vienne. Its principle town of Chatellerault,only 30 minutes from us here in Barrou,has often surprised us with what it has to offer. On a trip back from dropping off a friend at Poitiers airport I remembered that someone had asked us if we had visited the 'Lac' in the town. Knowing its location which is just off the A10 I decided to check it out.

What a surprise - I was expecting a small lake with perhaps a surrounding park - what I got was a lake to rival that of St, Cyr,a little further south with its beach, set in acres of parkland...
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...which is obviously popular with the locals but not really 'sold' to visiting tourists. We will certainly be letting future guests know about it! Great for the warm sunny weather we are having at the moment.
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The lake is set in  5322 hectares of parkland.

View Le Lac,

Painting in the Loire Valley

Our current guest at Le Bourg is Sandra Beck from Arizona who is here on her second painting holiday. Last year she stayed at the 'Old Walnut Mill' with her friend Cathy who had also come to paint here in the Loire Valley. They were kind enough to give us some paintings of the house, the one above is currently hanging on our kitchen/diner.

She is just about to start the last week of her three week holiday with an exposition of her work in the restaurant here in Barrou. She has been busy painting the many views of the streets and houses of the village including 'Le Bourg' itself 

She has made many new friends in the village and some of them suggested that she should display her work and offered to organize the exposition. Unfortunately due to other commitments this has not been possible so it has fallen to Pauline and I to organize it.

Here is a copy of the 'flyer' ! made to advertise it which Pauline has distributed in the local villages to stir up some interest. 

Une vue de Barrou

Nous vous invitons à venir découvrir Barrou à travers les yeux et les coups de pinceaux de l’artiste américaine Sandra Beck et d’autres artistes.

Leurs œuvres seront exposées du dimanche 17 au vendredi 22 juin dans le restaurant Les Tilleuls, dans le village.

Vous pourrez faire l’acquisition de ces tableaux si vous le souhaitez.

You are invited to view the village of Barrou through the eyes and brush strokes of visiting American painter Sandra Beck and others.

On display from Sunday 17^th June until Friday 22nd at

 ‘ Les Tilleuls’ Restaurant within the village.

You can view more of Sandra's work here

A walk around the gardens at Villandry

The gardens at Chateau de Villandry here in the Loire valley are one of the 'must see' visits of any trip to this beautiful part of France and very popular with our guests. Split on three levels, the ornamental garden, the water garden and the kitchen garden.The gardens change with the seasons... here a picture is certainly worth a thousand words...

First guest at Les Balcons'

In preparation for our first guests arriving, from Tennessee, last week at Les Balcons is was necessary to continue working in the rain in order to get the outside space ready. Luckily (?) previous guests had left some sponsored rain wear in the house for me to use.Quite fetching don't you think?

Thank you 'Futuroscope'!

Fortunately on Wednesday, the day they arrived, the weather had picked up and we managed to get the house and garden ready - it makes such a difference if they arrive in sunshine.

 and I even got that gate painted - well under-coated anyway.