The 23rd Flower Show At Verteuil

Last weekend saw the 23rd Flower Festival, again held in the splendid grounds of the château of Verteuil Sur Charente, 6kms from Ruffec. This year’s theme was against ‘Food Wastage’. Yet again (for the flower show) somebody upstairs decided that the weather this weekend in the Charente would be somewhat ‘changeable’ to say the least. One of the organisers, Jérôme Moreau, admitted that it had been one of the hardest to put on due to the inclement weather leading up to the event. (Soggy fields/paths & windy conditions to deal with when erecting marquees etc). I can assure all our house hunters that this is exceptional for this time of year.

Rochefort. A Day Out In Charente Maritime

About an hour and a half drive from our Ruffec office and the interesting town of Rochefort is there to be discovered. On the Charente estuary, this 17^th century maritime arsenal and naval dockyards once offered a sheltered port from the Atlantic coastline when constructed in 1664 (no relevance to my favourite beer) under the reign of Louis XIV. The navy has long since departed, but its grand history remains.

Spring Is In The Air

After a week away from the office spent in L’Herault (Languedoc), with my two girls, it was lovely to come back to a sun drenched Charente on Saturday afternoon. I am certainly do not have ‘Green Fingers’, in fact far from it, but on Sunday I was out treating the lawn to its first cut of 2014. There had been a light frost overnight, but by 10h00 we were spoilt with the warmth of the sun. The Charente seemed to be no more than a week behind L’Herault in finding Spring and with the sun on my back I was inspired to start pruning the budding apple trees (pommiers) and trimming the vines (vignes) back hard. This severe type of trimming (probably a technical word for it) had been done in the hills around Montpellier, so only fair to do so in Charente.

Tips on cycling and bike rides in the Poitou-Charentes

The great Belgian rider Eddy Merckx said: 'Ride as much or as little or as long or as short as you feel...but ride.'

Exactly - especially if you do it when living or staying in the Poitou-Charentes. When we used to come here for our holidays we used to love cycling off to the bakers in the mornings to get our croissants and French bread.

Only a short ride, but with hardly any cars on the roads it was something we could all do as a family and it was great fun.