When we left the UK to come here we always planned to stay here running gites for 10 years to take us up to retirement. We weren’t sure what we would do after that but thought perhaps we would move to another region of France or another country. But when we finally started to think about moving on we realised that there was nowhere we wanted to go to as we love this little village and have made so many friends here. So we sadly put Peyrenègre up for sale and looked for another property in the village.

The house when we arrived and now with the terrace added

It’s hard to imagine now what the house looked like when we bought it. There were still cows where the gites are now! We are proud of all we have achieved at Peyrenègre and have so enjoyed sharing this lovely spot with our gite guests. We know that it has been a special place for many of you too and certainly to those who have returned year after year.

The gite side as a barn and now as holiday cottages

We are delighted that the new owners of Peyrenègre are continuing to run the gîtes. Lucy and Andrew have lots of plans and we look forward to seeing them take Peyrenègre into the new chapter of its life.

So time for something new – well something very old in fact as we have bought an old ruin in the village and plan to restore it to its former glory to be our retirement home. If you want to see what we are up to you can follow us on our new blog Au Bourg .

Of course this is the artist impression of what it will look – it’s not even habitable at the moment!

Au revoir – keep in touch and if you come back to holiday at Peyrenègre or are passing through the region we hope you’ll drop in for some of that Wilson hospitality. I’m getting a bit emotional now so time to wind things up. I started with a song title so I’ll finish with one- thanks for the memories!

‘What a mild winter we’re having’ I said to Kevin earlier this year and we congratulated ourselves on how the wood stock was holding up well and we hadn’t needed an oil top up. Then as everyone knows a couple of weeks ago we woke up to the worst snow we have had in our 10 years living here. The depth of the snow plus sub zero temperatures which didn’t allow it to thaw made access in and out of Peyrenègre very difficult. The wood soon ran down and we had to have an oil delivery after all. I snuggled down near to a roaring fire and didn’t leave the house for 10 days – managing to use the chance to catch up on lots of little jobs that had been hanging around.

Our neighbour was more adventurous than me and took these lovely shots as she walked to the village for her bread.

Meanwhile I tried out a recipe for ‘no knead bread’ ……………

……………. and kept a hat on indoors – not the prettiest images of me but it kept me warm.

But all things pass and at last the temperatures started to rise, the sun shone and the snow disappeared. I managed to get to the hairdresser at last and the dog had his annual vaccinations which had been cancelled because of the snow. Slowly we all got back to normal life.

So nothing to stop me getting to the airport today as I leave for my spring visit to see the family – can’t wait and when I get back I am sure that Spring will be here to welcome me home.

A friend of mine recently asked me if I was going to go back to the UK when I finally retire to get good health care. Then I read that lots of Brits are returning to the UK as they miss the NHS. The thought had bever crossed my mind as we have been more than satisfied with the health care we receive here.

Take this morning. I had received the letter informing me it was time to have my free breast screen. I made an appointment a week ago for 9.30 a.m. this morning. I arrived at the hospital at 9.25 a.m. Parking can be tricky but I found several spaces right outside – if not I could have gone just across the road to the station car park. In reception there is a drinks machine but no shops, no café, no fast food chains and above all no noise! They have a ticket system so you can sit down in comfort and wait your rturn – there were three numbers in front of mine. By 9.30 I was checked in and on my way to radiology where they took my details again and off to the waiting room. Less than 5 minutes later I was called in and by 9.55 a.m I had had the mammogram and had been examined by the doctor. Another 5 mins for him to look at everything and then he came to give me the result and I was free to go. No waiting for a letter to come ages afterwards.

Everything was thankfully normal but I had an abnormal scan in the UK just before coming here 10 years ago. I had the scan and then later received a letter telling me there was an abnormality and that I would have to return in 3 weeks for a deeper scan. All was fnally well but when I had my first scan here in France the same thing happened. Here you wait until the results have been examined and if there is an abnormality they do the second , deeper scan immediately.

That’s the kind of treatment I am used to here now. Blood results come back quickly, appointment times mostly respected and if not apologies are made and you are kept well informed. I think UK health care staff are briliant but they are being prevented from doing their job by a system that has lost its way in my view.

So no – I won’t be going back to live in the UK for health care reasons – I’m happy and hope to stay healthy where I am.

In case you didn’t read my last post I wish you all a very Happy New Year. Here in France we can go on wishing people a Happy New Year all through January. Tomorrow afternoon the Maire will be extending his annual invitation to all the village to join him and the Conseil to wish each other best wishes for 2012. He will give a quick speech about what’s gone on in the village in 2011 and outline plans for 2012. Then we’ll have wine and king’s cake (Galette des Rois) and whoever finds the favour (fève) hidden in the cake will get to wear a crown! The classic French recipe is almond based but here in the sud ouest they prefer a kind of brioche cake. This will be the third time this year that we’ll be eating King’s cake so bang goes one resolution!

I don’t suppose I’m alone in starting every year resolved to exercise more – I was hoping to start cycling but after a scary outing with my daughter over Christmas I have decided that I must build up some stamina first and so am back walking, going to yoga and working out with my favourite celebrity DVD once a week. I’ve also started running a gym club for the Club des Ainés (the old folks club) on Monday afternoons so that about fulfills that resolution this year.

I am an audio book fan and to help me with more tedious jobs I often have my ipod glued to my ear. Recently I was listening to Stephen Fry’s autobiography in which he recounts a meeting between a long established professor at an English university and a young newcomer to the common room. Putting his arm around the young man’s shoulders he offers this advice – ‘Don’t try to be clever – we’re all clever here – try to be kind’. This seems such good advice that I will adopt it as my 2012 mantra.

So what have you resolved to change, to improve, to continue or to aspire to in 2012? Or like Kevin do you resolve not to make any resolutions? Whatever you are up to in 2012 I wish you every success and happiness – but as everyone says here most of all good health – surtout la santé!

We wish all our followers a very happy New Year – I promise I will try to post here more often and will start this week with an update of everything we have been up to at Peyrenègre

I am sorry that it has been so long since I wrote about life at Peyrenègre but we have been very busy looking after all our great guests – we said goodbye to the last guests of 2011 last weekend. This has been a great season and we have enjoyed meeting returning guests and new guests and sharing with them this lovely little corner of France (christened Le Petit Paradis by one of our Belgian guests). We are so lucky to have such great visitors and it is a pleasure to spend some time with them.

We managed to relax a bit ourselves. We gave an old threshing machine to a guy in the next village who renovates old farm machinery and were invited to see the thresher in action and to have lunch under the trees……..

………and we spent a weekend by the beach at Cap Ferret with friends where we saw the oyster beds and tasted the end result.

But most of all we just enjoyed our special corner of France – our petit paradis!

The first outing was our annual May sortie with the club of the third age. I love going out with this group as they really enjoy themselves and love to sing and tell jokes (often rather blue) on the drive. We visited the Dordogne starting at le Chateau des Milandes which had been the home of the singer Josephine Baker until she fell on hard times and was evicted. The chateau has been restored and houses mementos of the famous chanteuse. Next stop a a wine and foie gras tasting and on to the most important part of the day – lunch. This year I sat next to an 85 year old ex farmer at lunch. He told me that he and his wife were just about to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. I asked him how they met and he started to tell me a story that brought tears to my eyes – better then any history book.

After lunch a boat trip down the Dordogne past 4 other chateaux. It was lovely along the river with trailing swathes of flowers moving gently with the current

We ended our day out to ‘la valléé des cinq chateaux‘ with a taste of walnut wine served by a pretty girl (to the delight of all the old men)dressed in traditional costume.

The second outing was nearer home with the Kiwanis club of Marmande that Kevin is a member of. They organised a car treasure hunt around the village of Cocumont famous for its wine. The rallye took us around the gentle rolling countryside stopping at mills and churches searching for our clues and ended at a farm where a few deciding point earning activities took place before we sat down for a delicious meal with a main course of beef cooked on an open fire all served with great local wine.

The third outing was a randonéé an 11k walk starting very close to Peyrenègre. The countryside around us is great for walking and this walk took us through hazel nut orchards, woodland and farmland with spectacular views.

Look carefully in the picture of the woods below and you will see one of the many complicated hides (palombières) that are built in the local woods and used for catching wild pigeons. Back at the starting point we had a welcome drink and one of the walkers had brought a basket brimming with cherries.

So how does the baby come into this post? Well our 4th grandchild was due on the 21st May and we are still waiting. I bought a rather special bottle of wine on the first outing into the Dordogne and it’s still sitting in it’s packet. So any day now we will welcome another member of the family and we are so excited. Only an event so special would make me leave my corner of SW France in June but next week I am leaving for the UK to say hello to the new arrival and help out as much as I can leaving Kevin to look after the gîtes and our holidaying guests.

It’s time to get very busy in the potager. Yesterday at our favourite market the flower and plant stalls had crowds around them as now is the time to start planting out in the garden. We do grow some things from seed but others we buy as plants ready for planting out. We already have some early tomatoes in the greenhouse with aubergines, peppers, melons and lettuce. Today we planted out tomato plants putting a few cut up nettles in the hole first to give them a boost. We are also trying watering though a plastic bottle by each plant to avoid getting the leaves too wet.

We need another 13 tomato plants to make our 40 total and will be buying them this weekend and more aubergine, courgette and peppers for outdoor planting. We have also started sowing french beans, beetroot, carrots and parsnips – so fingers crossed for germination. It’s been so dry here that are thinking of doing a rain dance if nothing happens in the next couple of days. The spring flowers are getting ready to hand their colourful baton to summer blooms but are reluctant to leave us just yet.

I haven’t been able to find any sweet corn seeds here this year – our farmer neighbours grow corn for animals and it isn’t a vegetable they usually serve for themselves. Luckily one of our recent guests heard of my futile search and sent me some from the UK. I have found butternut squash (la courge musquée) this year and they are sprouting beautifully. You know I adore soup and I can almost taste the roasted butternut squash soup I’ll be making in the autumn.

We are already harvesting broad beans which we sowed in October – delicious. The cherries on one of our early fruiters are ripening and the artichokes proudly hold their gifts aloft for the taking. In the greenhouse the strawberries are plump and lush and lettuce ready for the table. We have been eating our green asparagus for a while too and made some delicious soup and I’ll be making more soup as I use up the last of the leeks.

There is so much satisfaction from growing your own and eating with the seasons. This really is the good life.

I love May here at Peyrenègre. If you want to come along and share this lovely month with us ( and some of the garden produce) check out availability here - we are offering special last minute rates for May.

Despite the forecast for rain Easter Sunday is sunny and warm and this morning the 8 children staying in our gîtes found that the Easter bunny had been to Peyrenègre. With shouts and squeals the hunt was on and there was a specially decorated basket of chocolate eggs for everyone.

We hope you are all having a Happy Easter too – don’t eat too much chocolate!

There are some smells that I can conjure up at will – the smell of my two babies when I snuggled them into me; the smell of the ocean;the smell of home made bread. I know that I will always remember springtime at Peyrenègre by imagining the intoxicating smell of the wisteria that is in full bloom at the moment – it really is one those smells you could never forget. The weather has certainly been tempting us outside and sitting in the garden reading the other evening wave after wave of this delicious perfume wafted over me.

I love this time of year when the garden comes alive again and everything looks so vibrant and exciting. The tulips shoot up their trumpet blast of colour and the peony is covered in tissue paper like blooms.

There are signs of summer colour too as the canna lilies are pushing through ready to take their turn when the irises and pansies have taken their final bow.