Blog

At Christmas time in French households, most families have a tin of home baked biscuits de Noël ready for offering their guests and visitors. So, as gite owners, we thought this would be a perfect gesture for our guests! So we decided to set about making our own contribution to this tradition.

It’s occurred to us recently how our new French country lifestyle has brought a gradual change to our consuming habits and the way we live. We now grow plenty of fresh herbs and vegetables. We buy as much fresh produce as we can, locally. Even our wine bottles are recycled and refilled at the local vineyard up the road.

We recently created a post about Sweet Foods at Christmas and described how the French have, like many of us, a sweet tooth over Christmas. One of the most widely consumed desserts, not only in France but across Europe, is the yule tide log. Or as the French call it, Buche de Noel. So we thought we would do something different and show you how you can make this delicious flour-less chocolate cake, rolled with chocolate whipped cream.

Letters from French kids to Pere Noel don't just disappear into dustbins or drawers because since 1962, France has had a law that stipulates any letter sent to Santa by a resident child MUST be responded to in the form of a postcard.

We do love our sweet foods at Christmas. I challenge any family to resist snaffling the giant sized tin of chocolates, bought for the Christmas season, long before it comes out for general consumption! And the French are no different. They have some lovely traditions involving sweets, for example, the making and displaying of papillotes, which are chocolates or candied fruits, wrapped in golden, sparking paper with fringed ends and a little good will note written and concealed inside. They are usually used to decorate the Christmas table and I suppose they are the French equivalent of Christmas crackers.

We didn't realise we had so many talents.... making chairs out of tree stumps is just one of them! This week, we hired a man and a machine to grind down the remaining stumps from last weeks tree felling.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in France🎄we’re getting in the mood and have already put up our Christmas lights at the house ready for the season.... even the small villages decorate their streets in lights and host various festivities.

We’ve been beavering away in the garden since the summer ended and, as you can see from the before and after photos, we’ve really improved the overall appearance, maximised the fabulous space we have at the estate and let in more sunlight.

The Cognac region and its signature spirit has a long, dramatic history, dating back to the 3rd century, involving many nations, merchants, kings, aristocrats; natural catastrophes, wars and cold winters. Despite all this, the product has improved in quality and popularity, century after century.

With the approach of national bike week in June (bikeweek.org) if you’re hoping, or at least tempted, to do some cycling in France, we can’t fault you, it’s an excellent choice! When it comes to cycling, France has few equals; magnificent open countryside and towns/cities where cyclists are greeted warmly and treated with great respect by motorists, making the experience a real joy.