When we were staying at La Matha at the beginning of the October, one day, we had lunch at Comptoir de Genès at Saint-Genès de Castillon. We have eaten there a few times before, and always enjoyed eating from the menu du jour.
This time, there was something on the menu that I had not tried before - Duck Hearts. These were to be grilled and served with frîtes. The waitress, who was English, had expressed her own reservations, but had commented that all through the week, customers had come back to eat it second or third times. I decided to give it a try..... Well, what can I say - they were really, really delicious!
They came on a couple of skewers, with a bucket of fries. Just like small sirloin steaks, which I suppose is right, as hearts are muscle and not offal like kidneys or liver.
The wine selection was, as ever good, and all the food we ate was of the highest order. This was definitely the best restaurant we dined in during that stay. Highly recommended!
Friday, 26 October 2012
Monday, 15 October 2012
Videos
It has always been a frustration the difficulty of conveying how big the house is. La Matha is Tardis-like in its qualities - the large open plan living area is far bigger than most of the photos can convey. For that reason, I took some videos some time ago, but whilst I can take reasonable still photos, I am by no means accomplished at video photography! The results were juddery to say the least.
A family friend who enjoys taking the odd video was staying at La Matha in mid-September, and volunteered to take a promotional video. This was so much better than my efforts, and as a result, I have loaded this onto YouTube and embedded it in the main website: http://www.la-matha.com/videos.html.
I'm not sure if this will attract any more people, but it might help to persuade people that it really is a large house!
Going East along the Dordogne
Last year we did a day trip eastwards, ending up at Sarlat: http://la-matha.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/another-trip-from-la-matha.html. This time, we decided to do a similar trip, but starting at Sarlat, so that we could spend a bit more time there, and then make a couple of stops heading back more or less westwards, so that the journey home was not so long.
Sarlat is a great place - a Bastide town with loads of history. We found a walk suggested in the Dorling Kinderlsey Eye Witness book, which took us round the centre of the old town.
Sarlat is a great place - a Bastide town with loads of history. We found a walk suggested in the Dorling Kinderlsey Eye Witness book, which took us round the centre of the old town.
After Sarlat, we headed to Domme for lunch. Domme is south of Sarlat on cliffs above the Dordogne river, and is a lovely old town, with spectacular views around the river valley. It does have a Cave, which has plenty of stalactites and stalagmites - a guided trip around the cave takes about an hour.
From there, we headed back to Baynac, which we had passed on the way to Sarlat. Baynac has glorious castle on the top of the cliffs, with the village squeezed down on the bank of the river.
Click on the picture below for a stunning panoramic view:
After Domme, we headed south again for Monpazier - a delightful Bastide town. We arrived at about 17:30, so all was very quiet. We had a glass of wine in a bar on the square before heading back across country to La Matha via Villareal and Miramont - a route with some ridiculously straight roads!
Les Jardins du Sardy
This is a place we have publicised on our website: http://www.la-matha.com/Local%20Area%20-%20Gardens.html, but have never visited. Some family members went recently and told us how good they were, so we paid a visit. They are located just north of the road to the west of St Foy on the way to Castillon.
The gardens have been restored, but, although there is a formal element, they are mainly carefully informal. We are really glad we finally got to go. Here are some of my photos.
Autumn Visit
We're now back from a lovely week out at La Matha, spent with some friends. We did a few chores/DIY stuff, but also did a lot of visiting places, eating out and tasting/drinking wine. Later posts about the trips we made with some photos.
One big thing that was sorted out was additional insulation for the large en-suite shower room - the ceiling had been insulated; however, the wall behind the washbasin was just plasterboard. This was the reason why, when the weather got to -15c last winter, we suffered some damage in that bathroom. As a result, I bought 100mm think insulation sheets and some adhesive. It took me less than two hours to insulate the whole of the back walls, including our cupboard on the landing and the triple bedroom and shower room. Hopefully the problems of last winter will not be repeated.
If the weather does get as cold as it did last winter, I also rigged up a frost thermometer for an oil-filled radiator for the large en-suite. This has now been left so that it will come on if the temperature falls below 0c.
One thing that had been annoying me was that, for a couple of years, a hazel bush had grown so large that it obscured the swimming pool from the master bedroom window (not that I spend a lot of time looking out of that window!). I had bought a good bow saw, and started to be a lumber-jack. Soon the whole party joined in the fun - stripping the leaves and making kindling and firewood. We did not pull up the roots, but will chop down the growth each time it gets too much.
Finally, and all the visitors from this year will be please to know this, we have finally identified the source of the blocked loo and slow draining shower in the main en-suite. This is caused by bad angles/joins in the pipework from the loo and the shower. A French plumber called Nathaniel Botti will be sorting this out the w/c 22 October.
One big thing that was sorted out was additional insulation for the large en-suite shower room - the ceiling had been insulated; however, the wall behind the washbasin was just plasterboard. This was the reason why, when the weather got to -15c last winter, we suffered some damage in that bathroom. As a result, I bought 100mm think insulation sheets and some adhesive. It took me less than two hours to insulate the whole of the back walls, including our cupboard on the landing and the triple bedroom and shower room. Hopefully the problems of last winter will not be repeated.
If the weather does get as cold as it did last winter, I also rigged up a frost thermometer for an oil-filled radiator for the large en-suite. This has now been left so that it will come on if the temperature falls below 0c.
One thing that had been annoying me was that, for a couple of years, a hazel bush had grown so large that it obscured the swimming pool from the master bedroom window (not that I spend a lot of time looking out of that window!). I had bought a good bow saw, and started to be a lumber-jack. Soon the whole party joined in the fun - stripping the leaves and making kindling and firewood. We did not pull up the roots, but will chop down the growth each time it gets too much.
Finally, and all the visitors from this year will be please to know this, we have finally identified the source of the blocked loo and slow draining shower in the main en-suite. This is caused by bad angles/joins in the pipework from the loo and the shower. A French plumber called Nathaniel Botti will be sorting this out the w/c 22 October.
Saturday, 29 September 2012
Is this Flash, or Not?
When I first created the website (www.la-matha.com) back in early 2008, I was putting something very simple together. The software I was using was NVU, which is now BlueGriffon, which is freeware. It does not have many rich features in it, although if I knew how to type HTML code, I could have done great things!
The original Pictures page was just a table which contained a series of pared down pictures - it did its job, but it was basic.
Earlier this year, I used some different software to build a website for my business (http://www.opriskconsultant.com/ - have to give it a plug!), and bought an easy to use program called Coffee Cup. This was fine, if a bit stilted - it was harder to customise things in it. I decided not to re-build the La Matha website using Coffee Cup, leaving it as it was. Coffee Cup also produce a Photo Gallery program, so I got that, and very quickly produced quite a good little gallery which could run a slide show. I was happy........ until I tried it on my iPhone. Of course Coffee Cup Photo Gallery produces the slide show using Adobe Flash, which is not supported by Apple - if you don't know, there has been a long battle between Adobe and Apple: Adobe promoting their Flash protocol, and Apple wanting the world to follow them with HTML5. Apple have now won, and Adobe are no longer going to be bringing out new versions of Flash.
Anyway, Coffee Cup announced that the new version of Photo Gallery can produce HTML5 slide shows, so I got an upgrade. However, that only works if you take up their hosting package, which I don't need, as I already have a web service that I use. Not happy.
I then found a new software called JuiceBox. That produces a photo gallery using HTML5, and what's more, there was a free version! Happy days!
The newer and better photo gallery really looks good - see for yourself: http://www.la-matha.com/Pictures.htm and the great thing is that you can view it on an iPhone or iPad!
The original Pictures page was just a table which contained a series of pared down pictures - it did its job, but it was basic.
Earlier this year, I used some different software to build a website for my business (http://www.opriskconsultant.com/ - have to give it a plug!), and bought an easy to use program called Coffee Cup. This was fine, if a bit stilted - it was harder to customise things in it. I decided not to re-build the La Matha website using Coffee Cup, leaving it as it was. Coffee Cup also produce a Photo Gallery program, so I got that, and very quickly produced quite a good little gallery which could run a slide show. I was happy........ until I tried it on my iPhone. Of course Coffee Cup Photo Gallery produces the slide show using Adobe Flash, which is not supported by Apple - if you don't know, there has been a long battle between Adobe and Apple: Adobe promoting their Flash protocol, and Apple wanting the world to follow them with HTML5. Apple have now won, and Adobe are no longer going to be bringing out new versions of Flash.
Anyway, Coffee Cup announced that the new version of Photo Gallery can produce HTML5 slide shows, so I got an upgrade. However, that only works if you take up their hosting package, which I don't need, as I already have a web service that I use. Not happy.
I then found a new software called JuiceBox. That produces a photo gallery using HTML5, and what's more, there was a free version! Happy days!
The newer and better photo gallery really looks good - see for yourself: http://www.la-matha.com/Pictures.htm and the great thing is that you can view it on an iPhone or iPad!
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
End of the Summer
We're now at the end of the summer. We have family staying at La Matha at the moment, and one more set of visitors staying at the beginning of October, before we go out on 6 Oct. We really can't wait, as we haven't been able to go there as much this year as we did last year.
At this time of the year, thoughts turn to improvements we would like to make for next year. We have done a large number of improvements over the last couple of years, as chronicled in earlier posts. What more is there to be done?
One thing we would like to do is render the walls in the utility room, and then paint them and the ceiling. We will probably have the stone walls finished in the traditional "pierre apparente" that we have outside and on some internal walls - strangely, it is a cheaper finish, and looks so good! Doing that, and then painting the concrete floor should make the room (which is just used for storage and as a utility room) much less dusty and be a tad more inviting than it is at the moment. Oh yes - we will also have to see what we can do to replace the cracked glass in the sliding patio door in that room.
Another idea we had for an improvement was to build a large pergola on the hard stand to the left of the house. With some shade over the top, that will be an ideal area to have the table tennis table, which, unless people bring it outside, is a bit cramped in the utility room. That area to the side of the house is the least attractive part of the grounds, and is in need of a tidy-up even if we don't do the pergola.
A final thought on the pergola is that we have not been able to find any for sale in France, which will mean buying a kit in the UK and taking it over. That means hiring a van again, which will also be a good excuse for buying a load of wine again - memories of bringing back about 700 bottles last year.........
Further posts will be made of what we decide to do.
At this time of the year, thoughts turn to improvements we would like to make for next year. We have done a large number of improvements over the last couple of years, as chronicled in earlier posts. What more is there to be done?
One thing we would like to do is render the walls in the utility room, and then paint them and the ceiling. We will probably have the stone walls finished in the traditional "pierre apparente" that we have outside and on some internal walls - strangely, it is a cheaper finish, and looks so good! Doing that, and then painting the concrete floor should make the room (which is just used for storage and as a utility room) much less dusty and be a tad more inviting than it is at the moment. Oh yes - we will also have to see what we can do to replace the cracked glass in the sliding patio door in that room.
Another idea we had for an improvement was to build a large pergola on the hard stand to the left of the house. With some shade over the top, that will be an ideal area to have the table tennis table, which, unless people bring it outside, is a bit cramped in the utility room. That area to the side of the house is the least attractive part of the grounds, and is in need of a tidy-up even if we don't do the pergola.
A final thought on the pergola is that we have not been able to find any for sale in France, which will mean buying a kit in the UK and taking it over. That means hiring a van again, which will also be a good excuse for buying a load of wine again - memories of bringing back about 700 bottles last year.........
Further posts will be made of what we decide to do.
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