September Trip

Last weekend we were over in La Matha with Bill & Shirley for a brief stay, which went very well.  We arrived on Friday and decided that we'd try La Terrasse again for dinner.  If you've read previous posts, you'll see that we'd all but given up going there, as it was always closed when we tried.  When I phoned to book, it was answered by someone new; table booked.  It turns out it now has a new owner, who took over in mid-July.  He's a local man who had sold a restaurant nearby some time last year, and ended up buying this one.

The weather was lovely and warm, so we ended up eating outside.  The menu was not like under the Belgians, where they had three or four differently priced menus - this was a single menu with a bit of blurring between starters and main courses: some dishes could be either, and it was limited to about a dozen items.  Food turned out to be very tasty, and the price not too high - about €120 for four, not including drinks.  Normal service resumes - let's hope it lasts!

On Saturday we shopped tn the market at St Foy, as we had guests for the evening.  The guests were people we'd met at Le Moulin restaurant in Les Lèves back in July.  Before the guests turned up, we had a massive thunder storm - see photo below of the river going past the terrace!

Dinner went well, although the son of our guest had a disastrous evening - lightening had set fire to his hay bales, and he'd lost 200 of them just over in Riocaud!

On Sunday, we had a trip to Les Jardins du Sardy between St Foy and Castillon - well worth a trip.  Afterwards, we headed back over the Dordogne through Pessac to Flaujagues - I'd never been there before, and we found it very pretty.  At the recommendation of a guest, we then went on to find La Table Rouge - a delightful restaurant on the road from Flaujagues to Castillon, overlooking the river.  The owner let us eat a late lunch, which was really good.  La Table Rouge is another decent restaurant to go to!

Pomerol

When Bill and I were here in 2011, we visited the brother-in-law of a French colleague of mine.  The brother-in-law, Charles Estager, has three wine parcels: a Pomerol, a Lalande Pomerol and a Montagne St Emilion.  When there, we bought some of the 2010 Pomerol "en primeur", which means we buy it before it is bottled.

We have just visited Charles again, and picked it up - here is the evidence:

The boxes are in the van already, to which we will be adding some local wines from Berticot and Univitis - we have to do this to make sure the van does not come back empty!

Gensaké - New Restaurant to Try!

We had tried to book a table at the restaurant Les Ramparts in Gensac; however, we were told that for unspecified reasons, they will not be opening the restaurant this year!  When we heard that, we looked to see where else we could go, and found Gensake (http://www.le-gensake-restaurant.fr/).

A charming restaurant with about four simple set menus (a choice of two dishes per course per menu) - plenty of foie gras, duck, steak and so on.  There is a Menu Atlantique with two fish dishes for pescetarians. The food was delicious - steak perfectly cooked "à point", really tender lamb chops.....

The "wine list" was a series of shelves containing the wine stock - red, white and rosé.  They were all priced for take-away, but you add €5 for corkage.  The only downside of this was that the white wine was not chilled, and the red was cooler than "room temperature" (the room was a little chilly).  You can bring your own, but what might be better is bringing an ice bucket!  We had a bottle of a local Bordeaux white (which was as you would expect), and a lovely half bottle of Côtes de Blaye red.

We would thoroughly recommend this restaurant - very reasonably priced for very good food. (Bear in mind the wine comment above!)

Well That Went Well!

We've just come back from an eventful weekend at La Matha.  The weather started off positively - we had lunch outside in the sun on Friday, and it was a beautiful early morning on Saturday, but then got a bit miserable for the rest of the time.  It is March, after all!

We managed to sort a few issues out, none of which were really a problem, and we've taken all the necessary measurements we need for paint, curtains etc.  I took some "before" photos of the "utility" room, which hopefully will have the breeze-block walls rendered and the stone walls finished in the pierre apparent finish we have elsewhere in the house.

I will of course take the "after" photos showing the finished walls and the painted floor!

I also took a photo of where the pergola is going - note the stones on the concrete showing where the posts will go!

Pergola (again!)

That's done it!  Pergola ordered, with delivery just before we go.  Van booked, as is Eurotunnel.  The other good thing is that London Wasps (English Rugby team) are playing their European quarter final match against Leinster on the Friday evening before we go, so we get to see the Rugby, as well as go to France!

Here is a marketing image of the pergola we will be taking down there, made by a chippy from Swindon.

In addition to this, we've loads of plants to take down.  Our gardener has just delivered some "terre du pays enrichie avec du compost" - see photo below - ready for the planting

As you can see, that area looks a bit scruffy, but that is part of our project: to tidy it up.  The wall will be painted, and the concrete will be covered in shingle.

Oh yes, did I mention that we are going out there in March - now just over 3 weeks away for the weekend of my birthday.  We can't wait to get out there again: it's been too long!

Bookings

There we were, thinking that in these extended credit crunch times, the number of bookings we've achieved so far is way down on previous years.  When suddenly, we get four enquiries in 24 hours, including two for the same week!  Added to a couple of weeks which friends are interested in, and suddenly, we have the potential for having 10 weeks booked.

That is shaping up nicely - if we get the same number of weeks booked as last year, that will be great; even better if we get the same feedback as last year!

We're Going to France!

Now that the New Year is upon us, we have now started to book our time at La Matha.  We've already booked a weekend in mid-March, and are planning a week's trip with a van for around Easter.  A long weekend in June with girlfriends has been organised by Pip, and we're talking about a weekend and week in September.

The trip at Easter with the van will take some furniture, a Pergola kit and a load of plants.  The Pergola and plants are for the side of the house which is currently a bit boring.  We'll be creating a space for the table tennis table, and make it a bit more attractive.  Oh yes, with the van, we will be able to buy some wine and bring it home!!!!

A Restaurant with a Heart!

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!

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!

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.

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!

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.

Successful Trip!

I'm now back and rested after my two weeks at La Matha.  Virtually everything that I wanted to get done was done, and more.  Improvements carried out:

• Swimming Pool heated, and working very well
• Wi-fi up and running
• Kitchen "extended", by building new units, a large worksurface
• Kitchen tiled
• Wine Fridge installed, which will take the strain off the normal fridge, and ensure that your white and rosé wines are chilled correctly
• New oven installed
• New lighting in the living room
• Small shower room made larger and lighter, with new sanitary ware - looking cool now!
• New door on the pool-house.  Whilst this is aesthetic, it will ensure the pool house is clean, but also has the benefit of keeping the noise of the pump/filtering down
• Sorting out the thermostats on the boiler

 In addition to all this, there was the usual start of season clean-up - washing the terrace floor, clearing out the "utility room" and so on.

Here are some photos of the completed work

I've been Swimming!

Whilst I am a strong swimmer, I do not like swimming in cold water.  The med in the summer is fine, but an un-heated swimming pool in May, even in the south-west of France, nah!

The heater said the temperature of the water should be 24.5c - that was about the same as the air temperature, so I gave it a go.  I dived in, and: it did not take my breath away, like it normally does!  Whilst I would not have described it as warm, it certainly wasn't cold.  Big, big improvement, then.  I think the temp should probably be set a bit higher (the pool has been getting warmer by the day).

Swimming Pool Kit

Did I mention that the pool is now heated?

Here is the Heat Pump:

And here are photos of the thermal pool cover:

I still haven't plucked up the courage to swim in it yet - the weather today is not as good as yesterday: maybe I should have gone then!

Well, Here We Are!

This is a momentous occasion - the first post of the blog from La Matha!  Wi-Fi is now set up - I've managed to change the password, but I have a feeling I will have to type out instructions on how to reset it in case it goes down......

Anyway, things are going very well.  Kitchen cabinets being built.  Have moved an electric socket so that the Wine Fridge (arriving tomorrow!) has power.  Work-surface arrives on Monday, but I will have put all the pieces together (hopefully!) by then.

Heater for the pool is doing a great job - with the warm weather of the last two days, it has now got to 24c.  I may give it a try tomorrow!

New shower room has been painted - just a small bit to finish off.  Door to the pool house also painted.

Will post some photos tomorrow!

Getting Stuff Together

The annual task of making sure everything is ready for the DIY trip.  It is slightly different this year in that I am not going in a van, which is a different challenge.  We have a couple of packages (eg the wine fridge!) ready for UPS to pick up.  I have organised for an SFR engineer to visit to set up the Broadband (actually it was a former colleague in Paris who did it, as SFR do not have a phone number to use from the UK to set  up new installations!).  I have arranged for a "chauffagiste" to visit to service the boiler.  My list of tasks is complete (but will probably be added to.....).

Swimming pool heater is installed, and the pool has been de-wintered, although given the weather there at the moment, I may not be using the pool!!!

One thing I hope to be able to do is create blog posts and upload photos whilst there.  That will, of course, depend on the efficiency of SFR to get the broadband working.  Watch this space!

Where does the time go?

We have just booked a couple of trips for us to go over - a weekend in mid-march and then a week at the beginning of May.  The March trip will be to view the improvements which have just been finished.  These should make a big difference in the triple bedroom upstairs - mainly a larger shower-room with new fittings and a small velux window, as well as a now firmer floor in the bedroom!

As ever, photos of the improvements will be posted here when we get back.

We will also be working out what we need to buy to build a new set of kitchen units to form a peninsular between the kitchen and the dining room.  We intend to include a wine fridge in this area, which will be very useful and will leave more space in the main fridge for food!  Installation of the kitchen units will be my work when I'm out there in May.

We have heard from our builder that Gironde has not been immune to the cold weather we have been experiencing in the UK.  Apparently, one night the temperatures reached -17c, and they have had 15cm of snow.  The south-west of France does not normally see much more than a dusting of snow, and therefore are not equipped with gritters and snow ploughs.  Roads were closed for a number of days and schools and businesses were also forced to close.

We will of course ensure there is plenty of heating oil for the boiler, so if the worst comes to the worst in August, the central heating will work!!!!!  (I can't for the life of me believe that would be necessary!).

Finally, we initially thought that bookings were coming through a bit slower than the last couple of years - or at least none of the enquiries we received seemed to be coming off for various reasons.  We felt that the recession might be starting to bite.  However, we have just had a couple of bookings in quick succession, which means that August is now fully booked.  Hopefully the interest will continue and we will also let July and most of June, as we did last year.

Thank you to all our visitors for keeping the faith with us!

Castelmoron d'Albret

In an earlier post (here), I mentioned a village that we found when going for a drive near Sauveterre de Guyenne - Castelmoron d'Albret.  We went there again just before Easter, and I took a camera.  Here are some photos.  It really is a delightful village!