We hope that you all had a restful festive period and wish you all a very Happy New Year. May 2026 bring you good health, happiness and lots of fish on the bank.
December has come and gone in a flash and we have had a good week or two over the Christmas period doing very little apart from eating, drinking and socialising! As we sit and write this with temperatures at -9°C it is hard to believe that less than a month ago we were out pruning in T-shirts but we did have a couple of really lovely weeks of sunshine and temperatures over 10°C in December and very few days with any significant rain. As most of our winter jobs are outside ones we always prefer it when it is dry and a bit of winter sunshine is even better.
The first job on our list was to get the calcium carbonate we had had delivered in the lake. The principle behind this is to reduce the silt depths and increase the oxygen levels in the lake. With the help of our friend Paul, and his outboard motor, Kingfisher was soon sorted.
During the good weather we spent a number of days pruning the trees on the far bank of Kingfisher, getting rid of all the snags that were in the water as well as a few of the bigger branches that we thought could be an issue. With Nigel in the water doing the cutting, Jo then drag branches to either end of the lake, ready for chipping. These two photos show the difference we have made.
Maisie doesn’t like to be left in the house when we are out working, so she comes and entertains herself with her ball in the stream, and occasionally the lake. Consequently she is the muckiest of all of us by the time we are done!
We have also been doing a lot of clearing down the far end of Kingfisher, opening up the shallow end to increase the wind flow, reduce leaf fall and therefore hopefully increase the oxygen in the water. We have taken down a of a couple of trees that were causing obstacles and were only being held up by other trees surrounding them. As always the branches are used to create a lovely path with our Forest Master chipper.
We are currently up to the ‘social area’ with our tidying on Kingfisher now and that should be finished by the end of this week, weather permitting!
The wildlife continues to enjoy the lakes, with 5 egrets regularly seen on both lakes, a couple of ducks living on Kingfisher and the red squirrels going back and forth through the trees on Lac Lucie bank, hunting for the nuts they have hidden. Biscuit, our kitten is doing well and becoming braver and braver and Doris was eventually caught and taken to the vets so she won’t be having any more babies. They live happily in the barn, on top of the straw bale, observing for signs of a Maisie coming to hunt them out or outside the bait room, enjoying the sunshine. Moonah and Suki who now live with some friends of ours are proper house cats and, although do get up to some mischief, now enjoy some cozy, human companions with @projectpetitmaison
Our third Christmas is France has been busy. We managed to catch our first colds since living here but it did not stop us enjoying the Christmas lights in Limoges and a few pints in the Irish bar there. The projection of lights onto the church facade was mesmerizing and just so clever. It was also interesting to witness a few lorry loads of old tyres, hay and manure outside one of the government buildings, demonstrating the lengths that French farmers will go to in their protests.
We had good few days socialising with friends and neighbours over the Christmas period with some amazing food and hangovers meaning we were not fit to do any work the next day. We were spoiled rotten by our families back in the UK who had sent a car load of goodies back with us in November. Even Maisie got into the Christmas spirit with her bow! We spent Christmas Day with our friends at Etang de la Vilotte nearby, sat around the fire pits and enjoyed some slow cooked wild boar with a few beers and glasses of wine whilst Maisie had fun with some other dogs and chased the ball for hours.
In the house we have decorated and reorganised our utility room after a cupboard fell off the wall. On reflection we realised that we did not have our kitchen and utility room very well thought out, bearing in mind that when we moved in we were already part way through the season and had not really considered how our lives could be made easier but it is done now and already so much nicer. Jo has had a few raised beds for Christmas so we have spent the last week putting them together and deciding what we are going to grow in them.
After a quiet new year we are back onto our list of jobs and plans for the swims on Kingfisher. A slight spanner has been thrown in the works regarding our budget as the overflow on Kingfisher has sprung some leaks. We have tried a temporary fix which we hoped would last us until next winter but it has not worked so Cesar Construction are on the case though and the overflow will be rebuilt before the start of the season
Thank you for taking the time to read what we have been up to recently. Until the next time bonne journée et à bientôt…..