February has been a crazy month, leaving us in despair at times (being the wettest month ever recorded in France, since 1959 when records began) but ending with a week of sunshine and temperatures peaking at 22.8°C. And we have been busy, not only battling what the rainfall left us with but also really cracking on with some jobs. Our blogs give us a chance to reflect on what we have achieved and February has really ticked off some things from our ‘to do’ list, despite the challenges it has thrown at us.
Before we start this month we want to say a big thank you to Tony and Helen who owned Le Moulin de Graffeuil fishery nearby. They started their journey here over 15 years ago and when we fished their lake in 2022 and said we were planning on buying a lake in France their advice was invaluable. When we moved here we saw them regularly and they offered us so much support and guidance and became very good friends. At the beginning of February they sold the lake and property and moved back to England to retire. We wish them all the very best for their retirement and will miss them at the Monday Burger Club
So let’s get the rainfall facts out the way now. Up until this year the average rainfall we have recorded on our weather station in February was 104.4mm for the month. We had exceeded this by the 10th and there were no signs of it stopping. We had periods during the days when it held off and we planned our jobs around the showers but the ground was sodden and muddy where the digger and dumper had been and Maisie was constantly up to her knees in it. By the 15th February we had had over 228mm of rain for the month but both overflows were holding up well and doing what we had built them to do.
On the 16th we woke up to a reading of 47mm of rain since midnight on our weather station. We thought there must be a mistake but the water levels on Lac Lucie looked high so we wandered down to check that all was ok. And it wasn’t. Despite raising the dam wall in 2023 and adding an overflow, everywhere was flooded and water was pouring over the banks in places, eroding a part of the dam wall and the stream beneath it was at least 3 foot wider and our neighbour’s lake was pouring over the road.
We walked up to Kingfisher to see how the stream and the new overflow there were holding up and again there was water everywhere. The overflow appeared to be working fine but the stream had burst it’s banks in several places and the farmer’s lake above us was overflowing down its dam wall. All we could do was watch and wonder what repair work would be needed once the levels dropped again. We had a further 120mm of rain over the next few days making the total for the month just under 350mm. We know there has been a lot of rain in the UK with the Northeast and North Wales recording 127mm during the month but this has been the worse month we have seen since we moved here. Our neighbour, who has lived in Pouméroux for over 50 years, told us that he has never seen the stream so full and never seen the road flooded like it was.
Our biggest issue after the water subsided was the new overflow on Kingfisher. The pressure of the water coming over the top of it had moved the rocks that we had had put in and eroded most of the earth underneath leaving a crater of clay. Cesar Constructions dropped their digger and dumper off again and bought a dozen or so boulders with them. They repaired the damage and have made it look nice again. Whilst they were here they also shored up the banks on Lac Lucie for us and talked about possible options to stop water going over the banks should we have further episodes of rain again.
The drive on Kingfisher had also been damaged again due to rainwater flooding down it from the road and taking out some of the concrete and gravel so Nigel made some more repairs to that.
We have also marked out the places where the stream behind Kingfisher floods so we can repair that in the autumn.
Since we have bought the property we have wanted to make some improvements to the swims on both lakes and we have finally been able to make a start on those. We felt that swims 2 and 3 on Kingfisher needed the most attention as they were quite sloped and high above the water, Cesar Constructions had levelled the areas for us and we had started putting some wood in on swim 2 to give it more definition. Our plans also included some small huts so that these could be used instead of bivvies if preferred and we managed to build the first one on swim 2 in amongst the rain showers at the start of February. This is now completed with a nice little platform outside it and the swim has new gravel in it. It is probably Nigel’s favourite swim now and a lovely place to sit and watch the lake.
We have had several trips to a woodyard nearby to collect sleepers, stakes and planks of chestnut to make these areas look as nice as possible and hopefully make them last a long time. We have also finished work on swim 3 and a new hut has arrived ready to put in place behind there which we will get finished before the start of the season.
The new dustbins have arrived along with English translations of what can be recycled here and we have rethought how we will manage rubbish for our guests.
The ‘vegetable’ side of our raised bed garden is now completed and we are planning what we will grow this year. The ‘flower’ side is now also nearly completed.
Every year we ask for feedback from our guests as to what they have enjoyed about their stay and what we can do to improve things here (within reason!). Several groups asked for locks on the bathroom doors last year so we have fixed a sliding bolt in Lac Lucie and repaired the lock on Kingfisher bathroom door. We have also bought new bathroom rubbish bins for each chalet, moved the stench pipe on Kingfisher and replaced the blown glass windows in Lac Lucie as well as replacing the bed and bedside tables in the double bedroom.
The last week in February saw a small team arrive from the UK to give us a hand. Jo’s 3 sisters with 2 better halves and her mum came over, making 8 pairs of hands in total to help, as well as spending some quality time together. We really appreciated them bringing the sunshine with them and made the most of some glorious warm days by eating lunch outside.
The ladies and Douglas spent a couple of afternoons doing stained glass workshops with Barbara (who Jo has been making a window with over the last year) and all really enjoyed it and made some very pretty things to take home. Douglas enjoyed it so much he had ordered all the equipment he needed for when he got home.
We have a rule here when family come out, if they help with the jobs they get cake and Jo got prepared for the week by making 6 cakes…. and a long list of jobs! By the time the last of the visitors left on the 2nd March nearly everything on the list that could be completed had been.
Douglas is a superb craftsman, engineer, carpenter and most important of all motivator and deserves the most cake for the week. And he does like a list! Over the week he managed to fix a dining chair, a bar stool, the paving slabs by Lac Lucie pool, the steps going down to Lac Lucie, put a new extractor fan in Lac Lucie, clear up 3 fallen trees, build the outline of swim 3 on Kingfisher and identify the leak under the Kingfisher kitchen sink in Kingfisher. Nigel did a great job watching but was still worn out at the end of each day!
Janette got Jo half way through making the new curtains for Kingfisher and pointed out areas for improvement in her sewing skills – Janette is superb at all things creative and Douglas even got roped into some pressing too!
Jacqui and Julianne were not here for as long but still managed to help knock a few things off of the pink list, including completing the chalet inventory and emptying the compost heap in to the new raised beds.
Jo’s mum, at 86, enjoyed several walks around the lakes and up through the woods and as always did some ironing and a lot of weeding. There is no stopping her!
Everyone shared the cooking and we enjoyed a lovely meal at Chez Steph in La Rochefoucauld as well as going to see the progress @projectpetitemaison owned by our friends.
We are so grateful for their help and their motivation. We now have some renewed energy to get us to the start of the season with, hopefully, all of our jobs finished.
The days are getting longer, the daffodils are going over, making colour space for tulips, the marsh celandines and bluebells and we have just 3 weeks until our season starts when we can share our little piece of France with our guests and start writing our weekly catch reports. Until then bonne journée et à bientôt….