Our third successful season ended in the middle of October and we are now in winter mode until the end of March. Closing for a few months gives us the opportunity to relax a little, catch up on some repairs and maintenance as well as making any changes that we believe would enhance our lakes and property, as well as, hopefully, creating a better environment for our guests and the wildlife.
Winding down
The first few weeks we spent clearing down the chalets which involves removing all of the soft furnishings, cleaning and washing everything and checking for any issues which we need to get sorted. The washing machine was on over drive and all the bedding, including duvets and pillows are safely stored in the house to keep them clean and dry. The swimming pools have been covered and treated for the winter and all of the outside furniture put away in the barn to protect it from any frosts.
Nigel spent a few nights on Kingfisher during the first couple of weeks and we have updated his catch report here https://carpfrance.com/nigels-catches-of-2025/ and he managed to land 10 carp over 5 nights, up to 45lb 5oz. It had been several months since he had been able to chill by the bank with a few beers. One of the downsides of owning a fishing business.
UK visit
The beginning of November was spent getting organised for our annual trip to the UK. Jo had been Christmas shopping for a few weeks and had everything wrapped up and ready to be loaded into the car. We set off on the 5th November, having a steady drive up to Calais to catch the shuttle through the Eurotunnel and arriving at Jo’s mum’s house in Kent for a couple of nights. We managed to get a couple of jobs done for her, have a lovely meal out with Julianne and lunch at Hawkhurst Fish Farm, one of our favourite spots for lunch https://hawkhurstfishfarm.co.uk/. 2 members of the family seen.
From there we drove up to our old town in Northampton, to have lunch with Nigel’s extended family, see Janine and the grandchildren, as well as a couple of nights in the pub with old friends. 17 members of the family seen.
After a lovely lunch near Peterborough with Jo’s sister, Jacqui and her new partner and Janette we then went to Janette’s near Corby for a couple of nights and spent some time relaxing with Julianne who was also visiting and helping in the garden. Douglas showed Nigel some of his woodworking tools and Nigel made himself a pen and a bowl which he now proudly shows to anyone he sees. 4 family members seen.
On our way to Staffordshire for an evening with Nigel’s brother, Stephen we stopped for some lunch with our Poumeroux neighbours as they had a box of things for us to bring back for them. We had a lovely meal with Stephen, Sue and Amie and then headed down to Oxfordshire the next day to see Sophie, Matt and Dot. We had a nice wander around Witney and took Dot to the park. 6 members of the family seen.
Our last few days were spent in the north west, firstly at Emma and Tony’s in Liverpool where we went pram shopping ready for their new baby arriving in March and to visit Tony’s new coffee shop at Woolton Road. Check them out on social media www.facebook.com/roselanecoffee and pay them a visit if you are in the area. 2 members of the family seen.
Finally we spent a couple of nights in Altrincham, staying with Izzy for the first time in her new flat. We met her new fella and went to the Christmas market in Manchester for the day. She seems to think we are still in our 20s as we were exhausted after a day of walking round the city. We did have to stop for a beer every so often just to have a rest! 1 member of the family seen.
Finally we drove down to Portsmouth, stopping on route to meet the team at Angling Technics, who make the Microcat, and their new bait boats, the Ultracat. The main reason for the visit was to drop off our two bait boats, who have done their time. We decided that this year we would trade them in so early in the new year we will see the arrival of 2 new bait boats which will be available to hire just as before. We think these will be easier to use, have longer lasting batteries and a real bonus, have a GPS facility so you can log where you last sent your bait out. More of this to follow. We then met Paul for tea near to his in Hampshire and got onto the overnight ferry just in time for a couple of drinks in the bar before getting our heads down. 1 member of the family seen.
Our five hour drive from Caen to home was the easiest of the trip, going back to the UK reminds us of how good the roads are over here. Minimal road works, no hold ups and people using the carriageway properly, with respect for other drivers. Maisie was of course pleased to see us, but Seb, Sofia and Jack had done a great job in looking after her….and Doris and the kittens.
Summary of our 2 week visit 29 family members seen (and numerous friends) with 10 meals out. Our Google timeline for November tells us we drove 1,768 miles and visited 12 bars…..which it says is more than in any of the previous 6 months!
Kitten update
Those of you who have visited us this year will be aware that we have had a couple of cats mooching around. In September the black and white cat, now called Doris, made herself a home under the Kingfisher chalet and had 4 kittens. When we visited the vets they told us that if a cat decides to live on your property for more than 2 weeks they legally belong to you.
When the guests left the lakes Doris moved into the barn with the kittens who became more adventurous as the weeks went on. We are not great cat lovers but can see the advantages to having a cat or two around so we decided that we would see if anyone wanted a free kitten and keep Doris and whoever was left. A friend of a friend took the white one with a black eye, now named Perle and friends, Seb & Sofia have adopted two of them – Moonah and Suki
So this has left us with one, who we have named Biscuit. She is probably the most timid out of all four of them but is slowly getting to trust us. Doris and Biscuit have complete run of the barn and mancave and will hopefully earn their keep. Maisie is not a huge fan but luckily they can move a lot quicker than she can!
Winter pruning & wildlife
So back to the list of jobs! We came back to a few days of dry weather, albeit slightly chilly, and managed to get all of the tree stumps and fallen trees cleared on Lac Lucie and the branches have now all been through the woodchipper and logs bought up to the house. Our heating system runs on wood or oil and we have a wood burner in the house so we are always cosy.
We can now start on Kingfisher where there are a few trees that need to be taken down for safety reasons but we need to lower the water level a little to be able to trim the bottom of the trees that are over the water. We will get that done over the next couple of weeks before the water temperature gets too cold.
It has been amazing to see the number of small fish, roach etc, that are in the margins, thrashing about. Most of these will survive but they are easy pickings for the water fowl on the lakes. From the house windows we can regularly see half a dozen egrets, a few herons and several cormorants on the lake, fighting with each other. Talking of birds we are also feeding the wild garden birds over the winter on our kitchen windowsill including sparrows, blue tits, great tits and a couple of nuthatches. We have also picked up a fox and a badger visiting the banks of Lac Lucie this week on the wildlife camera so we are not without our visitors.
Reducing the silt
After the hot, dry summer, where the oxygen levels dropped dramatically we decided we would try to mitigate future issues and after a lot of research and watching several YouTube videos we learned that one way of doing this was to reduce the amount of silt in the lake. The most natural way of doing this, without emptying the lake and hiring expensive diggers, is to add a chalk product to the lake. So we have purchased 1,800kg of Nautex (a chalk product similar to Siltex) which is designed to increase oxygen levels in water and reduce the accumulation of organic sludge. It helps to regulate pH, promotes photosynthesis, and improves the water quality without harming fish or humans. Over the next few weeks we will be out in the boats spreading this across the water, to be repeated in the spring and next autumn as well. By monitoring the water regularly using our oxygen meter we will be able to see if it has had the desired effect.
Inside jobs
We have had a few rainy days in the last couple of weeks but there is always something to be done inside the house as well. A lot of the house is exactly as it was when we moved in. We decorated the kitchen and the office in the first year and have had our bedroom and en suite redone but most things are being stored exactly as they were in May 2023 when we took over the property. After a cupboard fell off the wall in the utility room we decided to get that room sorted and look at how to make things easier for ourselves. Work still in progress but it will definitely be a job worth doing.
That is it for this month, Nigel has started on his Christmas movie fest and we will be out and about visiting some Christmas markets and going to see the Christmas lights in Limoges over the next few days. Until the next time bonne journée et à bientôt….