Observations on #PlasticfreeJuly

So #PlasticFreeJuly is drawing to a close for 2017.  How was it for you?  Did you manage to refuse plastic and find alternatives?  Did you learn anything new and will you move forwards more plastic aware?  I know I learnt a lot from the month, some of which was rather depressing but some was really very uplifting. 

Keep your Dog in View on Walks

If you are out walking your dog and it goes out out of sight have you have really any idea it could be up to? On my Facebook page over the last few days I have seen all of the following stories:

• A dog was shot by the farmer because it had been worrying sheep, one of which died and one of which may have to be put down. The owner insisted the dog had only been out of her sight for a few moments.  That may be true but remember,  ALL dogs are still 99% wolf and all are capable of worrying or killing farm animals.
• A dog with no owner in sight ran up to a friend who is a bit unsteady on her feet awaiting a knee operation, causing her to almost fall.  The owner, when he finally got there, assured her that the dog was friendly but that was the problem.  He was too friendly and she could have fallen when he jumped up.
• Being stolen - how many stories do we hear of dogs who have been stolen?  Some may be stolen from unlocked cars or insecure gardens but think about it - how long would it actually take for someone to take your dog, have them in a car and be away before you know what happens?  Hours?  Minutes?  Seconds?
 

Maybe you don't think your dog is capable of killing sheep.  Maybe you don't think they would ever knock anyone over.  Maybe this will make you realise that when walking your dog, you really do to keep them in view at all times:

LOST

It felt so good hurtling along the sand with the salty wind ripping through her soft ears.

She was surprised to see, when she turned back, how small all that was familiar to her had become.

Her legs were tired and when the firm hands scooped her up she was grateful not to have to gallop further.

Months later, as the last of the faded posters was ripped from the lamp post, with it, all hope for her was also lost. 

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This post is linking up with my Animal Tales linky - please do head over and have a look at the other blogs joining in and if you have an animal post (old or new) please do add it.  There a BLOG ANNOUNCEMENT over there too!  

 

Peppa Pig and Sausages

A couple of weeks ago on #AnimalTales Emma posted a very thought provoking post about whether petting farms are in fact dumming down farming.  Now I am a farmer's daughter.  I was brought up knowing where the eggs and the meat on my plate came from.  I have seen birth and death first hand and I was also brought up with a healthy dose of James Herriot vet programmes where the young vet was always in at the deep end and the actor who played him really did have his hand up that cow/sheep's vagina.  I too have done the same in order to get a stuck lamb out so I think it is safe to say I understand the work that is involved getting meat to your plate. However, in today's world, many people are far removed from the realities of farming: their meat arrives all cut up and bearing no resemblance to the animal it came from and with no indication of the hard work the farmer undertook to get it there.  In Emma's post a lady was horrified when she saw a video about true life sheep farming (Addicted to sheep) as I suppose her view of farms had been dummed down by the more sanitised petting farms where the real working side of things is kept hidden away.

Which brings me to Peppa Pig ... well not just Peppa, to be fair, but any adorable farm animal from a popular children's TV show or book.  You see Peppa Pig and friends are not real farm animals.  They often walk on 2 feet, talk, wear clothes etc and in doing so this is the image children develop as to what farm animals are really like.  And parents are happy to feed into this myth with many not prepared to tell their children the truth - that the sausage on their dinner plate is made from pork which come from pigs.  I have heard of a mother told her children that the pigs no longer in the field had "gone on holiday" when in fact they have gone to the abattoir and perhaps even worse that pigs "lay sausages".  REALLY?

In my experience children are actually very good at accepting the truth if it is told to them sympathetically.  However if they are lied to then that truth is much harder to accept when they do eventually realise it. And realise it they will, however much parents try to hide it.  Back in the UK, I worked with school children doing environmental projects and if I had a spare few minutes at the end of a session I had a short activity on food chains which I started asking what the children ate for dinner the night before.  One girl put up her hand and told me she'd eaten sausages.  "Ah, so that would be pork then," I said, "which of course comes from a pig".  Well, if you could have seen that girl's face.  She had no idea. Oh and she wasn't particularly young either, as this was a class of 9/10 year olds.

So my point is this: are the likes of Peppa Pig, who no child would ever consider eating, leading parents to lie to children and distancing children from the realities of farming?  I am not saying for one moment that every child should be out on the farm delivering young animals (although some do and if you Google "3 year old lambing" you'll see a video of a 3 year old girl doing just that) but I do think children should be told the truth and certainly not told lies about where their food comes from. I also believe that if they understand the true workings of a farm they will be more likely to buy meat that has been ethically-produced, rather than factory-farmed.  Peppa Pig is not real.  Pigs are however real and in order that good pig welfare is to be encouraged people need to know the ins and outs of farming, how animals are cared for and what constitutes good farm welfare.  Without this knowledge it is all too easy to disassociate the meat of your plate from the farm animal and so for too many people it is not a problem eating meat produced in the horrendous conditions of many factory farms.

OK, I would not expect to find Peppa Pig sausages on the shelves of your local supermarket any time soon but I do feel children and adults need to be a lot more aware of where their food comes from and appreciate the hard work of the farmers who make those sausage dinners possible. 

What do you think about this? Is Peppa to blame for a generation of children who do not realise that sausages come from pigs and who are so far removed from the process of getting that sausage to their plate that they will happily eat something produced in horrible conditions because out of sight is out of mind?

Fifty Shades of Green

Posted by Rosie

This meme popped up on my Facebook page yesterday and various friends and I were discussing how well (or not) we are doing ....here at Eco-Gites we certainly drink tap water, nearly always shower (or share bath water!), have meat-free days and eat pretty much all of what we buy.  Where we do rather fail is bicycle use.  The boys do cycle or walk to the village to pick up the school bus when they can but overall one of the disadvantages of rural living is increased car usage compared to city dwellers.   

Some-one else then joined in our Facebook conversation and was quite adamant we should actually be eating more meat, not less.  

The argument against eating meat is a strong one.  It takes far more land and water to produce a comparable weight of meat to vegetables.  Virgin forest is being cleared for rearing animals and with the trees gone and overgrazing, the result is often large scale soil erosion.  With an increasing population and many millions starving can it make sense to be eating more meat when the same amount of land could produce vegetables to feed far more people? 

A considerable amount of meat eaten in the UK today still comes from unethical producers, often outside of the UK, by farmers (and I use that word with caution) who rear their animals in a far from sustainable manner.   Animals are kept 24/7 in vast factory farms where the death rate is high.  To try and reduce death rates, the animals are routinely treated with antibiotics regardless of whether they need them or not. The producers naturally wish to maximise their profits so the animals are pumped with growth hormones and grow at an unnaturally fast rate, often resulting in the likes of chickens being unable to walk due to their weight .... not that they have far to go in their massive sunless prisons, factory farms anyway.  These animals, having never seen the light of day are then transported, crammed into lorries, often over great distances to be slaughtered in far from humane conditions at a massive abattoir.  To further increase profit the meat may be pumped with water (think of those lovely “plump” chicken breasts you see for sale) that shrink so much when you cook them as the water evaporates away.

Buying this cheap meat may be good for your pocket but not for the animal or for the environment.  And what about those antibiotics and growth hormones?  Can you be sure there are not traces in these in the meat?  Do you really want to be eating these with their negative health effects?

So why was this lady on Facebook so insistent that we should be eating more meat?  Let me explain - she is in the meat industry producing ethically reared meat – the animals are out in the fields as long as the weather permits and fed as naturally as possible.  Her argument is that far from eating LESS meat, we should be eating more meat, but more “GOOD” meat likes hers.  This is perhaps a fair point.  She also argued that if someone shifts from eating meat one day a week to a pre-packed, highly processed vegetarian dish made from vegetables routinely sprayed with pesticides then the environmental benefits are zero or may actually be worse. Is she right?  She could be although she could also be wrong.  One could still argue that her meat may be ethical and well reared but surely the land where the cattle graze could produce far more vegetable protein to feed far more people than her cows can?   And vegetables should produce less methane, a greenhouse gas that cows pump out as bovine wind in great quantities.

Who ultimately is right?   The ethical cattle farmer who says that we should be eating more meat and not “demonising” meat production or the meme producers who say we should be eating less meat full stop?  The trouble is there is no right or wrong answer.  There are pros and cons on both sides and in reality the issues are so intertwined  so doing one apparently green action may actually be making things worse overall.  For example, if everyone ate less meat then less “bad” meat would be consumed.  That is surely a good thing.  But the knock on effect could be that the producers work even harder to produce meat that is even cheaper at the expense of sustainability and the welfare of the animal.  This would be a backward environmental step. 

For what it is worth, this is my story with regard to meat and the best solution that we have settled for.  When I first met Simon I was a virtual vegetarian, not because I didn’t like the idea of eating meat nor because I thought it was cruel.  I simply didn’t particularly like meat and found myself feeling very bloated after I ate it.  However when I fell pregnant I started to crave meat and so Simon and I tracked down some ethically produced meat sold through a nearby farm butchers and I started to eat meat again.  However not in large amounts.  This meat was a bit more expensive than comparable supermarket meat and a lot more expensive than the vegetables I had been growing on our allotment.  We set a weekly budget and ate good quality meat, but not every day.  We ate plenty of locally produced vegetables for a balanced diet and as the meat we bought was not treated with hormones or antibiotics I didn’t feel bloated after eating it.  We had found a compromise.  Eat meat but make it GOOD meat and don't eat it every day.  THIS is what I believe is a step in the right direction but that is probably just too complicated for a meme like this one.

You see being green isn't easy.  Everything we do is interconnected so finding the best way to be green is very complicated and in all honesty beyond the likes of us mere mortals to work out.  To be green there is not a right or a wrong thing to do because there is not just one form of green - there are at least 50 shades of Green!  

What do you think?  Should we all switch to ethically produced meat and eat the same amount as before or should we still eat less meat what-ever?  Do you eat more or less meat than say 5 or 10 years ago.  I would love to hear your views.

70th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings in Normandy

Posted by Rosie

Image from the BBC

June 6th 1944 saw the beginning of the Allied invasion of occupied Europe as thousands of troupes landed on the 200kms of Normandy beaches between Cherbourg and Le Havre at what is now know to be the first step along the road that would end the war in Europe the following year.  The names of the beaches, etched in the minds of so many and made famous by films such as Band of Brothers are the most local beaches to Eco-Gites of Lenault.  June and Sword are the closest, situated east and west of Caen/Ouistreham whilst travelling further west and north there are Gold, Omaha and Utah, all still within easy reach of the gite.

2014 therefore sees the 70th Anniversary of this pivotal point in the history of Europe and not unsurprisingly there are many celebrations planned.   This page by Brittany Ferries gives full details of all the events as well as guides to WWII sites, cemeteries, cities, museums, the beaches and memorials.  Below I have highlighted some of the main events and those taking place close to Eco-Gites of Lenault.

D-Day Landing Events close to Eco-Gites of Lenault

• February to December - at the Juno Beach Center, Courseulles sur Mer, an exhibition recreating the wartime experiences of children in Normandy and Canada in 1944 www.junobeach.org
• March to October - A travelling photographic exhibition in 14 towns and villages of Calvados to commemorate the sacrifice made by the civilian population during the Battle of Normandy. www.calvados.fr
• May 10th - Ouistreham - The Ouistreham Jazz Big Band made of up 18 musicians in the tradition of American Big Bands, pays tribute to Glenn Miller. www.ville-ouistreham.fr
• June 14th to September 14th - "The Lights of Freedom", Bayeux Cathedral, a spectacular walk around the cathedral on the theme of Freedom. A dramatic account in light, colour, music, special effects and giant projected images.... www.bayeux-bessin-tourisme.com
• Early June to late Aug take a guided themed walk about the occupation and liberation of Ouistreham
• 2-4th June - Parade Tattoo de la Liberté in St -Lô town centre
• 5-6th June - Film, "They were the First" (in French) at Pegasus Memorial
• 6th June - 3D showings of D-Day Beach landings at Zénith in Caen
• From June 7th to 9th - Caen - Liberation Tattoo at the Zenith.  A Military Music Festival bringing together about 650 French, Belgian, Canadian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, British, American and German musicians. www.memorial-pegasus.org
• 7th June - Giant picnic on Omaha Beach www.cdc-trevieres.com
• 12-13th July - Festival and fireworks celebrating liberty at Bolleville
• 31th July - Liberation Parade, Julloville
• 9-17th Aug - panther tanks and German period motorbikes at Montormel Museum

D-Day Landing Places of Interest close to Eco-Gites of Lenault

Omaha Beach

Photo from Brittany Ferries

This American beach saw the greatest loss of life where 2,400 men were killed on a 6km stretch of beach.  The American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach holds 9,387 American soldiers.

German Cemetery at la Cambe

Inland from Pointe du Hoc this cemetery is the final resting place of 21,000 German soldiers.

Arromanches

Famous for the Muberry floating docks, a Museum and the 360º cinema now make this is a very popular tourist location.

British Cemetery at Bayeux 

Here you will find the bodies of 4,648 soldiers. Every grave has a touching epitaph and no visit to Normandy should miss this cemetery.  Simon took Tom there a couple of years ago and even as a young lad he was very moved, helped no doubt by meeting and talking to a Welsh Gunner Veteran.

Pointe du Hoc

One of the largest German batteries whose guns had a range of 10 miles.

Pegasus Bridge and Museum at Bénouville

This was a vital bridge that had to be (and was) secured by dawn on June 6th 1944.

Village and Town Memorials

Almost every town and village will have a memorial to their dead and plaque celebrating their liberation.  At Ouistreham for example, an imposing memorial marks the liberation of the village.  Visitors can also visit the The Commando Memorial on the beach, dedicated to the 177 Green Berets from No 4 Commando Franco-British Unit who took the town and discover their story at the Atlantic Wall Museum.
In Lenault there is a plaque celebrating the liberation of the village in August and just up the road is a new memorial to a Polish soldier who lost his life whilst fighting to liberate France.  There are also numerous routes you can follow in your car guiding you around the most important sites.

70 years on, the horrors of the war in Normandy are restricted to it's museums and cemeteries.  You can walk freely through the towns and countryside and enjoy it's wonderful sandy beaches and for that we must lay our gratitude at the feet of the brave men (and the many women who followed the first troops) who took part in the D-Day Landings.  With each year that passes fewer veterans remain to salute their fallen comrades but to each and every one I say thank you.  You will not be forgotten.

Photo from Brittany Ferries

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Alone

Posted by Rosie

 

English definition of “alone”

adjective\ə-ˈlōn\

: separate from other people or things

: without people that you know or that usually are with you

: feeling unhappy because of being separated from other people

With Simon and the boys away skiing I have been home on my own - alone.

: separate from other people - Yes

: without people that you know or that usually are with you - Yes

: feeling unhappy because of being separated from other people - No

Alone yes.  Lonely most definitely not.

For many people the idea of spending 10 days on their own in a farmhouse in the middle of the Normandy countryside would fill them with dread.  For me it is something I look forward to.  Don't get me wrong - I love having my family around but with that family comes ties, responsibilities, burdens ... oh and only half the bed!  Meals have to be placed on the table, school runs done, boys taken to and collected from activities, questions answered, homework help given, reminders about saxophone practice dolled out, 4 times as much washing dealt with and Lego trodden on.  OUCH!!  It is sometimes difficult to find time alone to be me.

So 10 days alone gives me that valuable time to be me and to recharge my batteries.  I can eat what I want, when I want.  There is no-one to ferry here there and everywhere (note to self though - MUST remember to collect boys and Simon on Sunday evening from the station), no questions to answer, no homework or saxophone, ¼ of the washing to do and NO Lego to tread on.  Oh and all the bed ;)

Alone yes.  Lonely most definitely not.

I have caught up with friends for supper, for cake and for chatting.  The sort of catching up where we talk about O' Level English Literature, smallholdings and genealogy without a whiff of rugby, DIY or diggers.  I have baked chocolate brownies and eaten rather too many of them and may have had a glass or two of wine.  I have stopped the car and watched the mist rise from the countryside.  I have gone for long walks with the dogs and not taken either my phone or a watch because it didn't matter what time I got home.  I have sat in the valley and just listened to the birds and watched the butterflies flutter past .... and I have wondered why butterflies are in fact not called flutterbyes.
 
Alone yes.  Lonely most definitely not.

Alone may have the same derivation as lonely but this has negative connotations.  Alone for many people is negative but for me, 10 days alone is just what I need.  Time alone gives me time to be Me.

Let The Children Play

Posted by Rosie

Societies are always changing - that is the nature of things.  However I feel that some of the changes today in the way we perceive we help our children develop and keep them safe has changed, not for the good, but very much for the worse.  Society now expects that as parents we should be spend as much time as possible with our children in an array of ever more expensive activities.  

Image from Time Topics

It's also all about reaching targets and learning.  Children must learn to read as soon as possible.  However if children are not in supervised learning activities parents all too often will not let children out of their site and the result is they are allowed to fill their remaining time with their heads buried in an ever increasing number of technological items that fill our lives today.  If they want to undertake any activity that is perceived as being risky they are either not allowed or are supervised so much they may as well have been wrapped in bubble wrap.  This is what has been termed "Helicopter Parenting" because parents are always hovering near their children.  What this does though is leave little or no time for unsupervised play and the sort of play children want to do and the sort of play that actually helps children develop.  Children no longer have much independence and are becoming increasingly "Nature-Deprived".

Children learn through risk and what better risky play than tree climbing, den building and playing in streams and rivers. If you don't allow your children to learn how to deal with potentially dangerous situations and make informed decisions about how risky something is, you are setting them up for a life where they either recede further into the "safe" world of computers etc or they will head out to experience danger without knowing when or how to stop.  This, I believe is at the core of the current dare craze of NexNominate.  Young people who have spent all their lives protected from taking risks break out in the only way they can and rebel to the extreme, sometimes with fatal results.

Even the play areas where many children spend the majority of their outdoor time are now specially designed with all the steps the same size, safety barriers and safety surfaces.  In a risk-averse, litigation-centred world, local authorities have been pushed into providing these so-called safe play areas as opposed to the slightly more risky ones our children actually need.  Fallen trees are all too quickly sawn up and removed, rivers are fenced off and potential risks are removed from our lives.

According to a National Trust report, the range children can roam free from their homes has shrunk 90% since the 70's.  90% means little more than the back garden. Yet at the same time more children are becoming obese and childhood mental health problems are on the increase.

As a child of the 70's I would often spend all day out, frequently alone as I lived on an isolated farm and often in what would now be considered by many parents today to be far too risky locations.  Hiding in the top of the hay barn, climbing trees and sliding down muddy banks are some of my favourite childhood memories.  OK, sometimes I came home with a bruise or a scratch but that served to teach me how not to get hurt next time.  Whilst I was alone because of where I lived many more children of my generation would have played together, outside and away from adult eyes.  Common games to be enjoyed by all were found and arguments were sorted without any parental intervention thus giving children valuable compromising and negotiating skills for later life.

Children led play

It seems to me that we are depriving our children of vital life skills that will set them up for the future,  So what can you do to bring play, nature and a bit if risk back into your children's lives?

1.  Turn off the screens and initiate some other activities.  By all means set some ideas in motion but go with what your children like - let them lead the way.

2.  Have some rough and tumble - these games are great at helping children learn about their bodies, develop core strengths and understand what is good and what is too rough!

Exploring alone

3.  Offer a range of natural experiences where children are free to explore and make their own games and fun - the beach, the woods, the park are all worth visiting and in all seasons.  Take them to places they have never been before and let them lead the exploration.

4.  But your children also need to play without you being there.  For this reason mixed age groups are brilliant.  Children of all ages playing together, finding fun that unites them all.  Smaller children learn from bigger ones and bigger ones are responsible for younger ones.  In this way children feel part of a community and as social animals this is critical for development and well being.

5.  Allow children as much freedom as possible.  Set some safety ground rules but keep these to a minimum.  Let them get dirty.  Let them take risks.  Let them sort out their own arguments.  Let them be children!

It is one of the reasons we moved to France so we could give the Tom and Ben the kind of childhood we both had.  The type where mud and sticking plasters were normal and the TV was a treat for really horrible days or when we were ill.  Children only get one shot at childhood so do we not owe it to them to make it as free and as fun as possible?  In doing so we will be setting them well on the way to a balanced adulthood far more, I believe, than if their every waking moment is filled with arranged activities in supervised environments or in front of a screen of some sort.

I have based this blog post on this article written by Dr David Whitebread, Senior Lecturer in the Psychology of Education at Cambridge University and published recently in The Daily Telegraph. I have reiterated much of what he wrote adding my own personal opinions and experiences.  Now it is over to you.  Do you agree with what I have written or do you disagree?  Please do let me know in the comments.

Sensible Colour!

Having promised to catch up on a few posts, events took over and I had to make a trip to the UK. Well I didn't have too, but second-hand vehicles are generally cheaper in the UK, especially 4x4's.

Why a new 4x4 - well the other one had a bit of a mishap and was written off.  Oops! And a very expensive oops at that.  I must admit I wasn't fully paying attention and I think either the vehicle or the trailer got a puncture (both had punctures by the finish).  The car suddenly swerved to the right and although I hauled the steering wheel over it was too late and it hit a boulder (one of the biggest alongside this stretch of road).  I eventually slide to a halt and at first thought I'd escaped with just a damaged wheel. But after putting the spare wheel on I realised it was worse than I first thought - I just didn't realise how much worse - hence the write off!  The trailer was upside-down in the road but surprisingly the plasterboard survived the crash with only minor damage and I was able to use it still (well some good news then!). 

New 4x4 ( in the dark)

So I now have a new (2nd hand) 4x4.  And having said I didn't want a silver/grey vehicle because, one, it's not my favourite of colours(?) and two, the majority of vehicles are that colour (limited choice) I've ended it up with the most suitable colour for a Normandy smallholding - WHITE.  Now one thing about silver/grey is they don't show the dirt but where are all the bright coloured cars now?  Anyway hopefully vehicle wise I'm sorted now.

Whilst in the UK I stayed at Sally's (my sister) and on Sunday we went to Stanage Edge.  We choose not to take climbing gear as the weather looked like it would rain later (how wrong we were) and decided on a good walk.  The weather was great all the time and many were out enjoying the October sun to climb. Well we chose to walk, but it wasn't long before temptation took over and we did some bouldering.  

We walked down to Redmires Reservoirs (there may be a clue in the name to see where this is going) and had been told there was a path back to where the car was parked.  There wasn't.  Okay I know we should have had a map but.....  So there we were happily heading along a path in the right direction, towards the car, when it took a change of direction - for the worse.  As time was getting on we decided for the direction approach - or as I now call it 'bog walking'.  So whilst Rosie and the boys were enjoying a lovely autumn walk, my sister (well I sorry someone's got to take the blame!) took me bog walking.

Bog Walking

Fortunately we could take a bearing off the edge of Stanage Edge and headed for that.  This meant squelching through bogs, tramping through heather,  jumping streams and circumnavigating sheep poos.  This was followed by squelching through bogs, tramping through heather,  jumping streams, circumnavigating sheep poos and finally before getting back to the road (and car) we squelched through more bogs, tramped through more heather,  jumped another stream and circumnavigated a few more sheep poos and also found a few knee jarring holes.

And we finally made it back to the road.  Wet footed, and in my case disintegrated boots and very wet socks,  it was great.  Knackering but great.  Good walking, good views and lovely weather. I'd do it all again - well maybe not the knee jarring holes.

The rest of the 4 day stay was looking for a vehicle.  Very tiring. And I couldn't have done it without Sally's friend Neville.  He drove me to various auctions and car sales on Monday and Tuesday and it was a great help. A big thank you Neville.  And I promise I won't buy you another BCA coffee again! Ugh!  Though must admit the tea was okay and don't tell Rosie how many pies I had (yummy).

And talking of coffee - please Pumpkin (Derby Station) or Costas or BucksTax (nearly an anagram) of another seller of coffee who avoid paying taxes.  Please, I just want to order a coffee. I don't want a latte, or a cap-o-chino or an amer-i-can - I want a coffee.  I when I ask for a coffee I would like a coffee.  Believe it or not I went to the coffee bar and asked for a cup of coffee.  'We don't have coffee - would you like a latte or a cap-o-chino or and amer-i-can' was the reply.  'No I would like a coffee - black with milk?' I ask hopefully. 'No don't have that would you like a  latte or a cap-o-chino or and amer-i-can?'  'Is an amer-i-can like a filtered coffee - black?'  'Yes'  'Can I have one of those please - with cold milk.'  I nearly, very nearly, apologised to the man for the inconvenience I caused him, as he let out a huge sigh and said 'One amer-i-can COFFEE, with cold milk to go' to his colleague . And all because I wanted a coffee and not something that looks like - well nothing like a coffee.

More French Outdoor Arty Stuff

Posted by Rosie

Some of you may remember the Virevoltés Art Festival friends and I went to back in the summer and how it was, well, a bit weird to say the least. Undeterred however, a few weeks later I braved another outdoor arty evening. Would it be weird? Would I like it? Would I understand it? ... No, Yes ... Yes!!

The free event was at Vassy, a small town a few kms from us and was called Le Carrousel des Moutons (the sheep roundabout). I went with a friend and we were not expecting anything too brilliant. What we got was an hour of the simplest yet most amazing theatre. An hour of music and acrobatics, comedy and revolving pianos. 

Le Carrousel des Moutons come from Belgium and have taken their show all around the world. If they ever turn up somewhere near you I recommend you go. It certainly has put back (some) of my faith in French outdoor theatre! 10/10

Les Virevoltés. A lesson in weirdness.

Posted by Rosie

Yesterday I met up with friends for last night of a week long Arts Festival in Vire called Les Virevoltés. Now I don't know if you have ever seen any French Theatre or "Spectacles" but they vary greatly both in their professionalism and their, er shall we say, weirdness. And in many cases weird is the only way to describe them.

How did we fare on the weirdness scale then? We arrived at the venue part way through a play of some sort with actors and actresses dressed in 18th century dress complete with ridiculously large wigs and whited out faces. We couldn't understand a word of what they were saying (not helped by very poor acoustics) but the audience seemed enthralled. I'm guessing it wasn't a comedy, despite having the appearance of one as no-one was laughing. Here's a link to a picture of the "La cie des Femmes à barbe - la taverne Munchausen" and I'll let you decide what you think might have been going on.

Children's Circus Act

Our next act was a circus school for children from 9-14 years old called "Monstres and Machines". Lots of juggling, playing music, uni-cycle riding, stilt walking and general circus trickery followed ... and followed and followed. It just seemed to go on much too long, although I have to say there were some very talented youngsters  in the troupe and at least everything made sense.

The Cabin Act

That wasn't to last though as we moved around the room to an odd looking shack for the third act. Odd the shack may have looked but was nothing compared to the act it was the backdrop for. Two people in, I suppose, 1950's (ish) costumes who only squeaked and squealed as they sort of mimed their way through a day, I think. A few bits to begin with were mildly amusing but the rest was downright weird. Once again the audience watched intently and even laughed at some bits.

We, however, took ourselves off for a sausage and chips supper wanting to eat and then be ready for the final act, which we felt was going to be great. Well we did eat, once we had worked out how to buy our food. Earlier in the evening we had gone to get drinks but the bar-man said we first had to buy a ticket over to where he pointed. We wandered over, said we wanted some drinks, paid for them and received an appropriate number of little laminated tickets. Back to the bar-man where we handed over our tickets, said which drinks we wanted and he gave them to us. This whole queue for a ticket, queue for your drink/meal was repeated in order to get our sausage and chips!! Sometimes I do not understand this country. In fairness though there was an explanation. In France, it is the event that is licensed to sell food and drinks, not the building, so in the case of unlicensed events you can buy a ticket which you then swap for food thus negating the need for a license as you have not actually bought food, just a ticket!

Moving swiftly on to the final act. A large frame with ropes and pulleys hanging from it dominated the entrance to the venue. This looked like we could be in for some seriously good aerial acrobatics and we had secured ourselves front row seats. BUT ... the large bags of what looked like old clothes scattered around the frame hinted at the fact that this wasn't just going to be acrobatics. Were we right? If I say it started with 3 ladies arriving stage left, one just in a large overcoat, one fairly normally dressed and one obviously wearing many layers of clothes and carrying between them a megaphone and more sacks of clothes, would you like to hazard a guess as to the weirdness of this act?  In fairness there was acrobatic rope work of a very high standard but it was only perhaps 10-15 minutes of an hour long show involved the removing and putting on of clothes, the wearing of a tu-tu on heads and prancing around with both a large overcoat and a holy roll-neck sweater over the ladies' heads. We were so gob-smacked at the weirdness of the act that we forgot to take any photos but this link shows some of what we witnessed.

Would I go to Les Virevoltés again? Yes, I probably would as long as once again it was free, the company was good and I don't ever have to even try to understand the acts. This is such a good example as to how a simple stretch of water separating two sometimes quite similar countries such as England and France can ensure that in the case of the Arts, we have very little in common!

Guest reviews

Posted by Rosie

Until just over a week ago our Facebook page had a reviews section where guests could leave comments after staying here. Then, without warning, Facebook removed this page and all the reviews that were on it (which I had stupidly not saved). An email to Facebook went unanswered but then a clever person on the forum Downsizer managed to find a cached copy of them. So I have put them here and will add a Reviews Section in our sidebar and on our website. If any visitors would like to add a review after staying then please do so in an email to us at info@eco-gites.eu and we will add it to the others.

Our Reviews:

The Koch family - April 2011 - Highly recommend the Eco-Gite in Lenault for a young family visit. It is a quick trip on the ferry to France and then all the right stuff for kids (exploring with Tom and Ben, streams, cow poo, lots of toys, play area, animals) while we relaxed. Simon, Rosie, Tom and Ben could not have been more welcoming and made for an excellent and relaxing holiday.

Eddie Watkins - Jan 2011 - The Watkins family and Father in law decided we needed to do something different for new year 2010. We love France and as we were driving this Gite is perfectly located as it's less than an hour from Caen port. The location is lovely and rural, the Gite itself is fantastically spacious, spotless and full of charm and character. Rosie and Simon and their two children couldn't have been more welcoming. We took the bikes and there is some lovely cycling in this area. Loved the whole trip will definitely return!!! 

Paul Willis - October 2010 - We had been waiting a long time for the opening of the gite having followed the building progress on the blog for some time. The wait was worth it - we were hugely impressed with how Rosie and Simon had renovated and kitted out what was such a derelict space when we last saw it. The gite is now a welcoming and cosy 'home from home'. The kids had a fabulous time making friends with the animals and Tom and Ben. The play area outside kept them amused for hours and we visited some great places locally too! The velorail was a particular highlight - should not be missed. When can we come again? 

Jayne Bennett - September 2010 - Just returned from a last minute 3 night break - came across the gite on owners direct website and what a wonderful find. Pictures do not do it justice, lovely, spacious, homely with great neighbours (owners!). Great little touches from Rosie and Simon which make any stay more enjoyable and personal - nothing is too much trouble for these lovely, friendly people. Kids fell in love with all the animals and even in the rain and relative cold spent little time indoors. Exactly the tonic our family needed - will definately return and spread the word. 10 out of 10.

Sian Taylor - September 2010 - If you want somewhere to relax while the kids amuse themselves in the play area, on the trampoline or with the animals, then this is the place for you. The Gite is comfortable, clean and homely with everything you need. Rosie, Simon and the boys Tom and Ben are very friendly and are great hosts. My only complaint....time passes very quickly there and it’s time to come home all too soon!

Thank you everyone and we look forward to seeing 

some of you again this year and next :-)

We're still here - honest!!

Posted by Rosie

Just a really quick post to say we haven't been eaten by a triffid vegetable or chased off the farm by Orwellian animals but that we have been so busy with everything that we never quite seem to get round to writing a blog. We have a lovely volunteer helper here this week helping me to find the vegetable garden in amongst the weeds so I have been busy helping her as well as processing the fruit and veg we've been harvesting. Simon has also fitted in some days out with the boys (hopefully he'll do a blog about the canoeing trip they went on yesterday).

At some point in the next 10 days I have the dreaded shoe shopping to do with Ben as well as buying all the files, pens, paper etc they need for school - neither of which are jobs I relish but, bearing in  mind they have less than a week and a  half before school starts, I suppose I need to get my act together.

Mind you, it would appear not everyone is completely busy round here:

Fete de la Musique

Posted by Rosie
The French celebrate the longest day (June 21st) with music festivals of all different types in most towns, either on June 21st itself or on the nearest weekend.  Last year there was a bit of a mix up with information - one poster said the music fete at Aunay was on Fri evening, the other said Sat evening - we went on Saturday so guess which was the correct night!! This year we doubly checked the details and went to a different town on June 21st itself .... and we were not disappointed. 

As we arrived in Condé-sur Noireau there was a band playing in the village square but as it was still early there wasn't much else happening. So we toddled off to our favourite restaurant (Les Trois Ecus) for delicious pizzas and then came out to enjoy the 3 bands that were then playing.  All were very different and all very enjoyable.  Tom was particularly impressed to see his music teacher in the jazz band (the lady in the back row) and now he is even more keen to start to learn an instrument.  He fancies the guitar, she wants him to learn the clarinet and I reckon either the violin or flute. I wonder what he'll end up learning?

Fishy Stuff

Posted by Simon

I watched the Hugh's Fish Fight last night and although I was aware of fish stock problems and eating sustainable fish plus about the discard, I did not realise the true extend of the problem. What a staggering amount of fish was thrown back into the sea - DEAD. I know fish stocks need to be sustainable but don't these people who made this policy actually realise that dead fish cannot breed!

Plus the small fishermen, in the likes of Hastings, are 75% of the UK fishing fleet but have less than 25% of the quotas. Even more ludicrous is the quota amounts - I think it was approximately 13 kilos each of cod, haddock and plaice per week. These are the main fish they catch in the English Channel. On the plus side they are allowed to catch 10 tonne of pollack. Well apparently the English Channel is not a place for pollack! Need I say more. Well the fishmongers in Hastings have to get there cod from Norway to sell in their shops whilst the fishing boats that land directly in front of the shops are throwing dead cod back in the sea.

I could go on about the programme because there were many interesting facts of policies gone wrong or not right in the first place - not only affecting the livelihoods of fishermen, but also the fish stocks and the waste. So if you do feel that this fish fight should be supported please click on the link in the side bar and read the facts for yourselves.

And for us the one problem of being in land is that we cannot produce our own fish but for the last 18 months we have been lucky enough to swap with our neighbour - his freshly caught trout and for some of our meat. This was working well until late last year when they decided to move down to Brittany to be nearer the sea for fishing. Most inconsiderate of them! So I'm planning to take up fishing - which with my lack of patience should be an interesting pastime. And I can hear my mother saying now - 'he wont sit still long enough - he's got ants in his pants'!

Interesting Find

Posted by Simon

Last October - having been here two years - I was getting a measurement for some works in the attic and had to climb up on to an old timber cupboard and to my surprise found an old rifle.

It was in a very poor state but after some cleaning up we have found out it is a Mauser 98 - possibly a model 98K from the WW2 - Wikipedia Link. How long it had been up in the attic is anybody's guess.

So now we would like to know how it got here, is there any history to it or was it just found and hidden - interesting. I have been told that some children were 'evacuated' to Lenault from nearby villages that were more in the firing line and one of these children may know a little about this - so now we have more time we can follow this up and speak with this man. Maybe we'll glean some information and will let you know.

Normal Service will be resumed shortly

Posted by Rosie

After all the rush to get the gite ready we have decided to have a week off - we did manage a trip to Caen (The War Memorial and Le Jardin des Oiseaux) but generally speaking we are doing as little as possible - a bit like this lot:

Oops Sorry

Posted by Simon

Now why 'Oops Sorry'? Well this is to all our friends and family who have not received Christmas cards from us this year. Now this is a deliberate ploy or as Tom would say a 'cunning plan'. You see we are going to send out cards in the New Year (with a letter) and because it will come separately you'll more likely remember it! Or there again, think 'lazy sods' they forgot and they're come up with 101 excuses for not sending them out. Now as highly intelligent people, that you all are, you will obviously believe the former. Though there are those of you who may think like me and head for the latter.

Well 'lazy sods' we are not - but for the 101 excuses I'm sure we could try hard to hit that target.

Now one of our excuses is this:

And the next one is this:

So 2 down 99 excuses to go.

So yes we got snowed in and we have been skiing - we'll post about both of those soon.

Anyway I'm sure I could make another 99 excuses but I'm also sure you'll look forward to receiving our card and letter soon. And I'm sure we'll do better than one of my mother's old neighbours who sent our Christmas card in June last year with a note saying "I'm not sure if this is early for this year or, as is more likely, late for last year"!

Hallowe'en

Posted by Rosie

No trick or treats here - just a decorated house, spooky meal and lots of dressing up. Much more fun!!

The Menu:

Starter - Blood Soup (beetroot and tomato)

Main - Witch's Special (pumpkin pasties, baked spuds with ratatouille "gunge" and hard boiled egg "eyes")

Dessert - Chocolate spiders.

Scary!!