'Allo 'Allo

My brother and his family stayed in a little auberge in the town of Correze, as we are not yet in a position to put up four additional people in our camp. It is delightfully quaint and reminds us of the British TV series 'Allo 'Allo. It is called Auberge de la Tradition, and it truly lives up to that name. The owners are very friendly and accommodating. 

 Pre-dinner beer...
 The bar...
Ready to eat a grand meal consisting of five delicious courses... and accompanied by two quite amazing wines. (Yes, Matilda, I can see that!)


 This blueberry tarte was heavenly!


 With brass knobs on!

De la tradition...

A walk in Correze at night...
 Various supporting structures...



A surprisingly large awning for a little door...

Every time I visit Correze, there is a pizza van peddling its tasty wares. No, we've never indulged. This family were ordering pizza at 11pm. With two quite young children. C'est la vie Francaise. 

Something mildly disturbing happened as we were walking up to nosy at the Mercure hotel... 

The approach was very dark, and, as we gingerly sought our way, suddenly there was a loud, unearthly rasping noise emanating from some inky black scrubland. Was it foxes? No, too deep and gravelly. Bats? No, too low. Giant cicadas, the size of bin lids? Possibly. Angry birds? No catapult. Then what else? Preternatural beings? We didn't know, but we didn't like it. 

We hurried past then realised that we'd lost Kevin. At that point, probably due to the vampiric noise, four rational adults became a bit spooked and hovered like victims in the gateway to the Mercure, advising one another not to split up. I found a little bit of gumption and headed up the pathway to the Mercure, calling for Kevin. No answer, not even after five or six calls. Had he been snatched away? 

Then there he was!

 Kevin reappeared nonchalantly in the gateway to the Mercure. He entreated us to 'come and see'.
Quite posh, we thought. Though sterile compared to the cosy 'aub'.

 Retreating to the auberge, all safe and sound.

Yes, there's Rene behind the bar!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The tower finds itself in high demand

Image
I've been asking Kevin to hurry up and finish the work on the south wall for AGES as I wanted the tower in order to paint the north wall. FINALLY, he scaled it and reattached the flailing planks and the loose edge-tiles. He also finished and painted the outside of the little window frames, installing mosquito nets too. It's such a relief to get all of these little jobs done! But was I to get the tower? No. Kevin fell into a frenzy of loose tile fixing all around the house! Eventually, I did secure ownership of the tower and repainted the grubby-looking north wall. No, you can't see the finished job, as, to be honest, it's still a bit grubby. And, after our aerial efforts concluded with no dramatic falls, we returned to some familiar territory of bygone renovation days: fluff puff! We have never managed to finish our master bedroom, mainly because we were waiting for a stretch of good weather in order to build the second dormer window. However, due to Covid-19, we didn...
Read more

Renavoidance?

Image
Don't ever buy a property with 8 acres of land. Unless you have a vast array of top grade farming machinery. I'd like to be sharing with you our achievements with the renovation (and I know that's what you're here for!), but most of our time has been spent mowing, strimming, raking and visiting the dechetterie. Our ride-on mower has more or less given up the ghost, and I really don't think it'd be worth mending/servicing it. I'm not sure how we're going to continue to tame the land with just two push mowers and a scythe. We've decided to leave a lot of our land as meadow, with creative paths mown through it. Farmer Joel has very kindly mown and gathered hay, but this has exposed acres of dry, unpleasant stubble. And you wouldn't believe the amount of dust and grass seed that's kicked up during the processes of cutting, turning, lining up and baling! The time of dust coincided with the time of refreshing the exterior white paint. Thankfully, n...
Read more

The sad ending we never expected to see

Image
You'd probably guessed, but we've sold up and moved back to England. Six years of renovating in our Correzian paradise had to come to a sudden end due to the folly that is Brexit, and the plague that is Covid. These unpredictable twin horrors meant that we could no longer flit between two countries with ease, and neither could our family and friends.  I thought you'd enjoy seeing some of our last views of our little French farmstead.  What do we miss the most? Friends Freedom Stunning scenery Great restaurants Beautiful villages Vide greniers Good wine at good prices Sunshine Empty roads Over and out. Thank you for following our adventure.
Read more