Bucolic Ballande

We took another step into autumn this week with the clocks changing on Saturday night and the French holiday upon us. The weather has been superb with blue skies and warm sunshine for all those families taking advantage of the school holiday. 

The leaves have now turned and walking around the lanes here is a delight to see the rich variety of gold, red and brown colours. The garden centres too have large displays of gorgeous chrysanthemums that will be taken to the candle-lit cemeteries by families remembering their loved ones at Toussaint. 

Wood smoke is rising from the houses and mingling with the mist to give the Dordogne a bucolic feeling around dusk. We’ve both done a bit more foraging for chestnuts with the smell of fallen leaves making the woods distinctive at this time of year. The sun, being low in the sky, picks out the contours of the hills which gives everything an enhanced three dimensional appearance that you don’t tend to see in the stronger light of July and August. If you have only experienced the region in the summer there is much to enjoy here during the autumn too.

We turned a clothes-airer and some chicken wire in to a walnut-drier, which Percy was quick to claim. He seems to like to pat the nuts onto the floor to dribble around the place. Eric then finds them but doesn’t really know what to do with them when he picks them up. 

Facebook announced its name change to Meta earlier this week with Mark Zuckeberg telling us that we will be soon be able to enjoy an enhanced virtual experience disengaged from the world around us. Can I just make a case for the real world? We live in a physical place that needs to be cherished and looked after. We have real bodies that need to move around, do things, meet people and spend time together. 

We are getting ready and looking forward to friends arriving later today from the Netherlands. They are here to make a short film with us and take some drone footage of Au Coin Des Arbres. We are planning a few trips to markets, the brocante, a bit of wine tasting and some good times around the fire-pit. Come and try it out for yourselves sometime.