Written on Saturday, May 28th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
activities, lavender, local produce, soap
Maybe this is the answer!
Distillerie Bleu Provence in Nyons where they distill lavender and create loads of wonderful beauty products etc is running an ‘Atelier Savon’ where kids can make their very own soap. It’s for children from 6 to 12 years and costs 9 euros per child. It will run every Wednesday morning (reservations required) at 10 o’clock during high season (July 1st to August 31st) and is also available on request/reservation from April 15th to June 30th and September 1st to December 31st.
Sounds great fun. More details on Pays de Nyons tourism site.
Written on Wednesday, May 25th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
activities, goats, knitting
Knitting has been a fave occupation of mine, on and off, over the years. In fact wool comes a close third in my compulsive buying habit, not far behind plants and books.
Not long ago I discovered a wonderful place to visit where you can purchase beautiful mohair. Atelier Mohair is at Arpavon, not far from St Jalle and is a fascinating place. They raise angora goats which are incredibly cute and you will probably want to buy one of them as well as the wool and related products they sell. Just remember goats do not qualify for pet passports yet so you won’t be able to take it home and it’s all bound to end in tears. Just ask me about ‘the chicken story’ one evening, if we ever share a glass of wine or two…..
You should phone before a visit – 04 75 27 31 84 so the goats have time to put on their best outfits.
There is another similar place at St Sauveur Gouvernet called Mohair du Moulin (04 75 27 30 65) which I haven’t sadly yet managed to visit. In pursuit of fairness I shall endeavour to visit them soon and report back on how their goats rate in the cuteness league.
And for you knitters – here are a couple of scarves and a non-traditional French beret I knitted with the aforesaid Mohair de France.
Written on Monday, May 23rd, 2011 at 9:31 am
books, language acquisition, TV programmes
The other day I made the thrilling discovery that series 1 and 2 of Engrenages, the French thriller I was raving about in a previous post, are available on DVD. So naturally, purely for educational purposes, you understand, I felt compelled to purchase it at once. That 1-click/buy it now button on Amazon is just too tempting for words and probably explains why the bookshelves in Colombier are piled high with books of every variety. Once it arrived I proceeded to watch the whole of series 1 at one sitting! Now, you may think that self-indulgent, time-wasting, work-avoiding – in fact, any or all of a myriad of hyphenated epithets – but I prefer to see it as a prime example of the total immersion approach to foreign language acquisition, as well as research into cultural authenticity and differences.
Ok, I admit it – I did have the subtitles on – but it would have been a shame, wouldn’t it, to have missed any of the plot complications?
Roll on series 4.
Written on Friday, May 20th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
activity, lavender
Fancy making your own perfume?
Distillerie Bleu Provence in Nyons are offering you the opportunity to make your own perfume. From now until December 31st you can book an hour during which you learn all the secrets of lavender and the wonders of the distillery, and then under the expert ‘nose’ of their distiller you get to make your own perfume. The cost is 15 euros per person and you must make a reservation by calling. 2 hour workshops also available age 14/15, or adults (25 euros per person). More details can be found on the website of the Distillerie.
Written on Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 at 7:46 am
books, provence, restaurants
This is not going to be another post in which I wax lyrical about a meal at our great local restaurant – I’ll save that for another time!
La Charrette Bleue is also the title of a novel by Rene Barjavel. This son of a local baker started off as a journalist turning later to essays and novels. He is considered it seems by many as a prime fore-runner of science fiction.This year Nyons celebrates the centenary of his birth and pays hommage to this celebrated author. Various events are taking place throughout the year locally – exhibitions, lectures, walks around sites connected to him etc. You can even borrow his novels free. Full details can be found on the local tourism website paysdenyons.
So this spring as you drive around Nyons and see 3 blue carts placed strategically on roundabouts this isn’t a publicity wheeze by Paul and Francoise from the restaurant (although I’m sure they won’t be complaining!). The ‘charrette bleue’ is a symbol of the novel in which Barjavel evokes his childhood in the Nyonsais.
Check out the shelves of the library here at Le Colombier for a compendium of Barjavel’s work – in French.
Written on Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 at 7:27 am
books, thrillers, TV programmes
No, not another useful recipe from Provence, just a TV recommendation!
My friend Sue and I are both addicted to crime thriller novels (slice and dice is our pet name for the American genre of fiction) and ever in the search for cultural enrichment, we continue to try out German and Scandinavian authors (translated, of course!).
We were thrilled to discover that BBC4 often show foreign crime series on a Saturday evening – in 2 x 1 hour chunks. Recently I was addicted to a Danish series entitled for English TV ‘The Killing’.
And now BBC4 are screening a French crime series called ‘Spiral – The Butcher of La Villette’. Apparently it is series 3 of what was originally shown in France under the title ‘Engrenages’ (gears) and BBC4 showed the first series in 2009 which unfortunately I missed.
It is not to be missed and, of course, because it is in French with English subtitles is totally educational, not at all self-indulgent.
One thing I find quite fascinating is that the Danish and French series both have a feisty female detective as their protagonist and part of both plots evolve from her encounters with sexism in the force and problems with reconciling the work/private life balance. And whereas the American cop show (CSI etc) usually have 3 murders all solved in the space of a single one hour show, The Killing took 20 episodes, set over 20 days, to draw to a conclusion. I’m sure as I type someone, somewhere is writing their PhD on such a trend in popular fiction!
Written on Sunday, May 8th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
Iris
UPDATE MAY 2011
The irises were out early this year – mainly due to the combination of a dry and hot April. So if you’d been with me driving around, you’ll have seen me eyeing up clumps of brown and yellow irises (that I don’t have in my collection) and planning some midnight raids to gather a few rhizomes.
I’m considering guerilla iris swaps: replanting some of my various different blue and purple irises when I go scrumping. (And if anyone reading this has some interesting irises and wants to do a swap – please let me know! We can exchange by post in August).
But with irises on the mind, I was delighted to see that the annual Spring Plant Fair at the Lambeth garden museum this weekend featured irises. It was mainly the thought of struggling back with them on the bus that kept my purchases down to only 6: yellow, red/brown, brown/yellow, deep purple, pink, english cottage white. My next job will be to dig a “nursery bed” where I can plant them, keeping them separate from the local blue provencal thugs until they are established enough to stand make their own show.
And I won’t have to struggle to take the pots onto the plane either: for the moment, they will grace my balcony in London, and in August I’ll be able to just lift the rhizomes and take them like that – trying to remember to label the different colours.
Then it’s TLC, and waiting for nature to do the rest.
One of the specialist iris suppliers in the UK is Iris of Sissinghurst.
Written on Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
cookery books, gites, jam, local produce, olives, wine
There seem to be mixed views among gite owners as to whether to provide a welcome pack or not. Does it make a difference to locataires ? Do they appreciate the gesture? What should go in it? Should it be a proper starter pack with butter/milk/bread/jam etc or should it be a few local delicacies – olives, seasonal fruit, homemade jam, local wine?
In the dim and distant past when I was renting gites instead of renting them out people’s expectations were very different. I remember there being a huge disparity in what was provided. I once rented a small gite in Royan where we were the first locataires and the owner apologised for there not being an oyster knife!! Yes, really, I kid you not! The ‘batterie de cuisine’ (kitchen utensils) was far superior to anything I had at home.
At the other extreme we stayed for several years running in a beautiful rural gite in Sarthe – part of a large domaine – where we had to cram into our cases sheets, towels, sharp knives, tea towels, salt and pepper, plus all cleaning products and loo paper. The place would be completely bereft of supplies apart from the absolute basic cutlery/crockery/pans! But it didn’t stop us returning to the place time after time. The setting was magical and the owners tres sympa. And anyway it was a great excuse not to do so much cooking and test out the local restaurants.
I can’t remember any of the French gites providing a welcome pack although we did get a gift of homemade jam at a place in the Gard. What always made the difference for us was the warmth of the welcome (only once did we not get that – in the Var – and that’s another story!) we received after the long drive there. That’s what made us want to return to a place or recommend it to friends.
You’ll find the kitchen well-equipped here – you can even make your own jam to take home, if the urge takes you. There is a library full of cookery books – including the classics: Larousse Gastronomique, Elizabeth David and Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, as well as modern cooks and chefs.
And you won’t need any dried herbs with the herb garden outside the kitchen door and the perma-culture potager to raid in the main garden.
