Coming back was the first time I've ever felt one of these large ferries actually move with the waves. I woke during the night and couldn't believe the way the boat was moving about! I managed to stagger to the loo then lay down again hoping I would not get seasick (I do sometimes, but it seems quite random as to whether I get sick or not). Thankfully lying down it seemed more like swinging on a hammock in the breeze and when I finally woke again nearer St Malo the waters had calmed down. I did feel a bit zombie like the rest of the day (perhaps fitting as it was Halloween) because every time I sat down I felt I was still moving. I have no sea legs!
During our time away there was a storm which hit southern England and Brittany (don't know about other parts of France). Where we were staying at that point (Berkshire) there was little damage, though I heard that plenty of trees had come down in Somerset, which was where we were before, staying with my Mum.
However it seems like it hit home harder as my beautiful weeping willow has lost a huge branch from high up in the tree and now it's looking a bit of an odd shape. Unfortunately one half of the branch is now half in, half out of the pond and when you see the next photo you'll realise it's not something we can exactly just pull out. The second photo (taken in pouring rain, yes I know I wanted rain but I haven't seen a butterfly for ages and I need my bug and butterfly fill before winter hits us properly!) shows the rest of the branch, unfortunately it was a forked one and is balanced on another branch about 20/30 feet up in the tree, over the water!
Also a neighbour's old apple tree has uprooted and landed half in the stream which bounds our two properties. But that's their problem to deal with!
Of course I got my priorities right as soon as I got home. Before unpacking I went to check out the orchard and spent about 2 hours collecting walnuts. The nice housesitters had picked up a whole big plastic bowlful for us which was kind, but I found tons more and still there are nuts on the trees. It's really important to me to get as many as possible this year as last year was a dreadful year and between the red squirrels and the bad harvest I managed to collect only about 50 total, instead of thousands. So I'm pretty happy with this little lot, which are now spread out on newspaper all over my living room floor to dry! Next job, windfall apples, and I'm glad to say there are still tons of good eating apples on the trees too.
We did have a good time whilst away but I'll fill in more with the next posts.
Our walnut tree is only good for 100 nuts each year BUT the two hazelnut trees produce many thousands of fruit, most of which get fed to Denis the pig. (Boy does he like hazelnuts!!)
ReplyDeleteIt's the opposite here. Do you have proper cultivated hazels? Our wild ones don't produce many and they are so small it's not worth cracking open more than a few. This year (sadly, although fortunate at nut harvest time) the two squirrels who live in my garden have disappeared. Neighbours have said they haven't seen any recently either. Usually we see them backwards and forwards from the orchard to the main garden umpteen times a day with walnuts, burying them in the garden here. And they have normally nabbed most of the hazelnuts too.
DeleteIs your walnut a young tree, because in the 9 years we've been here we've gone from the biggest of the 3 trees having its first couple of nuts in 2004 to about 1000 off it about 3 years later, and the two other trees started producing nuts about 5 years ago. They have grown astronomically in 9 years! Glad Denis is happy :-)
Oh and by the way, I used to count every single walnut that I gathered each year as well as noting every single mm of rain that falls here. I thought you'd like that ;-)
We've had a fantastic crop on our 2 walnut trees in France this year.
ReplyDeleteWe picked up loads and left the rest for the locals.
The farmer we bought our field from collected all the apples while we were there, he came rushing over when he saw me heading towards the field on the ride on mower as he was worried I'd crush all the windfalls.
Hope you got to do lots of M and S shopping.
Philippa
Hi Philippa - hope the weather was good for you when you were here! I'm a saddo and was counting walnuts as I've been bagging them up and already have over 1000 and more still drying on the floor! I know the farmer's feeling as whenever Keith says he's doing to mow the orchard from Sept to Nov I panic and have to rush over and pick up windfall pears, apples and walnuts before he is allowed to mow. :-)
DeleteAnd yes brought home half of M&S and Tesco, as usual!
The weather was fine Mandy so we did lots of gardening and it wasn't even that cold at night so we only lit the wood burner twice.
DeleteGlad you got your retail therapy!
Philippa
Aaargh you'd think on my own blog it would let me edit my comment typos! Grrrr anyway I think you can see I meant 'going' rather than 'doing'.
DeleteI was looking at the weather forecast quite often and could see it was quite a lot warmer at home than in England, so I'm glad you enjoyed your nice mild break. I didn't need the winter woolies I took with me, only you never know at that time of year so thank goodness for a car as my suitcase was really heavy!
Hey I tried to get some cabanos as my sister in law who is Polish took me to a Polish shop but they had run out of them. After I got home it occured to me they probably sold them in Tesco! At the huge Tesco next to that enormous M&S in Camberley they have Polish shelves just like we have the 'foreign' and 'English' shelves in French supermarkets. Always makes me chuckle!
Welcome back! Sorry about your trees (great documentary photos :-) but how lucky to have nut trees! Walnuts are especially good for us women....can't remember why at the moment :-) The thought of crisp apples makes my mouth water. I will enjoy your bounty vicariously!
ReplyDeleteThanks Marianne! I'm hoping as next week we have a tree man coming here to take down some trees to thin out my overgrown woodland (providing some firewood too) he may be able to help deal with the weeping willow problem.
DeleteWalnuts are good for you although I can't remember why either and I put them in bread, cakes, salads or just munch them as is! The apple harvest is great this year and they are a thousand times nicer than the apples sold in the shops. :-)
I'm not sure I would know a proper cultivated hazel nut is I saw one Mandy :/
ReplyDeleteOurs are just like the ones you buy in the shop in both size and taste.
Because of the history of our garden I am going to assume both trees were put there rather than just turning up one day.
Have you seen this picture of our garden back in the day?
http://www.ineedaholidaytoo.com/holiday/la-roche-derrien-old-pictures/old-photo-1big.jpg
Oh my, a perfect potager and a pigeonnier as well! Is that still there? Funny how the garden looks quite flat but all the pictures of yours I've seen it is quite sloping, or has it been landscaped in more recent years to change the levels? And I don't know the history of your place, was it a mill?
DeleteAs far as hazels go I think you can buy named varieties which give bigger nuts. All the wild ones here only have tiny nuts that barely fit in the nut cracker! My wiggly hazel has slightly bigger nuts but still not as big as the ones you buy from shops. So I'm guessing yours were planted rather than just came up thanks to a squirrel burying a nut. :-)
Our site stood idle for 30 years before we turned up and what is now our car parking area (the two garden areas closest to the main building) was built up almost four meters using waste concrete, iron and scrap cars and lorries. This was done to create a level surface for the building of a car garage which in the end, never happened.
ReplyDeleteThe pigeonnier as you put it was in fact the local knocking-shop (didn't expect that did you!)
The man who built and owned the site which comprised maybe 10 or 12 of the buildings you see in the foreground had a coloured lady working for him who did not like modern (and square) French houses.
He had a roundhouse constructed for her to live in that had a stone base and wattle & daub walls all topped off with a thatched roof.
He (and half the local men) used to visit her at the roundhouse as often as possible ;)
This story has been told to us (usually by giggling 90+yr olds) many times over the ten years we have been here and confirmed by the local historian :)
OK just found pics on your website to compare now and then, and see what you mean about the levels.
DeleteLOL no I didn't expect that at all!! What a great story. It's fantastic to know the history of your place. I presume the knocking shop wasn't there any more when you bought it? Oh what stories those walls could have told! ;-)
Thanks for all that. :-)