tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post2987509459679738665..comments2024-03-27T13:44:47.825+01:00Comments on Chateau Moorhen..... goes south!: I'm back!Millymollymandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12990749863025598526noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post-38219044220990901042013-11-12T17:24:36.531+01:002013-11-12T17:24:36.531+01:00OK just found pics on your website to compare now ...OK just found pics on your website to compare now and then, and see what you mean about the levels. <br /><br />LOL 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! ;-) <br /><br />Thanks for all that. :-)Millymollymandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990749863025598526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post-11762038902300112122013-11-12T09:45:49.039+01:002013-11-12T09:45:49.039+01:00Our site stood idle for 30 years before we turned ...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.<br /><br />The pigeonnier as you put it was in fact the local knocking-shop (didn't expect that did you!)<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />He (and half the local men) used to visit her at the roundhouse as often as possible ;)<br /><br />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 :)<br /><br />Carl Albanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09352560804396447025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post-31651991324529568732013-11-07T07:16:47.875+01:002013-11-07T07:16:47.875+01:00Oh my, a perfect potager and a pigeonnier as well!...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?<br /><br />As 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. :-)Millymollymandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990749863025598526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post-73332787245782016412013-11-06T10:19:48.452+01:002013-11-06T10:19:48.452+01:00I'm not sure I would know a proper cultivated ...I'm not sure I would know a proper cultivated hazel nut is I saw one Mandy :/<br />Ours are just like the ones you buy in the shop in both size and taste.<br /><br />Because of the history of our garden I am going to assume both trees were put there rather than just turning up one day. <br /><br />Have you seen this picture of our garden back in the day?<br /><br />http://www.ineedaholidaytoo.com/holiday/la-roche-derrien-old-pictures/old-photo-1big.jpgCarl Albanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09352560804396447025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post-82353006734759265952013-11-05T10:17:50.067+01:002013-11-05T10:17:50.067+01:00Aaargh you'd think on my own blog it would let...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'. <br /><br />I 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! <br /><br />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!Millymollymandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990749863025598526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post-71185244599592094732013-11-04T18:39:56.475+01:002013-11-04T18:39:56.475+01:00The weather was fine Mandy so we did lots of garde...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.<br />Glad you got your retail therapy!<br /><br />PhilippaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post-76595835022863430112013-11-04T09:19:04.419+01:002013-11-04T09:19:04.419+01:00Thanks Marianne! I'm hoping as next week we ha...Thanks 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. <br /><br />Walnuts 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. :-)Millymollymandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990749863025598526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post-16200852444348512202013-11-04T09:14:54.109+01:002013-11-04T09:14:54.109+01:00Hi Philippa - hope the weather was good for you wh...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. :-)<br />And yes brought home half of M&S and Tesco, as usual!Millymollymandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990749863025598526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post-45353565888729786902013-11-04T01:17:56.700+01:002013-11-04T01:17:56.700+01:00Welcome back! Sorry about your trees (great docume...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!Mariannehttp://ezpixels.com/blog/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post-40130571969216133302013-11-03T18:41:54.531+01:002013-11-03T18:41:54.531+01:00We've had a fantastic crop on our 2 walnut tre...We've had a fantastic crop on our 2 walnut trees in France this year.<br />We picked up loads and left the rest for the locals.<br />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.<br /><br />Hope you got to do lots of M and S shopping.<br /><br />PhilippaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post-25906811299896421352013-11-02T13:55:53.601+01:002013-11-02T13:55:53.601+01:00It's the opposite here. Do you have proper cul...It'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. <br /><br />Is 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 :-) <br /><br />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 ;-)Millymollymandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990749863025598526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4547505703081839636.post-47299563960083679842013-11-02T10:31:29.255+01:002013-11-02T10:31:29.255+01:00Our walnut tree is only good for 100 nuts each yea...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!!)Carl Albanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09352560804396447025noreply@blogger.com