Le Couvent Diary

Yep, finally we're into the other half of our lives - the B&B is closed for the off-season. One of the most frequent questions we're asked (along with "Is Kit really a labrador?") is how we spend our winters. Follow us through until the end of April and you'll see.

So far the best thing we've done is to move bank accounts - yippee!  We've left Cretin Agricole at last. Having had enough of battling with the indifferent bunch in the Roujan branch (open four mornings a week for banking, but much longer if you want one of their 'products') we went to the Pezenas branch to ask how we should deal with six unauthorised payments online from our account. The gum-chewing teenager who told me I should not be using a credit card on the internet (give me strength) could not have been more confidence-draining. However, the final straw came when, after (my suggestion) cancelling my card, a further two payments were made using it.

Now we are with a bank which our friend Suzelle, who works there, says is well-managed and humane. It's only taken five hours over two days, and a great deal of talking to open three accounts. This is France, after all. We were recognised with beaming greetings on our second visit, unlike at CA where I could have walked in naked for the past six years and they still wouldn't have wasted a smile. Wish us luck.

 

 

Our other wonderful thing is that, inspired by a raft of guests who were great walkers, we've decided to explore bits of the Languedoc we don't know, i.e. nearly all of it - on foot.  The wonderful Decathlon , seller of sports equipment for the masses at good prices, has kitted us out fantastically well. So, with our lunch, water, collapsible dog bowl, map, outer jackets, guide book, mobile phone, camera and (I kid you not) torch, all tucked in to our new backpacks, we set out yesterday.

 

 

Walk number one comes from a great book called l'Herault à pied .  6kms, just over 2 hours and a bit of a climb in the middle took us along the River Orb, past a pretty pre-Roman chapel, up a steepish climb (glad we had the new fold-down walker's sticks), through a long dark tunnel (glad we had the torch), along an old railway line where we stopped for lunch under five spots of rain (glad we had the jackets) before a descent back down to the Campotel car park where we'd left the car. I haven't been happier this year and the dogs were in seventh heaven. If you come to stay next year we'll have the walk available on paper for you.

 

 

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The other day I was strolling with the dogs around the periphery of the newly acquired Le Couvent vineyards . As is quite usual I came across a couple of people collecting wild asparagus and taking the air.

"Are the dogs friendly Madame?"

"Absolutely" said I.

"Where is it you are from?" said the elder of the two smiling old girls.

"Roujan - the old convent and school - and we've recently bought these vineyards from M. Gineste"

"Ah, Le Couvent, you've done an excellent job there - I know it well. And we're neighbours here, because this is my land" she said sweeping her hand across some wild garrigue. "Is it you who's doing the vegetable garden?"

Bear in mind there is a sign saying that the land's private and the vegetable garden is buried right in the centre of the vineyards, pretty well-hidden and has a chicken-wire fence all round.

"Your salad, broccoli and strawberries are coming on very well" "What else are you going to plant?" she said with more than a hint of lip-licking.

It's curious. Just a couple of weeks ago I thought the water in the butt had gone down and that the plants looked already-watered. It looks as though I have a co-gardener. I do hope she has green fingers.

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Wow, today has been just beautiful. Ali, Alex and I spent the day pruning at Chateau Mal Au Dos. Ali & Alex were working in the Vineyard With A View and I pruned the espaliered pear trees. With the temperature running at 19 degrees it felt very summery - we peeled off until we were in our vests for the first time this year.

It was a little less peaceful than usual as Jean-Marc the shepherd, who'd brought his sheep to the crest above our vineyard, spent the afternoon yelling at his wayward collie, Bouffe.  Bouffe took a shine to our dogs Kit & Flynn and spent his afternoon rounding them up rather than look after his flock.

 The daffodils and almond blossom look fantastic against the current cloudless skies.

   

Have you booked your summer holiday yet? Why not come to Le Couvent, Roujan? You can contact us here .

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A happy time was had by all, great evening at Erzsi's on Christmas Eve, two geese and Bourdic wines on Christmas Day, before setting off camping at the mazet on Boxing Day.

Ali bought me a fab sleeping bag for Christmas, so what was I to do but agree to sleeping in a 9 square metre hut in the middle of the vineyards in December? After all, seven bedrooms all with their own bathrooms can make one forget the essential things like - will we be warm enough?

So off we trundled with the dogs, soup, breakfast and good books. (Actually the car was filled to the gunwales, but mostly dog-stuff - oh yeah?)

It was magical. I was never less than sweltering thanks to a roaring fire and zillion-tog sleeping bag. The books were excellent and it was wonderful to be away from the phones. But the real corker was waking at 2am when Kit the labrador decided on a comfort break outside. The moon was so bright you could have read outside. Looking back towards the lights of Roujan, Caux and Neffies just made me grin. It's hard to feel anything other than enormous gratitude when you look up at a billion stars.

Next day voices drifting up the hill announced the arrival of Erszi, Heather and Alex who'd come for a walk, some lunch and a bit of pruning. The views were beyond divine.

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The great thing about dogs is their enthusiasm. Never having met before, Kit, Flynn, Biba, Jasper and Alfie rendezvous'd near the mazet with Ali & I and six friends. The dogs did a few manic turns around each other then scampered off for a fantastic walk together. They didn't stop for one second of our hour's walk. It was just a joy to see.

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I haven't blogged for ages. Normalement (Norman Lamont for the initiated) I cycle the dogs before breakfast, get breakfast ready, then do the blog. However, for the last month there have been horrible little seeds from puncture vines littering the vineyards. Seven new inner tubes and two teflon tyre liners later I have given up. Now I have to walk. It takes much longer. Hence no blog. I'm praying for rain so mud swallows up the seeds. They're horrid and their latin name is Tribulus terrestris. The Latin name tribulus originally meant the caltrop (a spiky weapon), but in Classical times already meant this plant as well. They are formed so that wherever they sit there is always a spike facing upwards. Poor Kit the dog gets them in her paws all the time and we have to stop every few metres over some patches to remove them from her foot. I blame it on the fact that she's so fat. Flynn the husky moves so lightly they rarely lodge in his paws.

I've also read that the pesky Tribulus terrestris is sold as nature's viagra. Kit the labrador has several little pricks of this every morning and she's showing no odder behavioural traits than usual. Should I just be shovelling the seeds up and flogging them as the first sex aid ever to be sold from a convent? More later.

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