Five reasons to spend your next holidays in France!

You may wonder if it is a good idea to spend your next holidays in France. Here are five very good reasons!

1 - Space
Going to France will suddenly widen your horizon. Most motorways are empty and on the way you will drive through an amazing countryside. You may want to take the 'Route nationale' (free of charge) and stop in cafés or typical town restaurants along your journey.
2 - But I can't speak French
The amount of Brits living in France has increased so much that French people will cope with your hesitant French and will graciously put up with your lack of accuracy. They will be very helpful so fear not!
3 - It's fun
You've never done it before! So what, it's fun and exciting to start a new project. It's easy to plan your destination in advance.
4 - Culture
We live in a changing world and you may want to experience yourself a different culture instead of listening to your mate's point of view. We are all different and what you will discover and feel will be yours to cherish forever.
5 - Take your children, your teens with you, 
Don't leave them behind! They will remember a trip abroad and it will improve their listening skills in French. Fair enough, it may cost you more money but discovering France is more interesting (in my view) than being squeezed in a Majorca beach.

Just a normal Saturday in an unusual life...

My first fudgy coconut brownies are in the oven now! click here for the recipe!
The only change I made was to use gluten-free self-raising flour only because I had some and it saved me from adding the 'levure' to the French flour. You cannot find in French shops self-raising flour so you need to buy the 'levure' separately and then add it in the flour according to  the instructions. Oups, there was another change i should mention, I put some roasted cob-nuts that Steven picked up from under the tree, sorted the bad ones from the edible ones and then roasted on the bbq as you do...Well it took him lots of time to do this..still as he is a retired gentleman, why not, his word not mine! 
I kept a bag of gluten-free flour for Camille whose diet is gluten-free.
Well it's been and is still very hot out there. When we went for an ice-tea at the local café, I compared today to an August day.

Exciting time ahead

Dear friends, you may or not be aware that we have moved to France since the end of February and I have been pondering over the future of this blog. Should I end it and start another one, one matching a new exciting time ahead in our life. 
Then again, I thought that bearing in mind that time is precious and my knowledge in blogging hasn't improved much, I will abstain from changing blog.
So what's new?
1 Shall I pick on Steven first? Is he learning French? ..nop
2 One question for me...Have I found a job? ...nop
3 Is Steven still practising what he is best at...bbq?....yes with a gas bbq! Really as Verity Yarwood told him, he's become a traitor to the charcoal bbq league!
4 Have I found another friend to Christopher rabbit yet? ...nop..
5 Do we have a French TV...nop...English thank you very much and we enjoyed watching the two programmes for our Queen's 90th birthday, the BBC one and the ITV one. 
Hugs and blessings :)
More to come....

Comfort food: hazelnuts brownies, why not?

Today I thought that I would bake some brownies and this recipe inspired me. I grilled some hazelnuts (a handful) beforehand and lined them at the bottom of my round tin (I'm using a round tin as my square one is in a cupboard at Imo's house in London..and I haven't bothered to buy another one,,will do though!)
So I'm on the last minute and I will make my own way to our friends home, Mike and Eva who are hosting a venue 'Say one for me' for our House church and the Anglican church meeting together.
Have a blessed day.

One day left! France here we come!

One day left before the removal company people come on Monday and start packing! Where has the time gone? We have done lots of sorting especially Steven. I may have to spend some night time to catch up. Still the ferry is booked now and we have managed to sort out the car insurance. We will stay in Civray camping site until the removal people arrive on Friday. 

Bros and sis, keep us in your prayers for a smooth drive and crossing at Calais. Have a blessed week-end in Christ. Amen N.

Getting ready to go to France

As we are getting ready to go to France, here is the information I was given for little animals. If your pet is a rat, mouse, rabbit, guinea-pig, hamster...(rodents and lagomorphs) or if you are going to transport your animal through France without returning to the UK here are the rules:

You can only take 5 animals to France (all species included) per owner per family, with only one owner being allowed per family. If you are taking more than 5 animals, you need the authorization of the French Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Rural Affairs (Animal Welfare Office) (See address below).

Website : www.agriculture.gouv.fr
You will need to obtain certificates issued by a Local Veterinary Inspector (a private veterinary surgeon who is allowed to issue certificates for the import/export of pets) to travel with your animal:
I. A certificate of Good Health (In both languages) to testify that your pet has no signs of disease, above all any signs of a contagious disease of the species.For example regarding rabbits: myxomatosis etc. This certificate should be issued between 1 and 5 days before the entry of the animal into France.
II. A certificate from a Local Veterinary Surgeon showing that the pet has stayed in the UK at least 21 days before the departure to France or since its birth.
You can find a registered veterinary surgeon if you consult the website : www.yell.com
Regarding the journey, please contact the appropriate transport companies to check if your are allowed to travel with your pet.
You have to check if your animal belongs to an endangered species

Tidying our house to be!

Dear friends, we have been very busy those last days looking after our house in Civray, south of France. First Steven had to mow the lawn or should I say the 'field'. It was a big job because the grass and weeds became thick and long, in fact it took him ages to do one part of the garden and now we are waiting for some good weather to do the rest.
Then woodworms; we knew that there were some in the shelves in the basement so Steven bought the gear and the spray in England, getting ready for the onslaught!
...later
the lawn s been cut, and the woodworms hopefully exterminated
I battled with the ivy only to realise that this poor bush was really struggling under the sap sucking ivy so we were wondering if it was worth 'saving' one of the main branches was covered with thick layer of ivy all around it..
Hope you are having a blessed day..
A few photos

We went to Ruffec, a lovely town not far from us and on the way back we stopped in a wood full of sweet chestnuts trees and we had great pleasure to pick them up, they were pretty easy to open up and we were grateful to the Lord for this unexpected bonanza.
Much love. N.

A place in France

Flamingos and crickets or in French, les flamands roses et les grillons ou sauterelles!

Have a blessed week-end in Christ!
All photos: courtesy of SAJ

Competition: vote for the best 2012 photo!

 Picture A  Tim's beloved dog

 Picture B  A fawn seen in Titchwell reserve, Norfolk

Picture C Princess G.P.

 Picture D Anybody coming?

Picture E Red shank having a rest!

 Picture F My sister Victoria all the way from the States keeping company to Steven

 Picture G Charles visiting Lichfield

 Picture H  A visit of Shugborough

 Picture I Look at me

 Picture J Glamour (my brother's dog) and Im in Niort

 Picture K Steve playing 'Great is the darkness..' in a French music shop in Niort

Picture L My brother Denis-Romain looking for a guitar!
To vote, choose the photo (only one) you like the most and use the comment form, leave your blog's name or website. Nicky

La Camargue

After spending a week in La Côte d'Azur, we moved to La Camargue, in Saintes Maries de la Mer. It's an ideal place to observe all kinds of birds, wild horses, steers, insects, beavers, turtles...One day we went to Arles to visit the arenas. As Steven decided to walk round the arenas and take more photographies, Imogen and I thought a pause in a cafe would be beneficial! 
First she mentioned having a pancake but soon it turned out that the milkshake was more enticing!

Some places in La Camargue were ill-famed for the amount of mosquitoes. Recently dragon-flies were introduced and the result is excellent!

Late afternoon, we visited Tourrettes-sur-Loup, a picturesque village not far from Bar-sur-Loup where my cousin Catherine and my auntie Rolande (my mum's sister) live. If you are not used to mountain roads then take it easy when you drive there. 
The 'native' French driver being fiery, you may just want to keep tightly on your side of the lane, i mean of the road! 

We were just exploring those medieval streets when we heard the thunder and had to rush for shelter. 
As it was not just a shower, we gave up and returned to Bar-sur-Loup.

There are two ways of access to St Raphael, the motorway and the coastal road which is much more scenic but as windy as the one to go to Tourrettes only wider! 
It took us an hour to get there from Cannes, including traffic and avoiding cars badly parked along both sides of the road!

Here we are with my auntie Rolande in the hospital in Nice. A few days before we were due to leave England, she rang me to let me know she had a mini-stroke and was undergoing an EEG, blood tests and various scans..
She is better now and back home still monitored for her sleep apnea. Please pray for her as she is slowly recovering.

On the way to la Côte d'Azur we stopped in a campsite near Beaune, in Savigny, a deligthful place that happened to be surrounded with well-maintained vineyards and caves. 
In the campsite, we talked to other tourists like us on their way south or others who were on their way north, only staying one or two nights. We also stopped there on the way back.