Bread and Beer festival

A  hot bank holiday, for once, and we decided to stay local, and go to the Brixton Windmill Bread and Beer festival, which is held in Windmill Gardens, about 15 minutes' walk from where we live.  I hadn't been to Windmill Gardens for six or seven years - I think we took The Boy there once when he was still in a pushchair, and now he is nearly 8, but the Swan Whisperer says he walks past it on his way down to church.

The gardens were rammed when we arrived!  The main bread stall, the Old Post Office Bakery, was totally sold out and deserted, and there were very long queues for beer stalls (not surprised - it was hot!).  There was a van from a local coffee shop, but that was not so popular.  The Friends of Windmill Gardens had a colourful stall, too.

Any maypole dancing was obviously over when we arrived.

but the Morris Dancing was still going on very happily:

There was also a sound stage, and you could queue to go inside the Windmill itself, but we didn't do that.  We did, however, spend some time reading posters about the history of the mill.

It's not the first time, obviously, that we have visited it - I think it closed to the public in 1990, but we certainly visited it on an Open Day before then, when the Daughter was little.  It's good that there is still a working mill in Brixton, even though the flour is now ground by electricity rather than wind power - it hasn't done that for a very long time.  The sails do turn, but are in poor condition and need to be repaired, which I think is the next thing the Friends are hoping to do.

We were surprised by the crowds - not the numbers, that was not surprising on a lovely day.  But the demographic was primarily white, middle-class young families; more Walthamstow than Brixton!  Whether the demographic has changed this much without our noticing, or whether people came from further afield and local people didn't bother, we didn't see anybody we knew.  But it was a pleasant interlude in a busy day!

South of France, 4 April 2018

So we woke up this morning and the sky was blue!  Ah well.... so it was a matter of getting up, getting breakfast, clearing away, and then heading to the terminal via the services at Coquelles.  We got a crossing 30 minutes earlier than scheduled, and were home shortly after noon, UK time, with plenty of time to unpack and put things away before lunch! 

Next time we're off will be to Oberstdorf in May, and we have not yet decided what we will do after that.

South of France, 3 April 2018

We had parked up beside a lake which, of course, the Swan Whisperer went for a run round this morning!  After breakfast, I decided to walk round it, such took half an hour, about 6 minutes longer than I was really able for, but nice exercise, and there was a heron!

We then drove back to Calais, stopping in Rouen for diesel and in an aire for lunch, and then in the Baie de Somme for a cup of tea. And then in Coquelles we stopped in at the motor home place where they exchanged the bin with no questions asked, and made sure the new one was not broken.

And so to Cité Europe, where we did a last shop (except for bread for tomorrow's lunch), and then ate in the Flunch, which was pretty dire, but I enjoyed a nice piece of lamb. 

When I woke up here two weeks ago, the sun was shining brightly and it was a lovely day to start our holiday. Tonight it is raining, as it has been all day!  France making itself easy to say goodbye to?

South of France, 2 April 2018

We left our friends at about 14:30 after a lovely lunch, and headed north. We are on the homeward run now, and tonight we are parked up outside Chartres. 

Cooked supper and delighted to discover the ice-cream still frozen in the freezing compartment of our fridge. It has worked so well these holidays, as had the heater.

South of France, 1 April 2018

Hallelujah!  Christ is risen!  Easter Day has been pretty much a rest day - we had arranged to go to an English service in a village near Lezay, to meet our old friend who lives in the area, which we did, and then went with her and her church to an Easter lunch in a local restaurant, and back to hers, where we passed a very pleasant and peaceful afternoon and evening, and are now spending the night.

South of France, 31 March 2018

Our 39th wedding anniversary dawned bright (sort of), so the Swan Whisperer went for a run, and did get rained on, but not badly. We filled up with water at the walnut farm, then made our farewells and went into the nearby village of Sers to do the vidanges (emptying).  

Then we drove into Angouleme and had a very cold walk round, too cold to be enjoyable, really. We thought we would go to the nearest E Leclerc to get diesel and groceries, but although we got the former, we couldn't find anywhere to park that didn't have a height limit, not impressed!  So we drove a little further and found a Géant, which was (gigantic, I mean) and I forgot to get milk, which was annoying, but we think we have enough to do until Tuesday, as we are staying with a friend tomorrow. 

After lunch I had a bit of a nap, and then we drive over to have a look at the Charente, and to a village with an ancient church whose name escapes me, but which was very pretty. And then on to Lézay, where I had booked us into the restaurant we ate at with a friend some years ago now, and the aire is just across the road, very civilised!  Food delicious, but rather too much for me!

South of France, Good Friday 30 March

It rained in the night. A lot!  I woke quite early to the sound of rain on the roof and then drowsed off again. When we finally got up (the Swan Whisperer did not go for a run this morning!) it was still raining, but as we ate breakfast it changed to sleet and then to snow!  It even began to lie a little, to the point that you could see where we had been when we moved off! 

However, we were at about 800 or so metres, and almost as soon as we headed off we began to go downhill and the snow changed back to rain, which became more and more showery as the day went on, and by lunch time we were in bright sunshine. This was in the village where Richard the Lionheart was killed, called Chalus. The castle he had been investing at the time is still there, but the SW, who went exploring, found it was only open in June and July, so we came away and drove very cross-country to this walnut farm in the Charente where we are spending the night. They showed a film about the harvest of their walnuts, but sadly, they didn't seem to know about pickled green walnuts, so delicious!  I bought some, of course, and then the SW came back from a walk and eventually I got supper. Spring is really here, now, with flowers out and even some trees beginning to show green.