I can't believe it's been over a week since my last entry, there's just so much going on here at the moment that there isn't actually time to write it all down. Since the last blog entry Trevor and I have spent the day on the Isle de Re and today we spent the day on the NW Vendeen coast in my favourite Vendeen coastal resort St.Giles Croix-de-Vie. Sally's now back from the UK having retired, the Lions Tests and now Wimbledon are on the box and we've had day upon day of lovely weather, even if I had another day a week it wouldn't be enough.

Sadly a very dear friend of mine is seriously ill in hospital and my love and thoughts are with her, she is only young and her situation is critical, life is anything but fair. At times like this one feels so helpless especially this far away, not that proximity would help.

My French neighbour's marriage is going through a rocky stage at the moment so there are lots of arguments and plenty of shouting and screaming. It's such a shame, they have worked so hard together to bring up three lovely kids and build a very successful business and now all that could be for nought, if they can't resolve things.

The forecast is for localised storms tomorrow so I might be able to write one of the articles that I owe Trevor, of course I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the sun will be shining and I'll be able to spend the day by the pool. That would be Shangri La.

Bulletin

Well the weeks are speeding by here, and it's a bit of a social whirl. Kieron & Julia have gone back to England but Stephen & Sally have arrived. Sally goes back to England tomorrow to officially retire and as Trevor's place is out of commission being full of customers we're all getting together here, including Sue as Tim is also back in the UK. We all had dinner at Steve & Sally's on Sunday and as usual their hospitality was boundless, so much so that I wasn't altogether myself yesterday. Some of you might think that me not feeling like myself would be a bit of a bonus for me.

I went shopping in Super U on my own yesterday as Christian can't make our Wednesday shop as he's off with one of his mates to the coast to eat sea food, I'll await his report to see if it goes on our list of restaurants to try. Knowing my mate Christian the quality will be high and the price will be the price. I've been cooking this morning. I found some Scotch Bonnet chillies in the supermarket the other day so it should be a bit of a bum burner. I'm just waiting for it to finish off before I get out by the pool.

The iffy weather continues, when it's hot it sure is hot but there are days when it's not so good, what's infuriating is that on the bad days the sky often clears and the sun comes out but too late to take advantage of it, we've rarely had a day without some sun this year. The truth is though that the weather ought to be really good all the time at this time of year.

Trevor and I are off to the Isle de Re on Thursday a beautifull small island just off the coast and connected to La Rochelle by a road bridge. The island is populated by the beautiful people including some stars so I'm informed and they are in the middle of one of the strangest campaigns I've ever heard of. The fee for crossing the road bridge is quite high and as is the norm here in France once the bridge is paid for the toll will be removed. As the repayment date approaches however, the residents of the island are campaigning for the toll to stay, fearing that a toll free bridge will mean that their quiet idyll will be invaded by us the great unwashed. So its a first for me people campaigning to keep on paying a toll, what a wacky world eh. I'll let you know how it all went another time.

If you can't wait to see it here visit http://www.gites-with-pools.co.uk/ where it will appear first,

La Rochelle

Every cloud has a silver lining, or so they say, but I must admit that when the suction brush disintegrated halfway through Trevor’s valiant effort at cleaning my pool and this coming hot on the heels of finding a hole in the net used for scooping the detritus from the surface of the pool, I was failing to see anything but red. Then I remembered that the shop for buying these accessories, Castorama, is just outside of La Rochelle and my mood suddenly brightened. Following our successful trip to the Puy du Fou, the decision to go there to buy the necessary pool tools and then spend the rest of the day in La Rochelle was a shoe in. I have been to La Rochelle with Trevor before but that was BT (Before Thunderbirds) and we were very seriously restricted in what we could do. This time the gloves were off.


We started the day early as it takes a good hour to get to La Rochelle from my place, and the last thing we wanted to do was to restrict ourselves to time. The journey was uneventful with a good navigator and T2 coping easily, we arrived at Castorama in good time. Even trips to large French versions of B&Q are interesting for me, now that I can scoot around them. We had a good look at the BBQ’s,
I have a dismal record when it comes to buying BBQ’s I don’t think I’ve ever bought a decent one in my life, unlike Trevor who had just bought an all singing all dancing gas job which was on offer at Bricomarche for peanuts, but then he is a clever little monkey. Having found everything we needed we headed upwards and onwards to La Rochelle.

We arrived in La Rochelle passing the railway station on the way in, from the outside this is far too grand a building to house a rail terminus, with its imposing arches, beautifully crafted decorative façade and a central clock tower that is simply too handsome for it’s purpose, the station is more like Versailles than St Pancras. On arriving we easily found a disabled space in the car park outside the ramparts, parking in the shadow of the twin towers at the entrance to the old port (Port Vieux). There was no mention of free parking for the disabled so using the maxim “it’s better to be safe than sorry” we fed the ticket machine and made our way
into the beautiful old harbour. Our attention was immediately drawn to the restaurants which ring the quayside, Trevor showed me a couple that he’d eaten in previously, Andre’s which looked very posh, and the rather appropriately named Comedians, we both agreed that they were both a bit pricey and that we’d look for something less expensive. It is of course true to say that it’s hard to put a price on the ambience of eating right in the middle of such a spectacular place, and were we not committed, on your behalf, to the pursuit of value for money eating I would have happily settled into a chair in one of the waterside restaurants and indulged myself in a seafood extravaganza. As it was we were a little early for lunch so we settled for a coffee at a café called Encas before heading off into the backstreets.
The service and the coffee were good, and at 5 euros for 2 large white coffees, considering the surroundings, I didn’t feel too badly ripped off. The weather was being kind not too hot but with prolonged sunny spells, consequently we were both smiling.

La Rochelle is purported to be the second most visited place in France after Paris and it doesn’t take long to realise why, the architecture is old and beautiful and the small cobbled streets wind their way through the town, opening unexpectedly onto stunning squares of all shapes and sizes some large and adorned with statues and cafes, others with trees and some small with little gardens or nothing at all. Our next major architectural find was the Town Hall (Hotel de Ville) this richly
decorated Renaissance building is an absolute must on any tour of La Rochelle Passing through the imposing archways and into the courtyard the flamboyantly gothic nature of the building becomes more obvious, with a carved facia that runs the whole width of the building without repetition, stone stairways that sweep up to resplendent balconies that would befit a certain scene from a certain play and a cloister that has an intricate and highly decorative ceiling. The stone walls are bedecked with ornate windows festooned with carvings and the whole edifice is topped with towers and battlements. To say it is imposing would be an understatement.

We continued our tour through the narrow streets full of tall buildings, not skyscraperesque in either style or proportions but bursting with character until we came to the Old Market, the building itself is another triumph of French architecture, built in 1835 it actually looks as if it should be the train station. One side of the building with its metal and glass superstructure and clock tower fronts the small square which houses the outdoor fruit and vegetable stalls. The other side of the building has alternate red and white striped courses of brick and stone and is one of the most striking facades I’ve ever seen. Housed within this building are numerous stalls of fresh meat, fish, cheese, pates and a small wine counter. It is one of the best markets I’ve seen, it may not be the cheapest market but the produce looked so fresh and appealing that I only wished I lived close enough to visit it on a regular basis. I’m sure that if you did you would soon get to know the market traders and visiting would be as much of a social event as a shopping trip.

After looking around the market we started feeling a bit hungry so we made our way back towards the harbour. In one of the small streets approaching the harbour called the Rue Saint Michel we came across a small café/restaurant called L’Atelier Gourmand with tables inside and out, it was nearly full and all of the diners appeared to be locals. We decided to give it a try, we both had the entrecote with a béarnaise sauce, frites and salad it cost 12 euros, the steak was a good size and perfectly cooked, the béarnaise sauce was just right and the frites and salad were excellent, we followed it with a chocolate fondant at 3 euros, it was exactly as I think a fondant should be the cake exterior gave way to an oozing liquid centre, it was rich, it was chocolaty, it was delicious. We followed it with coffee, and we both agreed that considering where we were it was hard to find anything to criticise. The service was first-rate, friendly and efficient, we didn’t have to wait long for anything yet we never felt hurried and the lady who was running the restaurant was happy enough to stop and chat at the end of the meal.

There was however no time for us to dawdle we still had the other half of the harbour to see plus the beach and the gardens. Lining the quayside on the far side of the old port are more restaurants side by side, but behind them is an area that has been redeveloped. Looking more like an American harbour side development than France it is, still very attractive. This area has not taken off and unlike everywhere else that we saw it was relatively deserted with many empty shops. I
thought it a shame as it really was a very pleasant place. We stood on the quayside and watched a brand new 62 foot catamaran come alongside and tie up; the boat was a very impressive sight unlike the standard of seamanship displayed by its crew. After watching the debacle we meandered back towards the car park as the meter needed feeding again, stopping only to partake of an ice cream in one of the cafes. As we sat eating our ice creams looking at the harbour full of the most fantastic sailing craft large and small framed by the elegant old buildings I couldn’t help thinking how fantastic it would be to live in this beautiful old town.

We spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the outer edges of the citadel, at the sailing school, the town beach and wandering through the gardens with its children’s zoo. There was much more to see, including Fort Boyard a 61 x 31 metre fortification which rises some 20 metres up out of the sea. Then there is the aquarium which is widely recognised as one of the best in Europe, with its guided
walkways stretching over two floors of massive seawater tanks containing approximately 10,000 species of flora and fauna from the oceans of the world, living in what looks like their natural habitat, but all of that would have to wait for another day, perhaps when the weather was a little less clement. We ended our day by driving out to the Port des Minimes and having coffee on the seafront at Les Minimes Beach, looking out at the Isle de Re.

It had been a truly wonderful day and La Rochelle certainly is fabulous, I think it would be hard to ever exhaust the possibilities of this beautiful and enchanting town. If you make one excursion during your visit to the Vendée I highly recommend that you visit La Rochelle.

Tate June 2009

This article was first published on http://www.gites-with-pools.co.uk/

Blogging Insomnia

Hi my little Blogsters,

This blogging lark is going to be the death of me. Putting up the article on the Puy du Fou was no problem yesterday, after all I'd already written the article for http://www.gites-with-pools.co.uk/, until I got a bit smart ass and decided to try to make it look professional and iunclude pictures. Having finished it (you'll have to be the judge of how successfully) I crawled to bed at 2.30am.

It was consequently not in the least bit surprising that I was not the most cheerful person when Trevor rang at 8.30 this morning to see if I fancied going out to the Isle de Re for the day. Having politely declined, I got up and spent the day by the pool. My friend Guy the French farmer who cuts my grass came at 4pm and after he'd finished we sat and had a drink and a chat for 45 minutes. He's 74 and a great guy and I really enjoy our little chats.

After Guy left it was back to the pool until after 7pm then in for bread, pate, chorizo and wine. Its a bloody hard life, there's been no time to write the article on yesterday's meal at the Tazbar restaurant, it'll have to wait for a dull day

As you can see it really is a tough life but I think I'm up to it.

Tate - June 2009

Puy du Fou

Men in tights, wenches, Vikings and Romans, pyrotechnics, sword fighting, jousting and chariot racing, all this shot through with extraordinary horsemanship in a 110 acre park with gardens, restaurants, water features and a Hotel. You might reasonably think this must be Disneyland, but you’d be wrong. Tucked away in the North East corner of the Vendée is the Grand Parc du Puy du Fou. The Parc is something completely unique, a safe place for adults and children alike, without roller coasters and rides trying to be the highest or the scariest, this is a place of enchantment and spectacle.

We’ve had the house here in the Vendée for 17 years and throughout that time virtually everyone who has visited has spent a day at the Grand Parc du Puy du Fou. It may come as a shock but some people are crazy enough to have visited me more than once and a large number of these fools/visitors go back to the Puy du Fou time and time again. I have never been able to visit the Parc before, although I did manage to go to the Cinescenie, the evening spectacular, once, and I was like everyone else enthralled.

This year with the aid of Thunderbirds 2&8 and with my trusty companion Trevor by my side, I finally made it to the Grand Parc du Puy du Fou, and spent a day being captivated by this place the like of which I’ve never seen anywhere else I’ve been in the world. We took advantage of the reduced prices for April and May and rather than the current 26 euros each we paid 16 euros, I actually only paid 12 euros as there is a reduction for those who are handicapped. We arrived early, about 9.30, and collected our tickets which Trevor had booked and paid for over the telephone and studied the map and timetable. As you would expect Trevor is a Parc veteran, normally visiting at least once a year, and he soon had our itinerary worked out with military precision, which is very important if you want to see everything in one day.


Following our plan we went straight to The Musketeers of Cardinal Richelieu. The one thing certain about everything in the Parc is that it is big; each of the arenas that stage the major shows hold thousands of people. This show is staged in the only indoor arena in the Parc, it has a stage that is purported to be over 70 metres wide and the show does not restrict itself to the stage alone. Be prepared for spectacle including sword fighting, flamenco and horses dancing on water, I won’t attempt to further describe the show for you, perhaps if I were a better wordsmith it would be possible to capture this visual extravaganza in words but alas I’m no Wordsworth. As soon as this show was over we headed for the Vikings. Held in a massive outdoor stadium, this is, as described by my friend Julia, pure theatre. A wedding, was taking place, the bride and groom were given presents including a pack of wolves, lord knows what they would do with them. The joyous scene was then interrupted by the arrival of the Vikings, herds of oxen, long boat and all. They then did what all good Vikings do they threw the sacred remains of Saint Philibert,
which the villagers were supposed to be protecting, into the lake and rape and pillage ensued. Actually I was watching intently and didn’t see even the tiniest bit of rape, who knows perhaps they were gay Vikings and I was looking in the wrong direction. There was fire, explosions and fighting which culminated in a further long boat rising from beneath the waters of the lake and with that you think the villagers are done for. Then Saint Philibert himself rose from the lake, walked on water (I thought that only his boss was allowed to do that) and converted the Vikings to Christianity and they all threw down their weapons and peace broke out like hives. The special effects were amazing, the fighting excellent and the animals as ever were impeccable.

We then took a break and got ourselves over to the Medieval Pizza Parlour, it was actually the Restaurant in the Medieval Village. It was a bit odd to see girls in
medieval dresses taking orders for and serving Pizzas but sometimes authenticity must give way to pragmatism. Getting there early was a great move as the restaurant filled up quicker than a rain butt in the UK. Trevor and I both had the Ribs with Vendéen Ham and Mojettes, a bit like baked beans without the tomato sauce and a regional speciality. The restaurant is filled with tables for 6, we shared ours with 2 French couples and had a great time, the company was good and the food was excellent when you consider how many people they were likely to have to serve. At 10.50 euros a head I considered it reasonably good value for money especially when you bear in mind that they do have a captive audience.

After lunch we went to watch the birds, no not women, and no sign of Alfred Hitchcock, but it was a truly remarkable display of falconry which included the extraordinary snake bird, owls and hawks of all shapes and sizes and massive
vultures. A tip for those who aren’t of a nervous disposition is to sit yourself close to the top of the stadium as the falconers stand in the crowd and the birds swoop to them skimming the heads of the crowd. The finale is one of the most incredible sights that I’ve ever seen with what seemed like hundreds of birds in the
air at once swooping and catching the strips of food thrown to them by the falconers. What was even more incredible was I didn’t see one person with bird droppings on them. After the show we went behind the arena where the falconers were attempting to entice the birds back into their cages with varying degrees of success, it was another chance to see these remarkable raptors up close. The whole experience was a rare and remarkable treat.


Next stop was The Romans, set in a replica amphitheatre 115 metres long and 75 metres wide and recreating the atmosphere of Gaul during the Diocletian period. There was a parade, gladiatorial combat and chariot racing. There were Christians being fed to the lions, tigers and even a hyena. Fortunately for the Christians none of the animals were hungry; nonetheless
they were all pretty formidable looking beasts. The crowd played its part in the spectacle, and there was much cheering for the goodies and booing for the Romans. We may have been fortunate in that respect as we had several coach loads of French schoolchildren in when we were there, but somehow I think the crowd reaction is always likely to be the same unless of course they get coach loads of Italians in.

After the Romans we went to the Battle of the Donjon, I must admit that by this time
I was suffering a bit of pageant fatigue and things that would normally have been very exciting such as the jousting and the fantastic trick horse riding went a little over my head. The horses dancing which was based on dressage and sends me to sleep at the best of times, threatened to do so again. The moving fire throwing siege engines, the rotating keep and the hand to hand combat even failed to spark my interest,
I’m sure had we seen it all earlier in the day I would have enjoyed it much more. It is also possible that I may have been suffering from a slight feeling of self consciousness. When the alarm was raised that the English were coming there was one solitary cheer from the crowd, thousands of heads turned towards me in disbelief, I looked around to Trevor for support but he was observing the non-existent clouds and whistling in an attempt to totally disown me


Maybe this was a pageant too far and maybe it does endorse the official view that you should take 2 days to cover the parc properly but all in all it was a great day out.

Having finished all of the pageants we then took a leisurely look around the gardens which are beautiful
before making our way to the bar in the main square where we thought that as a treat we’d have a farewell beer. There weren’t many people inside and we sat at one of the outside tables and waited to be served, but having waited for what seemed an eternity without it appeared any prospect of service, we decided to call it a day and went home.

There is no doubt that handicapped people and their carers are very well catered for, having their own entrances to all of the arenas with easy access and front row seating. I had few problems with T8, apart perhaps from the drainage channels in the Medieval Village and one part of the gardens which were only accessible via steps. Anyone pushing a wheelchair will need to be fit as parts of the site are extremely hilly.

It had been a fabulous, in fact, an unforgettable day and one that I can highly recommend to everyone

Tate 2009

This Post and further photographs can be found on http://www.gites-with-pools.co.uk/

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

It’s said that you’re never too old to learn, and today has proved that. Bad weather has kept me indoors and as a result I’ve been writing articles for Trevor’s website www.gites-with-pools.co.uk . As you’ll know if you’re reading this I’ve also started a blog so that I can share these articles with anyone who’s interested, and keep you all (all might be a bit grand) informed of the goings on here in “La Belle France”. I’ve tried Facebook but it doesn’t give me the space that I need, so I’ve joined such illustrious figures as John Prescott and started blogging.

Now I don't know about you but whatever I do I want it to look professional, with photographs and the like. I’m pretty reasonable on the computer so I thought I’ll be able to crack this blogging lark, so I tried and I tried and I tried. I could get the text up I could even get the pictures up, but I just couldn’t manoeuvre them into the right positions. I must have wasted an hour trying in vain to re-position three photos, then the phone rang and it was that well known webmaster Trevor. Within 5 minutes he’d taught me how to manipulate the photos and how to create links. I would still have been trying now without his help, so thanks Trevor you’re a legend. It just goes to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks after all.

Tate June 2009

Thunderbirds - R – Go

It’s May 2009 and after a long cold winter in Blighty, I’m finally back in the Vendee, but this year there’s a difference, this year Thunderbirds are Go.

I’ve been caught in the diminishing mobility spiral for some time. It may come as a surprise to some, but this is not due to me being rendered legless through an over indulgence in alcohol, it is rather as a result of limited mobility. This has lead to a lesser ability to exercise promoting weight gain producing further limitations to my mobility etc. etc. The upshot of all of this has left me spending less and less time out and about and doing things while in the UK and more time at home. The problem has been less prolific in France as when the weather’s good I can spend my time next to and in the pool and as most of my friends have accessible dwellings with plenty of parking, visiting here is much easier. Nonetheless I have still been severely restricted in what I could and couldn’t do, so late last year I bit the bullet and bought myself a Mercury Neo 4 Mobility Scooter, known hereafter as T8 (Thunderbirds 8) and just like that my life was transformed. Places that had been entirely out of reach were now easily within my compass, it didn’t get me dancing but it did get me in the ballroom.


I knew that just buying the scooter wouldn’t be sufficient, and that I would need to get it close enough to places to be able to use it effectively, after all scooting to Tesco’s from my house was one thing but scooting to the house in France was way beyond the scooter’s capabilities. Now those of you who are old enough to remember the 60’s TV series Thunderbirds will know that their transport vehicle was Thunderbirds 2, my T2 is a converted Mercedes Vito Van. As in the series everything is remote controlled and automated. The rear doors open electronically and the Ricon lift folds out like a flower opening at sunrise it then lowers seamlessly and I am able to drive T8 onto it. Another touch on the remote and I’m levitated and able to scoot into the belly of the beast, with the lift folding back into the van and the doors closing and locking themselves. The wonders do not end there as I have an electric driver’s seat, some of you out there (Stephen you know who you are) might say better that it was an electric chair. In addition to the numerous Mercedes gadgets on the seat it is independently powered and moves up and down, forward and back and swivels, I’m still looking for the Tea’s made which I’m sure must be concealed somewhere within.

Since arriving in France I have been to several supermarkets and 2 major DIY warehouses, “Wooopee” you might say “Big deal” well actually when you’ve been unable to do these things for as long as I have even the most mundane of tasks takes on an almost spiritual quality, add to that days spent at the Puy du Fou and La Rochelle, both of which I will cover individually in separate articles, and I hope you can see that this has given me back a degree of freedom that I thought I’d lost forever. All in all these truly are very impressive pieces of kit. I may not have the slide away pool or the fold down palm trees of Tracy Island but in all other respects

Thunderbirds really are Go!!

Tate 7th June 2009

This and many other interesting articles can be found on www.gites-with-pools.co.uk

The Blogging Begins

Hi everyone or no one as the case may be, this is my first blog so don't be too hard on me, I'm going to post all of the articles that I write for www.gites-with-pools.co.uk along with anything else that I find interesting, amusing or infuriating, provided that I can come to terms with the technology. Being the verbose old fart that I am I find that there isn't enough room on a Facebook post to get in all that I need to say, and as not one person commented on the post I put up about the exploding cooker I figure no one's interested in the stuff I post anyway. Perhaps I'm too long in the tooth for facebook but most of the stuff that I read seems either inordinately trivial or stuff that I would only want to communicate to certain people on my friends list.

I've been here nearly 4 weeks and so far so good Ron and Gerald went home after the first 10 days and since then Kieron and Julia have been out to their place for a few days, they were as always Mr. & Mrs. Hospitality however I was able to repay a little of their generosity by inviting them over to watch the Champions League Final, Julia being a Man Utd fan. Trevor and I have been galavanting with a day at the Grand parc du Puy du Fou and a day in La Rochelle already under our belts, this week we have a day on the Isle de Re planned and maybe lunch at a little restaurant in Cheffois.

Luckily Marie-Jo is back doing my cleaning, Christian is still happy to help me with the shopping and my trusty side kick Trev is here to fix all the little things and organise someone else if anything major goes wrong, so everything is in place for a bumper summer. All we need now is decent weather. As in the UK it has been fantastic here up until the last few days, we had a thunder storm here today and it has been very windy. They're forecasting a return to sun on Wednesday but I'm not holding my breath. As an asside I think if I had my time again I would become a weather man after all what other profession can you think of where you can be wrong 70% of the time and still keep your job, appart from politics that is.

Tate