Concerts, concerts and more concerts

The new banner announces our concerts

Summer brings with it a host of music festivals in Burgundy. We are heavily involved in the Guitar en Cormatinois festival which this year is fortunately going back to its roots and each concert will have at least one guitarist in it. The series is nearing its end - there are only two more concerts to go and the season is going very well indeed. Concerts one and three were sold out, leaving us volunteers to enjoy the music from outside the church and concert two only had a few spaces left empty. It is a combination of the venue being fixed in the church in Chazelle – superb acoustics, the start times being nice and early (19.30 for the Saturday concert and 17.30 for the Sunday concert) and of course returning to having guitars in abundance, that has made this season a success. We will have to see if we actually break even or not this year as we have lost a lot of state subsidy, so fingers crossed that this festival can continue for years to come.

Biréli Lagrène in Trivy

The season is well under way as well in Chapaize where we of course enjoyed the annual Roundalay concert - a Dutch a cappella choir. We have seen Biréli Lagrène again this year in the Jazz in Trivy concert series - always a treat and a couple of weekends ago we went to a concert by a swing band in Cluny at Le Potot Gourmand who are on of the venues for the association Jazz etc. The concert was on the pricey side, but the music made up for that. It was all very accessible jazz, nothing too avant garde.

Michel Bonnet Combo in Cluny

But it is not only the professionals that give concerts, the choir of St Ythare gave a couple of concerts, we saw the one in the lovely, if peculiarly shaped, church in Savigny-sur-Guye and they did themselves proud, well done lads and lasses ! At the moment we have campers from the UK who will be performing in St Gengoux church this coming Thursday, they are part of a very new amateur choir from Oxford and from what I’ve heard, it should be worth a visit.

St Ythaire Choir

So you can see that we really are spoilt for choice at the moment and throughout this summer, I rather selfishly think that they should spread the concerts out over the year a bit more, but then I suppose it would only be us residents that would be able to enjoy all this good music.





For information on holiday accommdation in the heart of this musical area click here.

A restaurant you shouldn’t go to

We decided to go out today, but as it rained all morning we didn’t leave until just before lunch.  So our lunch venue had to be relatively near home.  We have had mixed experience with L’Auberge du Grison in Prayes and so decided to give them another try.  The first time we went in December 2005 the food and ambience were fantastic, but I have a feeling that the owners have changed since then.

The last time we went to the restaurant, the owner was brusque to rude and the waitress was hopeless to appalling, but it was a busy Sunday lunchtime in summer and we decided they were just having an off day. 

Today we were the only lunch guests and we were greeted somewhat brusquely by the owner, but the weather was miserable, so what do you expect.  I decided to have steak haché (minced steak patty) and Cees wanted the plat de jour.  My request was greeted with “That is normally for children” which made me feel like replying, “Well why is it on the grown-up’s menu then”, but I decided better of it.  After a long discussion about the fact that it was only 100g (the normal weight for a steak haché in my book) I agreed to order it and asked for it to be cooked rare, which was drew the response, “It’s a burger, you can’t cook burgers rare”, “Oh so it’s not a steak haché then?” I replied.  “It says steak haché burger quite clearly on the menu” she retorted.  Now I must say, with my experience in the food industry, I think that there is about 0% steak in a burger no matter what it’s called, but I let it drop and ordered it anyway.  Cees’ request for the plat du jour was greeted with, “So you don’t want the menu then?”  “No” he confirmed.

Not a very pleasant interaction with the dear lady, but the meal arrived and the burger was OK and Cees’ food was very good.  Now on to the bill.  We were charged 13.70 Euros for Cees’ plat du jour which I queried as that was more than the menu de jour at 12.50 Euros which had a salad to start and a dessert afterwards as well.  We were told in no uncertain terms that if you order à la carte you paid a higher price, end of discussion.

So in return, here is some nice publicity for this restaurant.  They are rude, inefficient and cheat you out of money - don’t eat there.  But it looks like the locals already know this, we were the only people who had lunch on what should have been a very busy working day.

Internet

I can remember back in about 1991 or 92, when I worked for Unilever Engineering in The Netherlands and shared an office with André, I was introduced to the Internet. One day André told me there was something I just had to see. So off he took me to the huge laboratory library where there was a computer that had “Internet Access”. He showed me a search engine (probably Alta Vista, but I can’t really remember) and he said all I had to do was type in anything I wanted information on and the world would open to me. I did ask him what I could possibly want to know, that wasn’t in a book in the library and he was a bit stumped for a minute then he said “the results of a sailing competition”. So we searched and sure enough we found the results of a sailing competition in The Antilles. I must say I was completely under-whelmed and wondered why anyone would want to pay a small fortune for “Internet Access”.

Roughly twenty year later, our “Internet Access” has been cut off and I am lost and I mean truly lost. Our Internet connection went down at about 20.00 last Sunday (yes I can tell it that accurately - which shows just how addicted I am) and we still have no connection, one week later. I am frantic. We have been begging and borrowing computer and WiFi connections for the last week (a BIG thank you to all who have helped so far) and I reflect on how my attitude has changed over the last twenty years. My first port of call when I want to know something is to “Google” it, not look at the brochure we picked up last week that lies on a pile in the living room - that is too far to walk and not to go to the multitude of books we have on our shelves – that takes too long or even pop into the local library – that takes even longer, no, I get all my information these days from the Internet and being cut off has been a sobering lesson on how dependant I am to this technology.

It is rather reminiscent of the time I lost my watch and ended up looking at my empty wrist every ten seconds, getting more and more wound up with each look at the empty place where that hallowed thing had been. It took a while, but now I don’t mind that I have no watch. But there again, that was thirty years ago, so I have got used to it. I do wonder how long will it take me to stop re-setting the “Box” every time I walk past, in the vain hope that it might stop flashing “PPP” and give me the time, thus showing we are back “On-line”.



So apologies to all of you out there, from here in cold turkey land (and not the yummy stuff you have in the days following Christmas) - I won’t be answering my mail as quickly as normal, let’s hope the slow wheels of France Telecom will get me back to normal soon or maybe like my watch, I may just get used to not having the Internet anymore.

EDIT: As of late last night we are ON-LINE again - life is really wonderful isn't it !


La Tuilerie Website

Open evening at a salmon smokery.

Just two of the salmon delicacies on offer

I mentioned last year that, during July and August, the tourist office in St Gengoux-le-National was having tasting sessions for tourists of some local produce. We had wine from local producers and various other local delicacies, which was when we heard about a smokery in St Gengoux run by a Scottish couple. Last weekend they had an open evening where certain people were invited to taste their products and enjoy a glass of wine with them, in the garden of their home/business.

Their biggest seller is smoked Scottish salmon, but they also do smoked duck and smoked Bresse chicken. The smoking is very delicate and from connoisseurs of the salmon, I understand that their product is significantly better than any other smoked salmon available in the locality. Their business has really blossomed in the year it has been going and they have managed to create a good solid customer base in the locality.

Drinks and smoked salmon in the garden

Sadly rain stopped play a little earlier than expected, but we had still had a very enjoyable evening meeting other gîte and bed and breakfast owners and others from the local business community.

Congratulations go to Ken and Jill Smith, thank you for an lovely evening and long may your success continue.



For more details of their products click here.

And for details of our gîtes not far from this excellent smokery click here.

Artisans and Artisans

Pascal Ponsard's silk scarves

In France, May is loaded with bank holidays and this year was no exception. But while the shops may shut down, it is a great time of year for arts and crafts fairs and boy have there been some crackers this year. The biennial arts and crafts fair in Tournus, definitely one of the biggest and most professional around here. There were 5 different venues around the town each containing stalls from jewellery makers, to wood cutters and potters to silk painters including our favourite, Pascal Ponsard, who is based here in Cormatin and makes absolutely beautiful silk painted scarves, everyone needs one !

Cormatin Patchwork display

Cees with his paintings

Of course Cormatin was not to be outdone and we have had two very impressive shows. Firstly the patchwork display and then La Tuilerie’s very own artist, Cees, exhibited his paintings in the artwork exhibition. As always, I am impressed with his display of work. However, the invitation he posted on his Facebook page caused endless confusion and we had people turning up at La Tuilerie, thinking he was exhibiting his paintings here - ah well next year maybe.

L'Eglantine festival - St Martin du Tartre

Last weekend we went to the annual Eglantine (wild rose) festival which takes over the whole of the village of Saint Martin du Tartre. Every courtyard and barn was full of stalls selling all sorts of new age and bio things, from crystals to angel contacts and bio crêpes with very non-bio-Nutella to open forums, discussing things like the future of our planet. I hesitate to say something for everyone, but it was certainly worth a visit.

Burmese tuilerie

Finally we went to the opening of a Burmese photo exhibition in Cluny and what did we find there? A photo of a Tuilerie Burmese style. How is that to make you feel at home.


La Tuilerie's very own Website not quite in Burma, but with a tropical feel at the beginning of June.

Heavenly Horses and a Mexican Bullfight.

Medieval horses

I was looking in the paper last Sunday morning and saw an article announcing the annual festival Chevaux en Ciel (Horses in Heaven) which said that there would be medieval games and Cossacks doing acrobatics on horseback. Now what else did we have to do on a Sunday afternoon? Unfortunately there was no mention of where this spectacle was to take place, so I passed the paper to Cees to see if he could figure out where to go. “Ah, there’s a three star Romanesque church there which we haven’t seen yet” - apparently Ciel is the name of a village in the Bresse not too far from Chalon – and well, if there is a three start church we haven’t seen, even having to watch horses won’t stop him from going, so off we went. We should have know better…

After being rather bored for half an hour or so, looking at horses and then eating a hot dog, we spotted the medieval section of the event which turned out to be people wandering round in medieval costumes with horses in tow, not exactly what I had imagined. We gave up waiting for the Cossacks and left for the three start church, which was in fact quite interesting. But the reason that this turned into a worthwhile day out, was neither of these things.

Animals abound

On the way to Ciel we passed through a village called Damerey and noticed a house which had a number of “animals” outside it. Unusual, but not really worth a stop and look. But, on the way back, we saw the house from a different angle and realised that there was more to it than initially met the eye. Someone had turned the back “garden” into a Spanish hacienda with a bullfight going on in it ! There were bulls and matadors everywhere, not to mention the numerous beautifully clad ladies, the flamingos, peacocks and cacti.

Mexican bullfight in the Bresse

Whilst photographing the whole thing, the owner came out and we had a chat with him. He has made all the models himself in reinforced concrete, since he retired in the late 80s. He previously worked supervising construction sites, mostly out in Mexico, hence the Hispanic theme. At 87 he is very fit and well and puts it all down to getting up at 6.00am and keeping active. I’m not sure if it is a wonder to behold or a dreadful eyesore, but whatever it is, it was great fun to look at and it was really interesting to chat to the artist himself.

It got me thinking though, Cees used to be into reinforced concrete and he is up at 6.00am most days, I wonder if he is going to start making models for our garden?


La Tuilerie Website

Weird Weather

Stranded cruise ships in Mâcon

This last year has given us some weird weather, but the last couple of weeks have been the weirdest. I blame the Bank Holidays, so far in May we have had three Bank holidays and we aren’t even half way through yet and as everyone knows, it always rains on a Bank Holiday.

Last week’s rain beat all records. We had about two months’ worth of rain in a couple of days and there was flooding everywhere. Even now - a week after the rain has stopped - the waters in some rivers are still rising. The news was telling us last night that Paris is under threat as the water is finally making its way to the Seine.

Stranded boats on Canal du Centre

But round here we have heard conflicting stories. Twenty five cruise boats on the Saône and Rhone have been stranded at various places because the water is so high that they can’t get under the bridges, but then I saw an article saying that the Canal de Centre has gone dry. How is that possible with so much water? Well it’s simple, they weight of ground water has caused one of the banks to collapse, filling the canal and blocking the flow of water, so one side of the canal has literally run dry. They have no idea when they will have the boats afloat again but it won’t be very soon.

So if you were thinking of a canal boat holiday, think again. Why not come to us instead !


La Tuilerie Website

A few "firsts" to start the week

The Taizé organ

The alarm woke me at 06.30 - yes I know, very uncivilised, but it was a big day for me – and I was out of the door before 07.30 waiting for my lift. A detour via the boulangerie to get croissants which we ate in the car, then on to Taizé for my first ever early morning service. I have always said I should go, just to see what it was like, but well mornings and me don’t really go together. During the service came my second first of the day. I actually heard someone play the organ ! I have wondered what it sounded like since it was installed 4 years ago – it has never been played on a Sunday when I have been there for some reason. To be honest, it was not really worth waiting for, but then again, I have at least heard it being played.

The morning service starts between 08.20 and 08.30 and is simple and relatively short, similar to the lunchtime service but with communion laid on. The bread and wine are actually blessed in a separate service which takes place at about 07.45 in the crypt. Those who want to, can join in this service, but we were just a tad too late for that. Just an aside, I have heard that this service is held in the main church in the summer months, as the crypt is not very big. After the main service, no one hangs around as you have to queue for breakfast and eat it, in time to get to the Bible instructions which start at 10.00.

Breakfast - Taizé style

So my third first of the day was my first ever Taizé meal and yes, as everyone says, it was “simple”. A choice between tea (which my companions strongly advised against) or hot chocolate which was made without milk. We had a small bread roll, a pat of butter (real butter I might add, not margarine) and two sticks of chocolate. No cutlery - no one told me to bring my own – so I had to rip open the roll and squidge the butter on the surface, too bad it was so cold otherwise this method might have worked a bit better. I put the two sticks of chocolate between the chunks of butter and squashed it all together. Surprisingly tasty and enough for me for breakfast - maybe the croissant helped in that department as well. The “hot chocolate” was lacking in both the hot and the chocolate departments, but it was wet and I managed to drink most of it.

Companions for the morning

Then on to my fourth first of the day and to be honest, the real reason I had gone to Taizé at all this morning. I had heard stories from campers and people in the gîtes about the Bible instruction and I really wanted to see and hear for myself what it was all about and I wasn’t disappointed. We had a very small passage for the day Genesis ch12 v1 – 5 where God tell Abraham to leave and Abraham goes. On the face of it, not very scintillating stuff, but the brother in charge of the session, managed to get us (or should I say me?) to actually think about the words and the meaning behind the story. It is a very long time ago since I had any Bible instruction and my recollections of it are not all positive, but this morning, I was actually hanging on his every word, wondering where he was going with his talk. This is just the start of a week and the theme of “faith” for the week will be developed in the next five days, but I found the 40 minute or so talk very thought provoking and all other things being equal, I would have loved to join for the whole week, but on this occasion, work commitments decree otherwise.

Normally you join in with a discussion group at this point of the morning and you then spend the whole week with the same group to discuss what has been talked about in these sessions. As I was only there for one day, I left when the brother had finished his talk, leaving my companions behind. I then set off on my own and I thoroughly enjoyed my short walk home.

This morning has reminded me of Bruni who stayed in one of our gîtes back in 2010, when she told me that I should “treat myself” to a week of instruction in Taizé. I can now relate to that remark and who knows, one week when we have no one on the site, I might just do that.


For more details of the accommodation we have here at La Tuilerie click here.

An excellent day out, courtesy of Clunypedia

Fresco, Berzé-la-Ville

There are some advantages to being a volunteer at the Office de Tourisme. The staff in the office receive invitations all the time to go to this meeting or that, to go to this exhibition opening or that and other such scintillating events, but sometimes they get invitations to some gem or other and these invitations are all offered around amongst the committee members. Being at a committee meeting the other night, the latest invitations were discussed and this time there was a tour of various Romanesque sites in our area, so I said I would be interested to go, to represent the OT. It turned out to be an all day bus tour with lunch included and I was beginning to get a little nervous that this was going to cost an arm and a leg to see things we have already seen, but wouldn’t mind visiting again, but no, it turned out to be completely free, to promote the new organisation Clunypedia, who are developing IT interface tools with the Fédération Européenne des Sites Clunisiens to improve the "visitor experience" to the Clunisien sites.

Paw prints in the floor

So off I went one morning this week, with Cees hiding in my coattails, to board the coach in Cluny, in the glorious sunshine. First stop, Berzé-la-Ville to visit the superb Chapelle des Moines. On arrival there were croissants and coffee and then for a guided “tour” of the chapel. I say tour loosely, as anyone who has been there will know you just sit in the chapel and look at the amazing frescos. The guide was very knowledgeable and interesting and we must have spent an hour just looking in detail at the frescos. The real bonus of this visit was that we were allowed to take photographs, something an ordinary tourist is not allowed to do. The chapel is a real marvel and a must for anyone even remotely interested in Romanesque art. Even the floor fascinated me as there were little cat paw prints in the floor tiles and I had visions of Fifi’s forefathers wandering over still drying floor tiles in a sechoir just like the one we have here in Chazelle. I would have loved to have lifted one of the tiles to see if they actually came from here, but I didn’t dare!

Wine tasting

Onwards to a vineyard, Domaine des Vignes du Maynes, which can trace its origins back to the days when Cluny was a major power in Europe. This was one of the Doyennés for Cluny. Doyennés were suppliers to the abbey, which were strategically placed in the countryside around Cluny to supply the Abbey with food and of course wine. Even Chazelle started life as a Doyenné, possibly also for wine, but the vineyards were destroyed in the late 19th century in the phylloxera plague.

We had a look round the caves and tasted the wine. The white wine was exquisite and for those after a very different red wine, they had some bottles well worth a try, I personally found the red a bit too overpowering in flavour, but more than one or two bottles were sold to the connoisseurs from Paris. They also had an amazing tool collection that the grandfather and father of the current owner have been collecting for years. If there is a tool for it, these chaps have found one, literally thousands and thousands of tools. They could do with presenting their treasure trove a bit better, but it was fascinating none the less.

Cluny Abbey

The coach then drove us through the countryside looking out at Brancion, Chapaize and Cormatin and then back to Cluny, fortunately dropping us at the car park so that we could load the wine purchases into our cars before we went to the Abbey for lunch. After lunch we, had a speedy visit of the museum and the Abbey and we left the Abbey via "the locked door” and in to the main street to visit the ongoing renovation of the Dragon House in the centre of town and for those without vertigo, there was the possibility to climb the Cheese tower.

All in all an excellent day out and so here is a plug for Clunypedia as a big thank you to them. Clunypedia Facebook page




La Tuilerie Website with details of holiday accommodation, conveniently located to visit the Romanesque gems of South Burgundy.

Time to wash those feet again

A brother washes feet at Taizé (Journal de Saône-et-Loire)

I was reminded of last year’s visit to Taizé for the Maundy Thursday evening service and feet washing “ceremony”, when I read on the internet that Pope Francis was washing feet in Rome.

When I researched the feet washing thing, this time last year, I found instructions about how to prepare for the ceremony, but it was not the preparations the guy/gal doing the washing, but the instructions for the Washees that intrigued and somewhat irritated me. The Washees should make sure that their feet are clean before they come to the service, with the implication that the Bishop (or other Washer) should not be confronted by any form of dirt or smelliness. Was that what Jesus said at the last supper? “Make sure your feet are clean or I won’t wash them”. Err excuse me, washing is about cleaning, about showing you are no better than any one else and are not too important to do any task, no matter how unpleasant - it’s about being humble.

That aside, with the stinking cold I have had since our return from Malta, I decided not to go to the service at Taizé on Thursday evening and I now really regret that I didn’t go. The Taizé service has always been inter-brother feet washing experience, all of who would have equally clean or dirty feet, so probably not too many surprises. But I read in the paper, the next day, that the brothers washed the feet of the congregation for the first time. So this year there were no rules, no regulations, take it as you find it, not necessarily a nice job, but it is an action that reminds all of those involved, that we are none of us better than others, and we could all do well to remember that sometimes.

The Pope washes feet (Reuters via BBC website)

Now back to the pope’s feet washing. I am not sure whether it is unusual for a pope to wash feet or not, but I am sure that it would have been only be feet of the important, pious, invited few and I am doubly sure that the rules would have been very strict indeed. But this new pope set new standards this year, he went to a young offenders institution and washed and kissed the feet of twelve young criminals and not all of those feet looked particularly clean to me. What a gesture to make - that is leadership. Whether Pope Francis influenced the Taizé brothers actions this year or not, I don’t know, but it is an interesting and adventurous change all round.

I can’t help but be intrigued by this new pope, he has set in motion a refreshing wind of change which is wafting through the Vatican and I suspect he is sending some ripples of discontent amongst the diehards. He is reported to have shunned the almost palatial Pope’s residence and is staying in a two room suite in the building next door. I quote the BBC’s reporting directly on this one:

His spokesman said he was "trying out this type of simple living" in a communal building with other priests…. He said he could not say whether the Pope would remain in these quarters in the long term.

The new pope and  popemobile (NRC)

Maybe they are hoping he will come to his senses and soon start behaving like a normal pope, I personally think there are a lot of people who hope he will not. In any case I couldn’t resist posting this last photo (from the NRC) of a rather cute model of the new pope (taken in Izalco, San Salvador) in his super, non-bullet-proof popemobile.

Happy Easter to everyone, Washers and Washees alike.


La Tuilerie Website, giving details of accommodation within walking distance of Taizé.

A Week In Malta

Vittoriosa

Our gîte season is 1st April to 31st October, so finding time for a holiday for ourselves, when the weather in Europe is acceptable, is quite difficult. My mother came up with the idea of Malta and after some research it seemed the place to go in March. A pinprick of an island in the Mediterranean sea between Sicily and the north African coast, lovely warm weather, little rain, a nice place to go to soak up much needed sun and see interesting sites. So off the three of us went.

Coming in to land in Valletta, the captain announced that the weather was 10 degrees, rain and a very strong north-westerly wind, so strong in fact that they had to abort the landing and go round again and even when we did come down is was reminiscent of landing in a Fokker 50 at Rotterdam airport when there was a fierce cross wind and all this in an Airbus 319. Not exactly what we expected and poor Mum was nearly blown off her feet when we left the aircraft heading for the bus to take us to the terminal. We then took a kamikaze taxi ride to the hotel through the rain and I wondered what we were doing there !

Marsaxlokk fishing village

Things cheered up the next day and by day three we were at a steady 20 degrees, sun, sun, sun and we spent the morning wandering round the bay of the fishing village of Marsaxlokk looking at the Sunday morning fish market and everything in the world was as it should be when you are on holiday.

Malta itself was not at all what I had expected. It boasts more churches than the days of the year and that is no mean feat for an island that is about 316 square kilometres (about size of Rotterdam) that’s more then one church per square kilometre, all of which are almost full on a Sunday. Having said that, the architectural value of most of these buildings was not very impressive and whereas I thought we would spend our time church hopping, wondering at the over-the-top Rocco style, promised to be so abundant on the island, we gave up after the first one or two. Wandering the small side-streets looking up at the covered balconies in Valletta and Vittoriosa in the spring sunshine, was a pleasure in its own right, but the main “attractions” in Valletta itself were not as interesting as I had expected them to be.

Ħaġar Qim Temple

What was an eye-opener, was the amount of Megalithic remains to be found. The islands of Malta and Gozo seem to be littered with these remains and a number of the temples have been excavated and preserved. They are well worth a visit. I was stunned by the completeness and complexity of these edifices and to think that these were built 1,000 years before Stonehenge.

All in all we had a lovely relaxing week, pottering around, soaking up much need sun to revitalise us for the season to come.


It's time to be thinking about your own holiday, so why not click here for details of our holiday homes which are nowhere near Malta but they are in our own little bit of paradise here in Burgundy.

A Day out in Beaune

The Hospice de Beaune

We tell everyone who stays here in one of the gites, that they must visit Beaune. It is not too far from here and it's well worth the visit. So with my brother and sister-in-law staying for a couple of days, there was no doubt in my mind where we would spend one of those days.

The absolute highlight of Beaune is the mediaeval hospital. The view of the roofs when you enter the courtyard, never fails to take my breath away. The quality of the hospital facilities is incredible considering the general conditions people lived in, in those days. The founders were very generous people, they were people with a real social conscience, people who believed in good healthcare for all, no matter what their status in life.

The hospital was roughly split in two, the huge ward for the masses and the smaller rooms for the rich who could pay and it was partly these rich who kept the whole thing going. But the financial endowment from the founders and the fees from the rich, were not enough to keep this very modern hospital running and that is where wine comes in. Of course Burgundy is the home of wine and so an endowment of vineyards is as valuable, if not more so, than mere money.

Every year the wines from the Beaune vineyards are sold at auction and make a fortune for the hospital. This money kept it running, as not only a hospital for the people, but as a cutting-edge medical research establishment and the same is true for today.

Tasting the wine

Obviously the other thing to visit in Beaune when you are there, is one of the wine cellars and this time that is exactly what we did. We went to visit the Marche aux Vins housed in the church of the monastery of the Courdeliers, a most impressive building. You have a choice of an eight or a twelve wine tour. We took the twelve. I had no idea what to expect. We were let loose in the cellars to taste the wine that was at each tasting station. Each wine was described and there was an opportunity to buy each step of the way. There were notices warning about drinking too much and saying that the total time in the wine tasting area was not allowed to exceed an hour, but in fact that was just their get-out clause for drunkards. In total we were in there for more than an hour and a half and lot of that time was in the last, supervised, section where the really good (read expensive) wines were served. The chap there was extremely knowledgeable and had a whole host a stories to tell, whilst we also enjoyed the wine and wondered at the timpanum on the wall, that once graced the entrance to the ancient church.

Where the expensive wines were kept

It was in this section that we got to taste some serious wine. Not the best available (which could be up to a thousand Euros a bottle) but at 45 Euros a bottle, I think that is good enough for the likes of me. Sadly I was the driver, so all my wine was either spat out or poured away... what a waste. So now for my expert opinion of these stunning wines. Yes you can tell a difference, in the smoothness and what I can only describe as the “complexity” of tastes, but really for me, I prefer something simpler - read cheaper.

We didn't but any wine, but I am really pleased that I have at last tasted some real Beaune wine and I must say it was not bad at all !


For information about our gites (holiday home rentals) click here.

Cluny Abbey Revealed

The Paschal Lamb from the Abbey

Cluny Abbey has undergone some dramatic restoration over the last five years and as regular visitors, we have watched every stage of the way.  On the first Sunday in February the Administrator of the Abbey gave a guided tour of the latest changes. Unfortunately we had already paid for our St Vincent lunch when we found out, so sadly, we missed out on that one. On talking to some friends who had gone, they said that the Administrator had agreed to do another tour in March and that was last Sunday.

About 100 people turned up for the tour and we were taken around all the work that has been done, not only in the last year, but in the last five years, some open to the public, some almost open to the public and some that you will only be able to see by special permission. His objective with the tour was not only to let us see the work (something we could have done on our own) but to put the work in context. He explained not only what we were seeing but why these works had been chosen over things and the ongoing hopes for the future.

View from the dortoir

Because of the desire of the authorities to totally destroy the abbey after the revolution, different parts of the original footprint have been built on. The Engineering School ENSAM owns most of the 18th century parts of the abbey and the National Stud has its stables over a large part of the church itself. This of course makes renovation or reconstructing parts of the mediaeval church and monastery very difficult indeed. Not only do you have to demolish buildings to get access to the ancient foundations, but there have to be negotiations between a number of different parties, all with their own agendas and requirements.

The tour started at half past two and we would still be going now if our guide had had his way, but as the abbey closes to the public at five o’clock in winter, he had to let us go. It was two and a half hours of incredibly interesting historical, archaeological and architectural details interspersed with anecdotes and personal reflections. Boy could this guy talk and he could project his voice so that all hundred of us could hear him clearly as well.

The highlights? Seeing the abbey from inside the church. That sounds strange, but because of the way the National Stud has been built, up until recently (when one of their buildings was demolished) the only “internal” parts of the church that could be visited were a small chapel on the short transept and half of the long transept. Now you can stand in amongst the reconstructed pillar bases actually inside the main body of the church which gives an incredible view of just how enormous it all was.

The farinier restored

The Farinier (flour store) was an unexpected highlight. We have seen this building many times, but it has now been cleared of all the broken stones that were kept in there, cleaned up, restored and given a new entrance.

Another highlight was seeing the mediaeval pillars of the chapter house, which were found by accident when restoring the walls of the 18th century chapter house. Seeing the altar base stone from Cluny II, the only visible remains of that church, was also something special. We were surprisingly treated to a visit into the, as yet un-restored, area where the monks’ cells were, which was very interesting. I had expected the 18th century ablutions to be one of the highlights, but it didn’t look too different to any other 18th century sink to me, although the visit outside that part of the building, to look at the St Anne chapel, was an unexpected bonus.

All in all a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon, I only wish we had had more time.


For our holiday accommodation near Cluny click here.

Big News Events

The daily newspaper of choice round here is the Journal de Saône-et-Loire and rightly so, this quality newspaper covers all the news that is important for us to know about, not only local but also national and international news as well. We are kept updated about everything.

They have arrested the bank machine robbers !

The newspaper of the 1st of March as usual had all the important world events on the front cover. The leading story was that the police have found and arrested the people who stole our bank machine, the second story is that this winter has been the most depressing since 1943 and the third was about some chap who had resigned from his job in Rome.

The big headline gave us a double page spread on how the gang, that stole Cormatin’s bank machine, have been found and how four of the six gang members have been arrested. Now here is an interesting bit of information I gleaned from the article, this gang can remove a bank machine from a wall and make a getaway within two minutes. Their technique has not been very subtle, drive a stolen large piece of machinery into the side of the bank, destroying the walls, use a stolen crane to yank the machine out of the rubble and put it on the back of a stolen lorry and drive off quickly. For that 2 minutes of work, they get between 10 and 50 thousand Euros a go. Because no bank is safe to keep your money in (thanks to them) they had to bury the loot in their back garden, hence the fact that they were found out. Let’s hope that this arrest will encourage the bank to give us a new machine.

Grey sky winter

The weather headline led to a single page article. Meteorically speaking, the winter ended on 28th February, so of course you expect the newspaper on March 1st to update us on all the winter’s weather statistics. This winter has been the wettest on record since 1943, wet weather means clouds and lots of them, so whereas we should have an average of 198 hours in the winter months, this winter we were 40% down on that figure, the least amount of sunlight since 1950. No wonder everyone is calling it a depressing winter. The meteorologists are predicting that it will cheer up soon, let’s hope so.

Benedict XVI waves to the crowds

And finally the third story in the news - the Roman retiree. A small item, buried in the international section of the paper told us that this chap (Benedict) retired from his job in Rome aged 75, apparently he left his last day of work in a helicopter wearing a red cape and brown shoes – him, not the helicopter. No other details, but he must be quite important if he gets a mention in the paper.

So there you have it, news (almost) hot off the press, from our little piece of Burgundy.


La Tuilerie Website

Putting up tents.

Fifi by the water barrels

I was strimming the reeds in the reed bed at the end of this week, when I noticed that the large white communal tent had gone up at Taizé. Spring is on its way and Easter is just around the corner. Things on the hill are busying up with a veritable army of volunteers (the so called “permanents”) who are preparing everything to cope with the huge influx of people for the Easter meetings. Tent frames are going up all over the place ready for the masses of blue accommodation tents which will be full in a few weeks. It is not surprising then, that we were lulled into a false sense of security about the pending camping weather.

Ice transported to the ditch

Every time low temperatures are predicted, we empty the water barrels at the bottom of our stairs so that they do not get damaged by the ice, so it was with horror yesterday that we spotted that there was an inch of ice on top of the water and the Fifi saving ladders could no longer be moved at all. So with the temperature at –3 degrees yesterday afternoon, there we were breaking ice and carting it off into the ditch along with about 2-300 litres of freezing cold water. I managed to get Fifi to pose for the photo just after we had done the work and doesn’t she look nice and warm with that fluffy fur coat of hers.

We were just in time, it them started to snow and my beautiful view of the tents in Taizé has been somewhat wiped out. So no photo of the tents in Taizé I am afraid, but here’s a nice photo of tents on our campsite, not taken this week by the way !

Non-view of Taizé

Campsite looking out towards Taizé

For more pictures of the campsite or our holiday accommodation click here.

Flower making then another long lunch with delicious potatoes.

An evening's work.

The other week we enjoyed yet another St Vincent celebration where the winegrowers in the area join together on the occasion of their patron saint’s day. After a parade, there is a church service and then a lunch with locally produced wine.

As with every year, paper flowers are made to decorate the village hosting the event. Not just one or two, but thousands upon thousands of the things, roses, wisteria, peach blossom, poppies, anemones and forsythia are just the ones I can remember. This year we decided to join the flower making team in one of the villages. So we turned up, awaited our instructions and we were allocated to poppy making. Cees and I had quite a little poppy factory going by the end of the evening. In all, we made nearly 50 poppies between the two of us in a couple of hours. You can just imagine how many man-hours are needed to make the thousands of flowers actually produced ! All the paper flowers were duly set out in Coretvaix (the host to this year’s party) on Saturday afternoon and that night it literally poured with rain. The blossom, wisteria and forsythia faired quite well, but sadly our huge poppies caught too much water to be at their best come Sunday morning.

Slightly floppy after the rain

But of course, the main event of the day is the lunch and this year they had returned to using the caterer Rose from Monceau-les-Mines and it was truly superb. We started with a terrine of guinea fowl and foie gras with pistachio, the fish course looked interesting, but I was treated to sweetbread vol-au-vent with mushrooms. After a trou bourgignon (local fire water poured over a cassis sorbet) the main course was a mouth-watering braised veal, tomatoes Provencal and pommes dauphine, a plate of cheeses followed and then a variety of delicate desserts with the coffee. We left as soon as the coffee was served at 7 o’clock in the evening - lunches tend to take a long time round here !

The potatoes (pommes dauphine) are worthy of a mention in their own right as I had never had anything like them before. To be honest when I see them on the menu I always confuse them with pommes dauphinoise, which is layers of potato roasted in cream to give a soft succulent finish and brown crust – one of my favourite ways of making potatoes and worth every massive calorie in my opinion, so when the usual deep fried balls of potato coated in breadcrumbs arrive on my plate I am always disappointed. But on this occasion we were treated to an absolute delight of a potato dish, a light crusty potato ball almost like choux pastry or a small Yorkshire pudding but with a potato taste, hollow in the middle, just crisp and delicious.

Somewhat confused at not having received the usual miserable potato balls, I started an internet search and found out that all this time I have been cheated. The disappointing bread crumbed potatoes normally served to the public are imposters, they are not pommes dauphine at all, they are pommes noissettes. So for the first time in my life, at this year’s St Vincent lunch, I was treated to the real thing.

I can’t pass up the opportunity of giving a recipe for these delights.

Pommes dauphine - the real thing.

Pommes Dauphine – makes about 30 potato balls

(sorry about the mixed units, it’s just the way I think..)
5 oz plain flour
4 oz butter
a large pinch of salt
¼ pint milk
¼ pint water
4 eggs - lightly beaten
1 kilo Potatoes, peeled and cut into equal-sized chunks
Freshly-ground Black Pepper

Put the milk and water in a large saucepan and add the butter and heat gently.
When the butter has melted, raise the heat and bring the mixture to the boil.
Add the sifted flour and the salt to the liquid (stirring all the time) and mix it all together.
You should end up with a smooth dough.
Allow the dough to cool slightly, then mix in the beaten eggs, a little at a time.
Cover the pastry and set aside.
Boil the potatoes in a pan, adding a little salt to the water.
Simmer until they are done (test with a knife).
Drain and mash the potatoes without adding any extra liquid.
Mix the mashed potatoes and pastry mix together, adding some pepper.
Heat enough oil to 190ºC so that the potato balls can be deep fried.
Scoop out dessertspoons of the potato/flour mixture and fry them in the hot oil for about 2 minutes – by which time they should be golden brown.
Remove the browned balls with a slotted spoon, and keep them warm in the oven on some kitchen paper.

Absolutely yummy.


La Tuilerie Website

Jobs that take months

This last week started with our electricity being cut off. I don’t mean throw a switch - which they did first, or remove the fuses – which they did as a second, I mean literally cut off. In France there are no half measures. A nice man from the electricity company climbed the pole in our garden and got out a huge pair of cutters and literally cut us off.

Out come the cutters

One gone, three to go

So what had we done to prompt such drastic action? Well nothing actually. For reasons that are beyond our comprehension, the electricity company have decided to replace the 10 or so poles that bring the electrical cables to our house and that means installing new cables. The whole exercise has been going on for months and finally, as of early this week, the lovely new electricity poles in our field are connected by new cables to our house. I can’t say we have noticed any difference, but I am sure that the little electrons rushing into our house are much happier having have travelled more comfortably down the new cables. Only the telephone wire to go and then the old posts will be cut down and removed, now that will be fun..

Installing new cables is not a job for wimps

When the electricity came back on, I was able to get down to things and finally finish the bathroom, another job that has been going on for months. So here is the full reveal. Dah dah!

For more information on our holiday accommodation with a revamped bathroom click here.