Junlesley

I have seen small frozen turkeys over here, just before Christmas, however if they taste as bad as their frozen chickens I wouldnt bother! What I do is get 2 large turkey breasts, available a most large supermarkets, stuff between them and tie them up so you are making something like a turkey crown, then freeze if you wish, I did last year and they defrosted lovely.

Hi Foxy, Our telephone number is xxxxxxxxxx Leighton is at home but I'm away pet-sitting, however I have got use of a computer at this clients house which is quite good for keeping intouch with things. As I said in my last posting it will be very nice to meet up for that drink and a good old natter with you and your wife, Jill did tell me that you had been in to see her, and yes she is a lovely person. See you after the 30th. June Please do not post your personal details on the message boards.

Hi Foxy, Would love to meet up for a drink, unfortunately I wont be home until the 30th of this month, I'm only home tonight because I found a little kitten near where I was pet-sitting and needed to bring it home, Leighton my husband has gone off pet-sitting for the night while I sort this little one out. If you e-mail me we can arrange something before you go back. PS Sorry if I sometimes take ages to reply, its the nature of my job that takes me away for weeks at a time. Post edited by the moderators. Please do not post your personal details on the message boards.

The only downside to not having a propper landline 'French Telecom' is that if your electricity or internet goes off you have no way of using the telephone.

I was more fortunate I got my hospital notes sent here with no cost, just approach your hospital and see what they say. Also a very good book that you should'nt be without is Glossary of Medical Health and Pharmacy Terms, French-English English-French available from Amazon, its surprising how often it will come in handy, even for something as simple as a splinter!

Fleece is much better than bubblewrap, bubblewrap tends to keep the moisture in and the plants rot, this year in the garden centres I saw fleece tubes to go over tomatoes so that would be good for your climbers.

Heinz tomato soup!

For the last 2 New Years Eves we have done buffet menus for our English and French friends, the things I have learnt is.... The French love real Champagne, don't get the cheep fizzy plonk! they like lots of shell fish and fois grass, and don't do all French food, British food goes down a treat, exept English mustard and pickled onions!!! far too hot for their tastes, and make sure you have plenty of bread, then just enjoy yourself.[:)]

If you grow your own sprouts the sprout tops (the top leaves) are very good as a cooked vegetable.[blink]

Our Super U also has Hovis scones [:D]

I hav'nt tried making my own crumpets, however our local Super U sell them at €2 for a packet of 6 so I'm quite happy [:)]

I always use Tea Tree oil for whatever the injury, whether it be human or animal, I also add it to the dog's shampoo to deter fleas! it also took me ages to find it in France, so if anyone was coming over from the UK my first request was 'Tea Tree Oil' then one day I took the packaging in to the pharmacy and yes they had it in there, I dont think they have the range available that they have in the UK, but at least I can get the oil.

To get back on the subject..... We also have our own vegetable garden, its only been our first year of growing things but the satisfaction is brilliant, we were given some runner bean seeds last year, just taken off a friends old plants so didn't cost anything, well we've had the most fantastic crop of beans and we have given loads to our French neighbours who had'nt tried them before, along with instructions on how to prepare them for cooking, now they all want seeds 'grains' to grow next year so all our French neighbours will be growing runner beans next year! and another bonus is we've had lots of vegetables in exchange!

I've got sloes to make sloe vodka, blackberrys to make jam, comfery to make a fertiliser for my vegetables, apples, chestnuts, elderberrys to make elderberry jelly and mixed with apples and blackberrys make another lovely jam, mushrooms from our garden which we know are edible, cant think of anything else at the moment.

Hi Foxy, Not heard anything like that before but maybe jill may have the answer. Yes I know Vesley its a nice little place, I'm sure we'll meet up when you are over here, we dont tend to live in each others pockets but we do meet up and have get togethers ocasionally, normally its BBQ's or just a good old chinwag!

Hi Foxy, We live near La Haye du Puits and its a lovely area to live in, nice friendly French and English people to meet, if you contact Jill Cousin at Gimazane Immobilier in La Haye du Puits e.mail [email protected] she will give you lots of info on the area and tell you what activities are available ( if you are interested in painting her Husband Joe runs painting classes) and there are several French classes in and around the area, I couldn't wish to live anywhere else but here but perhaps I'm biased. Please feel free to contact me direct if you have any other questions.

We live about half an hour down from Cherbourg and like you I'd rather take my chance over here than go back to the UK.

Try www.choosenormandy.com

I've got to go with Beaufort, its a nice strong cheese.

Hampe is skirt of beef, a cut coming from near the diaphram, so google got it right! Just google beef skirt recipe and I'm sure you will come up with loads of recipe's.

We got ours from La Redoute, it was one of the cheapest places we managed to find.

We had the same problem in the UK so we used pet-sitters, it really didn't cost that much more than putting them both in kennels and there was none of the stress, in fact it was lovely knowing that our dogs were enjoying their holiday as much as we were. In France depending on which area you live there are very good pet-sitters to be found, just ask around and I'm sure you will find someone trustworthy, just make sure they can give you references.

The one thing I did do before moving out was to open a Nationwide Current Account, its been a god-send, no bank charges for using your card abroad, not like the Lloyds Account I have.

Thats really good, I enjoy playing on Picasso or Kodak, its amazing what you can come up with.

We live in Manche and the mimosas are in full bloom in lots of gardens, looks beautiful.