Lamos

Nearest I could find   ETS PAUL GEE (Sarl SAGAS)          159 rue Victor Hugo 32000 AUCH   Tel: 05 62 63 37 84 Fax: 05 62 61 92 35

So how did the christening go? Were you pleased? I'm looking for a pretty stove  - especially one that is tried and tested. Has anyone got  some recommendations? Lucie

 Thanks, and yes I have looked at that site with mixed success. Any personal recommendations of suppliers would be really appreciated.

Advice needed please. I've read lots of  interesting information on woodburners on this forum - including some very different opinions. After reading a lot, and pondering, and looking at costs and saving up we have finally decided to buy a Jotul but now find that doing so isn't as easy as we had hoped. Information about french suppliers seems hard to find on the internet, and our neighbours, who replaced their woodburners long ago in favour of more modern alternatives, are unfamiliar with suppliers. I'd love some guidance from you! Can you help? Lucie  

How is it in 16? Is it sunny, have the floods dissappeared, is the asparagus in season, are there any local events coming up ? I'm missing the place a lot and would love to hear some news.... Charente Libre is not enough. Lucie

Thank you all for these recommendations - they look great. In the end we booked the Chateau de L'Yeuse near Cognac and it was a success. The room booking was upgraded to a suite; the view of the Charente was perfect; food excellent and the main reception rooms impressive in high 19th century style. It is also well eqquipped for wheelchair users which surprised me a bit. However I now feel the need to book all of these places you've recommended. I'll start saving. Thank you again.  

That sounds perfect . We'll check out the prices and availability. Thank you very much for taking the time to post this. Lucie

I am looking for a really special place in the Charentes  to book as a treat for someone. It doesn't have to be a hotel but would need to serve a good evening meal. Does anyone have any ideas that they would be prepared to share? 

Spot on - Solanum it is. Thank you !

I expect a lot of people have been exploring this suibject one way or another and will have some very helpful suggestions. I'm not very far advanced on this but I am happy to share my meagre discoveries so far. I have been recommended a couple of books that seem relevant. One is Betth Chattos book about the Dry Garden, which gives some very detailed information about how to establish plants so that they become drought hardy. BC also says that her garden suffers extremes of heat and cold so some of the plants she uses may work fotr you too. The other was an Australian gardening book I got from Amazon (? Drought Gardening?) which includes guidance about plants for the type of climate you describe. I'm afraid I don't expect to see my copy of that until May so can't give you the title, but a search on Amazon may help you find it. Our garden in France sounds a bit like yours and we too are only there part time. Successes so far have included box, lavender, rosemary, honeysuckle, wisteria, irises, acanthus, achillea (Sp? it's wild form is called yarrow) perovskia, tete a tete daffs, cosmos, pot marigolds, nasturtiums and toadflax. I plant seeds of cosmos, nasturtium and marigolds in late spring in shelterd spots and they do faily okay, although a good dousing in "grey"/recycled water is needed to revive them in the summer..Sumac trees and hollyhocks seem to grow well in the area too but the hollyhocks I planted were all destroyed by slugs or snails.  I have noticed that different parts of the garden support different plants. In an enclosed potager we have been able to harvest asparagus, cherry tomatoes, chillies, beans and some potatoes.. But of course we planted most of those out in April or May to harvest in the summer. The potager also contains established roses and daylillies - but I don't rate their chances anywhere else in the garden. The soil is much richer where they are and the hedges and walls seem to give valuable protection. Bonne corage! I am sure you will enjoy the project. Lucie PS a climber whose name escapes me has also done well, I think its a chilean plant in the potatoe family, and is much prettier than that description sounds! Perhaps someone else can supply the name!

We popped into the Mairie and asked our Maire if he was happy with the colour we had in mind for our shutters. It turned out that there weren't any rules in our village but he did seem genuinely pleased that we'd taken the trouble to check, so I'm glad we did. Lucie

I am really grateful for this information - thank you. I shall be following it soon.

Thanks - that was where I started but it wasn't very helpful. It seems to be a fairly standard building material - but perhaps no one else on the forum has used it....?

I hope I've spelt the name right, I'm asking about internal walls made of white-ish, very lightweight building blocks, about the size of breeze blocks. Can anyone advise me about how to decorate walls built of this material? The builder told us that the surface was ready for paper or paint but they look a bit rough and very absorbent to me. If any of you can share some hard learned lessons I would be glad to hear from you. Lucie