Framboise

Yes its a pig of a journey and not cheap when you consider the distance between Portsmouth and Caen.   You could do it in a rowing boat.....William the Conquerer did.  Well.maybe not then! I was told by our French neighbours that the low-cost airlines are strictly unwelcome in Normandy to protect the maritime crossing industry, being as such a lot of the area's income is derived from sea journeys.  Its Hobson's Choice really for us because we loved the Orne despite the travelling, so we do 1 hour to Portsmouth, the overnighter, then  wake up in France for 1  1/2 hours drive to our home there.  (Admittedly by the time we have actually boarded the ship I doubt we actually sleep at all).   Anyway, our nearest "airport", (that is a landing strip of grass!),  would be Alencon and then we would still have over half an hours drive to the house.  As they say "Its as broad as its long...."!!   Its highly unlikely that the French authorities are going to amend their thinking to suit mere mortals when it comed to protecting their maritime heritage, hence why the flights to Deauville were a non-starter, so I reckon it has to be taking the TGV from Paris to Caen then onwards.   A pain, but c'est la vie!  

Anyone know of a good spot for fishing in 61, around L'Aigle / Echauffour / Gace region?   Got a fishing-mad teenage son whom we want to encourage to move out there with us next year, so if he knows theres a decent bit of angling to be had all the better at persuading him.   Merci bien!  

hello Dago Beautiful picture!   I posted mine last week of the sunrise from my garden in 61 a couple of weeks ago, mainly because in UK you never get to see such a gorgeous sight, especially here in the outer suburbs of London where everything stays a kind of fluorescent orange from the street lamps.  Mind you, here when its "Red Sky in the morning....." invariably it does turn into a foul day - or perhaps thats my imagination because I really don't want to be here any longer. Can't help with a thread either. I am totally useless with computer thingys but I loved your picture anyway.   (I had my Aurore de l'Orne photo enlarged so I can appreciate it whenever I sit at the dinner table, wishing I was there rather than here). A bientot! Moya   

Here I have posted three shots taken last week from my garden in L'Orne.   The sunrise was particularly spectacular, proving that old wives' tale about "red sky in the morning..." very wrong because it evolved into a beautiful spring-like day.   Maybe the farmer's barn WAS on fire after all?   I cannot believe I captured such a magnificent scene as I am no David Bailey, though I guess being in the right place at the right time helped.   Man could never create such  beauty, so instead we can only appreciate God's handiwork.   The skeletal appearance of the trees against that backdrop - one can only say WOW!  and  the other shot is facing westwards through a gnarled old peach tree that shines brightly in the moonlight.   [IMG]http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t285/moya011/peachtree.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t285/moya011/sunrise-1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t285/moya011/sunset.jpg[/IMG]

Hello Big Mac, Just sent to Karen but I think that you are possibly near my hubby and I as we are about that same time/distance from Alencon you mentioned.   Basically our house is near Echaffour - any use? We bought an utterly beautiful, if extremely neglected longere last year having fallen in love with it on sight as you invariably do, so there was a lot to be done to even make it habitable.   I am lucky because my hubby is a very talented builder (and very busy as he has to fit it all in alongside his work here in UK!), but he was unwilling to tackle the alien electrical systems en France just yet and consequently we needed a decent French electrician to do the work.   Through friends already living in the area we were recommended to Philppe who subsequently rewired the entire house for us and has also become one of our first French chums.   I can also recommend a decent French plumber who installed our chauffage/chaudiere, as well as the French chap, M. Van Damme who excavated and installed our all-singin-an-dancin septique system.   If any of these are of use, then please let me know and I will get the numbers from my husband for you.    I had been told that a lot of the artisans can be very picky about the work they take on because it seems that they use the system that if they cannot get home for lunch, well they simply don't want the job!  Seems a typically French system to me............. A bientot! Moya Fry

I have not found any of these beasties in the house since they attacked our friend, however up in the old grain loft we have occasionally heard them charging about in the rafters.    Mind you,  the first night we spent in the house back in June we awoke in the morning to see a puddle on the floor, tracing it back under the bed to see a massive toad giving us the evil-eye for disturbing his snooze.   Said sleepy toad then widdled all over my husband's hand as he tried to pick him up to oust him from the house!   Having found this cheeky lodger we have since fitted a new front door that does not have enough space for obese toads to cram themselves under, but I still find myself checking under the bed just in case he has sneaked back indoors again.  The joys of country living eh?!

How tragic.  No greater love is shown to man but from a true friend - a dog - what a pity then that in too many cases its not reciprocal.    Wish I lived out in France already as we would certainly take a dog as a pal for our Mastiff/Labrador cross, but I know that when the time comes and we move into our longere it won't be a question of "maybe...."   I will be the batty Anglaise with the menagerie!

In renovating our house, my husband was ripping out an old ceiling under the grain loft when a pair of these peculiar creatures dropped to the floor and ran off.  He says they were bigger than mice, smaller than rats and appeared to be brownish with a black stripe, with possibly a fluffier tail (although after several tellings-of-the-tale these rodents were the size of cats!) .   The male also sunk its teeth into our friend's hand as he tried to move them out of the rubble so with their strange livery they were henceforth known as "Skunk Mice"!  Does anyone know what species they are?  The closest we came to identifying them was on a wildlife show where something vaguely similar was called a Clis-Clis but I thought these were south-american rather than French, or do we just have exotic rodents to look forward to in 61?

I keep reptiles as pets.  Strange as it may appear to some folk, my lizards are delightful creatures and I am keen to take my Water Dragon and Bearded Dragon with me when we relocate to the Orne region in perhaps 18mths time.  One problem that may put a damper on this scheme is that I have no idea where I may purchase the locusts that I feed them on, which is not a particular problem in the summertime when I can collect plenty of bugs in the garden to satisfy them, but in the winter months.   Does anyone know of a retailer in the Orne (61) region that would supply locusts?   It would break my heart to have to leave my reptiles here in the UK with The Kids when we go, so can anyone help?   Thanks!