Amazing neighbours

[somme man]

We bought our house in November 2006 and it had no heating, a multi-coloured bathroom and windows that had seen better days.

We are not currently living in France whilst the work is being done however when the work was arranged our neighbours took the spare set of keys from us and let the builders in and lock up after them.

They have prepared a vegetable patch for us including planting some carrots, lettuce and turnip as we mentioned we would like to introduce one.

They cut our grass and are just the most amazing people.

We have taken them gifts of chocolates and flowers and have expressed in our very poor French our gratitude.

Our dilema is that we do not understand how to repay them in the French way, there are only so many times that we can say merci.

Advice would be really appreciated.

[LEO]

[quote user="somme man"]

We bought our house in November 2006 and it had no heating, a multi-coloured bathroom and windows that had seen better days.

We are not currently living in France whilst the work is being done however when the work was arranged our neighbours took the spare set of keys from us and let the builders in and lock up after them.

They have prepared a vegetable patch for us including planting some carrots, lettuce and turnip as we mentioned we would like to introduce one.

They cut our grass and are just the most amazing people.

We have taken them gifts of chocolates and flowers and have expressed in our very poor French our gratitude.

Our dilema is that we do not understand how to repay them in the French way, there are only so many times that we can say merci.

Advice would be really appreciated.

 

 

[/quote]

Hi,

I can't give you any advice as my knowledge of "the French way" is limited but the content of your posting is uplifting!

Leo

[Pierre ZFP]

Good neighbours are worth their weight in gold.  I am lucky enough to have very nice and helpful people next to me too (but not on the scale of these gems)  Assuming they drink (Ha! what am I saying) A bottle of good scotch always seems  to go down well and will maybe lead to an invite to share it so you can get to know each other better - it's amazing how your French will improve after a dram or two!

[La vieille]

We too had the most amazing neighbours.   One day in a storm the wind blew a tree down onto the house.   What do you do?   We dashed off to see the neighbours, they came round, called their son and he got up on the roof (in the storm) and cut the tree down, then proceeded to cut the tree into manageable bits, got back up onto the roof and put plastic sheeting where the tiles had broken and secured the house.   Next day we went to buy replacement tiles and he put them on the roof for us!   Oh a multitude of other things, but they seemed really pleased to have English neighbours.

When we sold the house we eventually managed to get them to agree to come to England for a few days, these are elderly farm folk, never been outside France, no English, I booked the tickets on the net and they sent a cheque.   We had a wonderful few days with them in England, did London, Windsor and the Cotswolds.   I mentioned while they were with us that one of the things I missed were the Noirmoutier early potatoes so the next week a big parcel arrived with 10kg of new potatoes!   You can't win!

Pat

[Framboise]

We too have been extremely lucky with our French neighbours.    The husband has come to my aid several times with re-booting our chauffage that has a mind of its own, his wife has been wonderful in helping me decipher what some documents really mean and I am glad to say that I feel that we will become firm friends when we move next year permanently.   They have also been really helpful because they know the ins 'n outs of the planning procedures having built their own house so can advise us on what to expect during the renovations of our old place.    In fact my hubby and the neighbour will be working on our house together doing the loft conversion when the permis comes through and it may be that they will set up in business together eventually.

As to thankyou gifts, I usually take English sweets out for the children (old fashioned boiled sweets like humbugs & cough candy) but of course the 'ol bottle of scotch never goes amiss with Dad, especially one of those fancy brands.  Christmas time we went out fully loaded with gallons of the stuff plus 15 tins of Quality Street choccies!   Next visit I have our old computer going out there as a gift for the children which Mum says will help them no end with their school work.

To have good neighbours is great, be they here or en France.    For 18 long years we had "The Family from Hell" nextdoor to us in UK, so when they moved away the entire neighbourhood breathed a collective sign of relief, although we did feel sorry for the area that got them next knowing what we did about them.   I suppose our French neighbours must have wondered about us when they heard that english were buying that old wreck, but they have been so helpful and kind that we could not ask for anything more really other than being accepted into such a small close-knit community.

[Mme poivre]

We brought our house two years ago and only managed to stay for 3 nights after obtaining the keys on 27 dec.  Our new neighbours were very scary, tatooed, harley ridng, non drinking parisian married to a vendean they have two kids.  They made us so welcome they have become frim friends, helping will little garden, providing a meal for us when we arrive late in the evening, helping sort out problems with the house, introducing us to locals, we been taken to all the best places to shop and the best local beaches etc. 

After returning home after the signing and meeting neighbours we received letters with pictures of our house covered in snow and a short letter saying they were looking forward to our next visit.   We have had some really good times with our neighbours, old and young, and am so grateful that we have been accepted there. We have lots of coffee and language lessons with them when we are over there and we are aways trying to find new things to take over for them to try.  At easter they were facinated by the fact that you could get colmun english mustard in powder form and so we gave them our tin before we left.  They sent us on our way with a whole chocolate cake to sustain us on the journey.  The kids all play together quite well most of the time and communication does not seem to be a problem as we are all learning more each time we go.   We always make a point of invitng our elderly nieghbour of 86 in for coffee when we go over and are asekd to make a return visit before we come home.

Looking forward aready to our next visit.

J[:D]

 

[pagnol]

As others have already commented a good bottle of whisky is always appreciated.

I have also found that jars of pickle and chutney are popular. Scottish shortbread was well received.

I am currently spending a few months here in the Somme to see if we really could be full time. The Somme Bay is stunning in all weathers and my neighbours are wonderful. All  I miss is friends and family but many of them are coming to visit over the summer months so no problem.

I am already thinking it will be tough to return to the UK.

 

 

[somme man]

Thankyou all for your great stories and advice, it is fantastic to see that we have all had similar experiences with our neighbours in France.

I am back again next weekend and will take some good whisky, shortbread and chutney.

Pagnol, we are also planning to spend the summer in the Somme and cannot wait for the time that we can settle permanently.

[Frederick]

Shortly after buying my house  I  approached my neighbor to ask how he felt about  me reducing the height of a long line of my connifers on our  boundry  along the side of his orchard / veggi patch  I wanted to discuss it as I felt that they may  screen  his fruit trees and protect them from winds and wanted to know how he felt aout it ....The answer I got was " 2 metres and we do it today ! ". We agreed 2 meters the normal height  would be good for both of us ...What I was not expecting was  the  " We do it today " and  5 o clock  was the appointed hour.  I found him  set up on his side with a scaffold platform and a huge chain saw .....in no time at all 30 plus connifers that were about 20 foot high were down to 6 ....they were then cut up.... his trailer hitched onto the back of my car and over the next couple of days and many trips to the dechetterie  disposed of ........as has been mentioned .....a good bottle of malt  was well recieved .....Another one of our neighbors I had never spoken to stopped on passing and approached my wife and told her he wished to thank her for all the work we had done on the house .....I suppose because it had looked neglected for years and was now looking so clean and bright like the others in the road ..nice of him I thought ....

[somme man]

After many more unbelievable acts of kindness on the part of our neighbours and following the advise on this forum we have taken Whiskey, chutney and shortbread for them, all of which were very well received.

We have now managed to get our neighbours to agree to come to us for the first time for drinks and nibbles, we know what they drink but are a bit clueless as too the concept of nibbles in France?

Are we talking nuts and crisps or pate, cheeses and bread, advise would be appreciated.

[zeb]

Whenever we go to French friends for aperos there are the usual nibbles - peanuts, pringles, cashew or almonds and/or a dried fruit and nut mix; also there is usually a quiche or savoury cake which is served in small pieces, cherry toms on a plate if they are in season and olives. I'm sure things are done differently all over France, but the idea is the keep the snacks light, small and interesting as folks usually go home for their meal at 8ish.

The drinks on offer are usually pastis (always!!), whisky, pineau, a punch or sangria, and a non alcholic fruit drink.

Bread and cheeses are not eaten with aperos.

[somme man]

Thanks Zeb, do not want to look like we are not trying to embrace the local culture.

[zeb]

Sorry somme-man, when I said no cheese, I was thinking cheese-board cheese. You can of course serve little bites of cheeses such as cheddar with pineapple (your French neighbours won't know that they are a bit naff in the UK, they go down a storm here I've heard!), or apericube cheeses. You can also serve little blinis with humous, cheese spread etc, or stuff like that. My neighbour tries to serve very seasonal things from her garden - we had a plate of pretty radishes once with a mayonnaise dip.

Don't worry too much; the drinks, especially with the men, are the important thing!! Have fun.

[Jonzjob]

Don't forget the Ricard. The French do love the stuff, me too. Have  plenty of ice to go with it. I was told by a French friend that your should have 3 glassons (ice cubes) in your pastis. One for the drink, one for the glass and one for France. But in winter you can leave one out, it doesn't matter which one??

They will also jump at the choice of a good blended whisky too. Another favorite here in Jurançone; a sweet Muscat type of wine. But as eb said, just relax and have fun. The lauguage will flow much easier that way. Our neighbours speak very little English and they love our attempts, getting much better, and we have a lovely time...

Good luck and relax!

[Danny]

A few people have mentioned chutney as a gift. I make loads of it and last year gave away a few pots of what we thought was a particularly fabby date, fig and orange one. People received it very warmly and were appreciative, but despite me explaining it was to be eaten with cold meats, crackers, cheese, etc, I think they all tried to spread it on their bread for breakfast and got a nasty surprise. I have had glowing reports back from jams, cakes, etc, that I have made and given away (I am a good cook, honest!) but all is curiously quiet when it comes to the chutney. I think people appreciate the thought but it ranks alongside Marmite with most here and is best kept to be enjoyed by us who are accustomed to it!

Jane

 

[somme man]

Thanks everyone for your help and advice, our neighbours came to us on Saturday evening at 6.30 and we had a great time.

We had an array of nibbles as advised on the forum and added a few other bits and pieces, our neighbour had mentioned in the past that he liked small tomatoes stuffed with tuna and they went down a storm.

Although we have limited French language skills and our neighbours speak little English we chatted, laughed and gesticulated until 10pm, the evening was a great success and my jaws were sore with laughing at our attempts to make each other understand.

Many thanks once again. 

[Audrey]

Hi!

I'm french and if you want to thank somebody, in France, the better way is to invite the person "à prendre l'apéro".

L'apéro is a time, before the dinner, when we have a drink and we eat appetizers.

It's the way to chat, to make acquaintance...

Sorry for my bad english but if you have questions, no problems!!!

[Jonzjob]

Audrey, your English is a lot better than my French, but I am getting there, but slowly!![:D]

We are often inveted for apéritifs by our neighbours, all French and they come to us aswell. It is a lovely thing to do and we really enjoy it even if it is a bit of hard work at times? They have been known to go on way past 10h too...[B]

[Suninfrance]

Don't forget a drop of Pineau for the ladies.  A bit like sweet sherry.

[mint]

There is a big difference in taste between sweet sherry and cough syrup

[Jonzjob]

If that's what you call coff sirup then I'll have to take it at the rate of 1/2 bottle twice a day [:D][:P] (the tounge is for the doc to look at?)!!!