We're here!!!

[krusty]

Im with you s17 waking up to greenery and silence (no traffic noise) is great , our second winter coming up.

Lots of walks ,no dog so I have to take the wife. [;-)]

[Pads]

Good on you all for your positive attiude.

I live in the middle of no where in England and France and I love it, there are good days when you can walk the dog and do a bit of winter work in the garden. But on those awlful days when I would'd even put the dog out. I light the fire get my french lessons out , read a good book , watch a good film, or just tidy out the big cupbroad that i have meant to do all summer. I  fill my side table with lots of munchies and a good bottle of wine and snuggle up with the dog and cats and enjoy the fact I dont have to be out there. And dont forget you also have all your friends here to natter to !![:)] I also try to give my self something to go out for once a week, meeting a friend for lunch in town. Or I will drive to a new town I havnt explored much before. Then there is a trip to the library or book store to stock up on all those books you have wanted to read all summer. and if im really motivated I will drive to a swimming pool 15 miles away and get some exercise then use there sauna and wirl pool its the best way to warm up in the winter. Use the time to learn some thing new , write that book about moving to france and remenber all those summer  new moving times its a real moral booster.  See if there isnt a local group near by who might need a hand for the winter. Paint those grubby old kitchen walls, give a room a complete clean out , every corner ,top to bottom. You feel great when you have finished and you stand there looking at it . Cor I could go on for ever .......................What ever you do get out of bed and enjoy it. [:)]    

[mint]

Pads

You are an absolute STAR!  I shall think of you when we have nothing to do except sit by our lovely warm Godin stove crackling away full of logs.

My French neighbour will call, I think, because she has to pass our house to get to the dustbins at the end of our layby.  She stops for a chat and a drink of some sort!  Coffee, tea, wine, whatever!

Pads, I can't tell you, it's just wonderful and, don't forget, I will be preparing my veg patch in the next week or two.  Then, I'm waiting for the big market with fruit trees which I will buy and plant in my plot!

Bliss, or am I just getting senile? 

[Pads]

It sounds like bliss to me Sweet 17

There is nothing more exciting than starting a new garden. When we first moved here it was late August so There wasnt much I could do for that year, plus I wanted to see what was already there hiding underground before I started digging. So I spent the first winter drawing plans of how I wanted it to look, as it was just grass with no beds or sheds or anything so it was a blank canvas. Its nine years down the line now and im still not finished but I have done loads. veg beds, flower beds 2 ponds , shed and green house , speacial beds for passed away old friends , planted trees and hedges but still have a hugh lawn but hubby keeps saying i cant have any more of it . But while the cats away .................[6]

The bit i like best is the travelling sales man who takes a areial photo each year so I can watch my progress, I keep saying I wont by any more but I always do .[:)]  

[S]

Tony, I did have a house in the Dordonge (not far from St Cyp) and it was wonderful in the summer, but I could not believe how cold and wet it was in winter [:(] The neighbours warned us "it is very sad in winter" but we were determined to spend Christmas in our lovely big stone town house in one of the most beautiful villages in France. Obviously it seems that a dog would have made it all so much more pleasurable [:D]  I never tried gardening in the frost or rain in the middle of winter [8-)] We would drive all over the area too, but only because it was warmer in the car! PPS, have you got a dog? [:)]

[Turnip]

S..........hi.....to the casual reader it seems that you would be a miserable git wherever you find yourself. You seem unable to occupy yourself  or socialise with neighbours as others are able to on this thread. There's more to life than lazing in the sun. If you had a dog it would also probably be bored.[:P] 

[Tony F Dordogne]

S, no dog, three cats.  You obviously don't know the right people, French, Brit or Dutch here, it's the people that make it.  And of course you can't garden in the snow or rain, they're the days you stay inside with the central heating, insert blazing and catch up on reading or brico stuff.  Sundays are still for the market, all snugged up in one of the restaurants.

Positive attitudes - we all get hacked off somedays but when you wake up, open the shutters and look down the Dordogne Valley from the top of the hill, anyday, no matter how miserable it is outside, it's all worthwhile.

Perhaps this is a living here permenently and being a real part of the community versus a maison secondaire owner who's only here part of the time and hasn't got the infrastructure of people sorted thing?