Meet and Greet at the Salle des fêtes.

What a wonderful idea to welcome newcomers to the charming village of Daglan and to meet French, Spanish, Dutch, African, Scottish, Canadian and English residents, the list goes on so I’m sorry if I have missed anyone out.

We needed something to be happy about after last Thursday’s vote in Britain, the meet and greet organised by La Club de l’Amité Daglanais and the Mairie was a tonic, for a few hours at least we had a rest from the terrible news.
 

On a gorgeous summer evening alongside our beautiful river Céou, we gathered for a drink or three, introductions and  friendly chat.
 

Our wonderful new friends who have helped us greatly to integrate into the community and have told us the best places to go for furniture, DIY, flowers etc.
 

Trestle tables were arranged with enough food to feed everyone.
 

Here is one of the people who have spent a lot of time making our village look gorgeous with flowers and children’s displays. I think that he liked his photograph being taken!
 

After meeting, greeting, eating and drinking it was time for the bonfire to be lit. Angus and Paul were shocked to see so much wood being burned, more shelves for our homes did spring to mind.
 

We danced around the bonfire and it was great fun, doubly so due to the fact that I have not been able to dance in a long time. With constant back pain for several years then recently falling down the stairs I have been having phsyio treatment and I am glad to say that the magic fingers have worked, no pain at all… I know, I can not believe it either, but it is so, the Health Service here in France is wonderful, but I digress…
 

People from every nationality joined in the celebrations, brilliant.
It was a lovely evening meeting lovely people, a good time was had by all.  My warmest thanks to the village of Dagan.

Terrible News today.

We are both in shock at the vote to come out of the EU. Positive thinking kept me through the last few weeks of the campaign, I was hoping that people would realise the ramifications of coming out of the EU, but no I was wrong.

One of the things that has made a big impact on Paul and I living here in France is how people even in our small village help and support each other. People are interested in you if you come from a different country or not it does not matter. I have talked to a few people from France and other countries and they all say the same thing, ‘remain in the EU’. We are all part of the EU and the world and we should all stand together and help and support each other.

My personal rant is over.

 

On this sober day I thought that it would be cheery to show how children work together to produce the most amazing art work around our village of Daglan.

Isn’t this wonderful

 

These insect models have been placed next to one of the “insect hotels” in Daglan.

 

I love the way that they have used an old lamp shade for the tummy.

 

This is my favourite, another “insect hotel” surrounded by models. All of the models were made in the art room at the Mairie by children of the local primary school.

Well I hope the artwork has brought a smile to a few faces. Remember that more artwork is to be found at various art studios and at the Daglan Art Exhibition.

Event:- Daglan Saturday 25th June at five pm at the Salle Des Fêtes, a party to get to know each other for all the people of the village, an aperitif or two will be enjoyed I am sure.

Sunshine is a great time for a picnic

If you walk to the left of the Château in Daglan and down the road signposted “La Levade”, past the Château’s park you will come across a children’s play area and the gorgeous Céou river that flows past our village.  In this area are picnic tables, benches and a very handy barbecue.  We chose to sit near the river in the shade of a few trees for our first open air picnic of the season.

Our vintage hamper.

 

The water level is still very high due to the amount of rain that has fallen recently.

 

Paul put his hand into the water he said that it was not very cold and that it is warming up nicely.

 

A gorgeous blue dragonfly in the clear water. We saw about six of these gorgeous creatures darting to and fro along the river bank on our walk home.

Our break was over, the bathroom will not get completed on its own. With the temperature reaching 30C in the shade, the hottest day of the year so far, the cool of our home does sound good.

 

Events:-Daglan Art’ceou Exposition now until 3rd July more on this in my next blog.
 
Vintage cars and motorbikes on the last Sunday of every month – Sarlat 26th June on the Marche aux Noix.
 
Sarlat Art Exposition-Les Perigord Noirs de Lucien Maleville on now until 15th August – the tariff is only 3euro to see the Perigord of the past.
 
103rd Tour de France starts on Saturday 2nd July and will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a distance of 3,519 Kilometres.

The ups and downs of renovation

We have been working particularly hard the last three weeks renovation our bathroom. The first job for me was to clean the antique mirror that we bought at the brocante in Daglan a few weeks ago. After various checks on the internet it was found that washing up liquid in a bucket of water was the best idea for cleaning old gilt, so armed with a soft toothbrush I set to work one sunny afternoon.

Two hours later I had completed the back of the mirror the difficult intricate detail on the front of the mirror was yet to come. After informing Paul that dinner would be a little late this evening I set to work once more.

Another three hours work and the mirror was finished.

 

The original mirror from the bathroom was taken down and placed onto our son’s bedroom wall. A wooden frame was built and varnished to match the wooden bed on the right hand side of the picture.
 

Unfortunately Paul realised that the partition walls upstairs were thinner than the length of the drill, he had drilled through to the next bedroom. This is one hole there are three others. Never mind, its just another job on our to do list.
 

We were only going to re-tile one wall but after completing the one wall with new the tiles, the old tiles looked even more terrible so another two walls needed work, another trip to Sarlat this time for more tiles. Paul took off the old tiles and you guessed it, the plaster came off too. Back to the DIY store for plaster which took four days to dry.

Here is half of one of the walls with the new tiles the other half of the wall took longer to tile due to the undulating nature of our walls.
 

Next came the wall at the back of the shower and toilet so Paul protected the shower and toilet with plywood and cardboard. One tile fell off, hit the cardboard corner first, cut it and the plywood like a knife through butter and the result can be seen in this picture.

I am glad to say that a new toilet was bought on the next visit to the DIY store and is now in place.
 

Finished with no further problems and looking great. The wash hand stand was purchased from a brocante shop in Daglan that Paul renovated. It has a gorgeous marble top that cleaned better than we expected and is in keeping with the period of the house.
 
 

Events:- Not to be missed- Daglan Art’Ceou Exposition which runs from the 19^th June to the 3^rd July

Also, Fête de la Musique – 21^st June in Sarlat throughout the Medieval town, for jazz, blues and rock music.

Tear drop and other vintage vehicles at Castelnaud la Chapelle

First of all a large sorry for anyone who went to Castelnaud over the weekend expecting to see a Brocante and vintage vehicles. Like us you must of been disappointed for the lack of things to buy. We found out too late that the antiques in question were antique adornments and spare parts for vintage cars!

However, we were not disappointed with the vehicles they were truly awesome. One of which was “teardrop” that neither of us had seen before.

The name “teardrop” derives from its tear like shape. The first was built in the 1930’s, by Louis Rogers in Pasadena, California and became very popular in the 1930’s and 1940’s America. They are strong and aerodynamic and designed to provide a simple but very functional purpose. During the Second World War they were built with recycled material and aluminium from army surplus.

The standard cabin size: 1980mm length by 1194 mm width by 1066 height. The back opens up for the kitchen which incorporates a sink, oven, refrigerator and storage space. At the front believe it or not is a double bed! Teardrop is compact and lightweight only 500 kg and is therefore except from tax, always a plus.
So ideal for anyone to tow around the many camp sites in the Perigord.

“How did they get a double bed in here”
 

Everything that you could need, including the kitchen sink
 

Bonnie and Clyde Cars- I just needed a gun and a cigar and I could have replicated the famous Bonnie pose.
 

Paul drove a red MG when we were in our teens. Seeing this car did bring back fond memories of our drives over the Yorkshire Moors.
 

The picnic car – vintage basket on top with champagne of course and another first for us, a one wheel trailer.
 

Does anyone remember Dallas? It just needed a man wearing a Texan hat. This is not a Duesenberg but modern day Zimmer, the designers take their inspiration from the 1920/30s classic
 

There was also vintage farming machinery, this is the only one that I have seen made out of wood with only a hint of metal.
 
 
Events:-
Daglan Art’ Ceou Exposition from the 19^th June to the 3^rd July  http://www.daglan.fr/artceou2016/

Daglan market every Sunday morning.

Sarlat market every Wednesday and Saturday morning.