I am back in Carcassonne after my weekend of family fun! Everybody just about held it all together but I am thinking only just - I did call one of my sisters-in-law a 'bitch' at one point, but I was leaving the room and maybe it was out of her earshot (although Debrah assures me it probably wasn't - oh well) - I really don't think she's a very nice person so I am not that bothered about it.
I feel a bit sorry for my other sister-in-law because she recognises how hard it is to please my mother and what a strong 'matriarchal' influence she imposes and because she really has tried very hard to fit into our difficult family. On the first afternoon she was very jolly and chatty and out to enjoy the weekend, but she gradually seemed to retreat into her shell, as I guess we all did under the withering glare, which was a shame.
Debrah wasn't exempt and was extremely upset by some of my mothers unnecessary comments about clothes or hair or behaviour. Debrah was brilliant this weekend and I couldn't have done it myself without her and without the girls. We stuck together as a little support team for each other. It would have been ideal to have have been just the four of us away - or five, if we could have got Christian involved too.
It was so good to see my daughters again - it has been too long - and I am so proud of them and the lovely young ladies that they have grown up to be. Amy is just about to start her final year at Lancaster and Isabel is just going off to find herself at Leicester - good luck to you both and hopefully we will see each other again sooner rather than later.
The part played by Anna and Aib, our hosts for the weekend, should not be under-estimated in the slightest. I would go as far as to say that without them the weekend would have been a disaster - I can't wait to see you both again in more relaxed circumstances, which we will do soon as it is Anna's birthday in a few weeks time.
A highlight of the weekend was the wine tasting given by Alex Hall on Saturday evening before dinner. We tasted six wines in total, with mixed results on my part when it came to recognising what I was tasting - the more I learn, and I learned a lot on Saturday, the less I seem to know! It was, though, a great privilege to be afforded the chance to taste a young 2005 St Emilion, which will age wonderfully and comes from one of the best vintages ever, apparently, and an 18 year old St Estephe, from another great vintage in 1990, that would set you back £300 in a restaurant today. Both were fabulous.
It is wine harvest time and that means that the Autumn is on it's way. We awoke this morning in the Dordogne to a heavy dew and mist in the valley but the prospect of a gloriously hot clear blue sky day - mellow fruitfulness indeed. Also, perfect conditions for the development of noble rot on grapes and the wonderful transformation into a golden nectar late harvest dessert wine - I told you I had learned a thing or two recently.
Back here in Carcassonne, the mobile 'fauconnier' introduced last year is already patrolling the streets - another sign that Autumn is upon us - the poor starlings are being scared away before we have any chance to see a display from them - what a shame.
My new guests have arrived - a mother and daughter from Australia. They dropped a couple of surprises on me - not forwarded on by the travel agent in Australia that made the booking. Luckily I am not phased by the late arriving information of no wheat or seafood or peppers in their diet, and not just because of dislike but because they are allergic. I will cope thanks to the wonderful array of produce available here in the fantastically fertile Aude valley and because at 42rvh we can cope with anything.
Even family.
Showing posts with label anna and aib. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anna and aib. Show all posts
Monday, 8 September 2008
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Not standing still
Anna and Aib have gone back to Aquitaine but it won't be long before we see them again because at the end of next week my whole family will be descending on the chateau to celebrate my father's 80th birthday.
In the meantime I have guests to think about with two new couples arriving tomorrow for the weekend and two couples during next week for two nights each. The rooms were prepped this afternoon and all is set for airport pick-ups in the morning at 10.30 and 12.30.
Anna bought some of her lovely vegetables and herbs and flowers from her garden (which of course makes us think about our lack of outside space) and we enjoyed a tray of roast vegetables with some of our delicious local pork this evening.
In my time in France I have grown to appreciate the fig, and fennel and celeriac and have mastered the preparation of the artichoke - all things that were unappreciated in London in their raw and unripe state. However, we still haven't conquered the aubergine despite the absolute beauty of the vegetable in it's many different forms here. Tonight was no exception, with the pieces of aubergine in the vegetable bake proving the hardest to swallow. We are not going to be defeated though, and the uneaten vegetables will be mixed with more tomatoes and peppers and cooked again and given another chance. Food absolutely never ever gets thrown away here.
It's always interesting talking and exchanging ideas with Anna and Aib. Things that work for them and don't work for us and vice versa are usually just down to the different scale of our respective operations - but there are areas of overlap and areas where we genuinely help each other out.
Debrah and Aib spent some time this morning discussing website build and design (Aib can build them and Debrah can design them but they couldn't possibly do each others role - which they readily admit) Both of us are looking to update and indeed possibly redesign our respective websites and are keen to add more services for our clients.
Here at 42rvh we need to promote the wine tasting possibilities (as discussed yesterday) and we have also had a discussion with Christine, who runs the beauty salon on the ground floor, about promoting her services to our clients. Both need adding to the website so that clients are aware of the full range of available enjoyment to be had.
It's all about enjoyment - for them and for us. When it stops being enjoyable it will be time to move on - but that is happily not a factor at the moment. Fun is good and fun it still is.
Go on, laugh.
In the meantime I have guests to think about with two new couples arriving tomorrow for the weekend and two couples during next week for two nights each. The rooms were prepped this afternoon and all is set for airport pick-ups in the morning at 10.30 and 12.30.
Anna bought some of her lovely vegetables and herbs and flowers from her garden (which of course makes us think about our lack of outside space) and we enjoyed a tray of roast vegetables with some of our delicious local pork this evening.
In my time in France I have grown to appreciate the fig, and fennel and celeriac and have mastered the preparation of the artichoke - all things that were unappreciated in London in their raw and unripe state. However, we still haven't conquered the aubergine despite the absolute beauty of the vegetable in it's many different forms here. Tonight was no exception, with the pieces of aubergine in the vegetable bake proving the hardest to swallow. We are not going to be defeated though, and the uneaten vegetables will be mixed with more tomatoes and peppers and cooked again and given another chance. Food absolutely never ever gets thrown away here.
It's always interesting talking and exchanging ideas with Anna and Aib. Things that work for them and don't work for us and vice versa are usually just down to the different scale of our respective operations - but there are areas of overlap and areas where we genuinely help each other out.
Debrah and Aib spent some time this morning discussing website build and design (Aib can build them and Debrah can design them but they couldn't possibly do each others role - which they readily admit) Both of us are looking to update and indeed possibly redesign our respective websites and are keen to add more services for our clients.
Here at 42rvh we need to promote the wine tasting possibilities (as discussed yesterday) and we have also had a discussion with Christine, who runs the beauty salon on the ground floor, about promoting her services to our clients. Both need adding to the website so that clients are aware of the full range of available enjoyment to be had.
It's all about enjoyment - for them and for us. When it stops being enjoyable it will be time to move on - but that is happily not a factor at the moment. Fun is good and fun it still is.
Go on, laugh.
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Friends and Family
Our very very good friends, Anna and Andrew (Aib), visited us this week for a couple of nights. The reason for the visit was the Massive Attack concert in the Cité on Tuesday evening, but actually that was just a sideshow to us all catching up on life and comparing notes on running a business and living in France.
Anna and Aib run a very successful holiday business from their chateau in South West France, near St Emilion in the heart of the Bordeaux wine region. They bought their property about two years before we bought ours, having stolen our idea of a place in France and then moved their whole life and young family out here, which was far more than we had ever intended to do - partly because we are much older (sadly) than them and our children are already grown up and not the least bit interested in what we do or say.
I guess we have since stolen their idea by setting up our own holiday business here - different scale and therefore different issues but essentially the same sort of operation - unique in its place and offer. In fact Debrah practiced her interior design thoughts on the chateau before putting them into operation here and Chris was instrumental in the chateau renovation before coming down to the Languedoc to help me out.
And the trading of thoughts and ideas, from pricing to recipes to new business opportunities, continues to this day - which makes every time we see them extremely competitive but a lot of fun.
They weren't our only visitors this week. Christian and two of his friends, Andrew and Camille, turned up after seven days at a festival in Spain - passing through as they inter-railed around Europe - but in reality just over-working the washing machine and emptying the fridge and sleeping quite a lot. So it ever was, generation after generation.
We all seven of us went to the Massive Attack concert on Tuesday evening - the music was excellent and the lighting system something else altogether, until it all just became a billboard for the band's political messages - oh well.
Anna was keen to go out into the Minervois and find some of our lovely wine from this region to take back up to Bordeaux (I hope they don't find out up there or they risk being more ostracised than an English family living in the Bordeaux region trying to run a hotel business - err!)
Bizarrely, when I realised where we were going, I thought about Simon and Juliet, whom we haven't seen for months as we have all been so busy, because they live close to Homps and because Juliet would be the perfect person to give Anna advice on what to buy. So wouldn't you know it - Simon and Juliet pitched up at the same lunchtime spot - 'En Bonne Compagnie' - next to the canal in Homps, that we had decided to visit for lunch. It was lovely to see them and Juliet immediately recommended several local vineyards and a wine shop just down the canal and across the footbridge, where we once again met up and proceeded to purchase everything that Juliet pointed at as good - well Anna did. The least said about the lunch restaurant the better - we have to try these places in the name of research - it wasn't dreadful but Debrah wasn't impressed and I don't think we will be going back again.
The exact opposite can be said about our lunch spot the next day. 'Le Jardin en Ville' is a new restaurant on the edge of the bastille town - in fact it is tucked away on the opposite side of the railway line in a definitely residential area, which makes it a bit quirky to begin with.
It is fabulous mix of lunch spot, where they grow all their own vegetables in a potager next door, art gallery and furniture showroom and generally all round cool place. The food was delicious and the setting relaxing and inspiring - part industrial and part contemporary garden and part eating 'chez nous'. It all felt like just being invited into someones very stylish garden for lunch, which is pretty much what it was. In many ways it was the same as our business here - the owner being front of house in his own relaxed style - doing something slightly different from everything else that's on offer in the area. The very best of luck to them and we shall certainly be doing our best to ensure that they succeed by visiting as often as we can.
Today was a changeover day - guests leaving the Apartment and new guests arriving - so busy busy. Debrah helped enormously by going to the supermarket to re-stock whilst I cleaned out and changed the room.
Then the travellers all fell out with each other, which I guess is part of travelling and growing up and learning about life - and then this evening they all tried to work it out between them, which was good to hear. They leave tomorrow on the next leg of their trip - to Nice and then Milan - and I wish them well and hope they don't kill each other!!
We shall just have to hope for the best - in the meantime our new guests want breakfast at eight in the morning - despite being on holiday. So I'm off to bed.
Anna and Aib run a very successful holiday business from their chateau in South West France, near St Emilion in the heart of the Bordeaux wine region. They bought their property about two years before we bought ours, having stolen our idea of a place in France and then moved their whole life and young family out here, which was far more than we had ever intended to do - partly because we are much older (sadly) than them and our children are already grown up and not the least bit interested in what we do or say.
I guess we have since stolen their idea by setting up our own holiday business here - different scale and therefore different issues but essentially the same sort of operation - unique in its place and offer. In fact Debrah practiced her interior design thoughts on the chateau before putting them into operation here and Chris was instrumental in the chateau renovation before coming down to the Languedoc to help me out.
And the trading of thoughts and ideas, from pricing to recipes to new business opportunities, continues to this day - which makes every time we see them extremely competitive but a lot of fun.
They weren't our only visitors this week. Christian and two of his friends, Andrew and Camille, turned up after seven days at a festival in Spain - passing through as they inter-railed around Europe - but in reality just over-working the washing machine and emptying the fridge and sleeping quite a lot. So it ever was, generation after generation.
We all seven of us went to the Massive Attack concert on Tuesday evening - the music was excellent and the lighting system something else altogether, until it all just became a billboard for the band's political messages - oh well.
Anna was keen to go out into the Minervois and find some of our lovely wine from this region to take back up to Bordeaux (I hope they don't find out up there or they risk being more ostracised than an English family living in the Bordeaux region trying to run a hotel business - err!)
Bizarrely, when I realised where we were going, I thought about Simon and Juliet, whom we haven't seen for months as we have all been so busy, because they live close to Homps and because Juliet would be the perfect person to give Anna advice on what to buy. So wouldn't you know it - Simon and Juliet pitched up at the same lunchtime spot - 'En Bonne Compagnie' - next to the canal in Homps, that we had decided to visit for lunch. It was lovely to see them and Juliet immediately recommended several local vineyards and a wine shop just down the canal and across the footbridge, where we once again met up and proceeded to purchase everything that Juliet pointed at as good - well Anna did. The least said about the lunch restaurant the better - we have to try these places in the name of research - it wasn't dreadful but Debrah wasn't impressed and I don't think we will be going back again.
The exact opposite can be said about our lunch spot the next day. 'Le Jardin en Ville' is a new restaurant on the edge of the bastille town - in fact it is tucked away on the opposite side of the railway line in a definitely residential area, which makes it a bit quirky to begin with.
It is fabulous mix of lunch spot, where they grow all their own vegetables in a potager next door, art gallery and furniture showroom and generally all round cool place. The food was delicious and the setting relaxing and inspiring - part industrial and part contemporary garden and part eating 'chez nous'. It all felt like just being invited into someones very stylish garden for lunch, which is pretty much what it was. In many ways it was the same as our business here - the owner being front of house in his own relaxed style - doing something slightly different from everything else that's on offer in the area. The very best of luck to them and we shall certainly be doing our best to ensure that they succeed by visiting as often as we can.
Today was a changeover day - guests leaving the Apartment and new guests arriving - so busy busy. Debrah helped enormously by going to the supermarket to re-stock whilst I cleaned out and changed the room.
Then the travellers all fell out with each other, which I guess is part of travelling and growing up and learning about life - and then this evening they all tried to work it out between them, which was good to hear. They leave tomorrow on the next leg of their trip - to Nice and then Milan - and I wish them well and hope they don't kill each other!!
We shall just have to hope for the best - in the meantime our new guests want breakfast at eight in the morning - despite being on holiday. So I'm off to bed.
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