Visiting Derbyshire

A very tucked away village in the High Peaks of Derbyshire was our destination yesterday. Combs is set amongst rolling hills, green fields and majestic peaks surrounding the area. Photo from Peakdistrictinformation.com

Photo from Wikipedia showing the local reservoir.

Photo from Peakdistrictinformation.com.

The road seems to come to an end by this charming inn called 'The Beehive', where we had an excellent lunch. In fact one can walk from here up into the hills.

Combs has lost its shop and post office, but has retained a small infant school, saved by parents after it was threatened with closure. It figures very highly in Ofsted reports, and I think if I were a child I would love to be a pupil in this delightful little village, surrounded by nature at its best.

I'm taking a short break.

See you in a couple of weeks.

Not long ago we returned home via Cognac, the home of, well, cognac of course! All along the Vieux Port there are the famous cognac houses. Many of them have a boat, like the one you see here, belonging to Hennessey. We thought they were for a river trip, but they only take people across the river to visit the warehouses where the cognac is made. The River Charente on which Cognac is found, is an immensely long one, and winds right out to the ocean.
There was no river trip to be found.
All the big boats finished in September and were closed down.......but, as I chatted idly to a gentleman on the quay, asking him if there were any boats, he offered us a trip in his own private boat! It was so kind, and we accepted, just for an hour, agreeing a 'petit prix' with him. He was anxious for us to know that he was not a commercial operator, but he just loved the river.

As his boat had a very shallow draught we could go down these little 'secret alleys' in the river, where he told us there were often Kingfishers to be seen. We didnt see any that day but came upon a huge heron, who wasn't at all disturbed by us.

We had such a happy hour on the river in our little private boat.

Breton language.

What would you expect to see if you followed these signs? I guess many of you will remember that Ecole means school...but the other sign? It is in fact in Breton and means Breton-speaking school. Around 1977 it was felt that the old language of Brittany was dying out, and these small schools were developed. They are bilingual in the sense that they teach French and Breton.

Our neighbour, in his 70s, told us that for his first seven years he spoke nothing but Breton, and when he went to school it was very hard to have to change to French. He and his friends often chat in Breton, and if one was a Welsh speaker it would be possible to understand them, as the two languages are similar.



This is our local Skol Diwan in the town nearby. There are two teachers and two helpers and the school has been running for twenty years. They are very proud that soon it will be extended with new pupils coming in. The schools are privately run and rely on a lot of local help for maintenance of the grounds etc.

The children spend time in lessons, but also go out to the local swimming pool, or to the cinema, or on trips to places of interest.

Now, in Brittany there are 3500 students taught in these bilingual schools. There are 33 schools and 4 colleges. In Paris there is even a kindergarten to teach in Breton.
I have to say that the only words I know in Breton are;

Degemer Mat = Welcome

Below is a text from the Universal Declaration of Human rights.

Dieub ha par en o dellezegezh hag o gwirioù eo ganet an holl dud. Poell ha skiant zo dezho ha dleout a reont bevañ an eil gant egile en ur spered a genvreudeuriezh.
Translation.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood

Flu jab day

Murielle, one of our lovely Infirmieres, will soon be here to give me the anti-flu jab. Every year we receive notification that it's time to collect the vaccine from the pharmacie. Once collected we have to keep it in the fridge until the Nurse can call.

Our two village nurses are amazing. They start their day very early around 6.30 am, and are on the go pretty well all day. Their work is all in peoples' homes, helping the elderly and infirm to get up, wash and dress, giving injections, taking blood samples and of course, giving the anti flu jabs. We can call on them for help or advice if we need it. They are such delightful personalities, and seem to enjoy airing the little bit of English language that they have!
We are indeed fortunate to have this medical system.

Isn't this pretty?

(Edit; I should have made it clear that this piece was designed and made by Bluebell....not me!)

My friend Bluebell wrote a post about a swap called 'Pieces of Friendship', and I was very intrigued to find out more. The idea is that you follow the instructions to make a puzzle piece, using fabric embellished with all sorts of lovely things, and then put it up for a swap in the group. Simple, I thought, and started trying to print onto fabric to make a little centre. I think the next hour was spent taking the printer apart and tugging out nasty crumpled bits of freezer paper. It just would not accept the sheet with the fabric on.

I finally found that if I spray-glued fabric lightly on to A4 paper, leaving a margin of paper at the bottom, it would go through, and produce some very nice prints.

Next was to work out from the instructions, what names like 'Peltex' and Wonderunder' meant. Queries to Bluebell resulted in her offering to send me some Peltex, so kind. In our local craft shop my enquiries were met with a blank stare.

So.....so far, I have , on a steep learning curve, produced something slightly resembling Bluebell's lovely design. But it is only a practice piece. When I have finished a 'proper' one, I'll show you!

It's another Saint's day.

18th Century oil painting depicting St Firmin.

I think I may have mentioned previously that there is a Saint's Day every day of the year in France. This week we have Saints Ghislaine, Wilfried,Geraud, Juste and St Theresa of Avila.

If you meet a French friend with the name of a saint, on the Saint's day, it is polite to wish them 'Bonne Fete'.

Today is Saint Firmin's about whom not a great deal is known. He was born in Pamplona, Spain, in 272 AD. and made many apostolic journeys through France, preaching and teaching the faith. He was consecrated Bishop of Amiens, and was sadly martyred for his faith in 303 AD. His feast day is kept in September in Spain. In Amiens Cathedral there is a funeral monument to him in statuary, even showing his decapitated body after he had been killed.

I discovered that there are two churches in England, both bearing his name. One is in Lincolnshire and one in Buckinghamshire. I would love to know why they are called after a French saint.

Apple cake.

Having so many apples in the garden I decided to make an apple cake during the weekend. I took a recipe from a book called 'Michael Barry's Cookery Year', published in 1994. Michael Barry was a presenter of BBC 2's Food and Drink programme, which I often watched.

Apple cake.

100g butter

175g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

4fl oz milk

1 pound cooking apples.

Ground cinnamon.

Preheat the oven to 160/325 degrees.

Line a cake tin at least 4 cm deep.

Cream together butter and sugar

Beat in eggs and then sift on the flour and baking pdr and mix together thoroughly.

Add the milk.

It will be quite thick but not completely stiff.

Finely chop 8oz of the apples and stir them into the cake mix.

Gently stew/puree the rest, adding a little cinnamon..

Put half the cake mixture into the tin, then spoon in the cooked/pureed apples.

Then put on the rest of the mixture.

Cook for about an hour, maybe a little more, testing with a skewer.
It is delicious eaten slightly warm!

Garden things

Just a little bowl of tomatoes that I picked from the greenhouse this evening. They are almost finished now, and have certainly been very prolific.

My header is a photo that I took this evening. I was watching the Pyrocantha branches and wondering why they were moving around busily.

Out came two very busy Blackbirds. I think they must be stocking up for Winter.

They do say that an abundance of berries means there will be a hard winter.

There is still a rosebud on my trellis. One of the last, I think.

It's time to start putting the garden to bed for the winter. I don't like it.

Harvest?

This is what happens in the garden when one goes away.

It was a simple Courgette (Zucchini) plant.

Now it has a giant marrow.

It seems that however many lists one makes there is always something that remains at home when it should be travelling .

This time it was my Camera, of all things.

So my photos of our time away are non-existent, except for a few taken off my friend's camera.

When one stays with good friends, known for many years, leaving is always hard, and we would have loved to have stayed, ad infinitum, sitting on a sunny terrace sharing memories.

But, now we are back, and there will be more to write about shortly......when I've unpacked the suitcase, done the washing, ironed the washing..............