Autumn

 I have now reached a time of year when I have rarely been at La Cote.  Usually at this time of year I am back at Solent knee deep in course management and getting frantically ready for the new academic year.  This year I am going to have to deal with getting an old house and its grounds as ready as possible for the winter.  Windows will need mending (in some cases panes need to be put in!), potential sources of draughts will need to be identified ... come back sausage-dog draught excluders all is forgiven! .  We plan to get all the chimneys swept  and to install small wood burning stoves in the bedrooms with fireplaces.  The one big issue is trying to reduce the dampness in the sitting room.  We have had all windows and doors opened to air the rooms as much as possible as we reckon that some of the dampness is due to the house not having been lived in on a day to day basis.  Most of the rooms feel quite dry apart from the sitting room.  This will be the problem spot ... more about this on a later post!



Acorns at La Cote

 

The weather is still quite warm and we are still using the pool.  The light is much softer now and the trees are just beginning to turn.  The banks of the Vienne are particularly beautiful.  A regular walk under the walnut tree yields a basket full ... we'll have to bring " les gaules" (long poles) out to reach the recalcitrant walnuts higher up in the tree.  One day I would love to have a go at making my own walnut oil!  We haven't had many apples this year  and there isn't a plum in sight!  Hopefully a bit of TLC will encourage more fruit next year.  We may even get round to planting one or two fruit trees.  Normally the fig tree is loaded with big heavy figs  (and slightly watery) right through July & August.  When we arrived on the 9 of August, all the figs were very small and green ... clearly something happened at the time of flowering !   Is this what also got the plum trees?? Now we are in September, the figs are ripening ..they are still quite small but much nicer than when they are big and ripe earlier.  The grapes are fantastic and we are eating them straight off the vine.  Nights are drawing in but we can still sit out until quite late.  We still can't quite believe that we are living here!

Wallnuts, grapes, apples and figs...all from La Cote!

More on the wood pile!

There are several piles of wood lying around the grounds and the woods that all need cutting into manageable sized chunks.  Some of the trees that have been felled by the wind and have been roughly cut in order to get them out of a path, others have just died and fallen over. Either way they need to be cut up and added to the existing stack.  The clearing of one area by Bruce and Al i(Ali Burnett .. who is with us for a while on the La Cote equivalent of a WWOOF !) uncovered a grand old tree which was brought down by the wind 5 years or so ago.   It was a majestic horse chestnut.  We will clear most of it away but will leave one or two big bits to cater for the insects.

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