Above: January 2012: views around Meyrals

After nearly 4 weeks back in England, enjoying a long holiday, catching up with friends and family and eating far too much, it’s time to get back to work. At this time of year, as the spring and summer bookings come in, we like to start on our never ending ‘to do’ list: a programme of repair, up-dating and improvements.  Some of these are bigger jobs (new curtains + new kitchen worktop and cooker in Magnolia) whilst others may be tiny (a coat hook in Chene Vert) but all, we hope, will make our guests more comfortable in their holiday accommodation. We’re always happy to have constructive criticism from holidaymakers – although we’ve spent at least a couple of nights in each gite, it isn’t the same as seeing the place from a customer’s  point of view (however hard we try)! We try to respond to suggestions and indeed, the hooks in Chene vert are as a result of a comment from a 2011 guest. Some changes cannot be made, however useful they would be: some of our ceilings will never be high enough for the 6’ 7” man who wrote to us, and I think planning permission might be refused for the new doorway in our 300 year old cottage – as suggested by a lively group wanting to be first at the bar!

One of our most important jobs every morning is to get up and take Polly (the collie) out for a walk and on the beautiful, frosty but sunny mornings, typical of January in the Dordogne, this is no hardship! I often take my camera with me as I never fail to see a view that I want to take a photo of. Meyrals isn’t ‘twee’: it has some lovely old medieval buildings which would definitely be up for the label ‘shabby chic’, whilst others have been beautifully renovated – but it is very much a ‘living’ village – not just a tourist place which closes down in winter. Indeed, the long-awaited charcuterie opened its doors for the first time in December – very handily positioned opposite the boulangerie!

One of our favourite walks brings us back via the village pond and the old ‘laveries’  (one of which was still used regularly by some local ladies until the 1970’s) see the photos above. I always stop for a couple of minutes to watch all of the fish darting to and fro in the pond, before meandering home, revived and ready for a hard days work!

*Barn news for interested past guests and friends: all is going well to plan & we have some very nice French artisans hard at work – click on the fb symbol on our homepage to see the latest photos!

Wishing everyone a ‘bonne annee’  for 2012

Sue & Jon