It has been a pleasant day, uneventful and yet pleasing. After a very late start, we drove up to Ledignan to enjoy Sunday lunch with Mamy and Papy at their Care Home. It’s always a pleasure to see them, and the drive makes it even more so. Winding up through Sommieres, the countryside changes from the lush vineyards of the Herault region to the more rugged rocky area of the Gard. There is still no shortage of vineyards in this area but the closeness of the Cevennes mountains makes for a superb backdrop to the already stunning scenery.
On our first few visits to France many years ago, we would head for Provence, but now we have realised that there is no need to travel further than half an hour from our own front door to find hill villages, quiet country roads and beautiful views. I appreciate that Peter Mayle did an amazing job of alerting the world to the beauty of Provence, but secretly, I think the Languedoc Roussillon region is probably quite relieved that he didn’t “discover” this area, and although we get our full quota of visitors, there isn’t the urge to visit the famous hill villages of Provence and buy up the last bit of real estate for vastly inflated prices.
We noted that there were still a great number of foreign number plates around, but many of them seemed to be loaded with bikes and roof racks and were headed northwards, so despite the glorious weather we are enjoying, apparently someone has to get back home and head for the office.
The children are still enjoying a few more days of freedom before school starts at the beginning of September, and then I imagine that the next influx will be the grape pickers. The vines are now starting to bend under the weight of the massive bunches of grapes that are just about ripe. Like heavy udders under a cow, they hang down below the wires that support the vines, and in the time that we have been here, they have gone from green to black.
We sat after lunch with Mamy and watched a bit of the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games. I was aware that I had missed out on a great deal of excitement by not having either TV or internet, but then again, I have had a great deal to occupy myself with and I am sure that by the time the 2012 games come about, I shall be firmly in front of a TV to see what sort of a show London can put on. Wow, I wish we had a bit of that sort of funding to stock up with lavender plants and oleander bushes for the front fence.
We are becoming experts on other people’s gardens, although it is invariably difficult to see the gardens due to the high walls and large gates which enclose just about every property in the village. I have seen walls and gates in Johannesburg, and these could give South Africa quite a run for their money. From the moment we arrived, Mamy and Michelle went to great lengths to ensure that we understood the imminent danger from rogues and thieves. The only thing that we possess of any value at present are our two laptops, but we follow instructions and close the shutters and lock the front gate before going any distance and it is a bit like closing up Fort Knox if we go into Montpellier.
We have taken to having an evening walk and are constantly amazed at just how big the village has grown. Our house used to be on the outskirts of the cluster of old houses, but now it is just about central, and the lotissement which is the name given to developments of new houses around a village or town, have grown incredibly in the past twenty years. Apparently the arrival of IBM in Lattes was responsible for a great many people buying and building in the area, and the prosperity of many of the houses goes to show what technology can do for your bank balance. And so we walk the small roads, peering over fences when we can, or peeking through gates as long as a large guard dog doesn’t hurl itself at us from the other side. We admire creepers, trees, flowering shrubs and the occasional swimming pool which can be seen through the gaps, and we are becoming expert on architectural styles and how many houses one builder got to build in a single road.
I have spent the evening trying to devote myself to answering many of the questions that I had before Uncle Google was back with me. This is not an easy task because as you will no doubt understand, searching for something as odd as Knights Templar – Chateau de Puget – Verargues can finish up with me reading up a recipe for Lebanese Aubergine Dip. I tried accessing information on the Cross of the Languedoc and kept coming up with something that doesn’t look a bit like the anchor shaped cross that we, and many others in the region, have on the house. The fougasse bread was fairly easy to find but then I came across the wonderful BBC Good Food site and I started to get enthusiastic about baking some until I realised that in the time in took the dough to rise, I could have legged it up the road to the boulangerie and bought a nice fresh hot one.
Tomorrow is Monday which means that just about everything is closed, but on Tuesday we can get to both the Municipal tip and the library will re-open after the summer break (now that we don’t need their internet services any longer – typical). I have thoroughly enjoyed reading “A House for Mr Biswas” and will return it along with the huge book on the Cathars which is fabulous for its photography, but frustrating because it is all in French. I think I might have to approach my old friend Amazon.com and see about getting something in English.
Stop Press: My clever husband just pointed out that my quest for the Languedoc Cross might be frustrated because what I am actually looking for is the Camargue symbol – Bingo! It represents faith, hope and charity and the anchor represents the fishermen of the region. Now about those Cathars!
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