Back online...

...and in our new home in SW France :) :) :)

Everything went well - with the exception of the usual minor hitches, such as the furniture lorry getting stuck in a ditch just before it arrived at the house and the interpretor refusing to come to the signing at the last minute. Hmmm

We travelled on the 26th April, arriving to a small hotel late in the evening. We signed, furniture arrived and we moved in on 28th.
It's taken til now to sort out first a phone line and then an internet connection, and still not final, but at least I can access DG now!!

Lovely to be back, and looking forward to talking to you all again
Oh BTW, the house is just superb - even better than I remembered. Tons of work to do in the house and garden, but am really looking forward to it

WB Hilary! I am so relieved that you managed to get your house without a farmer taking it right before you got it. Doing the happy dance for you. Have fun with your new place and I will talk to you later. Doctors orders for me to get to bed early more often. I am trying.

double post oops

This message was edited May 6, 2004 12:06 PM

Oh how wonderful! Welcome back. Can we see pictures?? I'm so jealous that you get to move across the same continent and end up in France. :)

Welcome home, Hilary! Glad the move went smoothly, and we'll be anxious to see pictures of your new home and gardens!!!!

Well, we wondered where you had wondered off to?????? then, I remembered the house in France..welcome back to us..........Elaine

Bienvenue, Philomel. How will the gardening scene change for you? Are you still in a similar growing zone as before? Were you able to bring anything with you from your garden in England to the one in France?

Hi, Hilary - Good to see you back around! :)

Hi all and thanks for all your good wishes :)
You listen to that doctor Pond, hope you're OK? Yes, the old farmers didn't want it :D

Pics soon art and Terry, but haven't unpacked my camera yet ;)

Yep, was travelling etc elaine :) Couldn't keep me away otherwise

Thanks gw :)

We still have frosts and cool times in the winter here Lenjo (no snow though I'm told) but the summers are much hotter
Overall warmer and wetter than Kent.

I can't wait to start growing - though I haven't escaped the heavy clay :(

Hey Hilary, good to see you "back". We will be in Northern France in mid-June.. too bad you live so far South :(

How's the weather? We're having a heatwave here, making Finland one of the warmest European countries at the moment. +26°C (79°F) in shade here today :)

Hi Evert
A shame you won't be down our way - perhaps another time..... ?

Like the rest of southern europe I think, it's been raining for days. But the view is just so beautiful it doesn't matter - and we're bound to have sunshine soon. At the moment you've got the laugh on us though ;)

Epizota will be here in mid June :D :D

Perhaps.. :)

A sunny day here again, and it's very pretty outside when everything is blooming :)

I'm smiling too at the thought of coming to visit you! Looking forward to seeing France, your chateau and your family!!! I know it will be too soon for you to make many changes in house or gardens to make it your own. It's still one of the things I am looking forward to most on this trip.

Oh that's lovely epazota :)
(sorry about the typo in your name in the last post - oops)

You're right that we'll have barely started on the things we would like to do here, but there's so much that's right already that it feels very much like home...

BTW I'll go to the tourist people and ask about trains to Spain as soon as I can :)

The train information would be lovely. Then I can reserve our car. Everything is falling into place so nicely, like it was meant to be. I love it when that happens.

philomel, glad you have arrived at your new home. Sounds as if you are happy with it. I have been so busy lately that I haven't been on the computer. My daughter and her friend spent 10 days in Alsace last month. they both like France. Donna

That's how I felt about our move to this house Karen!
I'm hoping the tourist office will be open today so that I can find out about trains :)

Thanks Donna. I'm pleased your daughter and friend like France. I haven't been to Alsace yet.....
;)

So happy to see you back with us philomel......please, please post many pictures of your new garden, home, country and trips! :)

Thanks, yes - I must get my camera out!!
Found some Serapius orchids (lingua I think) growing in the meadow :)

Glad your move went well. I am curious.... what do you have to do legally to make the move? For myself, a Canadian living in the States, I have to carry a 'green' card (which isn't green at all). It takes more than a year from applying before you finally get it. I also had to go to Fort Dodge, IA, for a physical and then to Omaha, NE, for an interview. The first paperwork was filled out, sent in with a fee (forget how much now, I think $25.), then I could not leave the country until the next paperwork was filed or I would have had to start over. So the next paperwork arrives, gets filled in, more money sent (I think around $100. this time) and then the phys. and interview and take pics and finally a card. About 1 1/2 yrs. total time. This was back in 1977-78 and I've heard it's much more expensive now but I don't know.

So, I'm curious about the legal stuff in Europe. What was your experience? :) P.S.Great place you got from what I've seen in your pics!!!!

philly, it is a must that you carry your camera around your neck, to take photos for us of everything in site..now you've moved, lock, stock and barrel to France, when I was coming to the UK next summer...I've been to France, once........now I'll have to go again...ta, ta................Elaine

Karen, I went to the tourist office today, but the lady there wasn't the full time one, so they're going to phone me when they find out about the trains. It looks like either Pau, Tarbes or Mont de Marsan will be the one.

Hi kooger :) The european union makes life so much simpler now. There are a few formalities, but nowhere near as much as you encountered. Citizens have a right to move within the community, so there's minimal red tape. Basically we've been made to feel really welcome. The villagers have been brilliant and when we attended their Remembrance ceremony, the mayor asked my two granddaughters to place the flowers in front of the war memorial. Such lovely people!

Oooh Elaine, you gotta come and see me :D
Lots of lovely roses here without labels.....
Yes, I'll get the camera out very soon. Just been SO much to do and not finished yet!

I'd love to travel by train some day. Does this help with your Spain train question? http://www.eurorailways.com/

With Philomel and Gardenwife's help I think I did it!! I think the most effecient place to pick up the train is in Dax. The train ride should be less than 2 hours! Thank you so much with your help! With your clues and pulling out a map I put the pieces together.
Thanks!
Epazota

Ah, so glad you found your way through the maze :)
Dax sounds good - means you can drive in the right direction

Thanks for the site gw

You're welcome! Nothin' like the information super highway, LOL. :D

Hilary - great to find this thread. I'm looking forward to pictures of your lovely new home and locale. I will probably have a opportunity to go to Paris sometime during the summer as the woman who works under me lives outside Paris and it's a fairly cheap flight. So, rather than her coming to Dublin all the time, I'm inclined to go down there to see something other than "gray".

How far are you from Paris? *pardon my geograpic ignorance*

Any exciting new garden plans? ;-)

Sorry to say - rather a long way :(
c400 miles at a guess

I'm 2hours south of Bordeaux - only an hour or so from the Spanish border.

Here are the latest 'garden' plants LOL
An area of the orchard and adjoining grassland is just covered in orchids at the moment
Serapias lingua and probably S parviflora

Ooops spelling :)


This message was edited May 15, 2004 11:33 PM

This is a close up of the one I think is S lingua, which grows one spike at a time

and I think this is S parviflora - the one in the first picture, it likes company!

So happy for you Hillary! A brand new life and adventure awaits. We have been wanting to see southern France, there is so much history there. I take it Gers is the river?

I was so curious where you were in France, I googled, and just look what showed up! http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/search?encquery=8DB6B984077EE58B09ABB03A51E666492AE5321BE5A5262BBB8E8111665632CC&invocationType=smartbox_search&ie=ISO-8859-1


Blessing to you and yours,
Vi

Oh wow!

Lovely pictures - looks like the kind of field to drink wine, eat cheese and bread! ;-)

Interestingly enough - found a direct flight from Dublin to Bordeaux - turns out it's less than 650 miles. Have you planned a date for the first France RU?

LOL
Whenever it fits in with you - there could well be just the two of us
............or are there any other takers out there??

I've just found this thread Hillary....great to hear everything is settling down..and you can begin making your dream come true.

I can dream about sitting in the field drinking wine, and eating cheese and bread..(french of course) I can almost feel the sun on my face.. LOL..

I look forward to hearing about the ongoing adventure.
Cheers,
Carol

2 is a start - any other takers???

Anyone else want to attend the first France Roundup? :)

Starzz, we can drink wine in the field and take pictures of flowers and feed our remaining (french) bread crumbs to the birds as we bask in the sun...are we tempting you enough - you coming?

And, if nobody else shows up - we can take the record for the smallest roundup...*grin*

Philomel what a lovely exotic new home Country you have with Orchids growing in the wild (sigh) ;). I am so very glad you have a digital and am looking forward to all the wonderful pictures you will be posting.

Thanks Lilypon
I love the name of your town!

I'll try and get the my camera onto everything soon - at the moment we're working practically every minute on getting the gites ready for visitors and bringing the garden back under some sort of control. It obviously used to be wonderful and all the bones are there, but it has been neglected and become very overgrown. I've just invested in a motor mower with huge back wheels to cope with the rough ground and the slope. Never owned a motor one before ...

...and then there are still all those boxes waiting to be unpacked...

Hilary those flowers are gorgeous. I would love to lie in that orchard and dream about nothing and everything with the orchids around me. Wonderful!!!!

I'd love to join you Pond LOL
At the moment busy cutting paths through the grass so we can get there :)
.....and it's HOT :D