Its been a while and I apologise to friends who haven’t had their names in print so far.
Polly was the next visitor in our sequence and she joined us at the end of school term, a nice time of year, the weather is getting better and the anticipation of long lazy hazy summer days to come are on the horizon, just before it all turns to Autumn and then Christmas!
It was just around the time of plum harvest! 
when Polly arrived and with her also came her hair straighteners .
Polly was also one of the first Maison de la Roche guests to try out our new in- house therapists Karen’s magical hands, in the shade, for an Indian Head Massage 
Polly knows to make herself at home although sometimes she goes a bit too far in the making herself comfortable lark 
and yes she is wearing her pyjamas there……..
Bob has still got his limp poor boy and is always looking for snug places to get comfy
and so is Simon 
To celebrate the summer we hit it off with a tea party in the garden 
and the summer activities continued with our regular visit at this time of year from Jane and Jenny who with our gite guests helped the village celebrate the Bastille Day celebrations (a fab meal, disco, fireworks and as much booze as you could drink!)
Jane pulled a local named Renne
and then the following day we had a ‘Ladies Day’ with Karen the beautician treating us all and also Holly!! 
who found it all a bit ticklish!
The day culminated in the best firework display I have ever ever seen and these photos can not do it justice. To get here we followed a convoy of cars to find the last parking spots in Carcassonne (The city was blocked off by the 70,000 people who visit here every year!) Cars were even parked on roundabouts and in the middle of roads. We sat in a field up behind the old city and had brilliant seats (for free!) It started with the sunset
and then the real display 
they had planet shaped fireworks and heart and lip shaped it was incredible and all choreographed wonderfully. I am definitely going back next year!!
Meanwhile our guests have been joining in the fun and as ever, Holly has made more friends ……
Holly and I managed a trip back to the UK to see mum and also found time to see lots of lovely friends in between shopping in Sainsburys, this time not only did we bring back the Cheddar cheese but an old friend of mine Karen, whom I hadn’t seen for 6 years…. we had plenty to catch up on and she was immersed into our life here and was dragged on one of my girls nights out (they are now a regular spot in the calendar) and out to dinner at our local vigneron’s home and of course I dragged her around a few of our beauty spots.
Holly went out in her usual subtle attire 
It has rained here ! Yes it has and it was ok as Holly had her new umbrella. Although it hasn’t been as hot as previous Julys, its still be warm and the other night we witnessed not only an amazing thunder and lightening storm but several guests whooping and jumping in the rain!!
In order to help Bob heal his shoulder he has been undertaking swimming therapy and finally we have found places that he likes, the only thing is that Simon has to go in with him too!
Actually in doing this we have discovered some real magical places. The most stunning was at a place called Mirepeisset where you can sit and have lunch whilst watching the boats float past on the Canal du Midi over an Aquaduct over the River Cesse (where we took Bob for his physio) – stunning. Its real Enid Blyton land of loveliness here.
I have been embarking on marketing Maison de la Roche through Face Book and one of our lovely guests found us this way. Margot whom I hadn’t seen since before her beautiful daughter was born. It was lovely to see her and Gary, and Holly had fun with Maisy
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Greg, Bec, Jake and Ethan also came for their annual summer holiday and as usual it was great to see them although our livers probably think otherwise. We visited the recycling bins more times in 10 days then I have in the last year! One of our trips was to the most amazing Grottes I have ever visited and we were treated to a light and musical show. The only thing was the guide only spoke French and kept turning the lights out whenever we (lagging at the back) reached the front!. Still awesome crystals
Incredible that they are so old and yet still forming. These caves are a few minutes drive from St Guilhem de Desert, a stunning village/town in the middle of a gorge. There is a river for kayaking and swimming which was very tempting but we ran out of time as we had to get back in time to go out for dinner at our new village restaurant (delicious) but we will definitely go back there again and take our swimming togs.
At St Guilhem, it was so hot that this restaurant kindly sprays its clients with water vapour whilst they eat. We wished we had found this earlier. The original restaurant we chose looked nice enough but when we asked for a table for 7 we were told they were full. I pointed out the 3 empty tables but the waitress said she didn’t have time to clear it, I offered to help but was told no but to be patient and she would clear it. After about 45 minutes she finally cleared the table , one plate at a time (in this time the chef had gone out twice to smoke a fag , good work ethics, he didn’t even think to help!) Eventually we sat down and then we were promptly forgotten about. It was hot and a glass of tap water by this time would have been very welcome. I asked one of the other clients if the food was any good and she motioned not really, so finally we upped and left. To go to a cafe 3 metres away who couldn’t be more helpful. This was the only blight to a perfect day.
It is a town really worth visiting . Its a charming medieval town with lots of wiggly lanes to explore. Next time we will climb up to the Hermitage at the top of the mountain.
We have been spending days on the beach and visiting other lovely spots. Bages and Peryiac sur Mer are charming and we were able to spot flamingos (white ones) We also spent hours in French Telecom trying to finally change our package and reduce it by half AND get free calls and unlimited texts etc…. We have been entitled to this for years but in France if you don’t ask the question (and the question has to be asked in an exact way) you won’t get an answer and never will they offer you information. And if you are a loyal long term customer, it means nothing. New customers actually get the better deals. Anyway the up side is that I now have a new swanky phone , we have unlimited phone calls to fixed lines and unlimited sms and emails on my swanky new phone. The down side is that we are now paying for TWO contracts whilst they overlap, the fixed line hasn’t kicked in with its free calls yet, my new swanky phone cost a small fortune and I can’t work out how to use it. But I am very excited with it. I know why they are called ‘smartphones’ its because you need a university degree to work it out. Having said that most people I know have them, including young children who have more modern technology than I even knew existed, and they can work it out….maybe its me? Anyway I have joined the 21st century and its all very exciting.
Oh and when I have worked out how to download my photos on my phone I shall show you the pictures of the dead boar feet that some villager has proudly displayed on his front door. I can show you this nice door knocker though and interesting cat flap.
there are many captions I could put here but I won’t
love this cat shaped cat flap.
Other photos I can’t show you are of the amazing butterfly farm we went to. They were so tame some even landed on shoulders, and having fun at the aqua jet place…. but by the time I write the next blog I will have a Masters in Smartphone downloadability.
We are horrified about what is going on in the UK and hope that you are all ok. If you need to get away …you know where to come
a bientot
THE FRENCH ADVENTURE 