A Letter From France

Lovely!!!  Mind you, did I say spring? With temperatures over the last two weeks well into the nineties (94 as I write at 5pm in the afternoon) - one could be forgiven for thinking it was summer. Let's hope it lasts, although the garden is desperate for some rain.

April is the month we look forward to after the winter months – not just because of spring – but because we begin to see friends and family from the UK again. Our friends from Felixstowe came down to their holiday home at the beginning of the month for a few weeks so we have had lunches and barbeques with them whilst catching up on local news from Suffolk and drinking too much wine!!!

My eldest brother and his wife have also been to see us for a short break – great to see them again after a couple of years. We are fortunate in that we are quite accessible.

We are about 100 kms north of Limoges, which has a small airport and Ryanair fly in from a variety of airports in the UK and also Flybe from Southampton. Added to that, our village is situated about eight minutes off the A20, so in the past friends have called in on their way south.

School holidays

A word about school holidays: Whilst all school children have the same holiday period during the summer and over Christmas, the February half term and the Easter holidays are staggered. Each region in France falls into one of three zones – A, B and C – and depending on which zone you are in denotes when these holidays will be.

For example, our region falls into zone B so the Easter holiday for school children in this region didn't start until 14 April and they are still on holiday.

There is a good reason for this staggering – where do the French head for in February and at Easter? The Alps or the Pyrenees for their skiing. Allocating different holiday periods allows everyone to be accommodated.

Next year, the zone periods will be different so each has a turn of an early or late holiday.

Thanks to those of you who have emailed us to say that you are enjoying reading our newsletters – always nice to hear from you especially hearing about your own connections with France.

Utility bills in France

Electricity: The higher the wattage you have coming into your house, the higher the standing charge. Bills are issued every two months, usually estimated with accurate readings taken twice per annum. Ours are estimated very accurately.

Gas: Only the major towns are on mains gas. We use bottled gas for cooking.

Water: Everyone in France on mains water has a water meter, this being read once a year. There are separate bills for sewerage and drainage but a lot of people living in hamlets and smaller villages don't have mains sewerage and rely on a fosse septique – some with even less than this!!!!

Recipe of the month

Pavé de Saumon Atlantique (for six people)

6 Salmon steaks
200g crushed almonds
2 garlic cloves
5 small onions
parsley, tarragon
1 lemon
75g breadcrumbs
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180c;
Glaze the almonds in a frying pan without oil/grease and put to one side;
Peel and chop the onions and garlic;
In a frying pan, brown the onion and garlic in a little oil and then leave to cool before adding the breadcrumbs, the almonds, the parsley and a teaspoon of tarragon, the zest of the lemon and seasoning;
Salt and pepper the salmon steaks and place them on a oiled dish. Cover them in the preparation of almonds and herbs etc and cook for 25 minutes.