Skip to main content

Bruniquel


Sunday's we usually try to make a day off, apart from the animal routine of feeding and checking their all in one piece it's a time for relaxing or getting off the farm. Sunday the sun shone and after Farmer J had milled cereal for the pigs to last them the week and I had cut enough grass for their tea we packed an impromptu picnic and headed off to Bruniquel, a small village in the Tarn et Garronne department around an 50 minutes drive which had another plant fair.

Stopping on the way along the Aveyron river for our picnic it was lovely to feel the heat of the sun. Today was hot, I had my legs out for the first time this year.


 Bruniquel is perched up the top of a hillside, parking at the bottom we walked up the hill, it's not as steep as some  villages around but villagers must of been pretty fit in the days before cars.


 The plant fair was held up the top amongst the two chateaus, yes Bruniquel has two chateaus built next to each other. This is due to a family freud between medieval viscounts. The new castle was built between 1485 and 1510, so it's still pretty old a new doorway was built and a dividing wall between the two.


This is the entrance to the old chateau it was left to ruins until 1987 when the villagers raised funds to buy it and are slowly renovating.  It looks like a huge task, some rooms are out of bounds without floors and others look like they should be out of bounds but visitors can still look around. I'm sure health & safety would have something to say about the arrangement in the UK!


There were  stalls selling lots of specialised plants -roses, cactus, herbs and bonsai -not many veggies at this one, which is what I manly seem to buy as our 'garden' is shared by 3 dogs who like to dig. One day I will have a flowery pretty garden to sit and contemplate but for the moment time is used on veggies and wedding.


loved this quirky water feature





We walked around the village, with around 600 habitants it was very quiet. There's a few cafes and workshops - a weaver and jewelry maker. the post office and corner shop as well as quiet a few B&B's. Like many french villages in the winter with no tourists and second homers i imagine shutters are shut and everyone hides away. It gets very cold here, colder than what we and many English who live here all year round thought!





We drove the scenic route coming back along the gorges of the Aveyron, entering through rocks that had been blasted to make a tunnel we stopped  at a view point to take photos and admire the view.  Finding a path that leads you from the road we found a bench just waiting for us and the vista below. Half an hour read and a few photos we left in time to get back to the animal feeding.


Looking the other way.





Comments

  1. Looks like it was a beautiful day. Great photos - the river/gorge looks stunning!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rabbit proof fence

In the hope of not loosing anymore greenery in the veggie patch today was spent today taking down an old fence which was put up around eight years ago. As it had a few holes in it this could be where  the rabbits are getting through. On the other side of the fence a chicken run was constructed were table chickens grew to a really good weight until we got a batch that had been, what we think were contagious with Mareks disease. Subsequently we stopped using it for chickens putting a litter of pigs in the area to get them use to electric fencing (which they did). It has been left empty for around 18months now with Gorgon and the girls have made break trough's through it last year gaining access into the veggie patch but now there's a lot of weeds. On the other side of the veggie patch is another old holey fence which has now got the recycled one that was taken down put in front of it, new posts and a trench dug to lower the wire in, earthed up and stones put on top

Happy cattle

For five months the cattle have been eating hay twice a day but today was their time to go back to pasture, they were more than ready. With two loads in the trailer going to La Contie the rest, the naughty but nice ones stayed at La Singlarie. Calves are on green grass for the first time following the herds around. Now for Spring time jobs to get started - so much free time for farmer J. Fencing, tidying around the farm, getting machines ready for hay cutting, getting the gites gardens ready for Summer and a new bathroom to fit, his feet won't be touching the ground.

Parisot lake

As it is a holiday today here in France (Bastille Day) we took the afternoon off an popped over to Parisot lake for a walk with Sorrel. It has all changed, since the lake was emptied and cleaned up this year you can now swim in it, as well as inflatable toys to play on, a life guard, bikes to hire, a new fenced in play area for small people and a total spruce up. But there is a price we were charged! 3 euros an adult, which I guess is OK if you are using the facilities but Sorrel didn't fancy a dip. The cafe is still open but that would of been too much for Sorrel to cope with being so close to people and music so we opted for a bench to sit on in the shade before walking around the lake. Sorrel opted for being Billy no mates and laying by herself, if be it for a short period of time before bikes and people went by. We are now waiting for the free firework celebrations over the chateau tonight - if we can stay up that late.😃