Signs of Summer

Are these the first signs of the coming summer?

The fruit trees are blossoming!

The charolaise are out of the barns and back in the fields!

Then rape on the hill is turning yellow!

Dandilions flowering in the fields!

 

We are past the spring equinox and have had a very mild winter, so are hoping that there is not a cold snap before the summer as this would reverse these signs and damage the crops.

Things To Do In The Clunisois Area

The image below is from a map showing Cluny and surroundings, which can be found on the Cluny Tourism Information Office website. The darker brown area which we call the Clunisois Area (Communauté de communes du Clunisois) offers a range of attractions centered on Cluny a major religious centre of the Middle Ages.

Click Image to Download Complete Map

The map shows the villages within a short distance of The House at Le Gros Chigy that have interesting buildings and facilities although the keys to these is not on this extract. Click the map to access the full PDF document with the key.

Although even the church and grounds of a little village church like Massey are interesting, Cluny, Brancion, Cormatin and St Hippolyte are better known and offer more to the visitor.

The map is well worth downloading or getting a copy of as it holds much useful information.

Les 5 villages, 3 mars 2013

Have a look at the photos and comments in this post by Poirier Bouchot who walked a 20 km route from Salornay passing through Gros Chigy, le Bourg Rameau, Chevagny sur Guye, Passy and Chérizet.

from: Nos rondos et balades
(click image for full story online)

First Peach Blossom at Main Bedroom Window

This photograph taken from in the main bedroom on a non seasonal coldly, shows the first blossoms on the peach trees. The cherry trees are in full blossom - if we are luckier with the weather than last year we should have a great crop within the next months.

photograph by Joel
published under a Creative Commons license.

 

The Le Gros Chigy Chateau in Summer

A view of the Chateau and surroundings looking towards Cluny from the same position as the autumn view in the previous post.

Image by Gros Chigy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This time on a hot summer's day in 2012, when there hadn't been rain for sometime.

A Medieval Chateau for a Neighbour

I was just pulling out some photographs for adverts for the rental and thought it would be worth sharing some of them.

Image by Gros Chigy is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This is a shot of the Le Gros Chigy medieval chateau, taken from one of the windows on the East side of the house. I shows the amazing autumn colors and was taken in 2010. It also shows how close the house is to the chateau which does have the downside of significant burecratic controls on how houses are repaired or renovated.

 

Looking Forward to The Garden Looking Like This Again!

Although we are not in Chigy the reports are of a long winter which is getting too much.

So here are a few shots from The House at Le Gros Chigy, that promise better things for the summer - which isn't too far away.

photograph by ChigyTweeter

published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

photograph by ChigyTweeter

published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

 

Gros Chigy Street Party!

We heard about this function just before we left Gros Chigy the last time, so were unable to attend.

We see neighbours, acquaintances and friends which makes us miss Le Gros Chigy.

Some More Information About Saint André le Désert

The population of Saint André le Désert peaked back in the early 19th century and remained fairly constant until the 1880s when it started to decline until it reached its low level of today almost 50 years ago.

from: Annuaire-Mairie.fr
(click image for full story online)

I find this an interesting graph and am sure it contains lots of interesting revaluation and connections - maybe some more on this in another post.

There is quite a rise from Saint André le Désert to Le Gros Chigy with the minimum and maximum altitudes of 222 and 466 meters in the commune with the town hall being at 254 metres above sea level
The La Grande Ruisseau, le Ruisseau de Pressy and le Ruisseau de la Valle rivers flow through the commune.

How Small Is Le Gros Chigy?

Its not exactly easy to answer this, because Le Gros Chigy is part of the St Andre le Desert Commune. It is at the level of the commune that information is collected by the census. I did post on the administrative and geographic structure of Le Gros Chigy and the area early on.

from: GEOPORTAIL
(click image for information)

The data for St Andre le Desert is available online and shows that St Andre has a total population of 261 in 2009 , which is confirmed by one of the neighbors who sits on the commune council. This makes it the 24,072nd biggest entity in France.

Given that there are three "hamlets" within the commune (St Andre, Le Gros Chigy and le Bourg Rameau) and a few other concentrations of houses like Mazilly & St Michael its safe to assume there are less than 80 inhabitants in Le Gros Chigy itself.

Of interest to us as a non permanent resident is the number of houses, in 2007 there were 244 houses in St Andre le Desert of which only 127 where permanently occupied. The change over the years is show in the graph below.

from: map-france.com
(click image for information)

Thats enough for now, but other things appear as you scratch through the information.

Some HDR Photos From Paris, Chigy, Montceau and St Flour in 2012

photograph by GrosChigy

published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Le Gros Chigy's Nonexistent Road On GOOGLE Earth

A few days ago, a group of scientists busy in the South Sea Island area, visited the co-ordinates where GOOGLE Earth shows Sandy Island. They were intrigued that the island did not appear on their navigation charts and is blacked out on GOOGLE World and other online maps. What they found was not a newly formed volcanic island but NOTHING.

click image to visit site

 


Now we have a nonexistent road at Le Gros Chigy



While this is a throughway for the walker its not even suited to cycling except by the real cross country specialist and is too small for a 4X4. Google Maps shows it as the same size road as that in front of the house, so its not just illustrative. On top of that it gets a unique name! which not all roads in Le Gros Chigy do.

The House at Le Gros Chigy Weather

Image by Gros Chigy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.F

 

The Weather Not Playing The Game

This isn't some stiff upper lip Englishman's conversational comments on the miserable weather in the UK, but what's actually happened to us since we arrived at The House at Le Gros Chigy.

We had expected a cherry crop something like last year's when we arrived.

click the image to visit the website

We were soon to learn from the local gardeners that a late frost and unseasonal rain had resulted in a much reduced cherry crop which burst before ripening. A Neighbour had only managed a basket full compared to the weeks multiple baskets a day last year.

Then yesterday a vicious windstorm struck scattering the garden furniture.

photograph by Joel
published under a Creative Commons license.

A broken chair and table were small compared to disruptions to the TGV and roves ripped from houses in the area.

So hoping for better weather, it after all almost mid summer in Paris!

Renting the House at Le Gros Chigy

The time has come! Now that we will have finished the first round of renovations, its time to think about renting The House at Le Gros Chigy.

photograph by ChigyTweet

published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

The first thing is to decide what kind of business we are going to run. Could be a bed & breakfast, Gite, self catering, home away or vacation rental. We feel that we want something that does not put large day to day demands to serve the holiday maker. Therefore, it will most likely be a week by week rental which are variously called Gites, vacation rental, vacation rental, home away etc.

We feel we are well placed being close to Cluny, Taize, Macon and Montceau les Mines. Burgundy or Bourgogne seems to be a popular area. The Clunoise area in particular offers many attractions and activities, especially during the summer.

We would appreciate your ideas and thoughts on this, so please email us using this link. Have a look at the start of the advert here an give us feedback.

The House at Le Gros Chigy in the Snow

 For too long the site has been showing a photograph of a tropical looking waterfall. Now thanks to a neighbour here is a more representative winter picture.

 All rights served.

Flea Markets and Boot Sales - Puces et Vide Grenier

I am becoming a bit of an expert on Flea Markets and Boot Sales (Puces et Vide Grenier) here in Bourgogne!

The Vide Grenier at Sivignon was out in the fields on 14th July.



Paying 31/07 The one at Blanot was on a field in the town. This allowed them to charge an entrance fee which made them unpopular with buyers and sellers alike.



The Puces / Vide Grenier at Lounand ran from a few houses on the right into the road!

Le Papyllion - Bierexquise & Convivialithé Available Again in Soane et Loire!

If you have seen my post or the comments on Le Papyllon or you move around the area you will know that Wolfgang the proprietor, has recently started selling his vast range of beer from new premises in Cormatin

Driving into the parking near we were welcomed and encouraged by the sign below on the side of a commercial vehicle. This was the first time we had visited Le Papyllon in Crmatin. Our previous visit was three years ago in Bissy-sur-Fley

photograph by ChigyTweet

published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Sitting down under the trees and sampling a few beers gave us the chance to think about the change. The disadvantage that is immediately obvious is the location on a busy junction of the D14 and the D981, which means that there is a lot of traffic especially compared to the back road of Bissy-sur-Fley.

photograph by ChigyTweet

published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

On the other hand the Voie Verte runs right past the building and the Papyllon has put up a sign to tempt the thirsty cyclist! This and the passing traffic on those busy roads, seemed to result in much more business for Wolfgang which is great!

The actual setting under the trees is really great, while the interior looks comfy and warm for those cold winter days when an urbock goes down well!

photograph by ChigyTweet

published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Wolfgang was in good spirit and did not even raise the problems he has apparently had with French Beuraucrats, which made for a relaxed afternoon. He told up that he has re opened Papyllon almost exactly 20 years after he first started serving beer at Bissu-sur-Fley.

The most important thing was the selection of beers is still massive and the two I selected were really enjoyable!

The maps below gives an idea of where Papyllon is located - the interesting thing is its only 12 km from the House at Le Gros Chigy!

Mie and Sandwiches - French Bread II

Coming from an English background in South Africa allows me to look at the sandwich from a few different perspectives.

Sandwiches are named after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich who had servants bring him food in bread, to allow him to eat while continuing his other activities. The question seems to be whether this was to allow him to do his political paperwork or play cards while eating.

image from Wikimedia Commons

First a bit of definition - the french loaf consists of two parts the "croûte" and the "mie". In English there is no word for mie. So when we look at a loaf its bread and crust, while the French see bread, crust and mie. In fact they call a loaf of English type bread "pain de mie"!

I it's interesting to contrast three sandwiches which I believe characterise the cultures within with they are used.

The first - like those most sought after egg sandwiches of Mrs M at the CSIR in the old days or a proverbial cucumber sandwich. These are neat and precise much like the "upper crust" English who have them for tea!

image from Flickr

They are produced by adding the filling (which could be cucumber, sandwich spread, egg mayonnaise, marmite or similar) between two thin slices of bread (pain de mie) which then has the crusts removed and are cut into more manageable portions.

The second - a much heartier sandwich, more a meal rather than something to have with tea! The base for this is a good baguette sliced lengthways and completed with a simple quality filling. The filling is most likely to be ham, saucisson or cheese, possibly ham and cheese but not simply a long loaf stuffed with all the deli sandwich making ingredients possible!

image from Flickr

Size can vary, just as the baguette varies - the other day lunching on a merguez roll at a cafe, I watched as two leather clad bikers ripped into sandwiches the size and of an American Football. This worked quite well until a rather petit young woman was served the same sandwich and was reduced to gasping and pulling small mouthfuls off the bread.

The third - the quarter loaf which is two very thick slices of a white loaf filled with a meal often chips, processed meat and achaar. The quarter loaf in Gauteng is similar to the Gatsby in the Western Cape, both going back to the original intent of Lord Sandwich to provide an easy way to eat a meal.

image from a blog

The quarter loaf is a rough, ready and affordable way of eating a hearty meal with little finesse. A colleague even insisted, that when she was at school they placed quarter loaves under the wheels of parked cars about to drive off to get a compressed sandwich.

Narrow Roads & Streets

Coming back to The House at Le Gros Chigy yesterday afternoon we came across this in the road.

photograph by ChigyTweet

published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

With a bit of maneuvering onto the grass we managed to pass each other and continue on our ways.

It did get me to thinking about the difficulties of driving on French rural roads, especially while focussing on driving on the right hand side. As one moves off the motorways onto the as and progressively less important roads they get narrower and narrower

kwintessential defines the roads as:

Autoroutes, are highways with many lanes and a divider. Most highways require you to pay a toll to drive on them. Autoroutes in France are given the designation A and are marked by blue road signs showing a divided highway. These open roads in France are designed for long distance high speed inter city driving in France and many of them have petrol stations and rest areas with restaurants on the way.

Routes Nationals: These open roads in France are given the designation N and are well signposted main highways equipped with reflectors to aid night driving.

Routes Departmentales: These are secondary and tertiary local roads which begin with a D. They are smaller and not suitable for open road high speed driving over long distances.

Routes Communales: These are minor rural roads, not designed for high speed driving, although the fact that there are very few cars on them means that high speed driving, while illegal, may be possible. These roads begin with a C and are maintained by local communes who are the local government authorities in France.

Many roads are of a width that both cars need to have their left wheels just on the edge of the tarred surface or just off. This means what normally happens is when you see a car you slow down and edge apart. However, there are always those who are in a rush and you tend to meet on the corner - this is rather worrying for someone battling to find their position on a narrow road.

Then there are the really narrow roads where there is only tar for one car and the verge to the hedge or wall is so small that you have to find a place to pull off, allow the other car to pass and then continue.

This is even more the norm in villages where buildings right on the road or parked cars reduce the road to a single lane.

photograph by ChigyTweet

published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.