A cycling holiday in South West France at Barrusclet

GOOD MORNING ~ BREAKFAST TIME 

We need to build up our stamina with a hearty breakfast. The sun is up, so the terrace is a great place to start the day and enjoy our french baguette and jam, fresh from Gondrin this morning. There are croissants, choclatines and fruit and yogurt. We have fresh eggs from our neighbour and lots of aromatic coffee. This could take a long time.

 Barrusclet is looking gorgeous  in the sunshine. Time to get out on our bikes. We have about 15 bikes at Barrusclet to suit adults and children. Bike hire in France is expensive. We have bikes you can borrow for free. I have searched for cycle hire in Condom and Eauze, our nearest two towns, and have come up blank. Lot's of gites claim you can hire bikes locally, but it might not be as easy as that. The joy of cycling through the french countryside is wonderful. The views are far reaching and on the country lanes the cars are few and far between.

 You can cycle for miles without even seeing a car. The fields are full of sunflowers in early Summer, and vines throughout the Summer and then in to Autumn when their leaves turn. The ever changing scenery makes the Gers region of France interesting all year round.

Arriving at Eauze Market about 15km away, we park up our bikes at the Thursday  morning market ready for a browse. The array of fresh produce is fantastic. We should have bought our panniers with us today.  As well as local produce you will find flowers, clothes, shoes, handbags, berets, and even hammocks. Sometimes even the odd piglet or puppy.                                                         

 The Abbaye at Flaran provides a bit of culture. It houses a small but interesting gallery, and of course the architecture is beautiful. It has a very calm atmosphere and offers some welcome shade from the sun.

Lunch at the beautiful medieval village of  Fources is always a favourite. The Auberge de Fources is so picturesque. We got there more quickly than we got home. But after a three course meal with wine and coffee included for 13 euros it was always going to be a long lunch and a wobble .......... home.

 Once back at Barrusclet the table is set for dinner ......If you think that all we do is eat then in our defence I can only say that we are in France, and  on holiday so food is important!

Just to burn off a few more calories I suggest a game of  keepy -uppy in the 12m x 6m heated swimming pool, and then a well earned power nap in the hammock, before a cold beer in the field .

Is it that time of day already?  We are exhasuted. Perhaps a midnight swim before heading for bed? Sweet dreams are made of this.

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

Bike hire in France, cycling holidays in France, cycle routes in the Midi-Pyrenees, bike hire in Condom, bike hire in Eauze, bike hire in Gondrin, gites with cycles, cycling near Toulouse, cycling near Bordeaux. Holiday rental with heated swimming pool and bikes and a tennis court nearby.

Renovating a house in France

Before and After

The Salon at Barrusclet

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

Would you believe me if I told you these two rooms were one and the same? When we bought Barrusclet in 2007 and started renovating we were in for a few surprises. Some were good and some were bad. This was a great discovery, and is one of my favourite details of the house. I had an inkling that there was a blocked up window behind that plastered recess, but I was really thrilled when we uncovered a beautiful arched window. (Always my favourite on Playschool). Also lurking behind all that mouldy paper and plaster was gorgeous stone wall, and a huge beam which had been plastered over was revealed in all it's glory. this is now the Salon at Barruslcet. Previously it had been used as a bedroom. There were no bedrooms upstairs when we started, in fact there weren't even any stairs.

Nerac in France

Mum and Dad are in situe at Barrusclet now until Mid October. Lucky them. They are staying in Lavender Cottage and doing pool maintenance and generally having a relaxing time. The house is for rent as  usual as Lavender Cottage is out the way at the back of Barrusclet. 

They are heading off to Nerac, about half an hours drive to get more salt and chemicals for the pool. We use Nerac Piscine for our supplies, and Giles is a really good man to deal with. He supplied us with the pool and lots of advice in the first place. 

Mum and dad are going to be tempted to lunch by the river Baise. I can't say I blame them, as it is a lovely spot.

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

A Place In The Sun

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

Beautiful Barrusclet in the afternoon sunshine. Summer 2012, and a great season is underway. The weather in France has been a bit all over the place this year. More rain than usual early on, but a heatwave over the last few weeks. Always plenty to do though whatever the weather.

Bike Hire in The Midi-Pyrenees region of France

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

Bike Hire in France. Bike hire in Gascony. Bike Hire in the Gers. Bike Hire in Condom. Bike Hire in Eauze. Bike Hire in Gondrin. Bike hire in Montreal du Gers. Cycle Shop Condom. Cycle Shop Eauze. Cycle hire in Gascony. Cycling holiday in France. Cycling in the Midi-Pyrenees.

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees
AT BARRUSCLET WE HAVE BIKES YOU CAN BORROW FOR FREE.
Bike hire in The Gers region of France seems quite rare. I notice that lots of gites say you can get local bike hire, but trust me, it is not easy to find ...... I haven't found any yet that is convenient to our area. But don't worry, when you holiday at Barrusclet we have in the region of 15 bikes that you can borrow for free. There are bikes to suit adults and children.  We don't provide helmets .... bring those yourself, but we do have maps, map carriers, puncture repair kits, spare inner tubes and tool kits. The bikes are a mixed bunch, not brand new or top of the range, but they will happily take you 20, 30, 40 km through very beautiful countryside. If you prefer to bring your own bike then we have plenty of storage in the barn.

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

I need to blog more often. Otherwise I forget what I am doing, and can't find my way round this blogging site again! Errrrr!

Fiat 500

November 2008
Grooviest little hire car we ever had. You will be amazed at how much laminate flooring you can get in the back of a Fiat 500. Poor muddy little car. Infact looking at this picture I don't quite know how we did it ..... it is a bit of a tardis.

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

Building work a mess

October 2008
The plasterers who have been a pain all the way through have downed tools and left us in the lurch. They are English .... probably moved to France to start afresh. They promise they can do anything and everything for us. But gradually as the months roll by they turn up intermittently and have basically started something in every room, but have finished nothing. So everywhere is now a mess. Eventually enough is enough, and when we won't pay them more money, they decide that they will bugger off. I am glad we didn't pay them more money, because they would have just taken it I am sure, and left anyway. His excuse is that he under-quoted us and that the job is not financially viable. so much for the french devi system. Mark wants to go legal. We take a bit of advise, but thankfully he agrees that even if we sue this company they will just delcare themselves bankrupt and we will get nothing of nothing. We can at least get on and find someone decent to finish the sork ..... but of course it eats more in to our budget, and we couldn't really have planned for this. Life moves on, and we are happy people, and he is probably still a fraud and a scumbag. I hope that if you are reading this, he is not your scumbag doing your plastering.

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

Nearly finished

June 2008
The pointing is nearly finished ..... It looks beautiful.

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

French Farmhouse Renovation

19th December 2008
Everything is coming together at last. Walls are plastered and even painted in some cases. Flooring is going down upstairs. We have opted for some laminate upstairs at the moment. Time and budget are running away with us, plus the main bedroom has some low beams and we need to maximise the height. May be one day we will be able to put down the solid oak floors we dreamed of.

The Salon/music room

The main Entrance Hall

Master Bedroom

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

More disasters at Barrusclet

June 2008

We arrive excited for a site visit. The exterior walls are being rendered in some parts and the stone work pointed in other parts. also the builders inside should have done the stairs. Soooooo Exciting.

Oh No .... It is all going wrong. Despite very clear conversations with mark, the guy doing the rendering has not done what we asked. Our own fault ...... BE ON SITE EVERYDAY IF YOU ARE RENOVATING !!!!!!! OR PAY THE PRICE !!!!!!!!!
Even if you have a project manager, you need to be there. We sadly cannot realistically be here all the time, and we do have a very good project manager, but even then things are misinterpreted.
The renderers have done a brilliant job. It is smooth, it is even, it is top class. But, they have not understood that this is an old house with character. They have destroyed the character on the end face of the building and the old stones around the doors and windows have vanished. The side wall of the games room is as smooth as a babies bottom ...... but it was supposed to be left as stonework. this render dries rock hard, and it won't be coming off in a hurry. Mark is so upset. I am looking on the bright side .... at least we got here in time to make sure they didn't decide to render the whole house. Even now, 4 years on, I still cringe at what might have happened if we hadn't turned up when we did.

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

Dec 2008
Oh Dear ..... our builders have thier own ideas on finishing round the stone work. they have done it all really neatly, and I feel guilty, but it is just not right. fortunately it chips off very easily. I am probably not their favourite person right now.

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

The Road to Santiago

Early Summer 2011. the pilgrims head off towards Eauze after stopping for coffee and biscuits at Lavender Cottage, Barrusclet.

You can walk, or cycle, or run straight on to The Road to Santiago from Barrusclet. Guests quite often like to take their early morning jog down the track through the woods and out across the vineyards.

                                    Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

The Road to Santiago de Compostela

The Route de St. Jacques, the road to Santiago de Compostela, El Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James.

Pilgims de St. Jacques at Barrusclet in early Summer 2011.

In 2010 an old right of way which runs through our oak wood was reopened. It is on the  Road to Santiago de Compostela. It is a route which guides the pilgrims between Condom and Larresingle, and their next stop at Eauze. This part of the route is only just finding it's way in to the guide books and so we only have a trickle of pilgrims walking by. But it is great to invite them over for a rest and offer them water and coffee and biscuits. You meet some really interesting people and Mark gets to practice his languages. This picture is taken outside Lavender Cottage with my dad and Mark at the back.

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

Cycling holiday in france

Cycling holiday in france with the Stourbugs.

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees

September 2011 cycling holiday with the Stourbugs at Barrusclet. Mark and I are members of Stourbug Cycling Club based in Stourbridge, West Midlands. Only 2km up the road we stopped at the beautiful church at Lauraet for a photo opportunity. We road a round trip to fources for a fabulous lunch on the terrace.
Cycling home was understandably an altogether more relaxed affair.

Bike Hire in France

Bike Hire in France. Bike hire in Gascony. Bike Hire in the Gers. Bike Hire in Condom. Bike Hire in Eauze. Bike Hire in Gondrin. Bike hire in Montreal du Gers. Cycle Shop Condom. Cycle Shop Eauze. Cycle hire in Gascony. Cycling holiday in France. Cycling in the Midi-Pyrenees.

Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees
AT BARRUSCLET WE HAVE BIKES YOU CAN BORROW FOR FREE.
Bike hire in The Gers region of France seems quite rare. I notice that lots of gites say you can get local bike hire, but trust me, it is not easy to find ...... I haven't found any yet that is convenient to our area. But don't worry, when you holiday at Barrusclet we have in the region of 15 bikes that you can borrow for free. There are bikes to suit adults and children.  We don't provide helmets .... bring those yourself, but we do have maps, map carriers, puncture repair kits, spare inner tubes and tool kits. The bikes are a mixed bunch, not brand new or top of the range, but they will happily take you 20, 30, 40 km through very beautiful countryside. If you prefer to bring your own bike then we have plenty of storage in the barn.

Everything is looking perfect at Barrusclet for the 2012 summer season. Only one week left to book .... the last in August. I have dropped the price to a bargain £1800 for the week. I'd rather have it used than empty. Some lucky person will be getting a real deal.
Barrusclet - French farmhouse to rent in the Midi-Pyrenees