{"id":7230,"date":"2023-01-01T10:58:58","date_gmt":"2023-01-01T10:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/?p=7230"},"modified":"2023-01-01T10:59:02","modified_gmt":"2023-01-01T10:59:02","slug":"sunday-01-january-quick-as-a-flash-it-was-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/sunday-01-january-quick-as-a-flash-it-was-gone\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 01 January \u2013 Quick as a flash, it was gone"},"content":{"rendered":"

We hope you have all had a very pleasant Christmas doing whatever it is you like doing with people you enjoy doing it with!  We had a good Christmas here at Kergudon, David\u2019s Dad joined us which made up for last year\u2019s travel interruptions, and we have had some lovely guests in all of our g\u00eetes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, what hasn\u2019t been the same as 2021, has been the weather which has been decidedly \u2018Breton\u2019 \u2013 mild but damp to very wet and, for the last few days, extremely windy.  Thankfully no damage (that we can see yet) but we have had so much rain in a relatively short period of time, all the roadside ditches are full of fast-running water and the Lac du Drennec, which has been very low for many weeks, is now totally full.  Even for here these have been extreme and the ground can\u2019t absorb it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has meant that we have been unable to do as much of what we generally enjoy doing over Christmas and New Year \u2013 getting out and about with the dogs.  It does mean that we can stay inside and focus on the other festive highlight \u2013 food and drink!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We did manage a visit to a local Ch\u00e2teau with some friends the Wednesday before Christmas. The Ch\u00e2teau de Tr\u00e9varez<\/a> near Chateauneuf du Faou is well known for its Christmas displays and lights.\u00a0 We last visited the chateau, our only other time, for their Christmas lights in 2017<\/a> when the theme was Alice in Wonderland and geometric shapes and patterns were projected onto the front of the ch\u00e2teau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This year\u2019s theme was based on the, apparently true, story of when James de Kerj\u00e9gu met Jules Verne<\/a> at Tr\u00e9varez and travelled around the world with him in 51 days to get ideas to build the ch\u00e2teau.\u00a0 Sound a bit, familiar?!\u00a0 This year\u2019s exposition was considerably smaller than 2017 and the light trails far fewer \u2013 potentially due to the ongoing energy challenges \u2013 but the front of the ch\u00e2teau was an animation of James and Jules\u2019 trip that was quite fun (even if we did get soaked watching it!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last night, we saw in the New Year in Priory.\u00a0 A couple of weeks ago we decided to block it off from any New Year reservations as we have been very fortunate to have had a busy Christmas.\u00a0 We had some other friends arrive yesterday for a week\u2019s break so we thought it would be fun to entertain them in Priory.\u00a0 We don\u2019t get to enjoy our own wonderful g\u00eetes often enough \u2013 especially when they look so festive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my last blog<\/a>, I said that I would do my annual summary of what we have achieved in the preceding 12 months.\u00a0 Even when I wrote that I feared I may be embarrassed by the progress we have, or more realistically, haven\u2019t made!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2022 seems to have passed far quicker than any other year I can remember and, re-reading all the blogs I wrote (also far fewer than in previous years) things which happened in the spring only seem like a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not entirely sure why this has been the case.  Perhaps because we have been very fortunate and welcomed more people to Kergudon in the last 12 months than any previous year so we have spent lots more time just preparing and running the g\u00eetes; possibly because we\u2019d booked my \u2018significant birthday\u2019 holiday in January and I had spent all year looking forward to it happening (we travelled in November); or possibly because as we age it just happens like that \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly looking back on what I\u2019d hoped to achieve in 2022 much remains outstanding, some hasn\u2019t progressed at all and, arguably, some has gone backwards!  One of the resolutions I remember making was not to start a new project until I\u2019d completed the one I was working on.  That didn\u2019t go so well \u2013 although, occasionally circumstance dictated what had to be done!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The year started with the biggest project we were to achieve.\u00a0 As we had done to Priory in 2020 (then, although not knowing it at the time, \u2018assisted\u2019 by COVID and 4 months of confinement), we wanted to refurbish our second family g\u00eete, Gite Granary<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we had made significant improvements when we arrived in 2015 (we had to before we were prepared to let guests stay!), we didn\u2019t have the time then to do some of the bigger tasks that were required.  This year we could change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January started with stripping the g\u00eete out.\u00a0 It was a little sad as we had only installed the kitchen in 2015 and we liked it, but as we wanted to re-wire completely it was agreed that removing it completely would be easier for the electrician than trying to work around it.\u00a0 Thankfully, we managed to sell it and the new owners sent us some pictures in its new home where it will be used and loved for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Granary kitchen 2015 – 2022!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Granary kitchen 2015 – 2022!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Granary kitchen in its new home<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Granary’s bathroom prior to renovation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Granary’s bathroom ripped out for refurbishment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Granary’s kitchen beam repaired<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As with all of these projects it was subject to \u2018mission creep\u2019 as we either decided to do a little more or we found additional problems that needed to be addressed \u2013 re-rendering most of the ground floor and reinforcing ceiling joists were 2 examples.\u00a0 As such, the 4 months we\u2019d hoped to take became closer to 5 but we are really pleased with the finished result and, more importantly, so too were our guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The new kitchen in Granary gite<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Granary’s dining area redecorated and re-furnished<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Granary’s refurbished family bathroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One project that I wanted to do, and indeed made good progress on early in the year, was clearing the old vegetable patch.\u00a0 I had managed to clear a lot of it but then I wasn\u2019t able to focus on it for most of the summer so the bramble and knotweed grew back rapidly and I had to start afresh in the autumn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Starting the job in February 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Making progress in February 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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All bramble regrow by October!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Second attempt at clearing the old veg patch started October 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Equally, clearing the garage bay was something to be done \u2013 and something I made good progress with but again, when I have created a large clear space it becomes so useful for other things.\u00a0 Now it looks as though I hadn\u2019t touched it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One feature of 2022 that I will remember has been the extremes of weather.\u00a0 While it was windy in the spring thankfully we didn\u2019t have the impact that Storms Arwen, Dudley and Eunice had on the UK.\u00a0 What we did have later were the record summer temperatures which here led to a major heathland fire in the Monts D\u2019Arr\u00e9e, and many others which were deliberately started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thankfully we remained, just, outside any evacuation area but there were many road closures and restrictions on where we, and our guests, could go in the natural park for a while.  Most importantly, property damage was minimal and there were no fatalities in the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Kergudon’s barrel tables completed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I did manage a number of small renovation projects and one \u2018construction\u2019 when I created some barrel tables which we are really pleased with.\u00a0 These will go alongside the p\u00e9tanque pitch when that area is complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Otherwise it has been lots of trying to keep on top of normal things.\u00a0 Some more successfully (hedge cutting; planting new hedging to replace plants that have been lost, mostly to honey fungus rather than the drought) than others (weeding).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Griselinia planted to replace the dying privet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Griselinia planted to replace the dying privet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We continue to make investments in the accommodation, not just the material aspects but with fun things that we hope make a holiday here special.\u00a0 We have shared pictures of the Halloween pumpkins and Christmas lights and there are others we have bought but haven\u2019t yet shown on my blogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We have lots of projects planned for 2023 \u2013 many of which were projects planned for 2020, 21 and 22 \u2026  One of the major ones is to re-roof our chambre d\u2019h\u00f4te, Stable, as we found it was in need of lots of TLC when I was repairing a leak that arrived in one of the record downpours of the year in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will start the year, as we always do, with lots of plans and good intentions.  We will see how we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will resolve (again!) to write a blog on a more regular basis and hope to be better than 2022 and share with you lots of things completed and ticked off the, never shrinking, to-do list \u2013 or we\u2019d love you to come and see for yourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hope that whatever you resolve for the New Year, you have a happy, healthy and prosperous time and hope to see you at Kergudon sometime in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonne ann\u00e9e.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We hope you have all had a very pleasant Christmas doing whatever it is you like doing with people you enjoy doing it with!  We had a good Christmas here at Kergudon, David\u2019s Dad joined us which made up for last year\u2019s travel interruptions, and we have had some lovely guests in all of our…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ben-and-daves-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7232,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7230\/revisions\/7232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}