Sunday 24th July – While the cats away…..

With beautiful blue skies and soaring temperatures the last week has been truly beautiful at Kergudon. As a result of the weather, the Lac Du Drennec has become even more attractive and we started the week with an early morning dip from the beach next to Au Lac restaurant. The water in the lake was like glass and crystal clear so we could see all the baby trout swimming around our feet, it was just divine and the water was cooling and refreshing and an absolutely perfect temperature for an early morning swim.gite in Brittany, Brittany holiday cottage, Brittany self-catering holiday cottage

Ben has made a short trip to England this week and will be back early on Saturday morning, so for this week I (David) am delighted to be your guest blogger. I hope you enjoy.

With our first ‘Super Saturday’ change over day looming over us I was rather anxious throughout the week while Ben remained calm and unfazed. This weekend saw our first Saturday of the season with all 4 holiday cottages changing over on the same day, so the race was on to get them all cleaned and set up in time for our new guests. The entire day on Friday was used to ‘set up’ the change overs. We had to give over our entire ground floor for the sea of linen, towels, robes and slippers, not to mention building the welcome boxes and writing all our hand written welcome notes. French holiday cottage in BrittanySaturdays are always full of mixed emotions as we say our goodbyes to wonderful guest whose company we have thoroughly enjoyed, and await with anticipation the arrival of our new guests. Both Garratt and Brandon are already missing their new friend Bonnie but this Saturday saw the arrival of 4 doggie friends staying in Priory this week one of whom is a Labrador puppy also named Bonnie!

Before Ben left we managed to get down to the lake once again on Saturday night for the annual Feu d’artifice (fireworks) hosted by Commana. Natrally there was a fantastic Fest Noz atmosphere with the obligatory music, dancing, food and beer, and as you would expect we partook in the latter two! Feu d'Artifice Lac Du DrennecThe feu d’artifices were magnificent as two rafts were floated out onto the lake and we all stood and watched in amazement as the display exploded and lit up the sky. We managed to grab a bite to eat at the restaurant which was, as always, excellent and Mercedes announced that she will be being interview on the Finistère Breihz Bleu radio station tomorrow at 10am (French time) and show casing one of her locally sourced and original recipes.Ben at Commana Feu d'Artifice au Lac Du Drennec It is sure to be an interesting interview so if you are available you should be able to listen live over the internet with this Breihz Bleu.

It is rather daunting preparing to start almost a full week on my own at Kergudon. Of course my usual jobs need doing and the mountain of linen and towels will take up a large portion of the week, not least as we are still surviving on only one washing machine in the boot room. Finally we have our own car back from the garage so hopefully I can continue to get rid of some of our rubbish that is destined for the tip, we’ll see if we can fit everything in. Ben has already started moving our fire wood in a temporary wood store which he constructed in the week in preparation for the works for the garage to start in a few weeks.

With the rise in temperature and the continued sunshine in Finistère, the new summer menu for our three course suppers is proving very popular. The local fish which is in season is just wonderful to cook with and our ‘Summer Seafood Stew’ is real tasty treat. private chef, holiday cottage in Brittany, Some of the local walks are proving popular with our guests with the wonderful country views and shade from some of the forest walks.

The boys are both doing well and still getting on like a house on fire. Garratt has a small problem with one of his paws with a little infection but it seems to be under control and with advice from our lovely neighbours and a quick trip to the vet. Hopefully it will clear up in the next couple of days but for now it is doing him good to have shorter walks. On that note Brandon has been out twice this week on the lead and is very excited about exploring the world outside of the Kergudon gardens, lovely as they are! Right now I’m trying to think of a little trick for Brandon to learn for Bens return. If you have any ideas please let me know as I’m struggling with my imagination. We will continue with more training for Brandon and start again with Garratt who seems to be getting a bit selective in his obedience, watch this space…

So in conclusion other than routine tasks the following week may be tame in comparison to previous weeks. I have however been delivered some wonderful shallots from a neighbour so a Compote d’échalote will be bubbling away later this evening.

I hope you have enjoyed my attempt at blogging. As always please do share with your friends and family and spread the joy of Kergudon. Until next Sunday have a wonderful week and enjoy the sunshine.

Bye for now!