Meursault

We got to the house a little after 17h on Friday 29 May as Jules had taken the afternoon off and Agnès finished school at 15h so we set straight off. The weather was nice and sunny and it is always nice to arrive a bit earlier in the day.

Jules went straight off to see if any of the thorns in the back garden had died and some had so he chopped the ones that overhang onto the road side. I think there is sone improvement.

Pruning the thorns

My flower bed seems to be showing some signs of taking off at last and I think if I add one or two more perennials then it will start to look more complete. There are also loads of little grapes on the vine against the house so I hope it will be a good year.

Scenes from the garden

On Saturday morning I strolled over to the boulangerie - it is so nice to be able to do this. After breakfast we took the 15 year old TV to the dechetterie and it was not even good enough (they said) to be re-homed so off it went to TV heaven. It served us well but its time had come.

On the way home we spotted a lot of elderflowers in Le Gros Chigy so we stopped the car and picked some. I also almost ran over a Hoopoe which was exciting (not the runing over but the seeing). At home I turned the elderflowers into cordial. You don't need many heads as they are quite pungent. From 18 heads I made 4 litres and also froze some to use at a later date. The cordial is quite nice - I think next time I will add some lemon peel when I boil it up to give it some more zest. We tried in half watered down with fizzy water and it was refreshing.

Making elderflower cordial

After lunch we set off for Meursault. Stuart had asked us to get some wine for him and so we went off towards Beaune. We had reserved a hotel in Meursault for the night, even though it is just over and hour's drive away we thought we would stay over and make the most of our trip. We arrived mid afternoon and first walked into the centre, which is very picturesque and larger than I remembered. We came here when Agnès was still in the pushchair and visited the Chateau de Meursault and their impressive wine cellars.

We then got in the car and went to a wine merchant along the main wine road and we tasted an Aloxe Corton Grand Cru and then a Gevrey Chambertin finally opting for the 2008 Aloxe Corton, which even after being just opened, was delicious.

In the evening we had a nice meal at the hotel and Jules had the biggest steak ever. Agnès managed to polish off two plates of the self service starters plus a plate of chips.

Meursault

On Sunday we left early and motored back to St. André. On the way through Cortevaix there was a brocante so we parked up and walked around. It was our first brocante of this season and it was quite good, although we didn't get anything, Agnès came away with a vet's kit for her toy dog.

After a bit of gardening and a coffee we left St. André just before midday stopping in Bellegarde to drop off the wine and to have a lovely BBQ with the Hearns.

The weather forecast is for 35degrees next weekend so I think we will come again and the Cluny pool is now open so that may be a necessity if the forecast is correct.

Brocante at Cortevaix