Days 608-614, 31 Jan-8 Feb '16, Massive Week of Outings. But before I tire everyone out with what we have been up to... have you ever heard of the concept of re-gifting? It's ecological, economical and environmentally friendly in the extreme. Just now I was out in the laundry, stroking Felix (the black and white puss) as he snuffled up his friskies for dinner. Then heard "meow" in Hero's attention getting tone of voice... (he's the huge blond cat). Hero had snuck up behind me. And he'd bought me a present with his very own money (claws?) A twitching vole lay on the ground at my feet. First off a vole looks like a small mouse with a one inch tail. Second... thank heavens it was at my feet and not under them - especially since I'd stepped back to have a look at Hero. Well since he'd been out in the pouring rain and howling wind "shopping" so to speak, it seemed rude just to scoop it up and dump it outside. So we made a big fuss over him (the cat) and then took Zara (the dog) out the back door along with the gift (that would be the vole... do keep up). Zara hasn't been able to chase, jump on and eat mice of late as we keep her on a lead... and we're sure she misses them... you can see where this is going right? Suffice to say, Zara is now licking her chops and all is fair and square in the household. Rather hoping Hero doesn't go and get us another one though...

And now, drum roll please... for the week that was:

Sunday 31 Jan 2016 (Really? End of January already? Only 11 shopping months 'til Christmas!) Went out for lovely roast lamb lunch at the home of some friends on Sunday. Miserable outside so absolutely perfect day for it.

Monday 1 Feb 2016: A chateau-chase to Verteuil-sur-Charente. There's not a lot open in France at this time of the year. Pretty much Paris and that's it. So we are making our own fun and planning jaunts to as many spots as possible just for a look. Verteuil has a lot to offer - a chateau straight out of a fairytale (closed), a mill with a hideously expensive cafe/restaurant (closed), a stunning river (in flood) - pictured, 2 restaurants/cafes/bars (closed) and a boulangerie/bakery (you guessed it... closed). Of course it was Monday morning at about 11 am... which doesn't explain it at all actually. On a positive note, we find it very easy to not spend money in towns like this (if not impossible), the crowds are limited to, well, us and the chateau, mill and river were picturesque in the extreme.

Tuesday 2 Feb 2016: Grimy day so thought we'd visit a little cafe/bar called Saint-Pierre in nearby Nere. Realised it was Tuesday (that's the day it's closed). Figured we'd go and recce another small restaurant that had been recommended (this time of year "recommended" is a synonym for "occasionally open"). Dire. Romazieres has nothing to recommend it - not even it's overpriced restaurant with surly madam in charge.

Wednesday 3 Feb 2016. Big day. Huge. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and we hit the big smoke of Angouleme for a self-guided walking tour and lunch. About an hour away, we are glad we waited for a fine day. Old Angouleme (800-900 years old) sits on a high peak and the wind was freezing as it whipped around the narrow, wind tunnel streets - but the sun was shining and we had a huge time exploring its cobblestoned history. We were craving something a bit exotic (and inexpensive) for lunch and ended up having Turkish. We stocked up on bread at the bakery then eventually tootled home via country roads, enjoying a thermos coffee and a brownie along the way. It's something we've become very wary of - never, ever assume there will be a cafe, corner shop or even a service station en route. Take it all with you.

Thursday 4 Feb 2016: Gallivanting about Angouleme yesterday certainly took the wind out of our sails, so this morning it was a gentle jaunt to our local village, Beauvais-sur-Matha. The van-market ("varket"?) in the square was a bit thin on the ground and the yoghurt truck wasn't there, so we repaired to the Tabac/Funeral Flowers "cafe" for a sit, a coffee, an instant scratchie and a bit of French practice on the ever-patient owner. All good.

Friday 5 Feb 2016: Finally, it's little town/big market day. Matha is a 20 minute drive from home and it's official street market day is the 1st Friday of every month. It was fun to see the streets semi-closed and have a look at all the stalls (no wine truck from Bordeaux which was a shame), but we bought a 5 kg bag of local Golden Delicious apples. Heavier than you'd expect after looking at all the stalls actually. Bought a stamp at the post office. Couldn't for the life of me remember the word for stamp ("timbre"), but got there in the end and bought some amusement to the life of the lovie behind the counter. The tourist info centre was open (which is rarer than it sounds... we've been here 3 weeks after-all) so we stocked up on local pamphlets. Rather accidentally we even found Chateau de Matha - it is quite small but we'd seen it on a postcard yet couldn't find it on any maps. As it turns out it's exceedingly well signposted... in the block immediately surrounding it. On the drive home I saw my first ever fox - really, astonishingly red and they do indeed have bushy tails. It was bounding across the fields and having a fine time. Honest to god... only fox I've ever seen prior to today was Basil Brush - boom boom! Later in the day James saw a colony of five rabbits (did you know that other collective nouns for rabbits include bury, down, drove, husk, lease, trip and trace - I certainly didn't). We suppose with the fox about that could be less by now (but our chickens are all fine and we're now getting an egg every day - not bad for 2 chickens in winter).

Saturday/Sunday 6-7 Feb 2016: We took a drive to the Limousin region via Chateauponsac to visit a favourite cafe (closed for the weekend) then on to Magnac-Laval. Pleased to say there's a cracking restaurant/bar/cafe or "RBC" called L'Escapade. We were starving by this point and treated ourselves to an actual sit-down, 3 course lunch for the not unreasonable price of €13/head. Entree was garlic mushrooms and salad for James and Quiche Lorraine and salad for me. Mains... Roquefort Beef Burger & fries for James... Boeuf Bourguignon, mash and beans for me (obviously haven't had red meat lately) and to finish a chocolate tart and a peach tart. Scrumptious. Little funny story - the two Frenchmen at the next table declined a drink prior to lunch as they were working. They had beer instead. Seriously. It just doesn't count as booze here. We continued on and spent a grand afternoon and evening with our local friends including a trip to the recycling centre - "Maximum!" - love that place - our friend acquired a stunning Art Deco statuette on a marble base - ideal for a mantle piece and the nice man at the counter gave me a little bling ring as a present. Definitely the right price. Lovely roast duck with chestnuts and veges for dinner (thank you Barbara!), a teensy bit too much to drink, yummy cooked breakfast (thank you David!) and a drive to quaint Montmorillon via Bourg-Archambault - a truly glorious private Chateau dating to 1478 - and before we knew it it was time to hit the road we were home again.

Monday 8 Feb 2016: Howling winds, steady rain and no urge to go anywhere at all. Thankfully Hero took care of the shopping and bought us a vole for entertainment!