Blogs

Forgot to mention our fantastic evening out at the Issigeac bodega last Sunday evening.

Bodegas are all the rage here in the Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne. Every year during July and August our local towns host a huge street party. They are organised by that towns rugby club as a fundraiser.

Bands play all types of music in the street. There are lots of food stalls and lots of people just wandering about, chatting drinking and eating.

It's a really enjoyable event for all ages and goes from around 6pm until the small hours.

There's usually a small entrance fee as a means of raising funds for some the rugby club. Well worth supporting, especially since Castillonnes were All France club champions in 2006.

Of course, there is great banter between each of the towns and as a result we're told that they get bigger and better every year.

Well Issigeac will be hard to beat.

Next up is Villereal in the Lot-et-Garonne on the 27th July. One of the stalwarths. Guaranteed to be a big night out.

The Eymet bodega is on Saturday 2nd August. This one is a newcomer.

Watch out for the Castillonnes bodega on the 3rd of August. It was apparantly the best of the lot last year.

Bonne Bodega!

I had intended telling you all about our experiences to date of renovating our French farmhouse and barn but at this time of year there are so many other distractions in our garden that I think I'll put that on hold for now.

The Dordogne countryside is teeming with wildlife. This year, though, is a bit special. We've been blessed with a visit from a very rare visitor to British shores, the Golden Oriole.

They seem to be more frequent summer visitors to France but are rarely seen.

We spotted a pair through the kitchen window of the barn feeding in our heavily laden fig tree the other day while having breakfast.

They seem to have made their summer home high in the canopy of a very old cherry tree in the wood behind our barn.

They would have been hard to miss. Not least because of their bright yellow body and jet black wings but they also sing beautifully.

Since then we've discovered that it migrates from Asia in the summer to nest in Europe in July.

What a sight!

You can find out more about this bird at the RSPB site

photo: RSPB

SO, what's the french property market really up to at the moment? There are conflicting reports from various different sources.

We reported last week that one of the largest nationwide network of French estate agents predicted a 10-15% drop in prices in 2008.

Today, in accordance with FNAIM, the French federation of estate agents, ERA, who have several thousand agencies across France, maintain that we are at the end of a cycle.

According to one of the company's executive directors, Jean Lavaupot, in a recent statement "We are currently in a situation of deja vu. We've already seen previous corrections in the early 80s and 90s. At each end of the cycle, the break in the momentum of rising demand leads to price stabilisation. The market has stabilized but is not decreasing! "

In other words, according to the branch network, everything is under control.

In fact, Mr. Lavaupot sees the current situation in the French housing market as a blessing. He says "the upward trend in the past decade has created some bad habits among professionals which has given way to service deficiencies and generated frustration among buyers and sellers alike."

He predicts that there will be considrable fallout and many more agencies will close over the course of the year.

However, ERA make no mention of the possible effects of the global economic situation on the French housing market.

All indicators contradict their predictions with exports down considerably in May on the same period last year due to a strong euro.

There would seem to be two different schools of thought among real estate professionals in France.

On the one hand there are those who remain convinced that prices have stabilised and will not decrease below the predicted 4% for this year.

On the other are those who say that property prices are on course for a 10 - 15% drop this year.

UK inflation is now at 3.8% with some predicting it will rise to around 6% by the end of this year.

Could the news over the past few days of the renewed turmoil in the US financial sector with government rescue packages for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae be the straw that breaks the camels back or is there more to come?

With precious little good news in global markets as the year progresses, it seems more improbable that the French property market will exit 2008 unscathed.

IT'S that time of year again. The holiday season in France has well and truly kicked off. Monday next is Bastille Day and a national holiday. So the chaos is expected to start this weekend.

It's also highly probably that foreign holidaymakers will share the same roads.

The following is quite a useful guide, published in today's Le Figaro, to road traffic forecasts all over France from now until September. Hopefully, you can use it to avoid getting held up.

Bonnes Vacances!

Traffic forecasts from July to September-Bison Futé

Key:

Green: normal traffic

Orange: movement difficult

Red: movement very difficult

Black: movement extremely difficult

Weekend from 11 to 14 July: red and black

Departures:

Saturday, July 12 is classified BLACK in Rhone Valley (access to the Alps) and RED elsewhere in the country.

 

On Sunday, July 13 is classified ORANGE in Rhone Valley (access to the Alps) and GREEN nationally.

On Monday, July 14 is classified GREEN throughout

Return:

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11, 12 and 13 July are classified GREEN nationally

Monday, July 14 is classified RED Ile de France and in the regions of the Far West and North.

Everywhere else is classified ORANGE.

Weekend from 18 to Sunday, July 20: very busy everywhere

Departures:

On Friday, July 18 is classified ROUGE Ile de France and ORANGE elsewhere in the country.

Saturday, July 19 is classified ROUGE everywhere

On Sunday, July 20 is classified GREEN across the country

Return:

On Friday, July 18 is classified GREEN across the country

Saturday, July 19 is classified ORANGE in Burgundy regions, East, Rhone-Alpes and South-East and GREEN elsewhere in the country.

On Sunday, July 20 is classified GREEN across the country

Departures:

On Friday, July 25 is classified RED in Ile de France and ORANGE elsewhere in the country.

Saturday, July 26 is ranked RED everywhere

On Sunday, July 27 is classified GREEN nationally.

Return:

On Friday, July 25 is classified ORANGE in Burgundy regions, East, Rhone-Alpes and South-East and GREEN elsewhere in the country.

Saturday, July 26 is classified ORANGE in South-West (Aquitaine, Dordogne,Lot-et-Garonne-Gironde,Landes), Rhone-Alpes and South-East and GREEN elsewhere in the country.

On Sunday, July 27 is classified ORANGE across the country

Weekend from 1 to August 3: The busiest weekend of the summer

Departures:

On Friday, 1st August is ranked RED everywhere

Saturday, August 2 is BLACK everywhere

On Sunday, August 3 is classified ORANGE nationally

Return:

On Friday, 1st August is GREEN everywhere

Saturday, August 2 RED everywhere

On Sunday, August 3 is classified ORANGE nationally

Weekend from 8 to August 10: difficulties on Saturday

Departures:

On Friday, August 8 is ORANGE everywhere

Saturday, August 9 is RED everywhere

On Sunday, August 10 is GREEN everywhere

Return:

On Friday, August 8 is ranked nationally ORANGE

Saturday, August 9 is classified RED regions South-West, Rhone-Alpes and South-East and orange on the rest of the territory

On Sunday, August 10 is classified ORANGE in the South-West and GREEN elsewhere in the country.

Weekend from 14 to 17 August: RED on return

Departures:

On Thursday, August 14 is classified ORANGE Ile-de-France, in the Great-West and North.

The day is classified GREEN in the rest of the territory

On Friday, August 15 is classified GREEN throughout

Saturday, August 16 is classified ROUGE in Rhone-Alpes regions and South-East.

The day is classified ORANGE elsewhere

On Sunday, August 10 is ranked nationally GREEN

Return:

On Thursday, August 14 is classified GREEN throughout the country

On Friday, August 15 is classified GREEN throughout the country

Saturday, August 16 is classified RED across the country

On Sunday, August 17 is classified RED Ile-de-France, in the Great-West and North-ORANGE elsewhere in the country

Departures:

Friday, August 22, is ranked GREEN throughout

Saturday, August 23 is classified ORANGE in the Rhone-Alpes regions and South-East.

The day is classified GREEN on the rest of the territory

On Sunday, August 24 is ranked GREEN all over th country

Return:

Friday, August 22, is ranked ORANGE throughout the country

Saturday, August 23 is classified RED regions South-West, Rhone-Alpes and South-East and ORANGE elsewhere

On Sunday, August 24 is classified RED in Ile-de-France and ORANGE elsewhere in the country

Weekend from 29 to 31 August: the decline was confirmed except in Ile-de-France

Departures:

On Friday, August 29 is classified GREEN everywhere

Saturday, August 30 is classified ORANGE in Rhone Valley (access to the Alps), GREEN elsewhere

On Sunday, August 31 is classified GREEN throughout the country

Return:

On Friday, August 29 is classified ORANGE throughout the country

Saturday, August 30 is classified ORANGE throughout the country

On Sunday, August 31 is classified RED in Ile-de-France and GREEN elsewhere in the country

 

photo: AFP

Thanks to Gerry and Cliff I can now rant to my heart's content but nobody actually has to listen to me.

I'm new to all this but I think it will be a nice way to let you know what we're up to and for me to keep a diary that I can't lose.

I will use my new blog to tell you about my new life in france. I thought when we moved here that life in the french countryside would be slow and relaxed with all the time in the world to do absolutely nothing.

That couldn't be further from the truth. Life here is hectic. But hectic in a great way.
Stay stuned and I'll tell you all about it.