Richard and Jackie

After saying our farewells to Richard and Cheryl in Duras, David and I set off for St. Foy la Grande, once again reminiscing about our camping trip to Baillou and the invite to Dave Beattie’s 60^th birthday in the nearby villa that once belonged to Sinead O’Connor. We had planned to buy an artisanal “tarte de pommes” in the little baker’s we knew of next to the supermarket in St. Foy to take to Richard and Jackie’s [Richard being my former head at Barkerend] but had forgotten that everything shuts down in France on a Monday! Panic set in but we did manage to find a flower shop on the journey towards Angouleme, and a supermarket that was open.

We had more sat nav problems finding Richard and Jackie’s and found ourselves on some tiny lanes in the middle of the French countryside once again. Very scenic but also very time consuming. However, we found their house eventually and spent a lovely evening there. Jackie had prepared a chicken casserole which was very tasty, and after pineau, pernod, wine, brandy and cheese, we found ourselves still all chatting away at midnight.  We didn’t even stop talking enough to have a tour of the house – that took place the next morning.

The next morning, we had breakfast in our van, then went into Richard and Jackie’s where we all sat round the table in their kitchen once again. Richard showed us a book of recollections from the Polish community he grew up with in Hereford after the war. There were photos of him and his family as well. Times were hard for families who had lost everything they had in Poland and were having to make a fresh start in a foreign country. I noticed that, keeping to the old ways, the community grew a lot of their own food and had a communal cabbage slicer for chopping cabbage before pickling it. All very interesting stuff.

They then showed us around their house. It is very spacious, especially since they have converted the barn at the side and made it into an almost self-contained apartment. It had a beautiful curving wooden staircase leading to the upstairs. Our van [and even our house back at home] is going to feel very small again!