Back again... After a short time away, we came back to Le Boulay with Mark and Charlotte in tow. We arrived early on Saturday morning where we were picked up by Jean Guy, who took us to get Magali’s car so we could drive on to Le Boulay. We dropped off our bags at the house and headed to the supermarket to get supplies for the week. Magali’s nieces were visiting from the Alps so they and Magali’s parents came to the house before we came back and the girls were already riding their bikes around the property when we returned home. We showed Charlotte around the property as it was her first visit, unpacked and sorted out the beds before more aunts and uncles arrived who were all going to the Creperie de Saint Blaise so we decided to join them for dinner and had the restaurant all to ourselves to enjoy our lovely meal.
The next day, we all started sanding radiators that Jean Guy had kindly removed before we arrived. We broke for lunch and the in-laws arrived with the girls so we started to play Mölkky and had a nice afternoon playing games and running around before we had a great BBQ in our recently built one.
Magali and I had recently been to the Camley Street Nature Park where they used hazelnut trees to make fences along the track, we thought this was a great idea especially as we have so many hazelnut trees on the property and they all needed trimming. So, we decided to use them to construct our compost area. We found the perfect spot and set about cutting some of the branches. We made them into the right size and tried to put them into the ground. Unfortunately, our soil is a little hard so we struggled to get them deep enough. After some toiling and starting to weave the other branches, we could tell it wasn’t going to work so we gave up for the day in hopes that when we came back, the soil would give. So we headed to the nearby lake as Mark really wanted to swim. It wasn’t warm enough for us to swim but Mark still managed to have a bit of a dip. We headed back to the house and had another great BBQ for dinner.
Tuesday was the nicest day weatherwise so we got up early and headed to Chateaubriant to meet Magali’s parents and nieces before heading to the beach at St Brevin Les Pins, about an hour away. We spent the day making sandcastles, playing Mölkky and swimming. It was a great day and we topped it off by having dinner at Le Relais d’Eugénie in Chateubriant which had a simple menu but was utterly delicious. The only thing putting a hamper on the evening, was that Mark’s sunburn from the beach had starting to settle in and he was in a lot of pain, maybe he should’ve worn sunscreen…
Wednesday was potato day. The day when Magali’s aunts and uncles come to do the harvest of the potatoes. We started the day split up, with Charlotte sanding one radiator, myself painting the other two while Mark and Magali tried again with the compost. They had managed to find a metal pole that made easy work of the soil and were able to put the supporting posts far enough into the ground to be sturdy enough to weave the other branches and it looked really great. Magali and I helped a bit with the potatoes while Mark and Charlotte continued what they were doing before we all joined forces on the compost to finish it off. We all dolled ourselves up and headed to the Michelin star restaurant nearby (Auberge de la Diligence) to have an amazing meal.
Thursday was a day of visitors. We had started the day with a bit more sanding before going to the shop to get our supplies to take back to London and then going back home for lunch before our guests started to arrive. Magali’s cousins came for a catch up and a look round the property, before the four of us headed to Parc Gonflable Aquatique in Pouancé for some fun in the lake, jumping around on an inflatable assault course. We timed it right as the weather wasn’t so warm and it was near closing so we pretty much had it all to ourselves. The fun was not without incident though as at one point Magali’s engagement ring flew off her finger and we all automatically thought that it was in the water, lost forever. But as fate would have it, the ring had somehow lodged itself in the crease of the inflatable course and Magali saw it shining in the sun, so she took it and gave to the lifeguard for safe keeping. I then had the brilliant idea to jump from the highest jump at the same time as Mark, he landed slap on his back and his sunburn while I somehow went full force with my ear so I couldn’t hear and was in pain for the rest of the evening. Luckily, we had a BBQ planned for our last evening so we all pushed through the pain to enjoy it.
Friday and our last day came far too quickly as always, we got up early, packed up the house and we were on our way back to London. At least our next trip is less than a month away and a big thank you to Mark and Charlotte for all their help!