The Scots are alive and well in Tusson

After a lazy Sunday moving between our sunny walled gardens, and smelling the rose scented breeze, we set off for our daily walk. Its become routine after 4 weeks in France, and Roger has surprised himself by actually conquering some hills, which he has viewed as small victories for his ongoing fitness, as, surprise, surprise, he is no longer breathless. His heart must be rejoicing, as is mine! I will generally set off 30mins before him and conquer some hills at my usual 6km per hour speed, before meeting him to walk the last 30 mins home together. We collectively conquered 6.3kms on Monday, on good sealed roads criss-crossing the paddocks of grapevines, flax seed, and maize, with only a couple of cars along the way.

One observation we've made is the incongruity of the road signs. The give way signs are always in French, 'cedez le passage' whilst the stop signs are only ever in English. The French word for stop is 'arret'. Go figure. And while we're on the subject of rules, we have noticed several manual car wash bays on the outskirts of some of the larger villages, and they are often very busy. We used one ourselves outside of Aigre, since the 'red machine' was in need of a wash. We figured that they were probably necessary as the locals do not really have driveways to their houses, cars are generally parked in the street and the front door (or gate) opens directly from the street. However Roger's research discovered that it is actually illegal to wash your car on your own property - in order to avoid the detergents getting into the drainage system. Just another positive environmental outcome in France.

We had heard of a fabulous patisserie, 'Gateaux', in a little village called Tusson, about 25 mins from here, so we ventured there late Monday morning for my coffee fix. Imagine our surprise when we were greeted by a broad Scottish accented women, wearing a white bakers beret, mid calf dress, apron and runners. She was typically quite officious, so we ordered promptly and sat out in the beautiful garden, surrounded by a plethora of plants, all for sale as the patisserie also doubled as a petit plant nursery. Such an enigma!
We solicited a wee bit more info on the way out, to learn that she came from Paisley, a town right beside the Glasgow airport, but it would have been stretching the friendship to go much further with the conversation.

Apart from ' Gateaux' the only other shop in town that was open was 'La Maison Charente', specialists du Canard et du fois gras. A visit was essential and purchases made, all in the name of supporting the small enterprises of France, that are the epitomy of the food culture we love here. We walked of our indulgent morning tea and discovered a very pretty village with several artisans shops including a couple of potteries. We passed four people in the hour we walked, likely European tourists, but the locals were no where to be seen. We did discover a Distillerie Jardin Medieval, tucked away behind the closed tourism office. The huge copper still was just as it was left, and a delightful rustic herb garden had been restored and maintained, in a very natural way in the walled garden behind. This opened onto more fields of daisies buttercups dandelions etc all in the name of bees. C'est la vie!Læs mere