Welcome back, and bienvenue to new subscribers - it’s lovely to have you here!

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Let’s begin : )

Alethea x

As a recovering (!) magazine lover - actually, scratch that, I still love actual, physical magazines - you can’t work in comms as long as I have without having some kind of media addiction!! Anyhow, I’m also here for the branching out of many publishers into podcasts… I’m liking the new Condé Nast ones, hence I’ve included this ad, they’re interesting and wide-ranging in subject matter - good for anyone who loves a tangent or just needs additional dinner party convo subjects up their sleeve!!

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Life beyond the gates

For eight months of the year, Madame’s entrance walls are adorned with tumbling pink Pierre de Ronsard roses. They were one of the first things I fell in love with when I viewed the property. Now, I’m not naturally green-fingered like my predecessor here so it’s been a learning curve trying to keep everything going. Fortunately, I’ve had guidance from my friend, Anna, who knows the gardens of this property like the back of her hand!

Knowing that my TBI has rather curtailed my gardening capabilities, one day last week Anna announced she would be over to put both Madame Alfred Carriere (on the wall of La Petite Maison) and the two Pierre de Ronsard to bed for the winter. It’s one of my favourite gardening jobs and always huge fun to do alongside Anna, both for a good chat and ‘rose pruning education’! However, with ladders not a safe space (!) for me still, nor the constant bending over, it was a huge relief that she offered to save them from my ineptitude! 

Creating the fantail of branches, deciding which ones to lose, replace and redirect is bizarrely satisfying. Not to miss out, I joined in for a bit, operating in my 80cm bandwidth zone, while Romy joined us as observer.

Thanks to Anna, all the roses are now beautifully prepped and ready to re-start their magnificent performance next spring. 

Delayed rentrée

Sunday morning puppy school is back - well, actually it has been for several weeks - but Romy’s excitement has yet to wane! With tons of new pups, it’s like being in a Disney movie! Early report cards suggest Romy has graduated from playing with puppies to displaying slight disdain for the young whippersnappers, and has joined the elder gendarmerie crew 😆

Manifestations & strikes

Village Armistice Day Ceremony

Like villages all over France, ours has a memorial to those from the community who lost their lives in the war. Every year, the village gathers for a solemn procession behind the Maire to the memorial. Children lay a wreath, Le Marseillaise is sung, and the names of those lost are read out aloud, each one receiving the response “Mort pour la France”. 

Pah to splendid isolation!

When I first began looking at properties in France, I had this (city-person!) idea that I wanted to live in splendid isolation, up a long drive, hidden deep within my property’s grounds. I dredged this up from my memory when remembering my search criteria for a video. Thank goodness I fell in love with Madame and that idea was kaiboshed!

I’ve been a little under the weather recently, which highlighted something I’m increasingly grateful for: the community I’ve found here. Imagine being incapacitated, with a dog who hasn’t yet learned to make a cup of tea (I mean?!), stranded in your ‘splendid isolation’, a mere 10km away from the nearest human. Nope. Non-bon. Perhaps lovely for a wild holiday escape, but not practical for everyday life. 

Instead, here, there are neighbours, friends, random roadside chats and people who notice when you’re not around. Once again, I’m reminded that it’s the people, as much  as Madame, who’ve made this place feel like home.   

Shifting seasons

Finally, November is starting to bring the autumn colours, copper tinted leaves and beautiful light - cue lot sof ‘ooh, the light’ walk commentary! Meanwhile, Madame is sporting her winter wardrobe - the chauffage has just been turned on, and she’s feeling all cosy. 

Here’s my latest videos ⬇ including the ‘château or farmhouse’ one that went a little crazy 😍 and if you’re one of the many new subscribers via that video, or YouTube in general, then an extra big welcome here!!

Need a peaceful rural retreat? La Petite Maison is available for longer term Winter rentals, up to three months duration, between November and the end of March, perfect for anyone house hunting, writing or just needing a change of scene. Email me directly for the remaining dates.

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Now that I’m a filmmaker - hahahaha, clearly not, but humour me for the purposes of this piece - I’ve been thinking a lot about storytelling. Not just the stories themselves, but how I like to tell them, and to whom.

Number one has got to be via conversational banter with a group of F&F, preferably around a dining table with plenty of wine and good food, but let’s face it, this isn’t generally an everyday activity - boo! Although it should be. 

Or via one-on-one chats. Many of my friends and I engage in extreme conversational banter over the phone. However, with my friend Iz, it invariably goes to another level. 

We excel at sharing stories with each other, however grave the subject matter may initially be, somehow we find some absurdity in it and end up howling with laughter, saying completely inappropriate things and diving down rabbit holes. It’s clearly a skill we bring out in each other! Or we’ll call each other just to share some observational nonsense of the day for a quick laugh. Boyakasha! 

Roadside chats are another favourite story spot: swapping tales with whoever has stopped their car to chat with me and Romy. It’s also how I’ve widened my circle in rural France, often sharing a story and chuckle by the roadside - and I love when these ad hoc chats turn into an unplanned 20 minute conversation - with no beeping horns or irate bus drivers! 

But, when you haven’t got a real, live person in front of you or on the phone, let’s say ‘joint first’ for me is most definitely sharing stories through the written word. I adore writing. Its forever been a place of solace, somewhere to park pesky thoughts - an active ‘pensieve’ for resolving life’s challenges if you like. It’s also somewhere I go to experiment, have fun with the silliness of everyday life and find ‘flow’. 

Writing and scuba diving appear to be the only two activities that calm my busy mind. Both have the same effect, everything else falls away and I can only think about one thing: breathing or the story. 

But from my first forays into building my YouTube channel, I’ve already decided that videos are fun! They may be new to me and require many skills I do not (yet) possess but learning how to mix my waffle with visual storytelling is proving enjoyable. So, this medium now sits firmly in second place. The thing I’ve noticed most is that I like to control every word (quelle surprise!) and writing allows that, but with filming it’s sometimes the ad hoc moments that work best. 

Here’s a brief shout-out to my least favourites:

But what I most love about telling stories is that sharing of human experience, and that inevitable moment when someone responds with a story of their own. Whether it’s across a dining table, over a cup of tea, down a telephone line, beside a country road, through these pages or now also, via camera, it’s that exchange that makes it all worthwhile. So, what’s your favourite way to tell a story, or to hear one?

More Snapshots of the Domaine Les Plonges ‘journey’ next edition.

Being able to buy fresh, seasonal produce at local marchés is one of the great pleasures of living in rural France. Once you’ve acquainted yourself with the various offerings, lengthy conversations and disagreements (ha!) can be had with neighbours about which market, on which day, has the best of what. 

Now, Madame is perfectly placed for a number of local markets, with year-long weekly offerings at Salviac, Daglan, Cazals, Gourdon, Sarlat, St Cyprien and more. 

If you’d asked me during my first year here which was my favourite, I doubt I would have said Gourdon. However, it is now firmly at the top of my list for a number of reasons, but primarily one above all others: the cheese stall. I mean, look at this ⬇

I love this stall, and so do many others. There’s often a queue of at least 20 minutes, but it’s worth every one. Not only for the incredible artisanal cheeses they offer - many from tiny local producteurs, and some quite unlike anything you’ll find elsewhere - but also for the random conversations I always seem to have in the queue. 

Everyone is without fail, excited about which cheeses to buy, recommendations are exchanged, Romy receives plenty of attention, and nobody seems remotely twitchy or in a rush. When it’s eventually your turn, there’s no harried service, instead the lovely couple who run the stall are generous with their suggestions and the goûter (tasting) before you make your selection. 

My absolute favourite visit of the year is for the Christmas cheeseboard, which has become one of my new little annual traditions with friends here. An opportunity to go slightly mad with the selection. 

While Christmas hasn’t historically been my favourite time of year, it seems I am gently coming round to more elements of it. Give me a few more years and perhaps I’ll have developed full Brasilian Christmas fever (à la, Adriano - read here for context!). 

My cousin Kiera won this year’s prize for asking the dreaded Christmas question in September. September?! Imagine Lady Bracknell’s delivery of “A handbag?” and you’ll have a reasonable approximation of my response. 

Anyhow, this past week, everyone seems suddenly to have resalised that we’re hurtling through November and Christmas will be upon us in a minute. Pff. But I do love my new cheese tradition 😀  

Perfect for: cheese, obvs! But also everything else. Gourdon is a proper local market catering predominantly to resident rather than being geared towards tourists. 

Open: All year. Saturdays, 0800-1300.

Part of a new collection of A&A Local favourites - places or activities that either sit slightly under the radar or are so consistently good that they stand out from the tourist trail.

Possibly you found your way here via Instagram? @domainelesplonges? If so, an extra Bienvenue! You’ll already know I love a good visual…

If you’re interested in the tech I’m using for this, it’s Beehiiv. I did a LOT of research on platforms and I’m happy to explain why etc in more detail, just ask. They’ve also given me a partner link, and this gives anyone using the link a 30-day free trial and 20% off your first three months on any paid plan. Note, it’s an affiliate link and I may receive commission on any purchases made through it.

PS: A Beehiiv / Instagram / me (!) glitch means I’m currently unable to share insta images - they will return!

Whichever way you subscribe, your support and readership is thoroughly appreciated and I’m delighted to have you along for the adventure! 💛