Tour de France

Cap del Bosc is equidistant between Villeneuve-sur-Lot and Agen in SW France.  If you’re a cycling fan, check out where Stage 11 finishes and Stage 12 starts next year …..!

Wildflowers

After some clearing of particularly ‘wild’ areas over the winter – we’re talking brambles – lots of wildflower seeds were scattered and we hope, in the not too distant future, to have created a wildflower meadow!

Wildflowers in May at Cap del Bosc

Merry Christmas!

Warmest Wishes for Christmas and the New Year, 2023!

May is the month

MAY is one of the very best months to visit SW France.  The countryside around Cap del Bosc looks fresh and new, the colours of the vegetation, whilst predominantly green, vary in shades from almost black to lime and every shade in between.  The verges along the narrow lanes are spilling over with the frothy, creamy coloured flowers of cow parsley.

Summer 2020

What can be said about the 2020 holiday season?  Who could have ever predicted, when booking a looked-forward to summer holiday in France, that the world would be plunged into the misery that is Covid-19.

Two families timed their fortnight holidays to perfection, the first departing England the day after travel restrictions were lifted, and the second family arriving home before the 14 days quarantine was imposed.  Understandably, all other bookings were cancelled and, ignoring our own Terms & Conditions, we gave full refunds to those guests, as a gesture of goodwill.

For the 2021 season, guests can book Cap del Bosc with confidence as we have adopted our own Coronavirus full refund policy.  In these unprecedented times we feel it is only fair, in circumstances where it is neither the guests’ nor gite owners’ wish to cancel a booking, but where the decision is forced upon us by Government restrictions, be that in France or the guests’ country of residence.

And isn’t it typical, that 2020 was a particularly hot summer in our little patch of South West France … and one of the banana plants bore an enormous flower and tiny little bananas …

COVID-19

The company used to clean and prepare Cap del Bosc for guests is following the recommended cleaning regime Good Practices Guide for Seasonal Rentals, as recommended by ADN Tourism, which complements the documents drawn up and made available by the French Government.  All Cap del Bosc laundry is professionally cleaned between lets and the laundry company has advised that additional protocols are being followed at this time (Toute la blanchisserie sont lavées avec l’adjonction d’un produit antibactérien, fongicide, sporocide et virucide notamment EN 14476).

If you would like to read the Good Practices Guide, or find out about the additional measures being put in place for this year’s guests staying at Cap del Bosc, please do not hesitate to contact us.  (July, 2020)

33 degrees outside …

It might have been 33 degrees outside, but I couldn’t bear to see all the plums at Cap del Bosc going to waste!  So, for a little bit of effort, a few jars of Mirabelle jam …  now to tackle the damsons and quince …

Relax and unwind ….

Favourite place on a hot day to relax and unwind, to read a book, or simply to snooze ….

Sleepy fawn

Awoke early, to find a fawn curled up under a tree, not 20 yards from the terrace –

It saw me, but didn’t seem too bothered as I tried (unsuccessfully) to get a photo from inside the house.  It slowly got up, stretched, and wondered off into the woods …… so cute!

Walnuts

Picking, washing and drying is quite time consuming –

when I’m washing them I wish I hadn’t picked so many – but when they’re dried and ready to eat, I wish I’d picked more!