Alemann Adventures

It seems that every village in our region has a fishing pond or river. We have seen a few people fishing at the pond in Chemery a well as putting out pots for crayfish. We bought James a fishing license and little rod so that he could have a go. So far he has caught 1 crayfish but it's lovely sitting by the pond and watching the world go by. Last weekend Pierre invited him to fish in a competition at the next village. As a team they got 2 fish and came 6th place. Pierre had all the gear so they had a good morning despite the rain. In typical France style the morning tea and lunch took twice as long as the fishing itself. Chemery pond - James and Grandad HIs first catch Sophie at the competition James and Pierre Prizes! Obligatory lunch The fishing comp gang

  Sophie's birthday was 21st May; it happened to be a Wednesday so both kids had the day off school. It was tricky choosing somewhere to go as the weather wasn't looking good but she decided on a day trip to Centre Parc Le Bois aux Daims (the deer wood). Center parcs are up market holiday parcs known for their nature themed camps and big indoor swimming pools. It was perfect for Sophie as she got to do her favourite things, animals and swimming! It would be great to try and get back there sometime, there was so much to do we didn't even scratch the surface in one day.

  Wow, this was a real treat! The mayor messaged Daniel one afternoon simply saying "If you want to go up in a balloon come and see me at the town hall in the morning". We knew multiple balloons would be taking off from behind the village castle in a couple of days as part of a tour of the region, so we went anticipating that they would be selling tickets on some of the balloons. We were actually being invited as guests of the village to go up in one of the montgolfiere (hot air balloons)!  Unfortunately  the minimum age was 12 years old so the kids missed out (again great timing that Mum and Dad were here to look after them). We met outside the castle and were assigned a pilot. One of the other villagers then let us swap pilots to a team that spoke English, a very kind gesture (they must have seen us looking a bit lost). We flew with a team from Belgium who had driven here for the week for the balloon festival. We flew at about 10km per hour over to Jamestown (Selles-sur...

Another castle visited with Mum and Dad - Chateau de Chenonceau - is a 30 minute drive from our house. This one had a much more interesting history as it had been passed between members of the royal family before being sold a few times. It survived the French revolution and acted as a hospital during WWI. Each period of the chateau's history was presided over by a clever, forward-thinking creative woman. When I find the brochure that we got at the castle I will update here with a bit more information!

  The Chemery school PTA (we think - still haven't worked it out 100%) hosted a bingo night at the large village hall on a Friday night. Doors opened at 6pm with bingo starting at 8pm. We thought it would be a bit of a late night so the kids stayed home with Mum and Dad (good timing for them to be here!). We turned up at 7pm expecting to see a smallish crowd and be home by 10.30ish. How wrong we were! Bingo is serious business in Chemery it seems. Most of the village would have to have been there and the last round of bingo finished at 1am. Apparently the PTA were there cleaning up until 3am. The prizes were incredible too, air fryers, an electric scooter, hot air balloon rides, a Nintendo switch and cash prizes up to 500 Euros were on offer to name a few. The locals all came with their bingo counters ready to go and magnetic wands to sweep them off at the end of every round. It was challenging keeping up with the numbers all in French but we did it with a lot of help from Laura (s...

Our first castle of the trip (probably of many) was the Chateau de Cheverny. It was built in the 17th century and one wing is still lived in by the owner's family. It has several furnished rooms open to the public, beautiful grounds, an orangerie (now a cafe) and 120 hounds used for hunting. There are many lego models inside the chateau, and huge Easter decorations thought the grounds whilst we were there. The chateau was also the inspiration for the Chateau de Moulinsart in the Tintin books and there is a Tintin exhibition open. We also took an electric car and boat tour through the woods and down the canal which was very relaxing.