Returning to Europe with pets

[Old Daffodil]

By law dogs have to be chipped and registered by the age of four months in France. If a dog is not chipped and registered and found wandering wild it is immediately handed to a vet to be destroyed by injection. Anyone identified as abandoning an unregisteted dog is given  six months prison sentence plus a stiff fine. The laws sound harsh but dogs are well accepted here if they are cared for pets and we have seen them allowed into restaurants with no query.
Last night we heard our dog barking in the garden and went to check what the problem was. A small plastic rubbish sack I had put out in the garden to take to the bin was bobbing across the lawn. On closer inspection we found a hedgehog pushing it along with its nose trying to get inside!

[Old Daffodil]

There are  a quite a few English horse lovers living in this area and I have been offered rides on some horses to help with their exercise. It is very pleasant riding and walking the dogs in the early morning. I have seen deer and apparently there are wild boar here but I have never come across them as yet,probably off the tracks deep in the forest. I have noticed a tinge of Autumn starting in the trees and ferns today. The temperatures have been between 18 to 32 through the summer but are a bit lower in the morning now. We have had a few showers on a couple of days too.

There are a lot of wind farms in the area. I can see across the valley for about ten miles from our cottage and at night I can see
the lights from six wind farms. The harvest of wheat etc has been done and a few days ago they covered the fields with chicken manure,phew!It is ok now and the seed machines are going around sowing the next crop.

We arrived in France in time for the Le Mans races and then the Tour de France race was won in Nantes by a Spaniard before they went up to Paris for the end. There are country festivals in some villages on quite a few weekends where people show off their livestock and there is music later in the day sometimes. A British style pub near here is called the Famous Knight.

I am starting to manage the language a little better and manage the bonjour,bonsoir,au revoir without thinking about it. I find that it is considered polite here to say bonjour if you go into somewhere like a waiting room full of strangers and not just walk in and say nothing as we do in England.  

There is not much choice of clothes around here and they are expensive. A plain white t-shirt in the only supermarket in the area cost about ten euros. I am surprised that no one has nipped over the channel to the local markets  here to sell some clothing.

[The Crinklies]

Ovacikpeedoff - did you receive our e mail?

Thanks.

[Ovacikpeedoff]

No. If you wish please send it again.

Lennie has made me eat my words. We thought he was settling down and losing his wish to stray. Yesterday he knackered me. I spent over 2 hours in hot pursuit. I could get within 20 yards of him and then he would shoot off again. He had a fantastic time. Every village in this part of France has a lake or a pond and Lennie decided he fancied a swim so off he goes into the lake. He comes out and runs off to the next pond where he decides to have another swim. This chasing went for an hour and a half and he actually was going away from the house all the time. When he finally surrendered it took us an hour to get back.

Took him out this morning and he was very subdued. Now he is in his kennel fast asleep. The big bugger

[Old Daffodil]

Somebody in the village where he ran to also had just laid cement!!!

Entente cordiale out the window do you think or cementing a friendship?

[Old Daffodil]

There are excellent refuges in the area for dogs but today we visited a refuge at Chateau Gontier which is for many other types of animals. The refuge is used by many animal agencies such as WWF and houses anything from seagulls,parrots chickens to a bear,leopard,lions,tiger,camels and puma.There are islands on a lake to house baboon.I was amazed to see so many ponies. The name of the place is called Refuge de l'Arche and is very popular with families as it also has a playground and reasonably priced cafe. Chateau Gontier itself is a beautiful historic town on the river Sarthe. The animals are well cared for but I am sad that they needed rescuing in the first place,I believe animals should live in their natural habitat as much as is possible.

We are finding out more about life in France every day. I was surprised to find that you do not pay any car road  tax on French cars unless they have emissions above 245 which means a larger car over 2 litres or a 4x 4 vehicle.I think it is about 160euros a year on a big car.The MOT is every 2 years.
There is only one large supermarket in this village and it carries a good stock of food. Bread is about on average 66cents for a french stick,eggs 6 large for an average of 1.15euros,butter 250g is about 1.15euros,potatoes 1.32 a kilo.3 large peices of fillet steak were 5 euros,5 chicken breast were 4.77,salmon steaks 16.85euros a kilo.So food is reasonably priced.The quality of food is very good too.
There are small shops along the high street which are specialist shops such as butchers,chocolate and pastries and there is a market on a Saturday which has a stall selling freshly cooked meats such as Pork,ham,chicken and partridge as well as huge round pans of paella. A man also sits at the edge of the market with a machine for sharpening knives or tools.
It is good trying out the French language when we shop but I am sure they don't understand our accent!:D

[Old Daffodil]

One of the chateaux held a "Wag and Bone Weekend" here recently. This meant that dogs were invited to go on a walk with their owners around the grounds and there were activities such as "Doggy dock diving" into the lake (toys and sticks were allowed to be thrown in as encouragement). Also there was chariot pulling which meant one or more dogs pulling some sort of vehicle which ended up being anything from a team of huskies pulling a cart on wheels to wheelchair users and a blind man on a scooter each with their own dog pulling them!There were also plenty of doggy treats in the refreshment area. The second day owners were asked to leave their pets at home as it was a day for professional dogs to show their skills. Police dogs,agility training and guide dogs were some of them. Of course there was plenty of refreshment available!:D
I believe they raised quite a good amount of money for the dog refuge in the village.

Living in a farming community I have noticed how many different breeds of cattle are here in France.The herds are quite small usually. I have seen loads of Charolais which are white. There is a cow here called the Normandie which is brown and white but huge compared to a Fresian,apparently it produces a good quantity of milk which makes lovely cheese,veal and beef. Perhaps that is why filet steak is only 18euros a kilo. I have even seen a small herd of Aberdeen Angus.In the Limousin area the local cow is a reddish brown colour.Of course there are the Jersey and Fresians too.
 The local forum here is nothing like CBF and usually has people offering chickens and looking for cattle feed.People often advertise offering lifts or asking for lifts to share the cost of travelling to Britain.

The nights are drawing in a little now. In the summer it stays daylight until gone eleven at night I noticed. The temperatures are about 23 c usually now, quite nice.  

It seems to be the practice here to buy a piece of land and then employ one of the local building companies to build a house or bungalow which you can choose( and modify if you wish) from a catalogue. Prices start at about 50,000 euros.If you are building in a very rural area and not on the edge of a village then you may need to add the price of a fosse septique(septic tank). Builders do not seem to build them and then sell them. Off course lots of Brits have renovated barns but a good renovation can be 80,000 euros.

[Firo]

A little info on the weather during your months there would be very interesting..we love reading your updates

[Old Daffodil]

Hallo Firo,

The weather today is about 24 and sunny. We had a few days just over a week ago of rainy nights and mornings but it was not very heavy rain and cleared late in the morning. We have been here since June and it was in the low 30 c then. Local people are saying that it has been cold for August but it has not dropped below about 18 degrees in the morning and a little warmer in the afternoons and sunny. I have really noticed how long the hours of daylight are here. The sun has still been out at ten at night in June and the sunsets are glorious. We have not had any strong winds but the wind farms are turning up on the hills. We have been warned that February is a cold wet month and you need welly boots in the winter,we should be back in England by then. Local houses are all stocked up with wood for their wood burners.  

[crazydave]

Hi,this is what ive been told by a bloke i know well he said he took his dog over to Rhodes from Marmaris had all the blood tests and Rabies jab done there and chipped in one day,then brought the dog back to Fethiye with him after that he went back to Rhodes for one last visit to see the Vet and get all the paperwork etc,he then kept the dog here in Fethiye for six months before leaving by car for France,when he arrived in Calais he then went to a local vet who checked whatever as to be checked but he told the vet he had been living in Rhodes with the dog for the quarantine period, so off they went across to England,ive phoned him before posting this to make sure i got it correct, if anyone wants to contact him let me know and i will give you his number by email.