During our last holiday to France, when we travelled throughout Brittany and Normandy, we had the wonderful good fortune to meet some lovely French people, 2 couples in particular (Fanny and Teddy (in Rennes) and Michèle and Eric (in Taupont, near Ploërmel),  and we have stayed in touch with both. In fact, we are catching up with Fanny and Teddy for dinner in Paris, before we return home.

Yesterday, we had the same good fortune again. We met Petra, by virtue of sitting next to her in the little cafe ‘la Terrasse’, in which we had chosen to have a coffee. Originally from Germany, she met her French husband while at university and has lived in France now for more than 20 years. What was meant to a quick coffee break, turned into several hours of wonderful conversation, an exchange of names and mobile phone numbers and an arrangement to meet up again, later this week. She was delightful, so I’m really looking forward to that second coffee.

Our good fortune has continued. Several days ago, I’d seen a street in Montmorillon which really appealed to me. I’m not sure why, really.  At the time, it had been getting a bit late, so yesterday, after meeting Petra in the cafe, we decided to walk back to the interesting rue and see what it was that had attracted me so much. It’s funny how life goes, because as it turned out, at the end of the street was a house for sale that we had seen and loved many months ago, during our searches for French property on the internet. We couldn’t believe it. The neighbour was in her garden, we said the customary ‘bonjour’ and she came to the gate for a chat. She could speak almost no English, so once again, my French lessons held me in good stead. I explained that we had seen the house next door for sale on the internet and that we thought it was lovely. Josiane invited us in, as her garden had access to the garden of the house for sale, and she took us on a tour. She loves gardening too, like me, so we had much to talk about. Then she took us to another neighbours house, Mme Marine, as Josiane knew Mme had a key to the house, which is currently not lived in. Mme Marine was also delightful and they both happily took us through the house, explained when it was built (1950), how long it has been on the market (2 years), why the British owners were selling (job relocation) and how long they had owned it (10 years). It’s not the romantic stone cottage I’d had in mind, but it’s a beautiful home, with a lovely garden and has direct river frontage. It also has another little 2 bedroom house on the property, which is included in the sale. Definitely food for thought!! Afterwards, Josiane invited us into her home, for a drink and said that, if we buy the house, we would be able to call ‘Coucou’ to each other, from our terraces. After several drinks, a lot of talking, a tour of her own home and an introduction to her husband, Claude, along with her ‘petits enfants’ (grandchildren (Luanne and Maxim) later, we left, with emails, mobiles and addresses exchanged. And a promise to please let her know what we decide to do about the house. What a brilliant day, none of it planned, but how could we have ever planned something so uplifting as this?

Today it happened again. We were out walking again, as we love to do, and I’d noticed a sign on a fence, advising of an open garden scheme for the following weekend. I was translating it for Jeff, when the owner of the house came out and we chatted (in French) about the garden scheme and how we came to be in Montmorillon. She then asked whether we’d like to come in for a coffee. We were delighted! Anna (British father, German mother, born in Malta) is now married to Thierry (French) and they have 4 children. Both are teachers at the local Agricultural college, they spoke excellent English, the kids were great and, as it turns out, one of their daughter’s is friendly with Josiane’s grand daughter, Luanne. So, a small world, indeed. We spent several hours sitting in their beautiful garden (they are in the open garden scheme themselves) and drinking coffee. And we’ve been invited back for a BBQ later this week!!

We keep pinching ourselves, is this really happening?? We arrived in Montmorillon last Thursday afternoon, it’s only Monday today and we’ve already met and socialised with, the most amazingly friendly, warm and generous people.

I’d had a good feeling about Montmorillon, when I found our little holiday house on Airbnb, all those months ago. And now I know why….

Tomorrow we are picking up a hire car and, at €5 per day and €0.11 per kilometre, it’s ridiculously cheap. We’ve booked it for one week, so we’ll be tootling about country France for the next few days – there are markets to visit, ‘pique-niques’ to be had and, bien sûr, plusiers Grand Crême coffees to be sipped.

Oh, and did I mention we have an appointment with ‘l’immobilier’ (real estate agent) on Thursday??? I’ll let you know how we go…

XXX