Don Ricardo's crispy bases

Ok get ready everyone, this is Sophie and I'm DOING THE BLOG! The only problem is I only got back a month ago so let's just forget about February, March and April... this is what's been happening in May!
So when I got back it was already looking pretty good, there were plants all over the place (not necessarily in the ground, but you know, pots are good too), and we'd received these huge crazy 1000 litre rainwater butts that are hooked up to the shower block drainpipes and are currently very very full.

To be fair the planting was actually well underway by the time I got back at the end of April, and now almost all the hard-standing pitches are planted up, with some nice new trees and loads of shrubs and grasses in between the pitches. I have been planting grassy things in the bank between the road and the hard-standing (the photo on the left helpfully shows the bank before I'd started).
The conversion of Chalet 5 into "La Cabane de Don Ricardo" was also going well, and at the beginning of April the pizza oven arrived in a big lorry, along with its friend the dough mixer. Paul helped Don Ricardo set it up in the chalet, and then last week the rest of the equipment arrived. Don Ricardo was keen to try it all out, so last weekend we had a pizza tasting night. Everyone agreed they were the best pizzas they'd ever tasted (in the whole of Navarrenx) and a few people came back for more on Tuesday, the official opening night. Seriously though, I've eaten a lot of pizza in my time (oh yes), and they really are very very good. You can even come and marvel at his dough-spinning abilities while you wait, and chuckle inwardly at his (possibly) Italian-style pizzaiolo cap (from which he draws his amazing pizza-making skills).

Earlier in the month we also had a bit of a mad moules-frites night to try out the new chip fryers, and this weekend it's the paella dishes' turn. So the marquee's seen a lot of activity so far, and hopefully there should be more action during the summer!
Other excitement includes the construction of the recycling area at the entrance of the site, where you can now choose from a colourful array of bins depending on your mood (and what you're throwing away, technically).

Well there's a quick update for you, I'm leaving the campsite this weekend but hopefully the blog will be resuscitated this summer (it might help if you moan at my parents... give it a go anyway). I leave you with a photo taken by Bruce on one of the innumerable sunny days we've had since the beginning of May...

Preparations underway

Well, apart from a list of about 50 things still to do we are just about ready for the new season...

We had a lovely break in Lisbon over New Year. The weather was mostly lovely and we had a great couple of stopovers in Salamanca on the way down and back - what a fabulous town.

Since then we have been doing a lot of work in our accommodation to make the new part habitable. The wood burning stove went in before Christmas and has proved to be wonderful. We have tiled the floors of the lounge, hall and bedroom and are now in the process of doing the walls of the new bathroom.

Meanwhile the solar panels were finally put in place a couple of weeks ago - just in time for the end of the Eco-Camps project. The panels on the top block are operating and at the moment we are taking full advantage of the option to redirect the water into our house. We have had a few really sunny days and we now have 1,500 litres of very hot water just for us!!

The end of Eco-Camps was marked by a final meeting in Bordeaux. We drove up at 6 a.m. last Thursday and took the tram into the centre of town to the Regional council headquarters. We did not look at the detailed programme until just before lunch, when we noticed we were down as speakers in the afternoon session!

The following day a coach brought a group of people from the meeting to visit one of the other pilot sites and then Beau Rivage. Unfortunately it was not one of the sunny days and the coach party was running late so they only had about 40 minutes here before heading back to Bordeaux. Still it all went well and our adjoint Mayor and Conseiller General kindly came out to give us some support.

The final fixes are finally being completed on the new chalets so that should sort out all the minor problems with them.

This week we are awaiting delivery of all the trees and shrubs so that we can get on with the new planting schemes.

Richard is talking to lots of salesmen before choosing the equipment for the snack bar and doing battle with the electricity companies to try and sort out what supply we need.

An afternoon off on Saturday took us over the col d'Osquich to climb up to the Chapelle St Antoine and enjoy the spectacular sunshine and views of the Pays Basque and the mountains.

A couple of our campers with caravans in storage here have decided to buy new vans and are hoping to sell the old ones - if anyone is interested we are happy to pass on the details.

Season round-up

Well, having closed the site a couple of weeks ago we are now planning for 2008!

Apologies to those of you who came in the early part of the season that the blog has not kept you up to date with the progress but we had a great season once the work had finally come to an end - it wasn't all finished by any means but at least we were able to let people enjoy their holidays without the accompaniment of heavy machinery.

The pool was a great success - now we just have the terrace on top of the pool house to complete - and made a huge difference to the site in spite of the pretty awful weather. The hard-standing pitches proved very popular but will be much improved next year with a finer layer of gravel on top and planting in between.

Talking of planting, we have just had a quick trip down to Girona to a nursery specialising in grasses and managed to fit nearly 500 plants into our new trailer to start us off!

It was a long trip but well worth it and we stopped off on the way back to get a couple more paella dishes!!

The solar panels were all delivered a couple of weeks ago and the work should start to fit them later in November so we can then finally work on insulating the shower block roofs.

Today is a big day as Sophie and Paul are setting off on their 5 month trip around the far-East (see link on right) and Chloe and Jeff are signing the final contract on their house between Thouars and Bressuire - the sparkly is in the fridge ready!

Coming together

The rally was a great success in spite of a couple of good storms. The entire group were so cheerful and positive that we enjoyed it as much as they did. I had a great day out with them on a coach trip to Lourdes, Cauterets and the Pont d'Espagne and we both went for the final meal at Audaux, which was a great evening. The food was as good as always and the atmosphere was just lovely.

After a tricky spell with the gate the pool fence has finally been completed - the gate is managing to confuse some people a good deal older than the five-year-olds it is deigned to keep out!

The gable end of the house has now been finished and we even have shutters on the new part.

Much to our surprise the gardeners decided that they could sow the grass this morning and a team of youngsters worked all day in the sweltering heat. They have done a terrific job on the parts they have managed to sow - we just need the other parts to dry out and we will soon have the place looking great.

Just a quick P.S.
After one of the storms Mary and Lynne were obliged to ask their fellow campers for help in propping up their broken canopy. I don't think Adrian's offer was quite what they had in mind!!

Transformation

It has been so incredibly busy here the last few weeks that I have not had time to keep the blog up to date but here are the latest pictures to show the results of the last amazing push to get everything ready for the CSMA Rally on 5 June.

Having asked our road-layer if he could find a slightly lighter coloured gravel he turned up on Monday with some beautiful pale gold stone from Toulouse and promptly set about transforming the site.
Our poor campers were incredibly tolerant as they watched lorry after lorry of gravel being poured in front of them but the effect on the look of the site was truly amazing.
Our digger was used to level the groud off between the pump house and the shower block and then on Tuesday that too was gravelled and suddenly turned from a mud-pit into a clean and tidy walk-through.
The rally members had to dodge the lorries as they arrived but they brought glorious sunshine with them which has made everybody feel a whole lot better.

The front of our house extension has now been rendered and the gable end will be completed on Monday.



The four new chalets are now in place and the first one is complete (apart from a patio door that needs to be replaced) and is occupied from today!

After an enormous amount of help from various campers all the serviced pitches are now operational, door and shutters have been painted, gravel moved and we now have a long list of the things we need to change to get it right for next year!

Teamwork!

A few days of dry weather and sunshine had us all believing that things were going to change but it was a bit short lived. One big advantage of the dull weather has been that the campers find themselves with time on their hands - which they have been putting to amazingly good use!

Patrick arrived on Friday to complete the spreading of the gravel for the hard-standing pitches and Sophie has been fighting for a turn with the compacting machine.

Unfortunately the landscape gardener arrived optimistically on Tuesday morning ready to sow the grass but the ground was once again sodden and unworkable.

Still, the electricians also arrived on Friday and connected the posts for the central pitches and John Dirix and Owen White spent a great deal of time getting the water pipes adjusted to allow the water to flow properly through the taps.

As this was all being completed George and Pat Rickman arrived and volunteered to be the first to try out the new pitches. Adrian Snell rushed round with the compacted to prepare the chosen pitch and they were soon happily installed.

Having brought all his their water and drain connection pipes with them, Owen and Pauline white quickly followed and are helping to see what adjustments we need to make to the pitches.

Meanwhile, the first of the chalets have arrived for the bottom field and a team of three have managed to get two of them mostly built in three days. The next two will follow on Monday so it is beginning to take shape down there at last.

Any excuse for a party...

An early start yesterday as the chap who had arranged to erect the chapiteau had driven overnight from Strasbourg and was ready to start at 8 a.m. Richard had already left to get some equipment in Oloron so we had time for coffee and a chat before Paul and Ben arrived to make up the team.

The frame was very quickly put together and aligned and the feet fixed firmly to the ground.

In what seemed no time at all the roof was on and the sides up and we were ready for the team photo before lunch!

This seemed an ideal opportunity to thank all our valiant campers who have been trimming hedges, raking cuttings, laying textile, rescuing toads and generally being incredibly helpful, so we decided a small chapiteau-opening party was in order.

We had a good mix of Brits, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, German and one lone Frenchman to toast the new addition and a very pleasant evening was spent over a few glasses of bubbly.