The weeks seem to zip by very quickly as we settle in to life here and start to work our way through the admin of French life. We’ve very much enjoyed having some visitors already and had a lovely few days with long-standing neighbours Jan and Philip from Lingfield. Although we know the area pretty well it’s still nice to discover new places and sights. To the north of us is the southern edge of the Dordogne region and the ‘Perigord Pourpre’ and one of its key attractions is the huge Chateau de Biron, dating back over 1000 years and formerly home of one of the four baronies of he Perigord. The changes over the centuries are clearly visible in the architecture of the chateau. We’ve driven past previously on the bike but not stopped so it was great to take the time to look around.
It also houses regular art exhibitions and on the day we visited a press event and reception was taking place in the chateau’s chapel to welcome home a replica of a Pieta sculpture, the original having been sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1907. Locals have been campaigning for a return of the sculpture, or at east a replica, for many years but it was only agreed at the beginning of this year, so we were lucky to have been there to witness the return.
We stopped at the lovely bastide town of Monpazier on the way back. It was market day and the town which is built on a grid street system has a lovely square and covered market hall with the original corn weighing containers. A British couple opened a microbrewery here a few years ago and have made a real success of their venture, expanding to offer food and music events. We enjoyed lunch there and will no doubt return at some stage.
We’ve either visited too many places in France or my brain is becoming addled because twice recently I’ve been convinced that we’ve already visited a place when I’ve actually confused it with somewhere else beginning with the same letter. We visited Lauzerte with our guests with me looking fruitlessly for a street with shops which I’d actually seen 2 years ago in Lectoure. In Agen Joe and I headed towards the cathedral looking for a main square and restaurants I was convinced we’d previously visited – in Auch. I was glad to be able to refer back to my blogs to bring an end to my confusion! Lauzerte in any case was a charming hilltop village, classed as one of the ‘Plus Beaux Villages’ and features a number of wrought iron signs made by the local artist Sylvain Soligon.
After a very warm start to October it has turned very autumnal and a bit more unsettled. Our fig tree gave up the last of its fruit a few weeks ago but walnut harvest is in full swing. We have three walnut trees and every day brings a new sprinkling of nuts on the ground, particularly if there has been wind or rain. We now have an impressive haul of nuts in trays drying out for a few weeks, with more being gathered each day. Nut tart is a speciality of this region and I’ve found a good recipe to try but it’s only just dawned on me that I will have to shell a huge number of nuts to get the amount I need. It’s probably something to do on a cold dark evening in front of the TV.
On the admin front our first priority has been to tackle the registration of the various vehicles we brought here – a process that has several steps to be worked through in order. The removal company transported the Jeep and dealt with customs but we needed to get the appropriate customs entry documents for the campervan, trailer and Harley motorbike to ensure we don’t have to pay VAT or import duties. Several people we’ve met through our walking groups have already been through a similar process and have advice to offer on the best way of approaching this. We made an appointment to present the vehicles and all of their paperwork at our nearest customs office so that chassis numbers, etc could be checked against all the documentation. Everything was in order and we departed with the important customs certificates. Next step for the classic vehicles – the Jeep and Harley- is to get them classified as ‘véhicules de collection’ – a status that means they should be exempt from MOTs. After that we have to obtain French insurance for each vehicle to be able to apply for a French registration – not many brokers deal with that as the vehicles have UK registrations. The trailer will also need its own registration and logbook in France as it is over a certain weight. Once we have all the necessary documents for each vehicle you can apply for registration online via the French equivalent of DVLA. However you need a French tax or healthcare system number to do that and we’re not in either system yet, so it looks like we’ll need to you a third party to handle that. It’s going to be a slow process and we just need to be patient.