Le Ruault gîtes

19/08/2025

Passata and ratatouille making in full swing here. What with blackberries ripening already the freezer will be full in no time!

09/08/2025

Beautiful light for a lovely walk in the forest - much cooler for both Orla and me than the current 33° in full sun!

09/08/2025

Inside The Factory: French vigneron style. Watching the caps being put on bottles of cremant produced by our friends, Manu and Marielle at . Mind you, it doesn’t always go to plan…but what a great piece of kit!

05/08/2025

Our guests who left this morning were amazed by Puy du Fou - it’s only an hour from here - when they visited on Saturday. It’s well worth a trip sandwiched between a couple of ‘chillaxing by the pool’ days!

🐎 16 chevaux, 4 auriges, 1 course...
..pour gagner la liberté.

©ArnaudMasson et ArthurAumond

05/08/2025

A lovely trip to Chauvigny to experience the VéloRail. You need two cyclists per bogie. We did the shorter route - 4.5km each way. Tim cycled to the halfway point on one side; Ranulph and I shared the work on the other side. Coming back was much easier - a nice descent under the shade.

See videos in comments.

29/07/2025

Here come the girls!! There’s a lot of build up with the caravan (handing out merch and goodies), then the support vehicles with spare bikes, tyres and who knows what else plus police and press vehicles…and then, finally, the bikes…within 20 seconds they’re through and on to Poitiers: 138km in a predicted 3.5 hours!!

29/07/2025

The caravan ahead of the start of stage 4 of the Tour de France des Femmes

26/07/2025

Orla likes to help with a changeover…NOT!

24/07/2025

Meet Ethel and Lucia (aka Lucky)!

We adopted two ex-battery hens today who can live out the rest of their days being natural chickens and able to exhibit normal chicken behaviour.

Unfortunately, they’re missing quite a few feathers but these should grow back in about a month.

The existing flock (Megan, Gloria and Helen plus our handsome cockerel, Napoleon) seem to have accepted them without too much fuss.

We’ll keep them all in the run for the next 24-36 hours and then Ethel and Lucia can discover the seven acres of grounds for themselves.

24/07/2025

A wonderful concert in the Collegiale at Le Puy (you can see its spires from miles around as it’s on the route to Santiago de Compostela).

The choir of six men - Le Choeur d’Hommes de Santène - come from Corsica and specialise in chant. It was food for the soul - amazing harmony and passion in a glorious acoustic.

18/07/2025

Fab family fun! We love this place. So chilled and lots to do for all ages. It’s only a 12-minute drive from here. Lots of videos in the comments.

06/07/2025

An enjoyable afternoon at là fête de l’accordéon, which included this amazing collection of accordions and concertinas from around the world.

There was also a dance with various groups providing the music. The French seemed to know the routines - a cross between a barn dance and line dancing (see video in comments).

And we ended up listening to Zabou Guérin who almost seemed possessed by her instrument and was utterly mesmerising.