As August began at La Giraudiere, we said goodbye to Jen, Donal and Nicole who flew back to Ireland and the US. They will all be sorely missed and we wish them all well with whatever they begin back home. This past week has also seen the arrival of some new volunteers from across the globe- Hiroko from Japan, Serjey from Russia and Hugh from the UK.

So what have we all been up to down at LG? Well, our Facebook group is back up and running, Gite 4 nearly has all its tiling finished and Ness has begun her first week as Mum after following the guidance of Nicole last week!

Sunday night also saw the South West host the final of the European Hot Air Balloon races and the LG volunteers went along with Nico and Julien with a quick visit to Angouleme beforehand. The night saw loads of balloons flying up together, a first taste of escargot for the group (even Serjey after some peer pressure), a rather bizarre cabaret show and an amazing firework display to end it all- photos to follow!

    Ness walking down the streets of Angouleme

  Monument at the top of the hill

 Enjoying the sun!

 Heading back to the balloon festival