Volunteers Autumn foire

The weekends at La Giraudiere start from Friday to Monday so four days for the volunteers to explore the region and become immersed in the rich culture in France.

This weekend Cordula and Fredrick from Germany were out and about with Fredrick’s father and Brother who had come to stay the weekend on a visit. The remaining group consisting of Elaine from the UK, Julie from Australia, Jim and Peggy both from USA remained at La Giraudiere and were quick to take up Paul’s offer to visit Aubeterre, a plus belle village de la France, plus a surprise visit to an Autumn Foire.

For the La Giraudians Volunteers Autumn foire at Rioux-Martin is a must, no matter what time of year you visit La Giraudière, there is likely to be a fête in one of the nearby villages. French villagers certainly like to party, and they make visitors really welcome to these events too. Sunday 6th October dawned very hot and sunny, but here in the Charente region autumn was being celebrated in the attractive and very well tended village of Rioux-Martin.

Volunteers soup in France There were stalls galore, of bric-a-brac, colorful plants, local crafts, local wine and honey, plus a café bar area where locals were catching up on each others’ news or just enjoying the beautiful sunshine. The mayor of Brossac was there, (though not on duty!) and Paul introduced us all.

We all decided to stay for the Lunch and we met some friends of Paul Jean-Mitchell from the petanque club in Brossac and his partner plus some other friends who live in nearby market town of Chalais. We all sat down together for lunch and this was a good time for us to practice our French and immerse in the ambiance of the occasion.

A hard-working team prepared a five course lunch (a bargain at 11 euros) and about180 people sat down to a rational French communal lunch.

The first course was pumpkin soup or known as soupe au potiron in French this was followed by more soup for those who wanted and of course there was bread w, water and red wine. The main course was honey coated hog roast with white French beans, the name of which slips me for the moment, but again there was a second helping for those that could manage it. Then came the cheese and salad followed by the dessert a wonderful apple pie.

After a superb lunch Paul and Julie went to watch Brossac village football team whilst the rest of us went back to LG for a well deserved siesta