One way and another, this has been a good week. On Tuesday we went over to Peyrusse Vieille where we first visited the Mayor’s secretary to ask for her help with a couple of telephone calls. In this way we managed to establish that our renewed visas were ready for collection; that the cost was less than we had been previously quoted; and that the Treasury Office in Plaisance would be able to provide us with the necessary amount in revenue stamps. Delighted with this news, we went to have coffee with Ady to celebrate. Then the next day we went to Plaisance to get the stamps. This is the town in which we used to do most of our shopping last year, but we have hardly been back there this time, so it was pleasant to visit it again in a different season. As it was a reasonably clear day, we managed to make the return journey as circuitous as possible, admiring all the blossom and flowers along the way.
The next day we set off in good time to go to Auch. The sun was trying very hard to come out properly, without much success, and there was still a chilly nip in the air. The young lady we dealt with at the Prefecture was not the same one who had taken our applications but she was equally friendly and went to great lengths to explain what would be required of us, should we wish to extend our visas for another year. Unfortunately, if we should want to do that, it will mean returning in Winter again as each visa is valid for only a year, and renewal has to be applied for before the expiry date, just as we had to do this year. Pity about that, as it is not the best tourist season. However, we are delighted with our renewed visas, and we now have an actual card saying that we are legally in France and can come and go as we wish for another year.
Friday was forecast to be sunny all day, so we duly made plans for an outing and were up bright and early. I am not quite sure why, as we were not going far at all, only about 30 kms along the road, in fact. But it really was a beautiful day for a change and it was lovely to be out and about. Our destination was a deer and wild boar farm near a place called Le Houga. When arrived, we were told that there was a walk around the farm’s perimeter which would include visiting the enclosures where the deer and wild boar were. We were also told that the walk was about six kilometres long, but having walked it, I very much doubt that – it may have been three, or at a stretch, four kilometres. We were given a little tin bucket half filled with dried maize kernels, to feed to the boar, and off we went. We arrived at the boar enclosures first and by rattling the bucket, we encouraged the animals to come closer to the fence so that they could enjoy the kernels we threw to them. They really are very ugly creatures, much more like a farmyard pig than a warthog, but with a longer nose. The males have quite fearsome tusks and I get the feeling that all of them are probably quite dangerous as, as well as the substantial mesh fence, there was also an electric fence about 30 centimetres inside that. There were several different areas to see, with groups of wild boar in each, in what could have been family groups. The babies were too sweet, as all baby animals are, and quite interestingly had three darker brown stripes down their backs, although the adults are an all-over grey-brown colour.
Having left the boar enclosures behind, we walked through some vineyards before arriving at some open fields with lots of deer in them. One of the bigger stags was not at all shy and came right up to the fence where he stood and posed so that we could take pictures of him. His antlers were magnificent and he was obviously very proud of them too. I think he was hoping fr a few maize kernels too, but by then we had given them all out. It was a lovely day for a walk, and a lovely walk around the farm and at the end of it all, we enjoyed a meal in the farm restaurant. And that was a bit different too. We started with a cocktail of orange juice and Armagnac, as an aperitif. This was accompanied by what looked like a small individual pastry tartlet, filled with wild boar patẻ and cut into four pieces for the two of us. Next to be brought to us was a salad with some deer patẻ and something like brawn made with wild boar meat. Our main course was a venison stew, served with boiled potatoes and chunks of garlic bread and we rounded the whole meal off with a glass of delicious red wine. Mildly sun-burnt and decidedly replete, we returned home agreeing that we had had a perfect day out.
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