Après la pluie, le beau temps...
Friday, July 12, 2024
Dear Valued Customer,
Since I last wrote, summer has begun. Our daughter came to visit from Argentina. We went to Paris to see our son. A dozen members of our extended family in the U.S. have come to stay. More are on their way. In the outer world, the élections législatives had Normandy as everywhere in France on tenterhooks…but all seems calm again. We are back to topics like the weather…for after every rain comes good weather...
“The Fourth of July,” remarked our American cousin, in a wondering tone. All was still.
We looked out at the Great Lawn. The morning sky was grey and silver with clouds. A fine rain, which had begun to fall a few minutes earlier, swelled into a downpour.
As it is officially summer, we were having breakfast outside. Fortunately, under shelter.
“Seventy degrees!” stated Monsieur. A faithful reader of the weather report, he finds it satisfying when the day’s prediction appears to be accurate.
He’d also seen Monsieur Damien earlier that morning. Our long-time homme toutes mains is unrelentingly pessimistic about many things. And as he mainly works outdoors, he can be relied upon to take a dour interest in le temps. It would be rainy and cold all day, he had informed Monsieur. Further, his arthritic back was quite stiff.
Our cousins and their large family had left behind the steamy climes of southern Virginia for a summer vacation in France. They liked the cool weather, they said.
The rain ceased, and a brisk breeze ruffled the leaves of the lindens in the park. We all shivered.
Through winter and spring, the farm at Courtomer was in a passage difficile. The seeds of winter-sown wheat rotted in the ground. In April, we planted oats, which tolerate high humidity and cool weather. Unfortunately, as Monsieur Damien might have told me, oats don’t bring in much cash. We were also able to plant a few hectares of mais or corn. Chopped and pressed into plastic sleeves, the stalks, leaves and kernels will be used as fodder next winter. That is a good thing, because much of our stock of hay and enrubinage was fed to the cattle this spring. The herd stayed longer than usual in the stabulations, waiting for their pastures to dry. It wouldn’t have been healthy for the young calves and their mothers to be knee-deep in mud.
In France, the rainiest winter and spring in recent memory gave way to the rainiest month of June, cool and overcast. July, Monsieur Damien predicts, will follow suit. So far, as we approach the middle of the month, he has not been entirely wrong.
Yet…as the earth swings toward the sun in its annual orbit, the long summer days grow warmer. The cattle have been outside for weeks now, blissfully grazing in lush pastures. The corn is beginning to reach upward and fill out. We even shed our petite laine on several evenings last week.
An old pink rambler rose blooms on the iron gates at the entrance to the haras, the stable block, at Courtomer
And the gardens at Courtomer have never looked more flourishing. Considering the weather, perhaps this is evidence that gardening is a matter of skill and art, not mere natural circumstances.
Despite persistent rain and cold temperatures, Monsieur Martyn spent the winter clearing and tidying the old flower bed along the wall of the haras, the stable block. In the spring, yellow sprays of forsythia, liberated from brambles and weed trees, brightened the grey stones. Now red roses, hybrid teas planted long ago by Monsieur le Comte, are coming into bloom. We used to marvel at the hardiness of these flowers, poking out from nettles and prickly galium aparine as we hurried by. Between these tough old survivors our gardener planted bulbs of oxalis, with leaves like oversized shamrocks and bright pink flowers on slender stems.
An adorable rambler, another survivor from days of yore, has thrown its canes around and through the iron gate of the stables entrance. Single-blossomed sprays of bright pink fill the spaces between the railings. A little peach tree has sprung up to replace the one cut down last fall. There are already tiny pears appearing on the espaliered poiriers. And the raspberries are ripe.
In late winter, we planted a rectangle of tilleul, linden trees, around the perimeter of the former horse pasture. Except for three subjects, which appear to have been drowned by an overflowing stream that marks the northern boundary of the pasture, the new trees are leafing out. Monsieur Martyn, who is not a pessimist, thinks the leafless trees may yet come to life. He intends to clear brambles out of the stream to improve its flow. Water shall be carried away rather than flooding into the old pasture.
Meanwhile, the moats too are full of water. A couple of water hens and several wild ducks live among the reeds at the edges. There are carp in the moats, as well. These lead a mostly unobtrusive existence, perhaps as befits their extreme age. But on these advancing summer days, the carp have taken to floating just below the surface in a shallow corner. When they hear a footstep or perceive an approaching shadow, they leap forward, landing with a splash as they dart into deeper waters.
Walking along the bank behind the moat in the last weeks, I was delighted to see one and now three lily pads appear in the section of moat behind the Chateau. Monsieur Martyn planted four nénuphars here two years ago. Last summer, they flowered in sumptuous tones of pink and red. Then, they vanished. The ragondin had eaten them, flowers, pads, and stems.
The ragondin is a swimming rodent from South America, initially imported into France as material for fur. I’ve never met anyone who wears a ragondin fur coat, but these immigrés have been extremely successful in colonizing bodies of water. After they demolished the waterlilies, Monsieur Damien took grim measures. So far, the ragondin have not returned to the moat. It’s heartening to see that at least one of the plants has survived.
Over the bridge in the cour d’entrée, the circular entrance drive, the daylilies are in full orange splendor. Echinacea in cream and pink have taken hold, too. Meanwhile, new plantations are thriving in the walled garden of the Orangerie. So are the climbing roses and clematis Monsieur Martyn planted, with almost reckless abandon, on farm buildings in the basse-cour. And in the orchard, now nearly a decade old, the apple trees bear small hard fruits that will slowly ripen throughout the summer. One of them was still in bloom just 10 days ago, testimony to the lingering spring coolness.
One apple tree was still in bloom a few weeks ago at Coutomer, a testimony to our long, cool spring
As summer advances, winter projects also come to fruition. In January, we hired a team of skilled local artisansto complete the renovation of the “petite maison du haras.” We’d been pottering away at this project for almost 15 years. I’m happy to report that as of now, I’m about to pick out a sofa. At the same time, and with a separate team, we renovated the loge from top to bottom. New oak floors were laid on the étage, and stone set on the rez-de-chaussée. There are now two full bathrooms and a brand-new kitchen. We opened a bricked-up window onto the cour d’entrée. A pair of double French doors now opens to inner courtyard. And on the first of the month, the new gardien and his wife installed themselves. Details about those renovations and an introduction to Monsieur and Madame Anthony to come in next Letters from Courtomer.
For now, we look forward to celebrating the Fête Nationale on Sunday. Under progressively clear skies, as the metéo and Monsieur Damien both predict, we will pique-niquer, attend a thé dansant in the municipal tent, and admire the spangled glory of a feu d’artifice.
A bientôt,
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At Chateau de Courtomer, we are taking bookings for 2025 and 2026. We still have a few opening for the Chateau, Orangerie and Farmhouse for 2024. Soon, we will welcome guests in our newly renovated "petite maison," the Gatehouse.
Heather (info@chateaudecourtomer.com and +33 (0) 6 49 12 87 98) will be delighted to help you with your enquiries and dates, and to preview the property on site.
English and French spoken. Concierge services available.