Benson is 4 today and is on holiday with us in France. We decamped 6 weeks ago to our house in France for a 2 months sojourn. Sounds rather grand but 30 years ago we were fortunate in buying a derelict building called a fermette designed to house both the owners and the farm animals. The house was built 250 years ago just after the French Revolution and made use of the materials from the ransacked local chateau. P1020187 by morwenstow1, on Flickr Over the years when time and money became available we restored the house which has great ambience and is now used as a bolt-hole for friends and family. We usually spend 2-3 months a year in France during summer and have always taken our dogs since the Pets Passport scheme was introduced. P1020236 by morwenstow1, on Flickr We still have the original sun-baked clay floor tiles and judging from the many dog paw prints it is good to know that dogs were part of the house from the very beginning. The house is situated in a small hamlet, in Burgundy, central France, between Dijon (Mustard) in the East and Sancerre (White Wine) in the West. We are surrounded by agriculture farmland for as far as the eye can see and little has changed for centuries. Life in the villages remains as described by the great French writer Emile Zola in his novel, La Terre. This is not a popular area for British tourists who tend to head for the warmth of the south, to places like the Dordogne, Brittany and the Provence. The hunt (La Chasse) is popular in this area which uses the community forests and is strictly controlled with hunters passing tough written examinations before they are allowed to participate. The season starts the end of September and apart from game birds such as pheasants and partridges, deer (cerf) and wild boar (sanglier) are hunted. I recently watched a group of hunters send in a pack of about 6 large French hounds into a wood to flush out the boar. A few moments later the dogs ran out of the wood with tails between their legs, chased by a very large boar with huge tusks. Every time I walk Benson in the woods I keep a wary eye open for signs of boar and hope he will defend me if I am attacked and am reminded to practise my bull-fighting skills! P1020194 by morwenstow1, on Flickr My neighbour has a recently acquired a donkey, called Titus which he keeps as a pet and regularly takes for long walks. Titus and Benson get on well together to the extent that my neighbour now wants a British bred Labrador and I am doing the research to help him find a breeder. Not sure what the requirements for a passport are when exporting a dog from the UK and if anyone knows I would appreciate their advice. Benson really appreciates his change of scenery and the variety of different walks available to him. P1020208 by morwenstow1, on Flickr We have a large lake close by which takes a couple of hours to walk around and Benson enjoys getting wet. The local area is covered with an extensive network of ancient tracks (chemin), equivalent to our bridal ways providing Benson with interesting walks and different smells. We can also route these walks via the local café where dogs are always welcome and one can have something to drink or lunch to slow down the return journey. P1020218 by morwenstow1, on Flickr August has been a wet month in central France but the farmers have managed to harvest most of the crops, except the sunflowers, maize and the soil has been ploughed ready for next year’s crop. In this area of France, smaller dogs are popular as family pets although occasionally one comes across the odd Labrador. What is noticeable is that whilst the French are keen walkers they do not walk their dogs as we do in England. Most owners in my village take their dog outside several times a day solely for a call of nature; I have never seen a French dog owner use a black plastic bag and am surprised that is something that has not been the subject of EU legislation! One other thing I find difficult coming to terms with, is that many owners of larger breeds keep them to guard property and not as a pet, however I suspect this practice may also be common in some parts of England? I pass a house each day and a large dog chained to a wall starts barking, which I suppose serves a purpose but would not a burglar alarm or CCTV camera achieve the same result and be kinder? Our orchard contains 3 walnut trees and we always collect the nuts before leaving in the autumn giving them to family and friends at Christmas. We are happy that the walnuts left behind, are taken by an army of red squirrels who descend on orchard and store the nuts for the harsh winter months. The grey squirrels are in the minority but the other day I saw a black squirrel which presumably was the result of interbreeding? Barn owls, buzzards frequent the area and a green woodpecker is a resident of our orchard spending most of the day drilling holes in an old pear tree. As seen from the photograph edible snails (escargot) are found in the area and orange slugs (limace) are everywhere particularly after rain. P1020217 by morwenstow1, on Flickr Finally, Benson has just been invited by the local hunt, to take part in a shoot at the opening of the season on 21 September. Although I trained Benson as a gun dog his skills have yet to be put to the test and I am a little nervous as how he may respond to other dogs. We will try not to let the side down and Benson’s performance will be the subject of my next article! Roger PS. Sorry but I have not uploaded the photographs correctly! I fixed them - you need to paste in the BBCode and not run the text of the code into your text. Julie
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! Happy Birthday Benson Have a great summer break - and thanks for sharing your lovely photos.
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! Oh I've just lost a post by going back to look at our municipality rules for importation ...... Firstly,what a wonderful property you have with a lovely story to it too ,secondly ,gorgeous photos ,oh and the amazing walks available....with a donkey!i would love a donkey ,in fact hypothetically I talked my husband into a pony just to keep the hypothetical donkey company as I researched they don't do so well alone.....Benson will be a great pal. I don't know EU rules,we live in the Middle East but we couldn't import Dexter until he was 4 months old....this is due to vaccinations .....they have their 8 week ones and then have to wait another 21 days for a booster ,writing that doesn't add up right ,I'm not home at the mo,I'll look out my paperwork tomorrow and let you know,although our rules may be different?enjoy your trip,keep the pics coming x
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! Wow. How lovely! Loved the pic of the paw prints...looks absolutely gorgeous! Do you ever eat the snails?
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! That was a lovely post, so descriptive that I felt I was there.
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! Super, my old boys both came from the Lot area of France, where my sister lived and I spent many happy summers. What a lovely place you have! The main problem taking an English puppy to France is the French requirement that the puppy will only be allowed official entry with a pet passport, chip, and the relevant inoculations - which include rabies, which is done at twelve weeks. So you cannot legally import a puppy into France before around twelve weeks of age.
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! Looks beautiful (minus the slugs and snails that is!)
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! Such an interesting account of the area and its traditions. Wild boar sound quite scary! Hope you all continue to have a good time.
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! Looks fabulous - hope you all have a great time. Thanks for sharing your summer with us!
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! Loved reading your post - thank you! And great photos too. Also a beautiful donkey
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! [quote author=Karen link=topic=7779.msg108834#msg108834 date=1410467079] Super, my old boys both came from the Lot area of France, where my sister lived and I spent many happy summers. What a lovely place you have! The main problem taking an English puppy to France is the French requirement that the puppy will only be allowed official entry with a pet passport, chip, and the relevant inoculations - which include rabies, which is done at twelve weeks. So you cannot legally import a puppy into France before around twelve weeks of age. [/quote] There you go that is Karen saving me the job,thankyou.....I knew there was a component that too the time frame up,to 4 months x
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! oohhh I almost feel like I'm on holiday too ;D Have a wonderful time !
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! My neighbour with the donkey has attached a cow bell to his garden gate so that it warns him when someone opens it that Titus may escape. Benson now reacts to the noise of the cow bell like a Pavlovian response but instead of salivating he rushes to our gate hoping that someone will let him out. Foolish dog! Roger
Re: Vivre la differance. Benson est en vacances! Having lived in France for ten years , your photos evoked many happy memories , wonderful and thanks for sharing them
