A little sprinkle of 2022 Pignoulet magic

A little sprinkle of 2022 Pignoulet magic

2022 in a nutshell

So here we are – 2022 is nearly over. The Christmas decorations are up in anticipation of our gite guests who are staying to celebrate their family Christmas.

This year has been kind to us. We had the most amazing summer weather from the start of the SpringThe spring, which offered our guests an endless stream of sunshine. Our first guests arrived in March this year and since then we’ve welcomed many groups. We’ve been blessed to host birthday celebrations, Pilates retreats, Yoga retreats, groups of friends just getting together for a few days plus a Hen weekend for our niece – prior to attending their wonderful wedding in June and a wonderful Cousinade (Cousin fest!) for our gorgeous French neighbours

Pignoulet has been truly international this year, now that travel is once again accessible we have welcomed many French guests, Belgians, Spanish, Dutch, Americans & Australians along with all of our wonderful British guests. Thankfully many of our guests have re-booked – we so look forward to seeing you again & again.

Aside from our residential guests and teaching Pilates, Yoga and HIIT on Retreat weekends the Zoom community that joined me during the long months of lockdown continue to thrive and we come together 5 x per week to practise Pilates, Yoga and HIIT. Thank you all again for your continued support and enthusiasm and as always hard work – you know who you are and HATS OFF/CHAPEAU to you. We also host live classes at Pignoulet weekly which are always well attended – a little ‘busier’ than the online sessions and a chance for me to be more hands on in my teaching. MILLE MERCIS – to you all. Please message me if you’d like to join us.

Our beautiful log store is starting do diminish as we light fires daily and the water table is finally rising as we have ‘enjoyed’ several weeks of steady rain. We’ve pulled up all the tomato plants and made as much green tomato chutney as we can manage. Most of the vegetable patch is covered for winter and all the compost we have collected is now rotting down under the tarpaulins feeding the soil for next year. Our vegetable patch has been wonderful this year – we are learning year on year, the triumphs now outweigh the disasters – although nature has a way of impacting what we do & growing salads in November is not in the rule book! We’re also busy experimenting with new recipes for next season in our apartment kitchen for our 2023 guests – again some recipes will not feature again but we’re having fun cooking and eating new things.

This year we added heating to the Pool which has allowed us to keep the pool at a more constant temperature during the spring and autumn months – sub-zero temperatures for 10 nights on the trot in April proved very costly – another learning curve! We’ve made our winter refurb plans and are gradually getting them underway. Whilst we continue to miss our friends & family in the UK we have made some lovely friends here and love our life at Pignoulet in our little corner of Gascony.

We’re very thankful for many things here. Our surroundings and neighbours have enhanced our lives, Pignoulet itself is a true haven of rural tranquility, I will never tire of waking up to the sound of birdsong. Running, walking and cycling from the gates of Pignoulet offer endless possiblities and the views of the Pyrenees are always breathtaking.

If you’re reading this and have been to Pignoulet (thank YOU) we hope you took home a little sprinkle of Pignoulet magic. If you haven’t visited us yet, please do so soon – we’ll do our absolute best to look after you and hope that a stay at Pignoulet truly fulfils your expectations. Bookings for 2023 are healthy – although there’s still availability both for House/Gite bookings and for Weekends and Retreats – so please don’t hold back if you have an enquiry for next year.

If you’d read this far – ‘Thank you’. We’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2023, Susie, James, Dotty and Pickle