Living In The French Countryside
Having a holiday home in the French countryside is a wonderful thing and we experience at a grass-roots level all the best things about country life. We love experiencing the quiet drama of the changing seasons, fresh local produce and farm related activities such as harvesters and tractors regularly rolling through the narrow village streets. Traffic jams in our area are made up of herds of cows slowly crossing the street and the jovial gathering of the local farmers standing on the edge of the road enjoying their nightcap outside the nearby Tabac .
These are the benefits of living amongst the wheat fields, chicken farms and grazing cattle. However we have always understood that these surroundings can also be the perfect environment for mice, insects or other vermin to flourish.
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So, having a house that at times stands to attention alone for months just waiting for us to return, is not ideal in this environment. We've thought that unwanted guests like mice would love to make themselves a cosy home in our absence. We were counting ourselves lucky that we'd never had an issue for eight years ... until 'The Bird'!
The Unwanted Guest
'The Bird' was a large black, once glossy crow!
How this intruder got into our home we still have no idea. With no gaps under doors, in walls or an open chimney, this big bird had no way of entering other than through the front or back door. We assume when one of them was open, and with no-one looking. Where did he go so no-one noticed him?
We can only think that he entered whilst we had guests staying at the house and not noticing the extra, and uninvited guest, they locked the house leaving The Bird inside. The only other equally remote possibility is that the crow fell down the chimney flue and then made his way out of the fireplace and then proceeded to claim our home as his own. We ran through all the options and seriously couldn't make any sense out of it all.
Thank goodness for our dear friends Merv and Helen who on one of their occasional ‘drop in and check on things’ visit, tidied up the overturned items that The Bird had knocked over. He must have been flapping around frantically and sadly trying to escape his prison when he knocked lamp shades askew, vases off the fireplace mantel and children's models to the ground. Our good friends also removed the once glossy crow.
So while having a holiday home in the French countryside is mostly wonderful, there can still be challenges and unpleasant incidents that come along with the adventure, even the very bizarre!!
