Jim & Happy : Dormans (pronounced dorma, the n&s are silent)

How lucky are we – the homeowners, Nathalie & Christian Cougnet are champagne makers. Funny that, seeing we are in the Champagne district of France, didn’t even think about it.

http://champagnechristiancougnet.com/

We honestly came into this housesit blind. There was little correspondence between Natalie & Christian and us. Back in mid September we applied, they accepted voila! So, here we are – one email last week to confirm our arrival. They are French and that is out of the normal for the Trustedhousesitters website. Most homeowners are English even though they live in Europe. Natalie speaks English. Christian is reluctant to but can manage a few words. Jim’s French is about the same as Christian’s English. My French is non-existent.

Upon our arrival late Thursday afternoon the dogs (Bandit - a standard wirehaired dachshund 8yrs, Deesse pronounced DS – a Beauceron 6yrs & Filou – a wirehaired miniature dachshund 2yrs) and the girls (Charlotte 16, Manou 12 & Margot 8) were at home to greet us. Nathalie & Christian turned up an hour later, they had been at a champagne exhibition all day – needless to say they had sampled quite a few champagnes. They did invite us but we couldn’t get here in time.

Once the introductions and kissing of cheeks was over (I got a bit confused on how many kisses there should be) the first of many bottles of champagne were opened for the evening. It was delicious – even Jim enjoyed a few glasses. Friends, a family of 5 also champagne makers arrived for dinner. More kissing of cheeks, very confused now on how many kisses, they appear to be doing two on each cheek. Must Google that. Yet another bottle of champagne was opened. Natalie did really well to cook a pasta meal for 10 people with all that champagne being drunk. I give up cooking after a glass or two. I said good night at 10.30pm. It was getting really messy with all that champagne.

Nathalie & Christian are very generous with their champagne, they have left many bottles in the fridge for us.

The three dogs are lovely. Very friendly and love to get on your lap which is a bit of a problem with DS as she is big, heavy and strong. Not speaking the same language doesn’t seem to matter. I think body language and tone of voice is more important.

The dogs like to be walked together so for us it is a challenge as DS is big and strong and pulls on the lead but once down the end of the street near the river she can be left off. Jim has that responsibility. I take Bandit and Filou. Nathalie warned us not to let left them off the lead as they are hunting dogs and will run off. The lead doesn’t seem to worry them. They walk along happily. Our plan is to walk them every morning so they get use to a routine (and us). It is getting easier as each walk is better than the day before.