Summary of our house sit in Tostat

Last spring, when we were looking for pet- and house sits, we said that 3 weeks in one place was the maximum. After all, you don’t know where you will end up. In theory, it is possible to arrive somewhere and say to yourself OMG, this is awful! In which case you’ll be happy it’s only for a week or two.

However, when we read the ad Alison and Andy had put up for their house sit in Tostat, we were drooling. It says, amongst many other appealing things: “This is rural France, with great possibilities for food and wine, and we can guide you to good local slow-style shopping.” That was the deciding factor, we applied for the sit, and the rest is history, as the saying goes.


Molly and the Adour	Construction work on the Adour	Adour flowing peacefully

It’s an old house; approximately 260 years. It is lovely and we both felt at home the moment we set foot in it. It is partly renovated and big enough to house a family and receive several friends at the same time. Which we didn’t, except for my dad who visited for six days.

The garden is beautifully designed and full of flowers. Even this late in the year, there were still loads of plants in bloom. There’s a small stream at the back of the garden which creates a constant sound of running water, which we love.

Alison has a large collection of plants in her “nursery” and it was our responsibility to make sure they survived the drought, as with the pots that are scattered all over the garden.

Castle of Tostat

Molly

She’s a 2 year old dog of unknown (at least to us) breed. She’s small and full of energy. When we arrived, she didn’t have a lot of experience outside the house and its direct surroundings, but we changed that and she rapidly adapted. We took her with us as much as possible, including to cities and the beach. She even spent a night in the car with us when we visited Biarritz and San Sebastian!

We took her for a 30 to 60 minute walk almost every day. And we played with her in the garden. She has two balls, a small one and a larger one, and nothing pleases her more than to chase them. On walks, we would throw sticks which she would chase and bring back as trophy. She would also chase them into the water of the river Adour, though in the beginning, she didn’t dare go in very far. That too changed, and she will now launch herself happily into the river.

She loved coming with us in the car. We were told that she will sit at your feet, and in the beginning this was true. But we drive a bus, so there are 3 seats in front and she rapidly got accustomed to sitting between us. Which had the added advantage that she could express her joy and gratitude by licking our necks. Which she did frequently.

Kyra

She was a bit shy when we arrived, only entering the house for food, and quickly disappearing when she was done. After a month, when the nights became significantly colder, she stayed in more, but usually in the entrance hall.

There was an episode where she peed and pooped in the “garde-manger” every night for six nights in a row. Even though it has an entry for cats, so she could have gone out to do her business. But she didn’t, so we ended up buying a litter box, which solved the problem.

We had been instructed to put both cats outdoor whenever we went away and during the nights. When the nights got really cold (near freezing), this posed a problem. For Kyra is not a healthy cat. She is very thin and doesn’t have a lot of strength. During the day, she would stay with us in the living room, which we heated. In the evenings, we would light a fire, and as soon as we installed ourselves on the couch to watch a movie, she would climb up on one of our laps and spent the entire evening there.

To then put her out for the night and into the cold seemed like a really bad idea. So we asked ourselves “If this was our cat, what would we do?”. Based upon that, we decided to leave her in the living room overnight, with the litter box, food and water. She has rewarded us by putting on some weight.

Dusty

She’s part siamese and in excellent health. We suspect she found another place to eat during our stay, because she would come around mealtimes (morning and evening), demand food, but once served, she hardly ate. Even the real meat Christophe offered wasn’t appreciated. Weird cat 😉

I’ve written already about her escapades on the roof, entering our bedroom. Which also proves that she is in excellent health.

Dusty spent much less time with us than Kyra. She is very much an outdoor cat. She will “play” with Molly, though that is a bit of a strange thing to witness. It doesn’t look like something a cat would enjoy, but most of the time, she endures. And if she really doesn’t want to, she will make that clear to Molly and Molly will back off (because it hurts).

We love ‘Le Pays de Cocagne’!

We spent almost 7 weeks in Tostat and we’ve loved every moment of it. The region is gorgeous, the architecture beautiful and the people are friendly, relaxed and easy going. Just what we are looking for.

The land of Cockaigne is a land of plenty in medieval myth, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and food is plentiful (skies that rain cheeses ).

House for sale

As our love of the area grew, we decided to look around and see what’s for sale. We visited several different objects, ranging from near ruins in dire need of renovation to completely renovated properties that you can move into without having to do anything. And everything in between.

Several of them really appealed to us. There was this big old farmhouse with many outbuildings and 5 ha of land. Most of it in a state of near ruin, but with a lot of potential. And there was a house that has recently been completely renovated in a style that we love. Done with so much attention to detail that it definitely tempted us.

But there’s always something to be desired and we’re in no hurry at all. Actually, we hadn’t planned on settling any time soon. But then again, we haven’t planned anything very specific for the future, so everything is possible. We’ll keep an eye out and will certainly be back, that’s for sure.