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Writer's picturePaula Dalton-Kirby

Happy 2018 - Spring is on its way At Finders Keepers France and Marcadis Gite

Updated: Sep 11, 2020


Bonjour et ravi de vous revoir tous. Merci d'avoir pris le temps de lire mon blog.

It has been a while since I last sat down to write a few words. Firstly let me wish everyone a happy New Year and hope that you all had a lovely Christmas.

After careful consideration, we decided to block out Marcadis Gite over the winter season to allow Darren the opportunity to do some minor renovations to the inside. Currently he is fitting skirting boards throughout and has installed a TV Arial which will receive French channels. Initially we wanted to focus on relaxation and 'leave technology behind' however found that we were attracting French business men and women who wanted to come with their business work. They felt that the tranquil setting provided them with inspiration and also helped them relax after a hard day at of work. So we now have a French TV.

The New Year has started quite poorly with lots of rain however we are very thank full as it has topped up our lake and also given it a good clean. The weather has also provided us with lots of wildlife around the grounds and has allowed us the opportunity to follow their prints in the muddy grounds as shown below.

Darren has spotted 2 Badger Setts so we are crossing our fingers that we see badger cubs in early Spring. We also had a very unusual visitor in Darren's workshop who was being watched very closely by both Claws and Sunflower our barn cats. It was a Mole. It had managed to get itself behind one of Darren work units. Thank fully it was retrieved unharmed and returned to its lovely soil - well away from our manicured gardens may I add. What a fabulous creature to see and handle. Solid little fella with silky fur. We have also seen more and more white tailed deer around the grounds and were amazed to see them run alongside the car as we headed up the driveway.

Winter is a fabulous time to come and see all of the wildlife here at Finders Keepers. Our focus next year is to encourage more visitors out of season - especially photographers. For now we continue to focus on the Summer visitors and providing the facilities they require.

Spring however is on its way and we look forward to seeing all of the bulbs and flowers. Last year we were blessed with some fabulous displays which were breathtaking as shown below.

May onward is a fabulous time to see the amazing displays. The weather is warm but not to hot to spoil their beauty. We have planted many more bulbs so we are excited to see what they may bring to the party. We still have availability in May and June if you wish to join in with the experience. Guests have full access to all grounds and gardens.

What are we planning this year you may ask? Well we have lots of ideas and plans but it all depends on time and money. Darren is currently laying a floor in our hanger barn. Currently the barn is home to our mezzanine reading room and gymnasium however the downstairs floor remains dusty. Adding a floor will allow us to utilise its space and enable guests to enter out of the sun. It will be completed by April ready for our first guests and will also be home to a pool table, table football and darts plus it will have table and chairs for relaxing. Outside the rear of the barn will be an outdoor kitchen, fire pit and chairs plus outdoor dining to allow guests the opportunity to see the milky way and also sunsets. This is a major change at Finders Keepers and is keeping Darren very busy. We were hoping to add a larger swimming pool this year however have had to pull ourselves back a little and take one step at a time. For now the dipping pool and lake remains the swimming areas.

We are still planning other updates around the grounds to attract wildlife. We are hoping to develop one of our fields into a butterfly meadow. This will take a number of years to get to the standard we would like however phase 1 will start this year. We will also be building Duck houses for the families of Ducks who have moved here over the past year.

Our little piece of paradise is growing day by day, week by week and month by month. We are seeing more and more different types of wildlife as our time here passes so our vision is working. We still have 6 years left until we hit our completion date so lots more hard work to complete but hopefully this is being appreciated by our guests and also the wildlife who come here to live,  graze, have families and relax in safety.

Thank you for listening and following our blog. We hope that we get the chance to meet over the coming years, if not we hope you enjoy our updates and appreciate the work we are doing.

For now I would like to wish you an enjoyable weekend and see you at my next blog.

Merci et à bientôt

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