2009 Lambing
Three years ago at Fanjeaux in France we discovered what has become our favourite campsite. The site, Les Brugues, has generous pitches that border a lake rich in wildlife. It is tucked away on a dairy sheep farm (the sheeps’ milk being used to make Roquefort cheese) and is run by a delightful couple, Luc and Nadine Vialaret. Given the usual conscientious set of fellow campers, it can be complete pastoral bliss.
After our second or third visit (2007), Luc told us we were welcome back in November to help him in the lambing period (the agneaulage). We smiled thinking this was French humour at play. Following our September visit to Les Brugues this year we received an email from Luc: were we to be interested in helping with the lambing, the best time to return would be late November/early December. He had a spare room for us. Yikes, he was serious!
This was surely too good an opportunity to miss, a rare chance to experience something utterly different. We accepted. Naturally our learning curves were steep but Luc and Nadine were good teachers and excellent hosts. We worked a morning shift from 7:00 AM to about 10:00 AM and an afternoon shift from about 3:00 PM to about 5:30 PM. It wasn’t all work, though; in between actively sheep-farming, Luc and Nadine shepherded us [Ed: sorry!] round some local sights.
Trying desperately to avoid too many sheep, below is a selection of pictures to give a flavour of our experience. We had a wonderful and very educational time. Merci beaucoup!
| A Saunter Around Toulouse at Night |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The Malepère Winery |
 |
 |
| A Pottery Making Traditional Cassoles |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The Main Event: a Spot of Lambing on the Sheep Farm |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Leave a Reply