Poitou-Charentes myths, legends and history - La Jungle

La Jungle

Poitou-Charentes myths, legends and history

 

La Jungle, and what our animals have taught me 

 

At the edge of the small, rural, farming village of Loubillé in the south of the Deux-Sèvres, is a pretty villa, of a style more commonly found on the Atlantic coast. It is curiously named La Jungle and as well as having an interesting story behind this name, it was home to some unusual inhabitants during the war too.

 

Just before the Second World War, Georges Vignolles (who preferred to go by the name Georgio) and his partner Marie-Thérèse Rouffin, also intriguingly known as Marffa la Corse, purchased a smallholding in Loubillé with a simple wooden dwelling. Marie-Thérèse had run away from home at the age of sixteen and the couple met in 1924 at a travelling circus, and in 1925, Marffa began to learn the art of dressage and wild animal taming, despite never learning how to read and write. 

Marffa la Corse, La Jungle

 

In 1926, aged just eighteen years old, this Deux-Sèvrienne gained the stage name Marffa la Corse following a particularly risky performance at an international competition held on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Starting out with a lion, two snakes and three monkeys, their circus show, called La Jungle, grew, along with their family, with the arrival of their daughters, Georgette in 1926 and Paulette in 1928. Marffa soon became an internationally celebrated animal tamer, and the Jungle family successfully toured France during the inter-war years. As the 1930’s drew to a close, their daughters were singing as well as performing with animals, including wolves and boa constrictors, and Marffa had a pride of fifteen lions.

Georgio, Marffa, Georgette et Paulette

 

The Occupation put an end to their touring and the family moved to their smallholding in Loubillé, where Marffa’s brother built the villa she named, La Jungle. Whilst it has been a little bit difficult for me to determine exactly how many wild animals moved in with them, and how long the animals remained in Loubillé, there are news reports that talk of lions, tigers, wolves, two magnificent pelicans and a pair of Great Danes to guard the gates, certainly more exotic than the goat farms the village is used to. Those who were at the village school remember after-school visits and the roaring of the beasts that could be heard up to ten kilometres away, depending on the wind.

 

Feeding your family was difficult enough during the Occupation, so ensuring enough meat for lions and tigers can’t have been easy, but Georgio, who seemed to be able to turn his hand to anything, came up with a plan. Their daughter Paulette recounts how her father took over the running of a knacker’s yard business in Javarzay, the owner having been sent to the compulsory work camps in Germany. She would help her father to collect animal carcasses from local farms, hoisting them onto a truck and bringing them back to La Jungle. It was then her job to remove the skins as carefully as possible before the meat was fed to their wild beasts. My neighbour Pierrette has similar recollections in the 1950’s when her father was the local molecatcher, called in to remove moles from vegetable gardens. As young women have smaller and more dainty fingers, they were better able to skin animals without tearing the pelt, which would have been a valuable commodity sold to the textile manufacturers locally.

 

Marffa at work

At the end of the war, while Marffa couldn’t wait to build up her menagerie and begin touring once more, Georgio, was content to enjoy raising ducks, chickens and rabbits on his farm in Loubillé, much like we did after our first few years of living here. There is nothing quite as entertaining as watching the antics of your animals, and since adopting two kittens in 1998, as a newly married couple, we have always shared our home and garden with something furry or feathery, until now. 

 

Mini, January 2008-November 2024

A few weeks ago, we said our goodbyes to Mini, our black Labrador cross who was almost seventeen years old and the last in a long list of much-loved family pets. 

Ed and Willow

The cats, Poppy and Willow, had our undivided focus until Ed was born and although pampered indoor babies when we lived in the UK, soon became quite accustomed to prowling in the orchard and hunting in the barns when they joined us on our French adventure. With barns and animal pens that needed filling, the first additions to our furry family were rabbits and guineapigs. Did you know the squeaking of guineapigs deters rats? They proved to be a useful and cuddly addition to our menagerie, but we really should have stopped at the two female rabbits, Hay and Daisy, as when Henrietta joined them, she turned out to be a Henri meaning we soon had more bunnies than we anticipated.

 

Ducks in our orchard

In the winter of 2005, a male duck flew into our orchard and decided to stay, persuaded I have no doubt by the fact we rushed to the local market and bought him a posse of female ducks as company. With ducks installed, chickens followed, and fresh daily eggs is still something I miss, especially the rich golden yolks of free ranging birds who would feast on the windfall fruits, or in the case of the chickens, pick the ripe cherries from the lower branches.

 

Mini in 2008

Mini joined us in early 2008, a tiny jet-black puppy who was small (and clever) enough to use the cat flap. She never bonded with the cats, who were already ten years old, but as Hay neared the end of her days, Mini would lie with her on the grass, guarding her gently. The most bizarre addition was Brucie the goose who appeared one Sunday morning in early May 2009. We arrived home to find a gosling looking lost and bewildered in the duck pen, young enough to still have some of her fluffy yellow feathers. Our neighbour told us a bearded man had opened the locked back gate, walked down the garden, put Brucie in the barn and left. She had no idea who he was and to this day, he and his reasons for abandoning a goose in our garden remain a mystery. She was a delight, who was with us for over ten years, laid delicious eggs and was happy to chat back every time I went into the barn or orchard.

 

Brucie the goose

Over the years, we witnessed them all tear around as kittens, puppies, bunnies and ducklings, before calming and slowing down, then eventually growing frail, losing weight and suffering from health issues. Eyesight and hearing failed, teeth fell out, they were not as nimble as they once were, and then came the inevitable incontinence. Willow would curl up, fall asleep on my lap and pee herself, Mini had no idea what her bowels were up to this last year, and Poppy would think she was in her litter tray, but hadn’t quite lined herself up. In short, we have a much better idea of old age than I think we would have if we hadn’t shared our lives with these animals. They have also taught us so much about love and tolerance, especially Yum Yum, the duck, who died of a broken heart after losing his lady companion. 

 

Café stops on bike adventures

We miss them, and the house feels empty and quiet without Mini, but for now, our lives will remain animal free as we make the most of our time to travel and explore our beloved France, by bicycle, before old age creeps up on us and makes adventures impossible. 

Thanks have to go to two local historians Pascal Baudouin and Patrick Ricard, authors of Loubillé Cité des artistes, Dans le temps, for unravelling the story of Marffa la Corse and sharing the photographs.

Loubillé Cité des artistes
Pascal Baudouin et Patrick Ricard

Advent Day Ten - waking up to winter

Happy fingers

Advent Day Ten – waking up in winter

What a lucky find those glove/mittens were yesterday, as this morning it was -1º outside and 8.6º in our unheated bedroom. A mist shrouded the village for most of the morning, obscuring the sun and keeping the temperature down. This cosmic shift into winter meant a few changes of routine and I have to admit to flicking the switch for the heating before we’d had our breakfast, rather than during the cheaper rate electricity at lunchtime.

 

The weather put a stop to cycling to the Christmas market as planned, as that would have been foolish, and no one needs an incident just before Christmas. Instead, I busied myself with a bit of housework to keep warm and as the bed was stripped, it seemed only sensible to put the electric blanket on too. That should make things nice and cosy later on. I also found the time to switch my summer clothes for winter clothes, which meant falling in love again with my fleecy-lined trousers – thank you Decathlon once more. 

Mini and I in our almost matching jumpers

 

Mini is almost fifteen and although she spends most of her time curled up and snoring on a bed of fleece blankets (on the sofa), she does now suffer when it’s cold. One of the other things we found when shopping yesterday was a jumper for Mini. This will mainly be for car journeys, but we couldn’t resist trying it for size, and for a dog that isn’t too keen on being faffed with, she seemed quite happy in her pink jumper with a shiny bone motif.

A fresh 31km bike ride

 

Luckily the sun came out this afternoon, so it was off with the fleecy trousers and on with the merino wool layers as we set off for a thirty-kilometre bike ride. It was a fresh and invigorating ride and there was still ice in places, but the colours in the setting sun were superb. I’m delighted to report that the new glove/mittens kept the Reynaud’s at bay and the fingers nice and toasty. I’m also now only sixty-five kilometres away from reaching five-thousand-kilometres this year, so fingers crossed I should be able to achieve that. It is a thousand less than I would have liked, but it’s been a year where things other than cycling have had to take priority. At least most of my commutes to the Château were on the bike and even though it’s only eight kilometres from home, I cycled a total of one thousand, four hundred and seventy-one commuting kilometres this year. That is quite a saving in fuel.

 

I know it’s been cold in the UK today too, so I hope wherever you are, you are toasty and warm, and these three silly photos of me have put a smile on your face.

Winter warmers

Wrapped up warm on a winter bike ride

I’m with Ovo

If I mention UK news headlines this week and the phrases ‘embarrassing’, ‘poorly judged and unhelpful’, you might think I’d be referring to Boris’s ‘bring your own booze’ garden party, but you’d be wrong. The less said about that clown the better.

 

Ovo Energy, a UK based energy supplier, have also been in the news for a ‘keeping warm without upping your heating’ blog post, that they have now withdrawn. Their novel ideas included, putting on another jumper, eating porridge, doing the housework, hugging a pet or hula hooping with your kids. Well, no shit sherlock, this isn’t news - my wise old Dad said pretty much the same thing forty years ago, whenever I complained my bedroom was too cold. It was either “put another jumper on”, or “get outside and rake up some leaves, that will warm you up”.

 

Obviously, as a teenager I wasn’t interested in listening and I certainly wasn’t interested in moving my body to create heat. Back then I was much more into reading and complaining than exercising. Moving to a large, draughty house with a cantankerous old boiler, combined with the reality that France did get cold in the winter, meant I soon remembered Dad’s words and learned how to keep warm. If we heated our house to a constant 20º, not only would it cost many more thousands of euros than we have, but with only two of us floating around, mainly using one or two rooms at a time, it would be ever so wasteful. I don’t do wasteful. Most of what Ovo wrote in their blog, I’ve been practicing and writing about for many winters.

Hug a pet - Mini turns 14

 

Layer like an onion 

I am never to be found without a vest from October to May, and for most of the really cold months, I’ll wear a vest under a thermal long-sleeved vest and any number of additional layers on top, all carefully tucked in. Exciting editions to our wardrobe this season include fleecy lined walking trousers, from sports chain Decathlon, ideal for those extreme randonées with a wind chill well into the -ºc’s. Obviously, with Mini having celebrated her fourteenth birthday this week (that’s about 103 in equivalent years), if it’s that cold outside, we won’t be out walking, but these new buys have ensured we’ve kept warm indoors. Combined with the thermal socks (from Decathlon again) tucked into my fur-lined boot/slippers, my toes are toasty and I’ve no need for any E.On Energy socks – another UK news oops this weekend (it must be the week for it).

Winter vegetable soup

 

Porridge and soup 

I have been writing a regular five-hundred-word article for The Deux-Sèvres Monthly, a local English language magazine, for ten years now and looking back in my archives to January 2013, I was singing the praises of what I called ‘porridge and soup’ season.

 

“Winter has arrived, the days are short, the trees are bare and the temperatures have plummeted, but am I down? Well sometimes, I have to admit, yes, I am. It is at this time of year that my thoughts turn to comfort food. Gone are the vibrant coloured salads of summer that cheered up my plates with home grown delights but have no fear for we have arrived at what I call ‘porridge and soup’ season.”

 

Winter food should be different from summer food, that is the beauty of eating seasonally. The vegetables available now are perfect for thick soups made with homemade pork broth and warming curry spices, that put a fire in my belly all afternoon. Porridge oats are another favourite for us and I’m sure anyone who grew up in 1980’s Britain must remember the Ready Brek (finely milled porridge oat cereal) advert? Who didn’t want a warm orange glow around them as they walked to school on a cold and frosty morning?

Trying out my Hula Hoop for the first time in 2020

 

Hula hooping

In March 2020, just before you-know-what hit us, my Deux-Sèvres Monthly article was all about ‘hoop and soup’.

“Always happy to find a healthy distraction from the mundane monotony of life, I’ve got a new exercise obsession. Thanks to a couple of nutty friends, I am now the proud owner of a hefty hula hoop, and when I say hefty, I mean 1.2kg of weighty hoop that massages you (think thumps) as it rolls around. Once you have mastered the moves and get past the awkward stage where you look like you’ve stuck your fingers in a plug socket, it’s a really fun way to exercise.” 

Ovo are right, it's also a great way of keeping warm and I often use it as a pre-yoga warm up over winter. Our other top tip for keeping warm is to get out on the bikes. Even if I get home with cold, red cheeks and nose, the rest of me is nice and warm whatever the temperature outside, and the colours on crisp winter sunset bike rides are a tonic for the mind as well as the body.

 

If there is one thing I could have told my younger self, it would be ‘to be more active’, so I’m with Ovo and agree with what they were saying, even if they maybe could have phrased things better. Another positive of these ideas is Susie Kelly’s Best Foot Forward, one of the first books I read and reviewed on the blog and her story of a long-distance walk from La Rochelle to Geneva, inspired by the need to move to keep warm during cold French winters. To think this book wouldn’t have existed if she’d just turned up her heating, is quite sad.

A chilly morning view from the orchard

 

Temperatures have been below 0ºc these last few days, with crisp clear nights, heavy frosts and sunny days, but I’d much rather this than warmer, wetter weather.  

Lockdown diaries day thirty-two, the great advent calendar hunt

DIY advent calendar for dogs

Day thirty-two, Monday 30^th November 2020

 

All shopped out

It was a bitterly cold 0º when we cycled out for eggs this morning and by the side of the road, the frost-coated fallen leaves sparkled in the weak sunshine. Our main plans for today were shopping in Big Town, forty-five kilometres from home, mainly to collect the shelf unit we hadn’t been allowed to shop for last time we were there. However, the more we thought about what we might need on a trip to Niort, the longer the list became.

 

Having not used Adrian’s car in over a month, it was reluctant to get going this morning and thinking it might have been the battery, we left it in the garage to investigate later. We set off in my car, which promptly beeped to let us know it was low on fuel. The first garage we tried filling up in was also empty, but we made it on to Melle without any further issues. Bikes powered by legs are so much easier than cars needing batteries and fuel.

 

Nine shops and five hours later, we were done, in all senses of the word. Thank heavens for the flask of coffee and the cake we packed in case of emergency, or we may have been forced to tuck into the Christmas chocolates we had bought. It was also a real shock once we were home to discover that despite having a list and all those hours spent shopping, I’d forgotten to buy courgettes.

 

The great advent calendar hunt

At least we fulfilled the mission Adrian’s mum set us, which was to buy special advent calendars for everyone, including Mini the dog. Every December, Mini remembers that when we show her the calendar she must sit, tap her paw on a door and wait for her treat. Grandma always buys her the calendar and Adrian brings it home from the UK, but this year, we had to find one in France. We tried supermarkets, pet shops, stores that sell all sorts of things you never knew you needed until you went in, but nothing like a treat filled advent calendar for dogs. If there is one thing Adrian is not, it’s a quitter, so he carefully removed the cheap chocolate from a budget advent calendar and refilled each window with a tasty dog treat. I’d like to say we will be restrained and slowly nibble our way through the chocolates, but within a very short space of time (of Ed getting back from the dog walk), they’d all gone. 

Once Adrian had sorted the car, which turned out to be just a lazy key fob, he set to building and individually tweaking the shelf unit. My task, once the shopping was all unpacked, was to clear enough space on the kitchen table for our advent calendars and I’m not sure who had the toughest job.

Diary of Covid-19 confinement, day thirty-nine

View from the dog walk

Day thirty-nine, 24^th April 2020

Views from the dog walk

There are times when it feels like we have been in lockdown for so long I can’t remember what we did before, or even in those first few weeks. Then there are other times when it seems to whiz by really quickly. We took the dog out for a gentle walk after lunch today and realised that almost two weeks had passed since our last walk, yet it seems no more than a few days. Before you worry that we are neglecting Mini, at twelve years old, two walks a day, every day, would be too much for her and she and Ed have been enjoying their daily exercise together since he came home six weeks ago.

Poppies

The first thing I noticed was that a lot has changed in the countryside around the village. The wheat crop has ears, the poppies have started flowering, I saw my first Bee orchids and Pyramid orchids in flower too, and the butterflies were enjoying them all. 

Acacia blooms

The Acacia tree by the village lavoir (wash house) is just coming into bloom and will smell divine in a few days. There was also something very relaxing in that the only noise we heard was the sound of birds and bees, like a gentle ringing in our ears.

The garden is a busy place at the moment as well. The great tits who nest in the back courtyard every year are frantically feeding a noisy brood of babies, safely concealed in our old (and very much unused) patio heater. The swallows are back, dipping in and out of the barn, chattering to each other as they repair their nests and stake their claim on the best beams to build on. But the winners of the noisiest birds have to go to the house sparrows whose constant cheeping outside the bedroom window is the first thing I hear in the morning, along with the noise of their tiny feet, loud and amplified as they scrabble in the galvanized gutter. Their numbers are most certainly not in decline chez nous.

Stay indoors, stay safe.

24th April 2017, Col d’Ispeguy Pyrenees

April holiday memory 

24^th April 2017 was a big day for me; my first ever attempt at cycling up a mountain pass. We were in the Pays Basque and Adrian had carefully selected the Col d’Ispeguy as it is a gradual six kilometre climb, at an average of 6%, with stunning views and most importantly a bar at the top that serves gateau Basque. It is also a border crossing, so there is a real sense of adventure and achievement in cycling up a mountain and crossing from France to Spain. It has now become our favourite col and the first one we return to every time we are back in the Basque, which will hopefully be soon.

Brittany Ferries Pet Friendly Cabins Baie de Seine

Our pet friendly cabin

What do you do to celebrate your beloved dog’s birthday, especially when they have reached the age of 11 (or 65 in doggie years) and had a traumatic time over Christmas – think house sharing with a Jack Russel, dog bites, blood (on Grandma’s beige carpets) and a vet visit? We decided to take Mini on a cruise. Well, the pet friendly cabin of the overnight Brittany Ferries Baie de Seine sailing from Portsmouth to Le Havre, if I’m honest, but it felt like a cruise to me (and Mini). 

When you book Brittany Ferries économie, they go to great lengths to ensure you understand it is a no-frills service, which meant I was pleasantly surprised on boarding that the cabin was more spacious than I was expecting. We didn’t check out the bar or restaurant facilities, but as we boarded at 23h, we had already eaten and my bedtime was fast approaching, despite the excitement of being somewhere new. The cabin was warm, and the bed was comfy, although the unfamiliar sounds (it wasn’t noisy) and movement meant it took me a while to fall asleep, but I slept well once I was asleep.

 

Mini on her bed

Mini was more enthusiastic than some of her four-legged travelling companions; one had to be dragged through from the car deck to the stairwell, where we encountered another one refusing to climb the stairs. Mini was just happy to be with us, even if wearing her muzzle (compulsory in public areas) isn’t her favourite attire. She was also quite at home in the cabin. Her duvet bed fit snuggly under the desk area that gave each bunk a bedside table, meaning she was close to both of us, on her own bedding and tucked into a cosy cubbyhole; all very important touches for a sensitive pooch like Mini.

 

Doggy Goody Bag

She also loved the doggy goody bag that was waiting for her in the cabin. Chews, treats, a travel bowl and poo bags, I think at that point she had realised it must be her birthday. The only thing she wasn’t keen on was the outside walkies area. It was cold and dark, metal surfaced and full of puddles. I can’t really describe how miserable she looked tip-toeing gingerly around, never putting all four paws down and her only mission to pull me back to the door. We might have been looking forward to watching the lights of Portsmouth recede and dawn over Le Havre, but she had other ideas. 

Overall, her birthday cruise was a success for all of us and a very relaxing way to arrive back in France following three weeks in the UK. We really appreciated Brittany Ferries policy to board dog vehicles first, call us back to our cars last and then unload us first when we arrived in Le Havre. Would we book it again? Yes, we are even looking into joining their frequent traveller Club Voyage France scheme.

Good Citizen Dog Chart

Lazy Sunday in France with author Lorraine Wilson

Poppy's Place in the Sun

Welcome to another #LazySundayinFrance where today, as part of the blog tour for Poppy’s Place in the Sun, author Lorraine Wilson is taking us to her home in Aude for her perfect Sunday.

Lorraine Wilson and her rescue dogs

Author Bio

Lorraine Wilson writes flirty, feel-good fiction for Harper Impulse - a Harper Collins imprint - and is unashamedly fond of happy endings. She loves hearing from readers and feels incredibly grateful to be doing the job she always dreamt of.

She splits her time between the South of France and Cambridgeshire and is usually either writing or reading while being sat on, walked over or barked at by one of her growing band of rescue dogs.

You can find her online either on Facebook or Twitter.

Lazy Sunday in France by Lorraine Wilson

I have a lot in common with Poppy, the main character in my latest book (Poppy’s Place in the Sun – read my review here) so I imagine our favourite way to spend a Sunday would be pretty similar.

Like Poppy I live in a small village in Aude complete with a château and donkeys. Any plans for the day tend to centre around my rescue dogs, four of whom feature in the book. I have seven rescue dogs in total. Yes, seven! I find saying ‘no’ to a dog who needs a home very difficult!

If it’s sunny I’ll sit in the garden reading while they play and chase each other and then later we’ll take a drive out into the countryside and have a walk somewhere further afield than our usual weekday walk. A picnic will be picked up from a Boulangerie on route. There are plenty of lakes, mountains, castles and picturesque villages in Occitannie and we’re still exploring. I never really switch off from writer mode and while the dogs are enjoying fresh sniffs I’ll be taking notes and photos and thinking if a location would be good to feature in the book I’m working on - I’m currently writing the second book of my ‘A French Escape’ series for Harper Collins (FVD – yes!). You’ll find some of my favourite locations in the first book - Carcassonne, Mirepoix, the Pyrenees and the thermal baths at Aix-Les-Thermes. I love the area I’m living in so really enjoy being able to showcase it in my books!

Carcassonne by night

The end of the day will be spent on the deck at the back of my house, watching the sun set over the surrounding countryside as I listen to an audiobook and work on a sewing project.

So all in all a pretty quiet day but as I’m in a place I love, doing a job I love and get to stay at home with my dogs I consider myself pretty lucky.

Lazy Sunday in France for French Village Diaries ©LorraineWilson2018

Poppy's Place in the Sun by Lorraine Wilson

Poppy’s Place in the Sun

‘She had me at Bonjour! Warm, funny, deliciously French…this lovely story filled my heart with sunshine’ Jane Linfoot

Sometimes you need to lose yourself to find your way home…

With only her trusty dogs Peanut, Treacle and Pickwick by her side, Poppy Kirkbride could be forgiven for having doubts about her move to a quiet village in rural France. But as the sun shines down on her ramshackle new home, Poppy knows she’s made the right decision. A lick of paint, and some TLC and her rustic farmhouse will be the perfect holiday retreat – Poppy’s dream come true.

Poppy is welcomed by her fellow villagers, except for brooding local vet Leo Dubois, who makes it clear Poppy isn’t welcome in his village – or his life! Leo might be gorgeous, but Poppy won’t be told what to do by an arrogant Frenchman – no matter how kind and gentle he is to her dogs!

Determined to stay, Poppy tries to understand the enigmatic Frenchman better. But as the two get closer, Poppy sees another side to Leo – a man with heartbreak of his own. Falling in love with Leo is easy, but can he ever return Poppy's love? And what would this mean for her dream life and place in the sun?

Links to Amazon for the paperback and ebook versions of Poppy’s Place in the Sun can be found below or via a universal purchase link here 

Giveaway Poppy's Place in the Sun

Giveaway – Win a PB of Poppy’s Place in the Sun and a crossbody hand bag (Open Internationally)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour Poppy's Place in the Sun