Visitors

Describing life at the Maison is no easy task. It is so much better if people can experience it first hand. The phrase 'seeing is believing' really takes on a whole new definition...

And so, as five ridiculously tall Brummies rocked up last weekend to get a taste of camel farm life I was very much looking forward to showing them how I'd been spending the summer. What followed was 48 hours of:

Courgette chopping, wool carding, tent erecting, disco dancing, wine tasting, dodgem crashing, crepe consuming, kitten stroking, lack of sleeping, tea drinking, jazz listening, duck eating, sun shining, rain pouring, cuisine sampling, trampoline bouncing, bracelet making, animal appreciating...

Madiran Wine Fete was one the highlights of the weekend. On Friday night we went en masse for the now standard and socially acceptable local disco. Although the Brummies were initially and understandably dubious, after a few beers and some classic tunes they were the life and soul of the party, line dancing with the best of them.

Fresh from his Summer Festival 2010 Tour (of where, we can only imagine... Ibiza? Glasto? Creamfields?) it was the turn of DJ Optima to amaze us with his mastery of iTunes and a smoke machine.

Thanks to Jack's ridiculously long stretch over crowds of avid fans (an assortment of about a dozen middle aged women), I am now also the proud owner of a DJ Optima one-size-fits-no-one T Shirt. It's emblazoned with the slogan "He's stronger than you" on it. Fantastic.

The next day we headed back to Madiran and arrived to what was a much more civilised affair as disco dancefloor had been transformed into a wine tasting garden. We paid 3 euros each, were given a glass and freedom to wander around and sample a wide selection of local wines. Tom and Katie fancying themselves as experts were swirling glasses, sniffing for bouquets and commenting on the barrel's oakiness. James, Nick, Jack and I were more focused on whether we were going to have nutella or sugar and lemon on our pancakes...

Considering us Brummies are an uncultured lot, in terms of experiencing new things, this weekend was incredible. I would never had guessed when we left school that that four years later we would be reunited on a camel farm in the south of France. It's a funny old thing, life.