Some Dutch people who live near where we are house sitting told us we must go to Blot L’Eglise. Initially I thought it was a church (because in French l’église means church), but no, it’s a small community, located about 15Km away.

But of course there was a church there.

I took the photo on the left, and we spotted this poster showing the church and the community at the turn of last century. We found it interesting that the church had a clock tower.

The Dutch people told us we had to visit this village to see where and how they manufactured different oils. Huilerie de Blot is a quite famous business in this part of the Auvergne.

As we approached, we could smell something delicious, and once inside we could see what it was.

This man was using a massive mill to crush pistachio nuts. The mill has existed since 1857 and the wheel weighs more than 1.5 tons. The man proudly showed us through to the oil press and a massive fire where they roast the nuts before crushing the oil from them. They manufacture virgin walnut, hazelnut, rapeseed, sesame, pistachio, peanut, carnation, pumpkin seed and almond oils. And all of these were for sale and to taste. I must admit that I found it strange drinking oil – I would have preferred a biscuit or some bread to dip into it, but it was delicious and not too expensive.

It was Mick’s birthday, so we had ventured to this local business to see if he could find something special for his special day. And, he didn’t have much trouble finding something to his taste.

Locally-crafted artisanal beers and local wines were beautifully displayed on the shelves. He chose a Pastis Vert – not really sure what it would taste like (and there were no tastes of that on offer) as well as a bottle of an apéritif made at this business using walnuts.

We spotted a flyer outside the store advertising a market that was going to be held the next day (1 May – which is a public holiday in France celebrating the 8 hour working day), and during the market there would be demonstrations of oil crushing and tastes of local produce. So we decided we would head back there following our final French lesson with our lovely Belgium tutor this morning. And, make use of what we had learnt with some ‘practical’ French if you like.

When we arrived today – the place looked very different – lots of people tasting and buying the local produce.

The most popular place was the beer and food tent, which was set up in front of the shop we had visited yesterday. Of course we had to try some for lunch as well.

Oh, and we were given a gift from our French Tutor…

Her husband creates all sorts and sizes of these devils and gargoyles and sells them for a mighty price. They have loads of them both inside and outside their home and Mick had admired them each time we were at her home.

Check out his website and they are also available on Etsy.