We are loving Autumn in the French Alps this year. The last weekend saw the annual St Jean d’Aulps wine tasting and Autumn fair. This yearly event is held in the school gym and has many wine producers from all over France offering their wares. You can get a real taste of local culture as you walk around and chat to the individual wine growers and taste their beautiful wines- for free may I add! There are also stalls selling l’escargot, pates and oysters. In the evening the stalls are closed up and there is distinctly Alpine accordion music for dancing as well as a sit down meal in the hall.
On the Sunday there are local stalls selling food and crafts and there is usually a cow judging competition. This year it was snowed off though! On Saturday (while the local community were warming themselves with wine) the weather took a decidedly wintry turn! What started as a forecast for snow flurries in the valley turned into 24 hours of snow fall, culminating in around 10cm of snow in St Jean d’Aulps.
This really was a huge contrast to the weekend before last. We went to the Autumn cider fair along the valley in Mieussy in 25℃ heat! This huge event closes the road heading towards Geneva airport so that the whole community can turn out into the streets for a variety of festivities. The shops are selling off all of last seasons ski gear and there is a huge car boot as well as various stalls selling every kind of bric-a-brac. There is a huge selection of food on offer with many local specialities such as saucisson, cheeses and sausage and cabbage stews being cooked in a huge cauldron. The main event of the fair is the cider pressing in the main square by the town hall where you can purchase freshly squeezed apple juice and roasted chestnuts.
There is also livestock on show and for sale and a very unique merry go round powered by milking a mechanical cow!
Junk metal merry-go-round powered by milking a mechanical cow in Mieussy
Autumn is also seeing us getting plenty of new bookings as everybody is looking forward to winter. So to avoid disappointment then head to our website now! www.cheztoi.biz