With the weather in Brittany at its coldest for years and the heating arrangements on our arrival in Tréguennec at their most tetchy, our recent holiday in Brittany was a real challenge. But we saw it through and with the struggle we were  brought closer together than ever. Paradoxically, the problems that were so trying initially, ultimately provided the very ingredients for us to have a very special Christmas break.

As we opened the front door of our Tréguennec cottage there was no hint of the difficulties to come. The house looked lovely and clean, and welcoming, and after unloading cases, boxes and a heavy sitting-room chair we sat down for a homely cup of tea – perfect. 

Then, as is part of our tradition, we walked round the garden to take stock. The garage roof that had been ripped off by the storm of November 2023 had been beautifully repaired. In addition, all the necessary autumn pruning had been done, the lawn had been cut and the path was cleared. Our vegetable beds – well those left uncovered – were peppered with weeds while our leeks looked strong and healthy and asking to be eaten – leek and potato soup was certainly on the menu! But, as ever there was plenty of gardening to be done in order to prepare the beds for Spring.

In addition to all this, there was was a particularly wonderful surprise. The Japonica that we planted when we bought the house over twenty years ago was covered in flowers. Often there is a sprinkling of flowers that begin to blossom in January, but in front of us, just before Christmas, was a bush full of its special soft pink-coloured petals (see illustration). I don’t often think about my father who died over forty years ago but this bush was planted in his memory  – Japonicas were amongst his favourites – and I suddenly ‘saw’ him looking on delighted. 

After our garden tour, it was back inside to discover something far from appealing. On arrival from London, the house was its usual cold self which would be expected after being empty for three months. But it was soon apparent that one of the radiators in the main room that we had turned on before our tea, was still cold. As if that was not enough, a few days later a second radiator, this time in a downstairs corridor, stopped functioning too. Next we realised that we were facing yet another, and more serious problem: the hot water boiler had failed to start. Yes, we could boil water to help wash the dishes, but that was no compensation for the warm water used for washing ourselves!

To compound matters, by oversight there were very few logs stacked up by the open fire which we use to heat the main room. Soon, however, we had the fire burning, which from then on required day-long maintenance and and a supply of two wheelbarrows full of logs each day. With all this the main room was soon warm. But as we were lighting the fire we were suddenly faced with yet another problem – with a loud bang, everything electrical in the house turned off. Lights, fridge, wifi and the remaining working radiators all stopped working with no obvious explanation.

It was still two days before Christmas and while initially we had decided to ‘battle through’ our difficulties over the next four days, that resolve now evaporated. We telephoned our electrician but he was on his Christmas break. However, although he could not come round before Christmas, he was happy to talk us through the fuse problem then and there. After about five minutes of remote detective work with us turning on and off various switches, the cause was found and mended (circumnavigated) and the power returned. Predictably, the broken radiator and the hot water cylinder remained functionless.

When his holiday was over, David came round and in a few minutes the boiler was working again, and by the end of the day the radiator in the main room had been replaced under guarantee while the corridor one would take rather longer. 

With the provision of a warm room and running hot water our second week was a dream. And the change had to be celebrated. As soon as the water was hot enough to run a bath, I jumped in and took my first hot bath for almost a week. As I lay soaking I sang songs out loud for almost an hour as I welcomed in a very special week of chatting and gardening together and seeing friends – and all this was well worth waiting for. 

The illustration shows a photo of our Japonica – Japanese Camelia – in full flower in our garden in mid winter in Tréguennec, which greeted us when we arrived. 

For helping write this blog I would like to thank David, Rohan and Vivien.