Last weekend was the Caupenne fete, the biggest event in the village’s year. It kicked off last Monday with a basketball tournament, which ran all week, but things really got going on Friday night.

On Saturday morning there were fishing, walking and horse riding events organised, followed by a lunch under the trees in the village centre. Saturday night was paella night; a band played outdoors until the meal started at around 10.30pm, then followed us into the Salle des Associations and played throughout the meal. There was a bit of a panic as they estimated about 80 people would turn up for paella, whereas numbers actually topped 140, but they coped somehow.

Sunday’s lunch is always the high point of the fete; after lavish aperitifs, over 200 sat down to eat at about 2pm. A different band played during the aperos and dinner; they were brilliant, though we did remember from last year to sit near the back, so we could talk to our neighbours. We finished just after 7pm, by which time Nick and I called it a day.

Monday morning was the big clean up; we mopped and scrubbed, swept and stacked, dismantled the temporary kitchen, took down lights and bunting and generally transformed a chaotic scene into the normal, tidy village centre. Then home to start cleaning up for our next lot of visitors; Graham is the photographer at our neighbours’ wedding next weekend, so he’s making a holiday of it and has brought his parents to visit the area too.