72: Derby Days in Chabanais, France

Welcome to the 72nd weekly post of our Baby Boomers Move to France blog.

We are into our 44th week in France 5/31-6/6/26.

We have been in our home in the village of Chabanais in the Charente department of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region of France since the middle of December 2025. We are loving it.

This week,

Sunday, we volunteer at a charity event, “A Day at the Races. Monday is will preparation day.

Our home in Chabanais, France

Things on the agenda this week:

• “A Day at the Races” charity event
• Will prep
• French class
• Derby party
• Chores

Weather forecast:

Nice weather for the week. A little rain is forecast but all should be pretty near perfect for the Derby party.

Why this Blog?

Long story short, we are “Baby Boomers” that have moved from Venice, Florida to the beautiful French countryside as retirees. After a little over a year of planning and fretting we sold everything in Venice and made the move on 1 August 2025.

We publish a brief update of our adventures every Sunday to share our experiences, tips and mistakes.

If you are wondering what got into our head and inspired us to make the move, check out some of our earlier posts. Again, if you have questions about our adventure, drop your questions in the comment section below.

This Weeks Daily Update

Sunday

Beautiful day for a “Day at the Races”. What a great fund raiser for the Cancer services. The event started around 10AM and was scheduled to end sometime after 6PM. We didn’t stay for the entire day. We were concerned that Rosie was probably missing us.

Around 100 people showed up to the event held about 30 minutes’ drive from Chabanais at Simon’s house in the country. Your 20-euros donation included a welcome drink, english cheeses and chutney, strawberries and cream, Pimms, BBQ and “horse racing”. For additional $$ there was wine and beer available. The large property includes a cool old house with renovation projects in various stages of completion and is a great venue for this event. The pictures below show the large terrace with folks eating and drinking and chatting. Most everyone is an expat from England, I think. It is always surprising how many English speaking expats live nearby. Ages ranged from an infant, young adults, middle age and a few seniors.

By the way EB and I didn’t know what Pimms is until we experienced it at the event. According to Wikipedia, The Pimm’s cup is a cocktail that is popular in England. The primary spirit is Pimm’s No. 1 Cup, a gin-based beverage flavored with fruits, “English style” clear and carbonated lemonade and spices. It was invented around 1823 as a health drink by James Pimm. The cocktail is made with various chopped garnishes including apple, cucumber, orange, lemon, Strawberry and mint. Ginger ale is often used as a common substitute for the lemonade. It is very refreshing, kind of like a Sangria. there were Pimm’s No. 2 Cup and 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 Cups. They have been discontinued. However, as I understand it there is a Pimm’s Winter Cup that is a seasonally available version of Pimm’s No. 3. There is a whole lot of history around it and I’m here to tell you it is a very tasty summertime cocktail.

Elizabeth and I sat with Julia (EBs coworker at the charity shop) and Julia’s husband Brian. I think the shop missed an opportunity to have a few brochures or flyers about the shop strategically placed at the venue to explain what the charity does and how cancer patients benefit.

The horse races were in the large barn and a lot of fun and everyone was cheering for their horse.

So here is how it worked, there was 6 races with 8 horses in each. You weren’t given the names of the horses you simply placed a bet on a number. 1-euro minimum bet (not sure if there was an upper limit) and after all of the bets were in, there was an announcement that the race was about to begin. Everyone was invited into the barn to watch. There were 2 big screen TVs set up, and a video of a prerecorded race was shown. After the race the winners were paid. Only first place was paid. I didn’t win anything, but I think for each euro bet on the winning horse the winning ticket was worth 3. I heard one person wager 2 euros.

After each race you returned to the terrasse for refreshments and then given an opportunity to bet on the next race. We only stayed for 3 races and left before the BBQ. The sun, cocktails and fun were enough for us.

Monday: Drive to Ruffec

A nice day for a drive to Ruffec and to get our wills updated. We took Rosie with us, and she was a perfect little lady.

As I mentioned it was a beautiful day for a drive and not far out of Ruffec we had a deer come bounding out of a corn field across the road and then a few kilometers further a fox ran across the road. How cool is that?

We spent roughly an hour with the Notaire who had our will already prepared. He went over the will with us and made a couple of corrections then we signed and another Notaire signed as a witness and voila we were done. Our will is then recorded with the federal government digitally, so it is available to us no matter where we are in France. All of this including tax was 367.45 euros. I don’t remember what our costs were when we had our US wills done, but I’m feeling this is not bad.

At home I recorded our expenses on the spread sheet and was feeling pretty productive when EB had noticed water on the floor in the laundry room. A few expletives later I found the issue and have a repair plan that might include having a handyman change a valve.

Then we sat outside with a glass of wine, relaxed and discuss some ideas for sprucing up the garden area. EB met a lady whose husband does sculptures out of scrap metal. We will have him visit to discuss options.

Tuesday: We woke up to a comfortable morning

We got a little yard work done and that means a decheterie run. Except the decheterie is closed on Tuesday,

The handyman showed up at around 12:30 and we discussed something like 10 jobs needing his attention. He took lots of notes and said that he would get back to us with a proposal. He is an expat from England, but he had spent 25 years in Australia.

It seems that there are a lot of British folks here that had spent a lot of time in Australia. I asked about that and as I understand it, there was a program in the 90s where Australia was giving incentives to people to move to Australia and a lot of folks took advantage of it.

Weather was nice so we fired up the BBQ and cooked duck breast. EB seasons it a little and then we let the BBQ work its magic. Delicious.

Wednesday: Rain off and on today.

We spent time prepping for the Chabanais Soap Box Derby party and putting final touches on the summer house.

We had a new member of our French class this week. Brian joined us this week. He is a very interesting fellow and retired sports journalist. He does speak French some, but like the rest of us is a little shy about it. Elizabeth and I first met Brian at the “Day at the Races” charity event. You will recall that one of Elizabeth’s coworkers at the cancer charity shop is Julia, Brians wife. Julia speaks French pretty well so no need for the class.

The one-hour class is one of the fastest hours of the week.

Thursday: Cool, sunny and a little rain

We dug the fennel plant out of our little garden and put it in a plastic garbage bag for Michelle. This thing is over 6 feet tall. We fit it in the car, and it took over to Ron and Michelles place. EB discussed last minute details for the Derby party with Michelle, and I played 18 holes of golf with Ron. We had to stop at 18 because we all had to get ready for “Quiz Night”.

Quiz night at Cafe des Sport

One Thursday per month 8 teams assemble at the Cafe des Sport to compete answering questions on a wide range of topics. Kind of like a trivia night. I guess it is a pretty hot ticket as there are a lot of teams that want to sign up but there is only room for 8 teams of 4 members. Julia had asked Elizabeth about teaming up. Julia signed up in time, and we got to participate in a fun evening. Our team consisted of Julia, Brian and me and EB. Questions included topics on geography, leading ladies and a couple others and also a bonus round where you had to match up famous people aliases with their given name. Of course, beer, wine, mixed drinks and bar snacks are available. The first-place team gets a bottle of wine, and the last place team gets a box of chocolate. I’m not very good at these types of competitions, but I still enjoy it. By the way, our team did not get the chocolates. Ron and Michelle are on a separate team. They didn’t get the chocolates either.

Friday: The Derby preparations in the village are in high gear. The hay bales are staged in strategic locations in preparation for moving them on the road early Friday morning. These will border the road and define the derby course. Other safety barriers are staged up at the fairgrounds ready to be placed in the road up near the start of the derby at the top of the hill and along the road.

Shopping at E.Leclerc for groceries and stuff for the Derby party and then final prep in the summer house and a good scrubbing of the tiles in the walkway.

Saturday: happy Birthday to my brother Larry and The Derby and Derby Party

My youngest brother Larry is celebrating his birthday in Thailand. It is his happy place.

Derby Day

The Derby was scheduled to start around 10:30 AM so workers were out super early setting up the course and checking the “race cars” and drivers. The event was well attended with about 36 cars competing. It was all about fun, but the hill is steeper than this picture shows. At 9:30 I took Rosie for a walk to check out the preparations. She wasn’t too interested.

Derby party at Chez Beiley

Michelle and Ron and Deb and Allen brought over some goodies for the party around 9:00.

Around 10:30ish the Derby got started and we walked over to check everything out. WE noticed that after each run a 4-wheeler would have several cars hooked up with ropes into a train and then pull all up to the top of the hill. It looked like everyone was having a blast.

EB wanted to get everything staged for the Derby party, so we walked back home and got busy.

Around 3:30 our guest started arriving. Ron, Michelle, Allen and Deb had walked over from Grenord (about 1-2 km walk) and then and Ian and Penny and shortly afterwards Russell, Damion and Gary arrived.

You will remeber Ian and Penny own Cafe Lillian one of our favorite places for lunch. Allen and Deb live near Ron and Michelle and have a little sailboat that they sail in the nearby lakes. Russell, Damion and Gary are Americans that have lived in Chabanais roughly a year. We first met them at Cafe Lillian. We had everyone up in the summer house where drinks were served and introductions were made and a really nice get together commenced.

I took a picture of the food before we dug in. EB had prepared a charcuterie and a cheese board and small bowls of olives, cashews, figs and dried apricots. Ron had made a dang good quiche, Deb and Allen made 2 yummy cakes there was wine and beer and something called Violette and Champagne to drink and

Clean up after the party was quick and easy and then a little TV and a glass of wine and in bed by 10ish.

So that was our week.

A Day at the Races, Derby and Derby party and a few chores. Just like most weeks.

French Lifestyle and Culture

What do with your hands while having a meal in a French restaurant?

In France during a meal, you should rest your hands lightly on the table NOT in your lap. This is part of French etiquette.

Also, one should tear the bread with your hands not cut with a knife.

Tap water is good and tasty in France but if you order water at a restaurant it is a good idea to specify “une carafe d’eau” (tap water) or you may receive bottled water and have to pay for it.

It is common to share a bottle of wine rather than order by the glass. In our experience we have been known to order half of a carafe of wine.

Next Week (la Semaine Prochaine)

• Sunday, Drive to Limoges
• Game night at Ron and Michelles
• French lesson
• Sungreen comes to put sealant on the roof
• “Around the World in 80 minutes”
• Pick up beef at the farm
• Golf with Ron on Thursday

Weather forecast for next week

Mostly sunny and a little cloudy only a slight chance of rain. high temps in the upper 60s and 70s degrees F as it warms up by the end of the week.

Signing off for the week

As always, we sign off wishing you all a good week and remind you to take care of yourselves and your family.

Keep in touch and leave questions, suggestions and comments below. We really enjoy hearing from you all.

Wishing you a good week (Bonne Semaine)

Mark and Elizabeth Beiley

Babyboomersmovetofrance.com