Christmas 2015 and New Beginnings

The Christmas fairs, choirs and celebrations are now over. The feast of St Sylvestre (New Years eve) was heralded in with great fanfare along with the obligatory soupe a l’oignon, a traditional dish eaten well past midnight as the signal that the new year has arrived. 

Our village Christmas fair has grown over the past few years as more and more new enterprises share their locally made goodies. We enjoyed a delicious green tapenade made by a young couple from their recently harvested Lucque olive grove. Another family introduced us to their array of homemade patés with such intriguing names as “Terrine Vigneronne aux Vendanges Tardives” (Terrine of late harvest wine). 

Isa has still not opened her restaurant next door to us but she is certainly keeping busy with catering. Her reputation has spread and the Christmas season has exceeded her expectations. She hopes that after a short rest, she will finally open the doors of “La Table d’Isa” to the public. We can hardly wait.

Arnaud le Gourmand has expanded his small épicerie in the village centre, a sign of the increased interest and appreciation of local products. 

Young people who are returning to their roots in the south are developing many of the new businesses opening in the village. We recently met Nicola and Gwen who left their life in London to start a chambres d’hotes (B&B) in the village. Gwen originally comes from Beziers and he still has family there. He and Nicola bought a ‘maison de maitre’ and after significant renovations, recently welcomed their first guests. We wish them well and “Le Petit Moliere” is a much needed addition to the village.

After reading a history of Servian over the past 100 years, I realize that it has gone through numerous periods of revitalization. We feel fortunate that we are enjoying yet another of these times.