Things to do for Non-Anglers – Local French Markets

For our non-fishing guests at Bletiere I supply a folder of things to do & this year I have added a list of brocantes (markets) in the local area. The brocantes take place on a Sunday and last most of the day and they range from a small village to the bigger towns where all the […]

Winter Feeding Regime for a Carp Lake

We’ve just added 3 new videos for Bletiere ; Winter Lake Tour Swim Update Winter Feeding Regime You can watch them all here. Here’s the Winter Feeding regime video… Fishing holidays in France at Bletiere

Red Squirrels at Bletiere Carp Lake

This is just a short video of the red squirrels that we have here at Bletiere nesting in the pine trees.  A lot of our guests say they have never seen one so I thought I would try and do a short video. As usual as soon as I got the camera out they decided […]

Drought? What Drought?

John does a quick tour of the lake showing us the effects of a monumental downpour at Bletiere in April ’12. Fishing Holidays at Bletiere

Hooks & Leads – Does Size Matter?

I’ve been an angler now for far more years than I would like to admit to.  I was lucky enough to learn my angling skills on rivers like the Avon and Stour around Bournemouth and I’ve had the privilege of fishing with a lot of good anglers, always learning from them. I then went carp […]

Swim Improvements & Dry Wall Building at Bletiere

For the first time since we opened we have had no visitors booked here at Bletiere during March,I think due to the weather, but it has given us a chance to get some more jobs done. Today I’ve been lucky to borrow our friend Normans mini digger and dispite Lesley’s groans and look of horror […]

Draining Down a Carp Lake – Things You Must Know

Before you can either net a carp lake in France lake, or dig out the silt, you have to have a total or part drain down of water… so you need to know how to pull the plug!  It’s a fairly easy process here at Bletiere – with a bit of snooping around you should […]

Recycling in France – How You Can Help Carp Lake Owners

One of the big differences you find when you move to Europe is the high level of recycling that you have to do without choice.  It’s very strictly controlled here in France, which of course in the long term is a good thing for us all. Over the last year they have been rolling out […]

Winter clean up at Bletiere carp lake

Now that the last of our Bletiere guests has left it’s time to start the big clear up and make sure we’re ready to go next spring with everything looking good and refreshed. Lesley has started to get the veg plot cleared and get the cover over it to kill off the weeds and get […]

Which carp unhooking mat should you use?

A subject that is very important to lake owners and the majority of anglers is that of fish safety.  I’m no different here at Bletiere so I’ve put together this blog article to show what you’ll need to ensure the fish are well protected. The vast majority of our visitors arrive with more than adequate […]

Slow Worms and Grass Snakes at Bletiere

A lot of our visitors are intrigued when they see the grass snakes swimming across the lake and comment on the fact they do not see many in the UK.  We have a lot of grass snakes here and they are totally harmless, unless you’re a mouse or a slug, so we ask people to […]

Woodpeckers at Bletiere

We have a lot of different woodpeckers here at Bletiere and most days you can hear them pecking away at the trees. This is a short video showing you the results of all their hard work. The tree I mention in the video that looks like it will fall down has in fact now gone […]

Anyone remember the Hitchcock film – The Birds

We do not very often get starlings here at Bletiere but today there is something in the grass that has attracted dozens of them.  I went to look in the grass but could not see anything… but the crows are doing the same in the field above the house. Very strange… anyone remember the Hitchcock […]

Daisy the squirrel catcher (not)

As the blog is not just all about fishing I thought I would show you what Daisy spends hours of her life doing here at Bletiere – it’s basically sitting and watching. She is hiding behind a tree waiting for a red squirrel to come down and then tries to catch it… but she never […]