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With Florence and her sister Claire in London in 1989 Florence and I have been friends since before she moved to Alsace for University.  From the time she has lived there, it has been a dream to renovate an old Alsatian house. Glamming it up in Strasbourg 1992 The years rolled past, marriage, kids and life went on but that dream to renovate an old Alsatian house was still brewing in the back of her mind.  This wine is nearly older than us! Bischoffsheim 2005 On each visit I made, we would flip through the real estate listings - no garden, too dilapidated, not in the right village, too big, too expensive...  And this trip was no exception.  My house searches were met with 'it is rubbish', 'out of my budget' and other such encouraging phrases.  House search text messages That was until I found a listing for a very cute house somewhere in Obernai. Without wanting to call the agent, we decided to spend the day exploring Obernai on our bikes to see if we could find i...

In the high mountain pastures of the Vosges above the town of Munster, there is a tradition of cattle grazing and cheese making.  On these high, steep pastures, the cows would graze on the lush grass, they would be milked and the cheese immediately processed and ripened. This was done in a marcairie. The macairie comprises of two buildings. One where the milking and cheese processing was done with a space for the storage of the ripening cheese, and one smaller cottage for the farmer to live.  While the tradition of Munster cheese continues, the old macairies are being converted into mountain weekenders.  With huge thanks to Marie-Claude and Hervé, we stayed for the weekend at their beautifully restored marcairie 'Kaltwasser', high above Munster.  Originally for the cows to be milked and the cheese to be made,  it is now the main building. The cornerstone is marked "1881" Originally where the shepherd (or cowherd) slept, this is now a secondary guest house. ...