To celebrate the start of our off-season, and the build-up to Halloween, we went to the Fête de la Citrouille – Pumpkin Fair – at Préveranges. This village is about 20 km away and is in Cher. Our north-eastern corner of Creuse borders on that departément, and also Indre.

Préveranges Church

Préveranges, despite being small, is a prosperous village, with a beautiful church and a lovely park that we had a quick walk around.

But the main event was the pumpkin fair. This was in the central place of the village. The first thing we saw was this snakecharmer …

Isn't he cool?

Followed by this witch.

There were some truly stupendous pumpkins on display, real whoppers. We’ve had a very poor pumpkin harvest at home this year, all tiddlers, but they’re a fantastic bright orange.

There were a few artisans selling their wares. I succumbed to buying a slice of nougat caramel salé (salt butter caramel) which I’m saving for a Christmas treat. Possibly. (If the sound of it has made your mouth water you can buy it from here.)

There was a guess the weight of the pumpkin competition. I’m pretty sure it weighed more than me. And there were a couple of other food stalls, but we were visiting just after dinner so couldn’t be tempted. Rors had a lollipop though. It was a good afternoon for him as we came across not only a squashed, dried toad …

Very Halloweeny!

But also some hedgehog remains – spines and a few bones …

Sad but fascinating!

The poor old hedgepig was on the bench next to the Lavoir les Puces in the centre of the village.

So all in all, a very interesting little outing with a definite Halloween feel about it!