A couple of years ago a young chap came back from training to be a chef in England and opened a restaurant in the village.
His menu was rather more exotic than the choice at the local hotel or the pizzaria but, all the same, it seemed rather optimistic of him to open a third eating place in a relatively small village.
Our Club de Troisieme Age had one of its three annual 'repas' there and although the food was excellent we were crammed into a relatively small space so that going to the toilet was a bit of a problem for certain well built ladies who were sitting towards the middle of the room.
On the couple of occasions when we tried to book a table there was a problem - he was closed because he was catering for a 'do' in Sedan or there was a private party.
Eventually we saw a 'for sale' sign on the door and rumour had it that he didn't have a good head for business and he was always offering free champagne to his customers.
Nearly a year later the 'for sale' sign disappeared but it was another few months before we learned that the premises had been taken over by a baker. This also coincided with the major roadworks going on in the village and so people assumed that it would open about the same time as the road was finished, otherwise, customers wouldn't be able to get there very easily.
However, despite the major upheaval on their doorstep, M. et Mme Demarez opened for business on Monday. They are a young couple with a toddler and seem prepared to work very hard. They are not taking a day off for the first couple of weeks.
We sampled their bread, eclairs, and 'sausage rolls' and found them all to be very tasty. The village already has a baker and caterer, bread is sold at the local supermarket and there is a baker's van which comes round every day except Monday so the newcomers have a fair bit of competition.
Let's hope that they can establish their new business and be more successful than the restaurateur.
