The Eagle Has Landed

The Dilemma

What do you do with a cast iron eagle that is nearly 2 metres tall with a wingspan to match, and weighs over 250kg? It’s not an everyday dilemma – but it was one we found ourselves faced with late in January when someone very close passed away and left Peter the eagle in his will. Peter and his brother Neil loved giving each other the most ridiculous gifts, always vying with each other to outdo the last obscure present. The eagle was a surprisingly tasteful, if totally over the top, gift that Peter gave to Neil on his 60th birthday. Neil had the last laugh when he passed away in January and left this amazing bird to Peter.

Hence our dilemma!

To add to our conundrum, the eagle was currently located half way up a Welsh mountain in Snowdonia. It was going to have to take flight ….but to where? And how?

To Peter it was obvious. The eagle had to leave Wales and fly to France. Why not! Hmmmm ..a few simple logistical problems perhaps? Because unsurprisingly enough, this overweight bird couldn’t fly!

The Flight

After much deliberation and the help of a good natured, rather amused local Welsh farmer with a tractor (it’s good to have friends with tractors and diggers!) the eagle was demounted and loaded onto a van and took flight on its journey across the UK to Fontalbe.

Much to our surprise, just a couple of days later, the eagle was safely deposited on the front drive at Fontalbe. Though there was no one at home to look after it, we were not too worried, thinking it was rather unlikely anyone would be able to steal it!

The Eagle Lands

Fontalbe is nestled in the valley of the river Couze and can be quite hard to find as you drive along the road. There are a few signs on the approaching trees to landmark the property, but they are easy to miss. The entrance to the driveway was crying out for something unmissable, eye catching and memorable and as spectacular as the stunning renovated water mill itself…. It had to be the eagle.

It needed a perch -so work on building a plinth for the eagle to land on began. The stones that had been dug up from our reseeded lawn were perfect – though there were many long and tiring trips up and down the drive carrying trailers full of heavy stones to make sure it was sufficiently robust – after all the eagle weighed a quarter of a tonne – and was to perch on a steeply sloping grass verge.

At this stage we realised we ought maybe to check out with the Mairie that they were happy with our new landmark. It seemed they were. Big sigh of relief.

With the plinth complete, the time had come to land the eagle. It took a digger (definitely good to have friends with diggers) and three enthusiastic, if a little excentric, men to bring it into land. There was great debate about which way the eagle should face – out to the road or down the driveway overlooking Fontalbe, but there was no doubt in our mind that when we look up the drive from the Fontalbe being looked down upon by the eagle will remind us of Neil , the happy times he and Peter spent together and the many amusing, if bizarre presents Peter and Neil exchanged.

And it is now a whole lot easier to find Fontalbe!