This week I was in Potiers in the department of the Vienne. Now, if you had visited this city twenty, or maybe thirty years ago, you probably wouldn’t have come away with a particularly great impression. Sure there is some fabulous architecture but the overall feeling would have been of a rather run-down, slightly sad place that was perhaps down on its luck and a bit neglected. Continue reading “Things are Not Always What They Seem !”
Summer Sundays in France are a fine affair….mostly.
Except for the hordes of visitors, whose lines of traffic stretch back as far as your wing-mirror can reflect (one learns to avoid both of these things) and the occasional drop of rain, you will find almost all of France eating outside on a sunny Sunday.
The week began like any other week during the summer, warm days and wonderfully long evenings, when I find myself still gardening at 10pm because I’ve totally lost track of time and because it is still light. I’m accompanied by the sound of birds still singing, doves cooing, chickens clucking and cicadas warming up with the rest of the band. I’ve often thought I should find my EarPods and listen to a podcast whilst I am alone with no one to talk to, but just think what I would miss, this natural orchestra is too precious to block out with modern technology. Continue reading “Out and About in the Heatwave”
Do you ever get those weeks when nothing goes to plan, when you have so much to do that you seem to be running around in circles trying to fit it all in? Well, last week was one of those for me. Every time I achieved one thing another demanded attention. I planned to write a blog post last Thursday and then I put it off until Saturday. Realistically that was never going to happen, so I thought Sunday would be a safe bet. But that day too came and went, time raced on, hours flew by, more things stacked up on my ‘to do’ list. Continue reading “A Weekend of Surprises”
For the past few days we’ve been basking in real summer warmth. You know the type, when it’s almost too hot to do anything, when the dogs spend their days sprawling in the shade, the most energetic thing they do is to open and close one eye, just in case they should miss something. When the lizards scatter across the terracotta tiled roofs and when the frogs in the pond lay motionless in the sun, so well camouflaged one could almost miss them. The chickens take it in turns to indulge themselves in the dust bath and our newest addition, the ducks, spend every waking hour on the water. Continue reading “Melting Moments”
I hope you are all having/have had a fabulous weekend. It’s been a bit of a blustery week here, in fact I seem to have spent more time picking up fallen branches than actually gardening. However, finally everywhere is looking, well, springlike! This most endearing of seasons is doing her thing, enchanting us as always and beckoning us to move the entire show outside. Continue reading “Our Spring Garden”
Hi everyone! It’s Millie here (everyone’s favourite nineteen year old), this time to talk about a slightly different topic on the blog — climate change and what we can do to save the planet. As everyone knows, thanks to human practices, industrialisation and globalisation over the last 150 years, the Earth is changing at an unprecedented rate. Continue reading ““CLIMATE CHANGE” A Guest Blog Post by Millie”
Hi everyone! It’s Millie here (everyone’s favourite nineteen year old), this time to talk about a slightly different topic on the blog — climate change and what we can do to save the planet. As everyone knows, thanks to human practices, industrialisation and globalisation over the last 150 years, the Earth is changing at an unprecedented rate. Continue reading “Climate Change – Guest Post by Millie”
It’s such a British thing to talk about the weather. But actually it’s often a favoured topic of the French too and this April has given us plenty to think about. We’ve had pretty much all four seasons in as many weeks. We are too far south and too close to the coast to worry about frosts now but it’s been colder than average, hotter than average, drier than average and guess what wetter than average too! Continue reading “A French Village Walk”
Do you ever start things and then wonder why you started? One job leads to another and so on and so forth and before you know it, you’re up against the wall, with a timeframe that seems almost impossible and you really wish there were at least 48 hours in every days and that’s just the daylight hours! Continue reading “A Little Renovation in the Guest House”
Our French Oasis 