Some recent passing comments on Twitter about our rose garden prompted me to write an update on how it is progressing. I promised one or two people that I would do so. Here it is … I put a great deal of effort into planning the rose garden. It is situated on the south side of the parking area, on slightly raised ground, and is … Continue reading The rose garden: a new and radical approach
Firstly, the hellebore. We had a good collection of hellebores from single to double, dark to light, in our old Surrey garden. When we bought our French house we never imagined they would grow well here. How wrong we were. A friend gave us a few clumps and we went from there. We now have quite a number, and they are beginning to self-seed. We … Continue reading A long gap, a beautiful hellebore, and some unexpected news …
Edit: we arrived home in France after the overnight ferry and a long all-day drive tired but elated. We’d made it. Just 24hours later an email arrived which changed everything; there had been a massive mix-up in the work visa application process and the upshot was that R had to return immediately to the U.K. This was, as you can imagine, a cruel blow to … Continue reading A new chapter begins (edit: its all on hold)
Don’t you just love Facebook memories? I’m firmly of the Facebook generation (unlike my grandchildren!) and one of the things I love is the way it reminds me of what I was doing on the same day in previous years. This morning I was reminded that one year ago I arrived in France, ahead of lockdown, to ensure that one of us could establish residency … Continue reading One year to the day
One is never far from the great rivers of France. Today two of them featured in my adventures, the Garonne and the Dordogne, the Garonne because I crossed over it twice on my return journey to Bordeaux this morning, and the Dordogne because I drove alongside it on arrival in the centre of the city. The two rivers meet at Bordeaux and then flow out … Continue reading The great rivers of France, terrace furniture, and the story of a resident’s permit
I need hardly state the obvious: these are strange and difficult times. Everyone in their differing circumstances has a different set of challenges. However empathetic we try to be we can only really talk with any authority about our own challenges. Our own biggest challenge at the moment is the enforced separation caused by the “perfect storm” of Covid and Brexit. I’m here in France … Continue reading First Monday in April 2021
We didn’t think we were going to grow vegetables here. Certainly when we were only visiting every few weeks it would have been out of the question as without regular watering everything would quickly have died at worst, or failed to thrive at best. And with wonderful produce available seasonally in the markets around us what was the point … It is interesting how ideas … Continue reading Kitchen Garden? Or Potager?
I’ve recently noticed a few large wasps lurking in the downstairs bedroom, around the French windows. Apparently (so beekeeping friends tell me) they are likely to be fertilised queen wasps which have been over-wintering somewhere and are now coming out of hibernation to found a new nest. Last autumn we suddenly had an influx of dozens, actually probably hundreds, of dozy and dying wasps into … Continue reading Wildlife. And a trip to market
February was a month of two halves. The rain continued during the first part with 82 centimetres of rain falling in this area between the 1st and the 10th February. That’s a lot. Since the big rains stopped we’ve hardly had a drop and, believe it or not, I’m now looking anxiously at the forecast for some! Hopefully we will get some in a few … Continue reading First Monday in March 2021
The rain has been relentless for some weeks now, so much so that the land is saturated, the rivers are overflowing, and France has declared a natural disaster in this region after extensive flooding. You can read about it here in The Local France. Fortunately we ourselves haven’t been impacted in terms of flooding. But there’s been a stream running down the drive much of … Continue reading Houseplants, flooding, and unproductive days
The Renaissance Gardener 