Am I cheating if I share some vases from a couple of weeks ago? We are at the French house for a quick and cheeky last-minute weekend, returning to the UK tomorrow, so if I pick some flowers/grasses from the garden today they will go onto the compost heap tomorrow. And that seems like rather a waste. A couple of weeks ago, here in France, … Continue reading In a French vase on Monday
We set off from Sussex with a car packed to the gunwales with the usual random collection of items, this time mainly plants. Our drive to Portsmouth is quick and straightforward (apart from the 11 roundabouts around Chichester) and we were smoothly on to the ferry. where we quickly dumped our small bag in the cabin and went straight to the restaurant for dinner. … Continue reading A fortnight in April: cool, damp, and much progress
We are here at the French house on a two-week visit, one week either side of Easter weekend, a special and precious time together. I’m still recuperating after a very intensive working period, and R is partly working and partly having a few days of holiday. Our gardener has been here several times during our visit, making a flight of steps down into the new … Continue reading Rain stopped play (but not the weeds …)
This time last year we had our groundworkers on site, constructing a new car park. A considerable amount of soil had to be dug out, to level the area. This was partly tipped down a bank to the side of the drive (and will become a new exotic garden later this spring) and partly spread on the south side of the car park, an area destined … Continue reading The rose garden: progress and planting
Jon who helps us in the garden has just sent this photo. I suspect (in the nicest possible way) he sometimes sends photos from the house when we’re not there as a way of confirming that his normal Tuesday visit is proceeding as planned. That’s great. But he also knows (some of) what floats my boat. Manure Manure; fabulous stuff. Its not always easy to … Continue reading The answer lies in the soil? A new rose garden
Like many bloggers, the gaps between my postings have been varied and often far too long. I have sworn to myself that I’ll never use the words “sorry I haven’t posted for ages”, “wow, I’m back at last”, “It’s been far too long”, or similar. I’ve spent some time considering how to write, when to write, how often to write, illustrations to include. I’ve known … Continue reading Grinding, harrowing, and musings on blog frequency
My four nights at the house last week went all too quickly. There is always so much to pack into the time over and above our normal life which doesn’t go away (i.e. work which I mostly do from home, whichever home I’m at). On this particular trip I also wanted to visit a couple of vineyards, Chateau la Verriere because the red wine we’d bought in … Continue reading The tree work draws to a close, vineyards, badgers, and glorious autumn
Three summers ago while on holiday in the Dordogne with friends, before we thought of buying a property in France, we visited the gardens at Château de Marqueyssac, one of France’s Jardins Remarquable. I had read about the gardens, and seen Joe Swift’s * feature on Gardener’s World in October 2011, and determined that we must go. So the opportunity was perfect. Situated on a cliff … Continue reading Inspirations: Château de Marqueyssac
So, how did this adventure come about? Having listened to some friends talking about their ideas to buy a house in France (initially with not a little envy), being quite amazed to discover from RightMove quite how much value the French property market offered, we looked at each other with the same thought in mind, expressed out loud as “we could do that, shall we think … Continue reading Lady Smocks all Silver White
The Renaissance Gardener 