It is bitterly cold this morning here on the Channel coast, so I am cheering myself up with another look back at France 2017. Done April, so its May next :-). Be prepared for a whole month's worth of photos, lolol.
May 2017, what a wonderful month it was. Our youngest son drove out to visit us very early on in May, he loves the cottage and being surrounded by all the peace and quiet of the countryside so much. The dogs of course, were very happy to see him
The mornings were often very misty and with an eery atmosphere
Our closest neighbours, the Charolais cows, were enjoying all the fresh new greens
and I was enjoying the first flower on my newly planted peony
while Hector was enjoying his first outing on his lounger
10th May, and we planted out some brassica ( and boy, did they turn out great! )
The weather was pretty good and by the middle of May, the grass and wildflowers were growing like crazy. I adore the daisies
Every day, the view from the cottage presents a different scene, always beautiful
and our Poppy girl loves nothing better than sitting in the lower field, admiring the view and watching the world go by
whilst Hector sorts out the settee and plays at being a couch potato
Mind you, they both like their creature comforts. They don't mind sprawling out on the grass
but they do prefer their very own outdoor beds, lolol. Hector has his own lounger, and we had to build Poppy her own sandpit bed, because she kept laying down on every bit of freshly dug ground in the veggie patch or flower beds
Flowers, aaah yes. I don't have a flower garden, our so called garden is more of a field, lol, but I do have a couple of new rose borders and I do love my flowers in pots and baskets. Some of the roses first
another newly planted peony
and my beloved antique flower trolly, flower bed and pot plants
My potted herb garden by the front door
One of the great delights of being at the cottage, sitting outside with good friends, enjoying food, wine and great views
oh, and being able to hang huge pieces of knotted lace on the washing line in the garden, can't do that at home in the UK
Love love love salads for lunch, of course eaten under the trees in the garden
Some of nature's beauty collected to be admired indoors
And I leave you with these amazing shades of green on one of our trees
It is probably a bit boring for you, looking back over the last six months to Spring and Summer, when we are hurtling towards Christmas, but I would like to keep the blog going as a bit of a diary for myself. And some of you may even enjoy the photos of life in France :-).
Lets start with Spring then and a little drive in the countryside. I think we were on our way back from lunch at a little restaurant in Poil and decided to drive to Luzy for some shopping. That took us past a little village called Larochemillay. I had always been fascinated by the beautiful large house high up above the road and so we decided to drive up to the hilltop and have a look -
Most of the actual house was hidden behind tall walls and very large trees though, so we couldn't really get a proper look at it, just the gatehouse
The little village had some lovely old properties
A statue to the men of the village who lost their lives during WW1
Wisteria clad houses of course
Love this large double fronted house
The GR13 is one of the major pilgrim walk routes to Santiago de Compostela, and it goes right past our cottage. We get pilgrims coming past, sometimes with their donkey, and have often fed them, even sheltered them overnight. To do the whole route takes quite a few months.
On the way to Luzy we came across a couple of interesting properties, one below the road
and this beauty next to the road
The French countryside is full of surprises.
And to finish off the post, a couple of pics of Poppy and Hector of course, enjoying the Spring sunshine
Toodlepip xxx
