I have nuts.

Green walnuts that is.

This year I was determined not to miss making some vin de noix ( walnut wine). Its one of my favourite aperitives, especially when mixed with cassis and red wine to make fenelon.

You need to pick the walnuts when they are still green after 24th June and definitely before 14th July. Apparently sometimes the wine is called vin de St Jean if the nuts are picked early. We are a couple of days before St Jean but things are early this year and I figured better sooner than too late so we went out while we had a spare half hour.

too tired to blog

window of opportunity

We won't dwell on the fact that after a week of unsettled weather while our daughter was visiting the sun has returned the day after her departure.

However - the garden had been desperate for some rain and it has softened the ground nicely - a few days of sun and it will be like concrete again. So, no excuses, I have a small window of opportunity to get some weeds out by the roots! Will be a busy couple of days!

My life in France

Well I never - I won a photo competition! Only 15 entries and no prize except my photo is now the group header photo for the facebook page La Vie en France. The theme for the competition was my life in France.

a paler shade of summer

With the arrival of Spring the countryside around us got greener and greener, now it has turned a pale yellow - the last few weeks haymaking has been the order of every farmers day and the fields have baked in the sun without a sign of rain.

The iconic huge round bales are now being stacked onto wagons - somewhat scarily in many cases - a driven through the lanes for storage in barns.

The view from my bedroom window this morning:

watch these spaces

After the open garden weekend we have both been full of ideas. The parts of the garden I like the best are, not surprisingly,  those that have been changed the most by us. We did not start with a blank canvas like many of the gardens we have visited but moved into a garden which had been lovingly designed by its previous manager. It was her pride and joy. Bit by bit, border by border, year by year it has been reformed to become ours. It's always good to have new projects - we are definitely going ahead with a new drip hose watering system for the veg garden and this evening have been eyeing up the next areas for development.

Watch these spaces:

more gardens

Would like to do one of these

It was the last day of the open gardens weekend today.We visited a garden we had not seen before and also made our annual pilgrimage to Catherine Smedley's lovely garden behind her gallery.

Someone else who likes using old kitchen pots

Simply beautiful

Oriental poppies reign supreme in Catherin's garden this year

Rendezvous aux jardins

First weekend in June every year sees the Rendezvous aux jardins open garden weekend all over France.

http://rendezvousauxjardins.culturecommunication.gouv.fr/

 Lots of gardens, big and small, are open to visitors and we always try to fit in a few. I have even considered signing up and opening my garden but somehow the though of the stress and panic of the weeks leading up to it have turned me off.

Today we visited a garden we haven't seen before, it blew me away! It was incredibly beautiful - set in the gorge of the Aveyron on the edge of the river, surrounded by woods. It more than passed my test of fitting perfectly in it's surroundings. Like all good garden visits came back with ideas - some more practical than others - and now we are determined to set up a drip feed watering system in the potager.

the approach, although idyllic,  did not prepare me 

wow what a greenhouse

Trevor was fascinated by the geometry of the greenhouse

wood used as ornamentation worked so well
in these surroundings

nothing prissy - just beautiful

down by the river - all natural

Loved the blending of wild and cultivated

I'd definitely have some ducks like these if it were not for the pool

will come back next year

roses have been fabulous this year

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 They can speak for themselves