Our garden

In our garden there are many flowering plants.

I don't know the names of all of them.

Here is a selection. Their form and beauty are wonderful.

In the lime tree and in the olives, bees fill the air with sound.

Also heard, the warning cough of two resident pheasants, a male and female, who've made their home in a dark corner of the pines.

The house I will call Ellesmere

The masthead photo is of the house we bought. I would like to name it Ellesmere after my Uncle Frank's house in Chinchilla, Queensland.

He wasn't really my uncle, but a close friend of my father's family. His house was very old and full of antiques. As a boy, in the company of my Aunty Viv, I used to visit Frank. He was very kind to me.

Our new house in Bazens is the culmination of a 15-month search which took us around the Lot et Garonne and into neighbouring departments.

It was a bleak and wintry day when we first saw the place. As we walked through the house, Cliona kept prodding me in the back.

Inside and out, it reflected the taste of its owners. They were determined to preserve its farmhouse heritage, the exposed limestone and massive oak beams.

We have a big, beautiful garden. It has bloomed prolifically and requires constant maintenance and care.

Our furniture and personal effects were off-loaded onto the docks at Rotterdam a week ago.

Hopefully, we will be re-united with our belongings this week.

iron and glass over the shuttered door

a closer look at our front door

one of the three mulberry trees at the front of the house

a corner of the garden

the pool on the left, the barn on the right and a glorious twilight sky

a threatening storm looms large from the south

a crepuscular glow through the lime tree

the front garden and the covered pool

La Camélia

There is a little restaurant in the village of Auriac sur Dropt, between Sauvetat du Dropt and Duras.

A family-owned and run business, La Camélia has a simple menu showcasing wonderful, home-cooked meals.

It is another example of cuisine bourgeoise.

It is open for lunch and dinners, but closed at the weekends.

At night, there is a five course menu for 20 euros. Wine is extra.

Sitting midway through a stone village that clings narrowly to the D668, La Camélia has an unassuming exterior.

The interior decor is austere, with pine panelling on the walls and a few photographs.

There were about 20 people in the restaurant last night ... equal numbers of English and French.

sunset near Auriac sur Dropt

Owners Marianne and Thierry have had the place for about 14 years.

She serves, he cooks.

She says at lunch time, when the place is full of workers and the menu is fixed, he has time to come out of the kitchen and help on the floor.

We start with split-pea soup. Cliona has an entrée of chicken liver pate and I have a local version of a Greek salad, with some hot chorizo.

The main course is a choice of haddock, duck or steak. We both go for the magret and it is superb, served in a mango sauce with pommes de terres sauté, a little parcel of green beans wrapped in bacon and a tiny flan of jerusalem artichoke.

The cheese course consists of Brie, Cantal and St Nectaire.

Dessert is nougat ice-cream or lemon cheescake or apple, cooked in orange juice.

We leave La Camélia well-satisfied.

We are happy to have discovered yet another special little eatery in the Lot et Garonne.

It's 10pm and as we walk to the car, a sickle moon and Venus are shining brightly in the night sky.

Holding pattern

The settlement for our house is just one week away.

And so we wait ... biding our time til the 23rd rolls around.

It feels like our life is on hold.

We have taken an Airbnb here, in the verdant hills just outside Miramont de Guyenne.

It is a self-contained gite that looks out over paddocks and a forested rise near a hamlet called Roumagne.

Traffic noise from the busy D933 drifts up to the farm, to the terrace outside our front door.

Chooks saunter around the yard, searching, probing, dipping their beaks into the longish grass.

The female Weimar, Ellefille, is spread out under the lilac tree. Her taupe coloured hair forms a thin coat over her lean body. She is calm, but alert.

Cliona has picked a basketful of early cherries and is making a clafoutie.

She is using eggs from the farm, kindly given to us by our hostess, Sandra.

I came across a big clump of cos lettuce amongst the roses and we will have that in the salad.

Twilight is approaching slowly to the sound of crickets.  A group of small birds flies out of the cherry tree. A dove follows.

The occasional car drives past on the narrow bitumen lane.  Ellefille pricks up her ears.

She will return to her kennel to await the arrival of Sandra or her father to feed her.

She is such a good girl, so composed, I cannot resist giving her titbits.

Le Jardin de Boissonna Part 2

The garden, like a house, has many rooms.

And in these rooms, there are layers ... rising from tiny ground cover flowers to majestic climbing roses, up-thrusting their canes over high trellises.

Perfume fills the air, as does birdsong ... whistling, chirping and chortling.

At one point, there is a great cascading parasol of pink blossoms, suspended like the frozen fallout of a flower bomb.

an excerpt from Le Petit Prince

In the tearoom, there are rose teas, scones and jam and delicious flavours of sorbet and ice-cream.

Le Jardin de Boissonna ... Part 1

Quite simply, beautiful and serene.

Magentas, yellows and mauves ... picked out by the sun.

Under a canopy of tall pines, the rambling run of shrubs and flowers leads from one gallery to another.

All the colours of the rainbow are here ...

Boissonna is principally a rose garden, but that is only part of the story.

Cool, shady spots have benches on which to sit and reflect.

Boissonna has been around for about 20 years. Three years ago the owners built a tea room.

The garden is just a short drive from Duras.

The river house again

We are once again at the river house.

Just for five days, we have the pleasure of dog-sitting the magnificent male and female Leonburgs.

What gentle giants they are.

Their daughter is in Belgium competing in a dog show.

A wooden schooner glides by on the graceful Lot

the house

"Funky", but I think "Cleo" suits better

"Big Boss" but I think "Pharaoh" befits him

pink blossoms and the river through the trees