The beginning of July and everything is looking lovely under the gorgeous blue summer sky. The sunflower field opposite the house is just starting to show pools of yellow in amongst the green leaves and in a few days will be a vast expanse of colour as far as the eye can see.
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| Sunflowers just starting to appear |
The hollyhocks spring up where they choose, normally in the gravel paths and up against the walls. This year the range of colours is fab - everything from pale yellow to a really dark mauve - and the bees are having a great time!
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| Outside the back door |
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| Shades of pink. |
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| A very deep pink, with a very dusty bee inside! |
We planted 3 Alexander roses in January in the back garden of the Farmhouse and the scarlet flowers are fantastic in the sun, they seem to give the other more muted colours a lift. They're in part of the veg patch because last year we had so many rabbits all of our greens got eaten before we had a look in. The same thing is happening this year and most mornings we see two baby rabbits and two larger ones hopping around in bunny paradise - so next year we are going to fence off a smaller area for greens and hope that does the trick. The toms ( you can see the canes in the pic below ) are doing well though and we should be picking them in the next few days.
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| Alexander roses in the Farmhouse garden |
A couple of weeks ago we were down to our last pot of jam and were in danger of having to buy some. Luckily the raspberries, redcurrants, black currants and cherries ripened just in time and stocks have been replenished. The mirabelle plums are just about ripe too and we've already been collecting windfalls - so more jam making is imminent. The plums are quite small, juicy and very sweet - lovely! By the end of the summer our store cupboard will be full of jams which we serve to guests at breakfast and sometimes they take a couple of jars home. It always gets used up by the following summer even though I seem to make more each year!
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| Mirabelle plums outside the studio |
In between lawn mowing, pool cleaning and other essential summer jobs Mark is busy in the studio preparing for an exhibition at the little Chapelle in the village of St Pierre de Maille. It is taking place from 11th August for 7 days and he will be opening from 2-6 every day. More to follow on this!
