May at Chenevaux

This year the theme for May has been rain!   The grass has been growing almost as we watch it, and so have the weeds.  However the lilac and other flowering shrubs have been fantastic with the blossom lasting far longer than normal, and everything has put on a lot of growth.  Cuttings of a purple leaved sage and dogwoods rooted really quickly but the tomatoes are still waiting to be planted out - after some more weeding to make a place for them.  The compost bins are full to over flowing as are the water butts, but at least watering hasn't been an issue yet this year.

Crab apple blossom

Dragonfly clinging on to a peony stem 

Everything looking very lush and verdant

 We took ourselves out for a day and visited this little chateau type property with a lovely garden, which is open to the public.  A very well maintained potager ( no weeds in sight! ) beautiful trees, and stunning views over the countryside.

La Motte near Usseau

Fabulous peony

Then on to the golf club at St Cyr for lunch on the terrace.  This is a championship golf club which is open to the public too - one of Mark's favourite courses in the area and the food in the restaurant is delicious.

The golf club at St Cyr

April at Chenevaux

The warm weather is taking its time arriving.  We had a few lovely days in late March and then the temperature dropped again and we had a couple of hard frosts.  Unluckily, and once again, the peach and apricot trees had already blossomed so we may not get much fruit on these this year.  On the positive side, the cherries, apples, pears and plums have all held back and hopefully by the time they blossom we will have left winter behind for good.  This must have been the longest winter since we moved here - not particularly cold but really wet and dismal.  However we have managed to do a fair amount of outside work including rendering the back and side walls of the Farmhouse, laying slabs outside the two sets of french windows and creating a small patio area using the clay "tomettes" we rescued from the original upstairs flooring in the gite.

On Easter Sunday the first brocante of the year took place at Anglse sur l'Anglin - it was rather chilly to say the least!  The tabac/epicerie/cafe has recently moved to a building that has been renovated by the commune and now has two lovely terraces overlooking the ruined chateau.  They were serving vin chaud which seemed a very good idea!  Come the summer and the annual fireworks evening this looks as though it will be a prime spot for spectators. We came home and watched the boat race with the log burner blazing away.


A few days ago we spotted a new species of bird in the back garden.  Mark thought it was a blackbird at first but when we saw it again he realised it wasn't and has identified it, or them as it was a pair, as Ring Ouzels.  Apparently its common name is the "mountian blackbird"  and they inhabit wild open country.  We've never seen them here before and are wondering if they stopped to find food on their way back to the UK after wintering in the Med.


This week-end ( apart from watching the Grand National ), Mark is taking part in a national "Open Studios" event.  By chance the tourist office at La Roche Posay also asked if they could bring a group of visitors (16) on Thursday afternoon so we had a big spring clean and arranged all of the ceramics and paintings in the hope that some people will be interested and come along.  I've put out some of my jam, marmalade and chutney for people to taste as well.

  

The three large paintings on easels (only the middle one is finished) are based on rock formations on a beach, where the sea has eroded the rock into pools.

Having seen Carol Klein taking mahonia cuttings i've given it a go and they are in the greenhouse along with other bits and bobs from last year that are waiting to be planted out when the ground dries out a bit.  The veggie patch is covered with old tarpaulins to warm the soil ..... so everything is waiting to happen!

March at Chenevaux

Mark's exhibition at the Old School, Whittlesford, just outside Cambridge, is only a few days away so he is working all hours in his studio to finish off the ceramics and paintings for the show.  I'm sure that lots of you reading this have already heard about it via Mark's blog at www.markjudsonart.blogspot.com but for those of you who are either reading from afar, visiting this blog for the first time or maybe have forgotten (!) ..... he is exhibiting a selection of his abstract acrylics and some ceramic pieces alongside watercolours by Vandy Massey and hand-made wooden boxes by Denise Shearing.  The exhibition is only on for a couple of days, Sat 9th and Sun 10th March, from 10am - 5pm,  so if you are in the Cambridge/Whittlesford area please do come along.  Full details are at www.markjudsonart.blogspot.com and we will post more photos afterwards.

Mark uses different materials to create texture

Work in progress, based on rock formations

In the meantime here at St Pierre de Maille, the annual early spring event called "Fete des Laboureurers" took place on Sat 3rd March.  Its a celebration of the end of the winter and the first time that everybody gets together after the short winter days. We have been several times over the years and as we all know the weather at the beginning of March is totally unpredictable.  We have experienced torrential rain, snow, really warm sun - and this year dismal freezing cold that made everybody hurry along to the Salle des Fetes rather more quickly than usual.

Showing how truffles grow under oak trees

The batterie de fanfare and  two very patient cart horses

Rose all round

The day starts with a Mass, followed by a procession of tractors accompanied by the local Batterie de Fanfare.  They all proceed round the village, stop at the Maison de Retraite, salute the war memorial and then back to Gorrie's cafe where an aperitif is offered to everyone in the village.  Then off we trot to lunch, which takes hours and incorporates an extremely lengthly tombola draw and some traditional French songs.  By the time we get home (a pied) the day is almost gone!  Those with more stamina are invited to a free Ball, which continues until past midnight, but we are far too lightweight for that these days.

One of the first signs of spring every year is the arrival of the cranes, or grue as they are called in French.  We are on the edge of the Brenne National Park - a huge area of lakes and flatlands where birds and wildlife are protected.  Its a great place for bird watching.  The cranes stop for a few days en route from their winter habitat in Spain, to Scandinavia, where they spend the summer.  Flying in flocks of up to a hundred or so, the noise is the first thing we notice, way before the birds come into sight.  As they fly over it is tremendous, especially as there are often up to a dozen flocks that pass overhead in the course of two or three days.

The Gite and back of the Farmhouse on a cold and frosty morning

February at Chenevaux

There are a few signs of Spring appearing in the garden. Clumps of snowdrops, crocus, hazel catkins and these beautiful hellebores.  The daphne ( which has recovered from last winter's freeze ) is nearly in flower and the blue tits have started to investigate the nesting boxes in the roof of the bird table.   After all of the rain this winter the ground is absolutely sodden and it looks as though it will be a few weeks before it is dry enough to do anything much apart from some pruning and tidying up on any sunny days that come along - which will be very welcome.  We are starting to think about the potager, which was rather less productive last year as the weather was so dry and then the rabbits ate everything except the courgettes and the tomatoes.  At the moment a bit of dry would be a bonus but that still leaves the rabbits so we are going to invest in some chicken wire or similar fencing around about half of the veggie area to keep the pesky things out.  Another job to add to the list!  

A few of the jars of marmalade

A couple of weeks ago we went to Chauvigny market for our annual supply of marmalade oranges.  It was the coldest, wettest and most miserable day of the winter so far and many of the stallholders hadn't turned up.  After clearing out one trader we found another one and took half of his stock too.  Seville oranges are almost impossible to get here, so we get a variety called Amere, which are thinner skinned, but still make marvellous marmalade.  7 kilos of oranges, 8 grapefruit, a bag of lemons, 20 kilos of sugar, hours of chopping and boiling later we have a marmalade mountain.  86 jars to be precise, and not a single empty jar left anywhere. Luckily I have a network of people who kindly keep jars for me and donate them via my parents so when it comes to the next round of jam making supplies should be replenished.

Mark has been working hard in his studio, potting, firing, glazing and painting.  He has several exhibitions lined up this year, at Whittlesford in March, then here at Chenevaux for a national open studios week-end in April, a one day event in St Savin in June and then a solo exhibition at Angles sur l'Anglin for the last week in  August.  You can find out about these at www.markjudsonart.blogspot.com  His weekly painting and pottery workshops have been very well attended as well and everybody has a great time chatting as well as creating.

Some of the pottery ladies and Mark

Christmas Greetings

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Autumn at Chenevaux

Nature has been working its magic and providing us with its own intricate seasonal decorations.  One morning we went outside to find all of the trees and shrubs wrapped in fine silvery thread decorated with shiny dew drops.  With an autumn mist hiding us from outside view it was like a stage set out of a magical dreamworld.  The colours in the trees have been lovely this year too with lots of acid yellow brightening up the ever shorter days.

 Never mind, in just 3 weeks we will be over the worst and heading back to summer again.  The buds are already forming on the trees and where we had to cut the roses right down along the back of the Farmhouse to render the wall ( a job we had put off from last year knowing it would be nasty, and messy, which proved to be the case as the weather was awful so it dragged on over about 4 weeks for 8 days of actual work ) there are small shoots breaking out of the stems.  The wall looks great now too, and by next spring the grass will have sorted itself out again with a little tlc.

Chipping the old render off - Mark up a ladder again!

6 tonnes of sand in the garden

First covering of new lime render being applied - my poor garden!

Speaking of roses, our order from David Austin arrived a couple of days ago.  This consisted of 3 William Morris climbers, 3 Grace and 3 Benjamin Britten shrubs, to be followed soon by a climber called Crepuscule, which hopefully will be more attractive than the name suggests.  When I sent off the order Mark suggested that we had enough roses "maybe about 30" but on a quick count it must be more like 60 now, there's always space for more.  They love the clay soil here and tolerate the hot summers and cold winters.  After all the rain we have had in the last couple of months they should get off to a good start.

A few weeks ago a friend gave us a small carrier bag full of ceps, or porcini, which grow wild around here.  To dry them we removed the gills and then left them on a rack over the log burner for about 3 days until they were completely shrivelled.  The bag full is now an envelope full and I am looking forward to using them in a hearty winter meal before too long.  The added bonus is that every time I open the kitchen cupboard a glorious waft of earthy sweetness meets my nostrils!  The shelves are also full to bursting with jams and chutneys as we had a bumper crop of figs at the end of the summer.  Just as well as the apples were a disaster and the late plums were non-existent.  We did however have our first, small, crop of Bramleys, which went very well with some blackberries in a crumble.  Add to all of this the Christmas cake and pudding ( thanks to my Mother ), sausages, cheddar cheese and other goodies we brought back from a recent visit to Guernsey and we are well stocked up for the winter.
Christmas is coming - the supermarkets are stuffed with more chocolate than you could ever imagine and in the next few days Santa will be seen climbing up virtually every chimney stack in the village.  Wonder what he will bring us this year!

September at Chenevaux

September sunset

Looking from our front door out over the field opposite a few days ago - a stunning sunset.

After a very busy summer with both the gite and the farmhouse full for the whole of the holiday period and the gite still occupied until the end of September we are now catching up on gardening and other jobs that it has simply been to hot and dry to even contemplate.  The grass is looking really parched and everything needs a lot of water, despite the downpour a couple of days ago.  A few weeks ago our tractor mower gave up after 7 years of hard labour so after some investigation and discussion we decided to buy a new one but all it has had to do so far is cut the tops off the weeds!

Mark and his Machine

Since we have been here we have been trying to find a ( not too expensive ) way of getting our well up and running.  The motor works but the pump is too old to be repaired and as the water is just over 50m down it needs something with a bit of oomph.  Anyway a couple of weeks ago we were invited to coffee with some friends, who had some friends of theirs staying with them from Fiji, where they keep bees and produce honey - anyway it turns out that the husband is also a geologist and finds water sources there.  So the conversation turned to wells and later the same day they came over to have a look at ours.  He was most impressed!  and has given us some advice on what we need to buy. We have looked on line and think we may have found something suitable - so if all goes well ( ha ha ) before too long we may have lots of water for the garden.  What a luxury!

The village band drumming up business

Having decided to do the village brocante we had a really good clear out.  Its one thing having plenty of storage space in all of our barns etc but the problem is that we put stuff away and forget about it and before too long they're full of all sorts of things that we know we will never use again.  Mark actually took a car load of rubbish to the recycling centre and then two carloads down to the village for our stall.  Aiming to get rid of it rather than make a fortune nearly everything was priced at a couple of euros and still people wanted to haggle!  Great fun if hard work. Now we can now go along to the last few brocantes of the summer with a clear conscience, though we are much more selective about the things we buy these days!

Jam and crash helmets at the St Savin brocante early September

I'm not quite sure if this person is prone to hitting their head whilst making jam and is therefore on a health and safety mission to get us to wear crash helmets in the kitchen?  

Time for an apero on the square after brocanting

After a hard morning looking at other peoples' wares the only thing to do is to have a sit down and enjoy an aperitif , the blue sky and the September sun before heading home for lunch!