Duck!

In our quest to tidy up the area around the pond we have been continuing to clear away brambles and were hard at work the other day when a duck suddenly flew out from the side.  We have seen a pair several times this spring so didn't think anything of it.  Later in the day I was doing some more cutting back and the same duck flew right in front of me.  Just as I turned round I noticed a nest with at least 12 eggs in it, if not 14.

And here she is back on her nest.  We are going to wait a while now until continuing with our tidying up and maybe we will have some ducklings on the pond in due course!

April news from Chenevaux

This week-end Mark has his studio open to the public under the umbrella of the Journees des Metiers d'Art.  He has pots, paintings and sculptures on display and will be doing demonstrations of different ceramics techniques such as throwing, hand building and slip casting. Blue(ish!) skies and blossom on the plum trees add a spring touch to the outdoor display.

Getting the studio ready for visitors

Porcelain ball with candle inside

Everything in the greenhouse - or potting shed to be more accurate, is waking up, including some cuttings taken last autumn so lots of things to do in there and hopefully some planting soon when the soil dries out a bit.  A couple of days ago it rained all day, hard, so our clay soil is rather claggy at the moment.

Most of the geraniums survived the winter and some are flowering already!

This winter has been quite mild so we haven't had to cover anything in the potting shed, however a few things have suffered from the damp so a good sort out is in order.

Spring flowers and the camellia just starting to flower!

We were in the UK recently, just for a few days, and when we came back our bird tables were being ignored but this morning there's an army of birds on each of them so we're back in favour!

Latest from Mark's studio

Its always a nail biter when Mark does a glaze firing as so much can go wrong, even in the hands of an expert!  These pieces have been in various stages of production since the beginning of the year and many hours of work have gone into them so it was great to see them come out of the kiln successfully.  The two tall vases have been constructed using coils, the bowl shaped vessel has a thrown lower half and a coiled upper half, and the three others are slab built.  They are decorated with a mixture of glazes and oxides which have been dipped, dribbled and blown on!

The studio is going to be open for the week-end of 2nd and 3rd April so these pieces will be centre stage!

Meantime we have been clearing around the "pond", which had almost disappeared under a jungle of brambles and wild roses.  Horrible job, battling with thorny plants which fight back even after they have been cut down and working in squelchy mud at the bottom of the banks.  I think we've had three bonfires already and there's more to come.

We've just been to a plant sale and came home with rhubarb, wallflowers, day lilies and various other bits and bobs.  It will make a nice change to do some planting rather than cutting down!

Life in the country ..

Yesterday afternoon, out in the garden clipping some ivy when I hear clopping and a horse appears followed by a very smart carriage and our neighbours!  The horse is a Percheron.  Our neighbours have had the horse for a few months but only just bought the carriage and this was the first time they had taken it out on the road.  Jean-Yves was leading the horse as they are waiting for a new bridle to be made.

Stopping in front of the house

The apple disappeared very quickly!

Off home.

It'll soon be Spring ....

This morning we awoke to sleet, snow and rain and it has been dreary and cold all day.  But the days are already getting longer and the garden is showing signs of Spring approaching.  Snowdrops and narcissus are out and the daphne has been in flower for a couple of weeks already.

Narcissus and daphne by the front door of the Farmhouse

Last week we had some really cold nights, down to -5C or so, and as a result the plants around the golf course looked lovely, and we had beautiful blue skies.

Frosty plants

The birds are being fed twice a day. We have discovered that it is the magpies that are eating the fat balls so quickly.  They knock them onto the ground and then eat the whole lot!

Before the magpies got to the fat balls!

Time to start thinking about veg seeds and what we are going to try and grow this year.  It amazes me when I read or hear that there's nothing to do and nothing happening in the garden at this time of the year - its all going on!

Need to relax - come to Chenevaux!

Thinking about getting away for a lovely relaxing break?

The pool awaits ....... 

Fly to Poitiers, Tours or Limoges if you don't want to drive over!

Come and enjoy the pool, our 9 tee practice ( par 3 ) golf course, table tennis, croquet lawn and 7 acres of grounds!  There is canoeing, pony riding, Futuroscope and loads more nearby and Mark gives pottery and painting classes in his studio if you are feeling arty!

Just bring yourselves and a few clothes ...... 

e-mail us to book or find out more

call 0033 549913096

50 shades of .....

every colour except grey!

Red hot pokers and sisyrinchium on the "roundabout"

We've been following the Chelsea flower show on the television this week and loved seeing the range and diversity of show gardens.  We thought the Chatsworth garden stood out head and shoulders from the rest, and smiled at the first ever prize winning display of potatoes!  I was just thinking that the exhibitors work really hard to get their plants perfect and their displays immaculate, but one thing they don't have to worry about at Chelsea is weeding!  Here we've been pulling them out by the barrow full every day for weeks, and planting just has to wait.  However, the weather is getting warmer and the ground is getting drier so we may be over the worst now.

Here are some of the highlights of the Chenevaux flower show!

Rose Danse du Feu on the front of the barbeque palace.

Buddleia alternifolia - full of bees

An area of natural grasses, the croquet lawn is just in front of the wooden structure to the left.

That reminds me,  I mentioned a little while ago that we sometimes have unwelcome wildlife visitors and this week we were walking round and came across this ....., right in the croquet lawn.  Mark nearly had a fit and rushed off to see if the golf green was OK as our annual tournament is in only a couple of weeks time.  On close inspection we could see hoof prints which we think are wild boar and we also found acorns under the grass so think they, or hopefully it, was snouting around for them. Those squirrels have got a lot to answer for!

Not a laughing matter!

Since then Mark has reported the matter to the locals in Gorry's cafe, who have all talked about it and done nothing, and the boar seems to have gone away again.  But may be back!

Anyway back to the nice things .....

Beautiful peonies

I was going to put in another photo of some single pink peonies with lovely golden centres but then I noticed a huge dock plant in the front and a load of nettles behind so decided this one was better.  The flowering time is probably even shorter than that of irises but I just love these plants.  From the first sighting of the new growth coming through in the spring to the flowering of these glorious globes of gorgeousness these plants are well worth their fifteen minutes of fame.

Madame Alfred Carriere

This rose is climbing along the pergola in the back garden and has been flowering for about four weeks already.  Every time we go past there are a couple of dead heads to take off, hopefully it will continue to flower all summer.

Enough of the garden!  Mark has been busy in the studio and has just opened the kiln after a glaze firing.  More trauma!  He really packed the kiln carefully to maximise use of the space and had spent days on the items in it, throwing, first firing, then glazing - then he put the kiln on on Saturday night with the expectation that it would take about 12 hours to reach temperature.  18 hours later it had just finished!  As the kiln has to cool down from its internal temperature of 1250C to about 350C we then had to wait until late this morning (Monday) to open it and see if the firing had been successful - and as you can see it was!  Mark will now have to check each of the elements to see if any have blown, and replace them before he does any more firings.

Hurrah the kiln gods have been kind.

   These are some of the vessels that were at the back of the top shelf.

Even after a day the pots are still too hot to handle.  This is a stoneware bowl, thrown on the wheel.

And a close-up of the glaze which is rather beautiful.

At the moment Mark's making a built-in barbeque on the terrace at the end of the barbeque palace, summer's here!

A bit of imagination needed at the moment!