A few days off in Bordeaux!

For the first time since the beginning of May we have no people staying with us so it was an ideal time to take a break and visit Bordeaux, a place we've heard about from our guests who have been for a day trip or explored on their arrival after travelling by plane or train to our area. Don't be fooled by the picture above as it was taken on a Monday when the streets were not that busy compared to the Saturday we arrived when we thought the whole of France were shopping in the city!

The city itself is fantastic, of coarse a complete contrast to Le Moustier, magnificent huge historic stone buildings, streets, museums, bars and cafes made for a great stay and I'll post a few more pics over the next few days of a few of my favourite bits.

Timber!

With the fine weather we've been having this week it's meant we've been able to work outside in the grounds of Les Granges, so the island of shrubs and trees at the front of the property has been one area that has been 'attacked' and one evergreen felled in order to get more light to the shrubs below plus it's made a massive difference to the view to and from the house.

Next years gateau noix!

This is the total of our walnut harvest for this year, not a very fruitful year as the unusual wet and cold weather in the spring affected the buds on the trees. We think we have probably only one third of the crop we had last year, never mind, here's to a better 2013!
The weather this week has been excellent, yesterday afternoon got up to 25 degrees so at least what walnuts we have got will be nice and dry ready for storing!

Winter work starts!

Well, here we go, we can't turn back now, our project for November is to sort out the front entrance and patio area outside the house. First thing to do, discover what lies beneath the existing steps to the front door, what there is under a thin stone layer is at least an inch of concrete over what is the original 1889 stone steps, obviously this has been done as the steps had worn over the years.
Our aim is to uncover the original steps and if too worn see if we can turn over each stone to restore the entrance to it's original state.
Time will tell and we'll keep you informed of the progress over the next few days/weeks - keep your fingers crossed!

Spot the lizard!

Things have warmed up over the last couple of days thankfully, still sunny but cloudy now so when the sun comes out it's very warm, so much so that the lizards are still very active, I spotted this one on the outside barn wall where the robins have been nesting, relaxing in the sun but nicely camouflaged!