Jadin d’Eyrignac

The gardens at Eyrignac look wonderful at any time of year due to the extensive use of buxus and cypress. It has also developed a garden with a more eatern flavour with glorious runs of gaura.

Cadouin Abbey

Cadouin is such a pretty village with this glorious abbey and cloister. They have a fabulous flower market here each year on May 8th, a public holiday in France. The restaurant L’Abbaye de Cadouin, run by a delightful family, always seves good food and is friendly and welcoming.

Drift down the Dordogne

Yesterday was the perfect day to spend the afternoon drifting down the Dordogne on a Gabarre ….. a boat once used for transporting wine to Bordeaux.

The season starts

The last few weeks have been frantically busy as we have been completing the renovations on the ‘petit tour’ and preparing for our much anticipated guests. The markets are filling once again with wonderful stalls, and the ‘asparagus’ season is in full flood. Next week sees the beginning of the special flower markets and every weekend sees a ‘vide grenier’ and/or ‘brocante’. The sun brings everyone out and about …. a wonderful start to the spring.

A cold blast

Well, as we should have expected I suppose, our balmy early spring weather was interrupted by a cold blast with snow, some still lying in the cool shady parts of the garden. However the sun is back and the temperature is rising which is great and  perfect for our guests.

The Petit Tour

We have managed to replace the roof on our petit tour using the original tiles and stone fleur de lys. It really does look good and once I had managed to ‘capture’ our charpentier, in the nicest fashion of course, it took him and his team of 4 just a week to have it all in place. Now all we have to do is lay the setts and place the garden chairs and table for a perfect summer reading  hideaway.

Happy Christmas and New Year

Wishing all visitors to this site a Happy Festive season.

Here in the Dordogne we have been enjoying glorious sunshine and mild days which is perfect for wandering in the garden. Buds are already appearing on the shrubs which is a worry as there is bound to be a cold snap before the end of winter. Still, we are having a wonderful time.

Happy New Year to all.