April 1st

Chocolatiers in Dijon selling chocolate fish.

Dijon Cathedral.

Arnay Le Duc

End of March, earlies.

I walk around the lake most days. Unfortunately I have a hip problem, so I am a bit limited as to how far I can go. Still, it's wonderful to get out and check out the progress of the plants.

Reflections, like inky spiders.

Solomon's Seal growing wild.

Beech hedge and bracken. I started to look at textures today while I was out. I love drawing, and wild free sketching- so I was quite excited by the way the 'weave' was developing here.

Toad-Flax is so sweet. It loves our stone walls. This bit is under one of the cottages. There is a flight of stone steps that leads to a 'cave' or kind of cellar where wine bottles, and all the jars of preserves were stored. I went down to the 'cave' today and collected a few jars. Gradually I am putting them in the dishwasher and reusing them.  

More Honeysuckle or Woodbine.As I child I lived next to a wonderful house that was called Woodbine. It was a tiny brick cottage with a couple who were my great freinds.They were quite elderly, and I was still at Primary school. They had a market garden, and sold cut flowers.

Cloud and showers

Wild Gooseberiies growing above a great stone.

We had lots of rain yesterday after a very dry spell.

Grape Hyacinth

Cowslips everywhere



Marsh Marigolds

We lost Meg the day I went to Dijon. She was the quietest goose we had, already Fred had fought off the Fox or Pine Martin. It's tough having animals around the farm. They become your friends and you become very tuned to them. We accepted 2 geese from a neighbour who had a tiny space so at least while Meg was here she had a lovely time foraging and using the pool to swim and bathe.



Wisteria in bud. This is a neighbours' 'maison secondaire'. I have grown Wisteria from seed, very easy, do have a go.

This is another empty house in the valley. I like the stone above the door. The house has a  lovely view of the lake .

I spotted this plant in the middle of a field among cowslips, so I don't know how it came to be there. Normally the Charolais are the only users of the field.



The village I live in. The area to the left where the trees grow is our bit. The lower part is marshy and is where we have a pond and the Marsh Marigolds.



More wild Cowslips.

Common Orchid pushing up through the leaf litter.

Dijon Dining and Arnay le Duc

Wonderful cheese in the market at Dijon today.





Lunch at Le Kent. I love this place on the corner overlooking the market..Everyone chats across tables and after the market ends at 1.00 the vans come through quite precariously close to stall tables not yet packed away. Le Kent is a place liked by artists, writers, hippies, eccentrics allsorts.



A small backstreet bar with an ironing board table. 




Arnay le Duc, wonky church tower.



Renaissance addition to a Maison Bourgeoise.



I had a peek through, there is a garden the other side.




Entrance to the Arnay le Duc church, parts dating back to the C10th.




Graffiti on church porch wall




Salamander disturbed from sleeping, bright orange underbelly off back to it's lair.

Pink, vintage, Massey Harris, doing some difficult work.

Goosey keeping her eggs warm. She is giving me her special look . I was passing by collecting manure.
Otherwise I was reading about Lammas, the eco village. I really want a polytunnel or a greenhouse I like the idea of being in a humid cloud growing huge exotic fruits..

Strawberries planted

Fred is looking a bit lost as both girls are sitting on eggs. They are very busy warming , and barely show their beaks. Goosey runs down to the pond, has a quick dip, then hurtles back.

Seen plenty of action, my neighbours wheelbarrow in it's home under the house.

Shutters closed, strange glaze in the low light.

Started a painting.

Rhubarb!Rhubarb! most colourful thing in the garden so far.

Wandering about

The cottage here is where we have people to stay and where I shower from spring till autumn. The farm seemed overwhelming today loads to do The stone wall you can see here has taken a battering by the sheep who we sometimes put in this field when they are lambing. I have been clearing away brambles that were growing in front of the wall. I am thinking I may plough a strip in front of it so that I have more garden space. It's also the view we have from the verandah.
I was working in my vegetable patch today trying to work out where to plant things and dig up a few docks. I found quite a few potatoes that I missed in Autumn.I think ther must be loads of stray potatoes. They are fine after the cold. Then there has been general spring cleaning, and putting together a load for the tip. George spent hours on fencing so the naughty sheep can roam around the fields.