I have been driving past this house on a bit of a detour and today I got out the car to take some photos. I chatted to a lovely gentle man doing his garden beside. I always like to profit information about who I am where I am from and generally it is met with curiosity and I suppose people like to know who you are and are curious back.This place is for sale started by some Dutch hopefuls but for whatever reason the money wasn't flowing and it can be too difficult to continue. The back was more collapsed and not so charming on a more realistic note.

 I live near Moulin Engilbert. It's a strange town, historic but in decline a little. Recently I feel a bit more optimistic about the place.  These images are all from a fete of Murals held this weekend so Trompe L'oeil being high in the stakes. I wandered into the church by the retirement home and I was a bit surprised by the standard of an exhibition. It was great as there were also loads of kids running around in the place looking at art.

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 I met this guy below this evening. He comes from Lyon. Very nice man and I hope to catch up with him tomorrow to check on his progress.

My newly acquired chair. Barrel backed possibly from the forties, original velour reminds me of public transport. Old trains, coaches and the tube.

Lovely Arroux

Seen in Toulon Sur Arroux

Very lush after a very wet August.

Egret.

Snail farm with lots of electric fencing, sorry but it's something that happens around here. I haven't seen many farms I think most of the snails are brought in nowadays. 

Sleepy village that was the scene for a big brocantes this weekend along with dancing and a bicycle race. 

One of my mono-types. I am hoping to produce some more of these this Autumn to make into framed prints and cards.

Gaston Chaissac 
I have been having a bit of a break from the internet. I had a friend and her family arrive and so I have been being sociable and it has been fun to be a tourist for a change. Above is the very charming former home of the artist I wrote about a couple of years ago when I discovered he once lived around here. Before I forget I wanted to write about the funny meeting I had with the new owner who only found out the day before that Chaissac had lived in this house. It is lovely outside and even more charming inside. It's lived in now by an artist DUP

 The house next to this one was once home to an eccentric frequenter of the cafés in the village and was Gaston Chaissac's friend. There is a small café here now but it's not like it was when it was the weekly home of a Charolais market.The rather intriguing friend of Gaston Chaissac slept in a coffin and he kept goats that lived in his home with him. In it's day this tiny village must have been a lot busier and had cafés hostels you can imagine. The other interesting thing that came out of my visit here was that Gaston Chaissac's wife was certainly not a stay at home wife, she lived it up at the artist's expense in Paris.

Fete du Bois

There was a storm just before 3 pm  but for a few sunny hours we sat and watched a band in a field. I shared some chips and drank a most delicious glass of Pouilly Fumé. 

I loved this makeshift food place after the storm the panels, now the windows,were taken down.

I took this photo at the Tool museum at Larochmillay, there was also a small sale of old French things. I like the Bistro glasses on the table. 

This place is still as is here more or less. It's now a restaurant. Restaurant de la Tour.

Making skittles at the fete, I think in the way the Sabots or clogs were made.

The chip place inside, some of the people serving and cooking chips are also firemen, reassuring!!

I also went to a Rockabylette festival in Luzy Lovely old cars and Solex racing, but it was slow racing;

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 One of my favourite things to do around here, apart from looking for interesting things at the sales is exploring the landscape and looking for old properties. It was a similar story when I lived in Herefordshire or Wales. There are still many empty properties around here. It has one of the lowest populations of Europe. One day it will be, I'm sure like the Cotswold's with all the honey Coloured Limestone full of people and probably a bit expensive to artists and people like me!
We have had a lot of rain so the moment the sun came out I went to a small brocante and then the same day I went to a small village nearby and took these pictures to inspire more painting. I sometimes fancy living in a slightly larger village with a café. The Café in these images in owned by a Dutch couple. They open from 5pm and are also artists, Wim paints and Angelique makes ceramics. They also have cats and donkeys and I believe they have a gite. The café is rather beautiful with very old crumbled paving slabs on the floor and a big stone space with old french furniture inside. It's the old Boulangerie. I like the old Epicerie.
It was July 14th Bastille day, I saw a German man sat in the churchyard and that was it, very quiet.