It snowed! So excited as it isn’t supposed to snow here. Couldn’t wait till morning, had to jump out with camera and rush into the garden. It was so quiet, beautiful and the dark lanes and fields were lit in soft reflection from this new white blanket. The sky is heavy with snow, so tomorrow… Continue reading First snow
A while ago, longer than I dare to remember, I worked in a cheese factory. It was a yearlong contract to unfortunately close down a large specialized cheese importer – HT Webbs and transfer the most profitable cheese to the Danish dairy company Arla Foods. The job was fascinating mainly from the point that to… Continue reading Cheese please
This week I woke to beautiful white frosted views. These are from my garden. The garden itself is in winter slumber. The grass is covered to ensure the grass dies back for Spring when I will be creating a wild flower garden. The wildflowers need barren earth, they need harsh, they need the support to… Continue reading Frosted Winter mornings
Spending a day in Paris: boats, books and baking Written by Judi Castille in Guest Blogs The anticipation of warm, thick, hot chocolate in little expresso sized cups was alluring. Indulgent pastries and a huge array of chocolate and candy to choose, persuaded me to rise from my slumberous bed and cross the river Seine… Continue reading Paris – Good Life France
I always love taking photos of flowers and yesterday I was sorting photos, realising so many were in my old computer and yet to be released. Here are a selection from spring and Summer, many in my local area of Creuse and some from London where I lived before arriving here in March. It is… Continue reading Summer floral and visitors
When I finally came here to France in March I came with a baggage of old business ventures, ideas, some creative like writing – eight stories in draft and a huge A4 file packed with notes and ideas to complete them – and illustrating the stories too – I hadn’t picked up a paint brush… Continue reading Which direction?
I follow a blog by The Thrifty Campers – two brave souls heading out into the wilds to live – well – wild. Its a great site and full of humour. Go have a look and give support. Last month there was a great post about hand-washing. Yes when living out you still need clean… Continue reading Washing days and making do
This spring we turned a bramble infested piece of land that lies at the end of our tiny hamlet, into the beginnings of an ornamental garden. At first it was going to be an allotment, in memory of my Dad who always wanted one, but never got round to it – the house decorating, the… Continue reading A Glut of Tomatoes
I wasn’t expecting to be entered into any blog listings so quickly, but it appears I have made it into Feedspot and am very happy to be joining a great many enthusiastic Francophiles who are listed. Like all bloggers I want to ensure I create useful, sometime humorous and visual content and I am still… Continue reading 100 French Blogs
The very first French blog I followed was Lost In Cheeseland. Its a fabulous look at Paris through food, travel and personal experiences of Lindsey Tramuta. Over the years Lindsey has honed her writing to the point where she has finally written a book about how Paris is changing and finding once again its artisan… Continue reading Lost In Cheeseland
From 2013 to early this year I had invested a huge amount of time and finances on bringing to commerciality a conifer syrup that originated from a recipe my husband’s father made from the pine cones and fir tips he collected whilst walking the local mountains. He was a mountain man – both in his… Continue reading Foraging Future
From a wet start, and a trip into our almost local town of Boussac, north of us, the sun shone and lit up a gloriously Autumnal day. The road back home has a sign right pointing to Toulx Sainte Croix, a high point, almost a mountain, where a few weeks ago we found a wonderful… Continue reading Saffron in the sun
This post turned out to be a little technical, but I was fed up spending hours searching the internet on “how to point a French barn”, and finding unhelpful comments. So to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, I decided to write a post. Bare with the length of this article… Continue reading La Mason Femme
I first came to France on my honeymoon – Paris, not very original, but it was the start of a life long love of the country. I was 23 years old. Over the years, I am now 50, I travelled to France many, many times and read her history and dreamed of settling down one… Continue reading The Good Life France
As the song goes…Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun…”, well coming from the constant dreary grey drizzle of England, even in July and August, this English woman had a nasty shock two weeks ago after a few pleasant days working outside. It was not one of those extremely fierce heat days,… Continue reading Mad dogs and Englishwomen…
I suffered with insomnia for many years and joined the group of people who realise they can learn foreign languages at two in the morning courtesy of the range of obscure television programmes the BBC air for night workers and insomniacs. I never learnt Spanish, but I did learn that I had to resolve the… Continue reading Woman Pause
A French Creative Life 