I have been scouring the internet for common sense tips on bringing up chickens, from coop building, run maintenance to favouite foods to foot problems. I have learnt a lot and with a huge dollop of common sense, the garden is now chicken heaven. But along the way I came across this wonderful book by… Continue reading Homestead highly recomended
Arriving back from England was another shock to the system. Leaving your home for a month seems to throw your well being out of kilter for quite a few days. Maybe exhaustion from the the two day journey including a cancelled train and a detour to another French town didn’t help, but London is as… Continue reading Taming the wilderness
From last March, I have been stalking round my neighbours farm, snapping nervous cows, yapping dogs and farmer too. The seasons brought work to the farm – feeding, ploughing, hay making and calves to birth. Its a lonely job being a beef farmer and most days Christian is on his own, doing what he does,… Continue reading Project Farm
Our tiny little commune is known as La Nourrice, meaning wet-nurse. It is a strange name and I have yet to delve into its history, but in essence a wet-nurse breast feeds another woman’s baby. It was common practice in days gone by, but I am not so sure today, well not in this neck… Continue reading La Nourrice affinage
Plans are afoot for 2018. Whilst in London I have had time to reflect and know that my new life in France is going to be rewarding. Many bloggers this season have regaled us with humorous stories, tales of Christmas books, making seasonal decorations and walks in winter forests. Its been a delight to read… Continue reading Happy New Year
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
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
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
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…
We have a very small community here at Auge and even smaller our side of the road, as the motorway cut the village in two. Our side kept the cows and the other side kept the church. Winding down a small lane between the pastures you come across a huge couple of barns belonging to… Continue reading Neighbours
One of the long term plans in coming to France was health. Fed up with rainy grey days in England and longing for long summers, we found our barn in cow country, rolling hills and meadows, where the weather changes by the hour. A temperate area with fierce storms and gales followed by three solid… Continue reading Vegetarian
I had a garden five years ago which I had to abandon when I divorced. It wasn’t a large garden, more a Edwardian pocket handkerchief, but I had started to fill this with flowers I could cut, dry and bring into the house. Even when they faded and dried, they were re-cycled into linen bags… Continue reading Wild and wonderful
After two months in Romania working on our conifer syrup project, we arrived back in France to Eden. Our garden represented what Nature provides when man makes no intervention. The wild flowers fight for their positions amongst the rampaging brambles. The wild grasses grow tall towards the sun to hold their little seed children in… Continue reading Garden Of Eden before the fall
I have been away from France for almost a year now. Pressing work in London meant abandoning the barn, photography and the sunshine for wet and windy England. Another few months in Romania making our pine syrups and now it is June and I am finally heading back to the meadows and cows and six… Continue reading A bike and a camera
What could be better than fulfilling a wish you have had for as long as you can remember – to buy a barn in France, with a garden, surrounded by fields with cows grazing and town nearby to get your daily fix of French stick loafs. We chose a very rural part of France, the… Continue reading The Barn and The Boys
A French Creative Life 