Ghost Town

It has been very, very hot the past week or so, with afternoon temperatures generally over 40C. Neither man nor beast can be seen anywhere in the village from about midday to around 5pm. Unusually we've also got some humidity which makes it almost impossible to do anything in the afternoon - even go swimming! Merv is in the Pyrenees this week with a walking trip and I am indoors accompanied by the cats, who just lie on the cool tiles all afternoon. The evenings are lovely though, so go for a swim around 7pm, water the garden, then another swim at about 10pm. Last year, this sort of heat lasted about 10 days so am hoping we are on the last stretch of it.

Grapevine

We've let one of our grapevine's grow over the new trellis. Mostly, because we didn't have time to plant climbers with a quick enough growth to cover it this year. It has gone crazy in the recent heat and is now beyond the length of the trellis. It's provided great cover, but very little fruit, and should be lovely in autumn too. In the meantime we also have a bougainvillea growing well which next year should provide colourful cover.

A sunny picture of the pool ...

Realised most photos on this blog have been taken in the evening, so here's one of the pool in the bright midday sun. As you can see the wisteria has gone crazy this year. 

The pool is pristine due to:

Pool Boy's cleaning!

Jardin St Adrien

Last week we visited a beautiful garden made out of an abandoned stone quarry. During the summer they are open from 5 - 7pm three days a week. It is an extraordinary venture to have undertaken, the owners have been there for 25 years creating this labour of love. There is an incredible sculpture carved out of a stone wall, amazingly lush grass (sown with local non-hybridised wild grasses which don't need a lot of watering), wonderful, bright flowers and interesting plants around every corner. They have also made a stage and terraced seating for concerts, which we are determined to go to next year. Behind the stage is a lake giving the effect of a mirror, which looks fantastic in the evening.

Everything from the quarry has been recycled; walls are made out of the quarried stone, wooden telegraph poles have been made into colourful gardening figures and the iron railings and arbours from reinforced concrete.

It was good for us to see what can be grown in a Mediterranean garden and we were pleased that many of the plants featured are already in our, much smaller, garden.

www.stadrien.paysdepezenas.com

Exemplary cats

Time for the cats annual visit to the vets for vaccinations. Cue a lot of chasing and stress - both for the cats and Jane - getting them into the travel boxes. Wellington managed to escape twice, but third time lucky got him in with much complaining. Ended up having to make three seperate trips to the vet, who did declare they were 'exemplary cats'! His English interpretation may not be exact but he meant they were in good health and good psyche - so they should be, given the charmed life they lead.

 

Summer visitors

Unsurprisingly, living in the south of France we are now a magnet for visitors. It's already been a busy summer with friends and family coming to stay, almost constantly, since May from NZ, Australia, UK and USA. Plus, we've had people staying in the gite from the UK and Sweden. It's been wonderful having the garden finished so that people can relax by the pool, eat outdoors and generally indulge in an al fresco lifestyle made possible by a really good climate!

We're pleased and amazed that in a year we've gone from this:

 to this:

Another brick in the wall

One more garden wall completed with stones recycled from the original garden. Just one more long wall to go and we're done. Have got the consistency needed for the concrete down to a fine art now as well as matching the right sized stones.