Wordless Wednesday – A Sea of Corn ALL PHOTOS © JANE MORLEY If you enjoy the photos on my blog please do visit my brand new website http://www.janemorley.photography where you will find many more photos and also http://www.theartcardpress.com for a host of greeting cards and…
Category: Life in the French Countryside
Wordless Wednesday – First Spring Greens (and Purples)
Wordless Wednesday – First Spring Greens (and Purples) ALL PHOTOS © JANE MORLEY If you enjoy the photos on my blog please do visit my brand new website http://www.janemorley.photography where you will find many more photos and also http://www.theartcardpress.com for a host of greeting cards and photographic prints and even http://www.galeriedelamaison.com where you…
Thursday Doors – A Village House and Giant Gates
There is a well-known saying that an Englishman’s home is his castle – a love for privacy and a patch of personal territory on our overcrowded island is perhaps the explanation of this notion – but since moving to France we have been more than a little impressed by the Frenchman’s approach to presenting and…
Darkest Fruit
Before moving to France 13 years ago I had always dreamed of having an orchard and indulging in a variety of homely pursuits like baking apple pies from my own apples and creating jams and conserves from my prizewinning strawberries and raspberries. We now have the good fortune to have just such an orchard and…
Thursday Doors – Le Manoir d’Alfred de Vigny
Just across from our hillside is the wonderful property which used to belong to French poet Alfred de Vigny in the early 19th century. This medieval manoir was his retreat where he wrote some of his finest work in the wood-panelled room at the top of the stone tower and where he pottered about in his vineyards…
I’ve Got a Silver Machine……………..
The hillside is currently in preparation for our summer theatre spectacle, to be performed by our friends ‘Le Petit Théatre de Blanzac’ during four evenings of July. This talented bunch of amateur enthusiasts with a sprinkling of professional input are always immensely ambitious in their productions and this time is no exception. A full costume…
Hillside Views – Haybales
On our walks these last couple of days, Freddie the Labrador has insisted on walking along the field where the hay has recently been cut and turned into beautiful round bales. They smell divinely of summer, sweet and warm with a sprinkling of sunshine and look particularly beautiful arranged in a string like a necklace of…
Spring #3 – Lilac Time
EVER SINCE WE ARRIVED ON THE HILLSIDE 13 YEARS AGO I HAVE DREAMED OF MAKING A BEAUTIFUL GARDEN. In my imagination the lawns are mown into stripes and squares, flat and rich enough to welcome the most stringent player of bowls or croquet. The borders are full of exquisite flowering shrubs and unusual specimens arranged…
Glorious Spring
The hillside has exploded in a riot of blossom and colour this week. I know I’m in danger of repeating myself by offering up another post with blossom as its’ subject but when I went out onto the orchard this afternoon to the glorious sight of the fruit trees abuzz with the industry of…
Rustic Beauty – The Humble Turnip
After the lovely promising spring weather of a fortnight ago we’re suddenly plunged back into the damp and chill winds of November here on the Hillside. Our sunny moods have departed with the warmer temperatures and so my plans for more spring inspired images for this post have been moved aside to make way for an…
Spring # 2 – Fragile Blossom
In the courtyard on our French Hillside is an almond tree. It has never been exactly prolific in producing fruit but its’ show of magnificent pale white-pink blossom is always our first herald of the arrival of spring. The tree itself is need of an expert prune as all the blossom is now bursting forth…
Winter – Ghost Leaves
The colours on the hillside are changing now from their glowing autumn shades to the darker hues of winter. Nature’s astonishing architecture is becoming visible everywhere, in the bare branches of the trees, the hips on the rose bushes, the cones in the evergreens and in the fallen leaves which carpet the garden. On our…
Little Acorns, Mighty Oaks……..
A while ago on one of our walks, Freddie the Labrador and I collected some splendid acorns and oak leaves. I fully intended to snap a few pics while they were still fresh and colourful but haven’t somehow got round to doing it. Today I was going to throw them all away as they’ve dried…
A Summer’s day in a tiny flower…..
Autumn is really showing its’ beautiful glowing colours here on the hillside and already throwing some surprises into the meteorological mix. Yesterday afternoon was a busy one in the boutique and all my Sunday afternoon visitors were completely unprepared, after the mild morning, for the fierce downpour and hailstorm which turned up around 4.00pm and…
Gold, Copper, Chestnut, Conkers – Hello Autumn!
I had a very different idea in mind for today’s post but as I strolled along the path through the wood after lunch with Freddie the labrador, we stumbled across some exciting treasures which simply demanded to be photographed. Freddie was delighted to have found a fox poo and a badger burrow plus a few…
Sunset Colours and Autumn Vines
Every day of September here on the hillside, has been warm, balmy and beautiful; the evenings noticeably cooler as the Autumn approaches but full of astonishing light and colours. I decided the other evening to take a walk down the hill towards the poplar wood where the sheep live, passing en route the tiny vineyard…
Doors Part 3 – Jonzac – Seven Doors and a Window
Now that the summer is over and we return to our normal opening hours here on the hillside (5 days a week instead of 7) we are able, on rare occasions, to indulge in the odd visit to pastures new, to wallow in some slightly different scenery and recharge our batteries. Usually our ‘grand days…
Apples, hornets and apple pie……….
The strange weather conditions of this year have left the orchard looking bedraggled and bewildered. The spring cherries were waterlogged and the Maytime plums annihilated by hailstorms, now the apples, usually so abundant and wholesome, are rain-damaged and fast being eaten by wasps and hornets. There is , as always a silver lining for someone….
Of Sunflowers, Kites and Kestrels….
In which we bang on about the weather again but for a different reason and then turn a little serious………….. I have always had the fanciful notion that the weather here on earth is largely dictated by the activities of the Olympian Gods up in the clouds. Right at this moment in time , they’re…
Summer Storms and Teeny Tiny Toads
In which we consider the return of Noah’s flood to the Charente and tackle a hoard of teeny tiny toads in the wine press………. The weather has achieved Biblical proportions today here in sunny France. After an impressive build up over the last few weeks and months, with a few minor monsoons here, a mini…
Daredevil Daisy’s bid for Freedom
In which we take a walk and have a close encounter with a 1500 pound grumpy cow It is my daily habit to take a brisk walk down the hillside and, almost as briskly, to walk back up again. I generally spend the time this involves admiring the scenery, talking to myself and chatting to…
Four-legged Neighbours in the poplar wood
In which we delight in our four-legged neighbours and worry about the constant threat of mint sauce………. Living as we do on top of a hill amongst the vineyards, we are blissfully untroubled by the proximity of neighbours, the nearest other house being a good kilometer or so away on the hill opposite. Whilst we…
Oh No! Here Comes Summer!…….
In which we consider the excesses of French summer weather and wish we had a decent deckchair…… Well finally, here in South West France, the sun has put in a long awaited appearance and the Summer has arrived, at least for the next few days. This is, of course, great news for those of us who…
And a fine time was had by almost all….
In which we praise the optimist, denounce the pessimist and wonder just who is Maureen? And so after weeks of planning and a good deal of hard work, our first independant arts and crafts fair is finally over. The gazebos and backdrops have been taken down, the debris tidied away and the hillside is back…
“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens….”
In which we consider life as an eternal optimist and how this combines with perpetual worrying… As the sky remains cloudy and the rain continues to fall here in sunny France at the end of May I thank my lucky stars and my mother that I was born an eternal optimist. It is not always…
Be careful what you wish for …….
In which we consider Noah’s flood, the advisability of a fountain in the bedroom and never having enough buckets when you need them… Having begun with great gusto, the creation of our new vegetable plot at the end of last week we consulted the meteo – weather forecast – on Monday to see what might be…
Cinderella Girl – Part One
In which we consider the relative merits of workboots or Christian Louboutin stilettos for life in the French countryside Say the words France or French to most women and images of petite figures in Chanel suits gliding elegantly before the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower will inevitably float into their minds at some point or…
Wisteria Days
In which we celebrate the delights of spring and a very short walk to work……. Many things about our lives have changed since we crossed the Channel to live in France. Some of them are changes for the worse – rubbish baked beans and an appalling absence of bacon to name but two – but…
View from a French Hillside 