There is some evidence in a dusty local archive, that way back in the 12th century, the Hillside was the site of a religious ‘paroisse’, the French version of our word ‘parish’. This could mean quite simply that a lone monk lived up here in contemplative seclusion or that he had fellow monks and a…
Category: FRANCE
Thursday Doors – Inside Out
On Tuesday morning I set out on a photographic visit to an ancient local church a friend of mine had mentioned to me. It has to be said that our little corner of France is blessed with a wealth of ancient churches, a host of breathtaking examples from the 12th and 13th centuries lying within a…
Alliums, Garlic and a Potager
It’s been a good year so far on the Hillside for our potager. The plot near the orchard which we had ploughed up by the local farmer last year looked intimidatingly large at first, more suitable for feeding a couple of rugby teams than our tiny household, but as Mr H has worked his green-fingered…
Thursday Doors – A Door, Steps and a Juliet Balcony
The rehearsals for our summer theatre spectacular are in full swing now with only one week to go to the first performance. All the action takes place in various spots around our courtyard, in front of the barn and the house. There will be music and lighting to accompany the drama which won’t begin until after…
Muse – History, Letters and a French Brocante
This time last week a friend took me to visit a brocante (the French version of our antique and bric a brac shop) which she had discovered in a small village not many kilometres from the Hillside. I think if anyone had asked me to describe the brocante of my dreams I couldn’t have invented…
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…
Thursday Doors – The Chapel of the Knights Templar, Cressac
There is something irresistibly fascinating about doors and doorways, whether old or new they seem to pique our innate curiosity and love of mystery. I have posted a couple of times already with some of my favourites but having just discovered some other fellow door-lovers and the ‘Thursday Doors’ spot hosted by ‘Norm 2.0′ –…
Enveloped – Weekly Photo Challenge
Enveloped Enveloped in a golden sunset, the earth sleeps, wrapped in dreams of summer……. The hillside was bathed in glorious sunset light the other evening when I took this and I thought it would express perfectly my idea of ‘enveloped’ for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge. I’ve included a monochrome version too…………. ……and a colour…
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…
Romantic Abbey Ruins and Hideous Cement Works
Just across from the ugly out-of-town shopping centre where I reluctantly go for some of my weekly grocery shop, is one of the most hideous concrete constructions I have ever seen in my entire life. Owned since the 1930’s by the enormous French company Lafarge, a ‘world leader in construction materials’, the monstrous site of…
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…
The Reluctant Model – Portraits in Black & White
Since we arrived in France almost exactly thirteen years ago there have been many magical moments here on our beautiful hillside. One of the most life changing for me in many ways was the suggestion four years ago that we should play host to the local theatre company for their summer outdoor ‘spectacle’ – a…
French Essence # 3 – Macaroons à la Française
I have always thought of macaroons (macarons) as a particularly French delicacy, a delightfully diminutive round cake, crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle made from ground almonds, sugar and egg whites. Endless varieties of flavouring and delicate pastel colours can be found in tempting tower displays in the finest French patisseries. …
French Essence #2 – Wine
A few years ago we worked for a while with a French estate agent helping to select properties we thought might appeal to potential English buyers. Given most people’s romantic notion of the perfect French dreamhouse, it was not difficult to dismiss the ranks of ugly concrete shoe boxes and Spanish style haciendas which sadly…
Sweets to the Sweet – BonBons and Marshmallows
For anyone with a sweet tooth France is probably the closest you can get to confection heaven. Bonbons, dragées, macaroons, sweet cakes, patisseries, brioche, chocolate truffles, nougat, meringues – the list of sugary delights is long and enticing. I have personally always had rather more of a weakness for savoury rather than sugary but…
French Essence #1 – Garlic
If asked to sum up the essence of French culture the average Francophile would probably come up with an impressive list, amongst which would undoubtably feature haute couture, Hermès, Coco Chanel, Dior, an array of philosophers, playwrights Voltaire, Molière, great novelists Victor Hugo, cinema, Brigitte Bardot, Gerard Dépardieu, Bordeaux wines, cognac, champagne, Paris, Versailles, Marie…
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…
Seriously Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Russian Roulette
Although France is in many ways a culinary paradise there is one thing that the French tastebud does not seem to appreciate and that is the English version of hot and spicy. Rich and wine-flavoured, delicate, perfumed and oriental, mock Mexican and fruity Moroccan are savoured with the utmost appreciation but trying to introduce our…
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….
Cosmos , Marigolds and the end of Summer
This weekend heralds the end of the official summer here in sunny France, as thousands of holidaymakers wend their way back home to prepare for ‘La Rentrée’ – the re-entering, literally, of work or school. over the next week to 10 days. The summer has been a disappointing one weatherwise, some sun to be sure…
A Classic Chassis and the Mad Inventor
Once upon a time there lived a mad inventor who had the particular peculiarity of retiring to his bed at the end of the cricket season, refusing to get up again until the sound of leather on willow announced that another new season had begun. The inventor had 14 children – no doubt something to…
Figs , Fig Leaves and the Garden of Eden
There is an ancient town in the heart of Tuscany in Italy, famous for it’s alabaster, a beautiful translucent stone used for centuries to create windows, before knowledge of glassmaking arrived in the west from the Orient. We stayed just outside Volterra a few years ago and one of our favourite daily pastimes was a coffee and…
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…
Oh No! It’s Holiday time on the Hillside
In which we consider the impending onslaught of summer visitors and wonder whether a person could have opening and closing times like a boutique. Well it’s that time of year again here on the hillside, the friends and family start their mass migration to foreign climes passing where possible by our front door for a…
The Pomegranate, the Seasons and a few Greek Gods and Goddesses
Wandering around the aisles of the supermarket the other day, I came across the section devoted to ‘exotic fruits’. All kinds of alien forms and textures populate this particular aisle – spiky, fleshy, hairy, succulent – all originating from countries I couldn’t hope to place on a map and all ultimately fascinating and mysterious. Not…
View from a French Hillside 