The best form of Gardening

We go to a monthly garden club which organises talks and visits, but the July meeting was a bit different.  One of the members, Cameron, is the maître du chai (chief winemaker) at a small vineyard in the Lot near Puy L'Eveque, and he invited the club members to visit the small château where he works to tour the gardens and the cellars.

Cameron showed us the vines and talked about how they grew and how grapes form.  Fortunately we were in the shade as it was about 38 deg C. We were amazed to discover the restrictions under which he has to grow the vines and subsequently make the wine in order to conform to the AOC rules. We then went into the coolness of the cave where Cameron explained the vinification process, followed by a degustation.

 

Of course we bought some wine (only as a way of saying thank-you for the visit you understand!)

Frog Heaven

Today was our last day with Guy here and, this afternoon, in temperatures in the 30's, we went to a nearby Water Garden, Le Jardin d'Eau, and it was a great time to go, the water-lilies and lotus were in full bloom.

I have to admit that I wasn't too keen to go to this garden as we don't have any water in ours!  However we all enjoyed it, and, thanks to Guy, we've done lots of things with him that we wouldn't have done by ourselves.  He's off to Morocco tomorrow.

PS did you see the little frogs?  There are 3.

...and the foothills.

Having returned from the mountains and had a day's recovery, yesterday (Sunday) we thought we'd go for a little walk.  We went to a nearby pretty village with a waterfall which we had last been to about 10 years ago.

(There is a village in all of the trees!)

Since our last visit, the area around the waterfall has been vastly improved as a visitor facility; better pathways, an organised route, clear signing, etc.  So off we set and found that we were climbing up the side of the waterfall and arriving eventually above it.

We pressed on as the walk seemed to be circular taking in the 'Chateau des Anglais', a look-out for the English in the 100 years war.  The path became 'interesting' ...

... but we eventually arrived at the Chateau des Anglais.

It was at this point that things went wrong!  As we thought that the walk was a circular tour we turned left out of the Chateau instead of returning to the waterfall, and we found ourselves walking across the hillside on an ever diminishing track which eventually petered out.  At this point discretion meant that we retraced our steps back to the Chateau, although not without incident ... as at one point Sue, in 'leaping' up a rocky step banged her head against the projecting rock face and fell back into my arms.

Back on the right path, we eventually returned to civilisation and our pic-nic after our walk which had taken us about 3 and a half hours!!!!

Enough mountains for the moment.

Into the Mountains

Guy wanted to see a different part of France and suggested we went down to the Pyrénées which are about 4 hours drive.  Guy organised a house on Airbnb and off we went last Wednesday to the Haute- Pyrénées near Lourdes (although not for a miracle!)  It was our first visit to this region.

We wanted to see as much as possible and Guy had an itinerary of  'the sights to see' and so, Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday morning was spent exploring the most important spots.
The first major stop was to go up to the Pic de Midi via the infamous (to followers of the Tour de France) Col de Tourmalet.

  (Half way up, looking back)

There were a number of cyclists testing themselves against the climbs the pros will do next week.

Looking back to the Ski station on the Pic.  We were intending to take the cable car to the top of the mountain but it was 40 euros each, so we decided that the view from any of the peaks around here would be similar.
So on to the World Heritage site of Cirque de Gavarnie, one of 3 craters with stunning waterfalls.

Our final stop for the day was to Pont d'Espagne.  This was an impressive water cascade issuing from a lake high up in the mountains, Lac de Gaube.

From the bridge we had to take the ski lift to get to the top for walk to the lake.  However, Sue wasn't too keen on the idea of the lift, but there was no other way.  A further problem was that by now it was half past five and the return lift shut at quarter past six.  But, hey ho, off we went.

(was this a smile or a grimace?)
Once at the top we walked about half an hour to the lake but it was amazing ... wild flowers, stunted and snow-damaged pines and fantastic views. 

 

When we reached the lake it was a turquoise blue from the melting snow.

A lovely spot and we definitely wish to go again, but now we had the final test ... walking back down to the bottom, and we had to walk down via a twisting wide 'path' which is one of the ski runs in the winter.

We made it in one piece, went to the nearest town, found a restaurant for confit de canard and chips and got back to the house at 10!!!!

Friday we were to see a couple more 'sites' but we woke up to cloud down to the ground and so we had an interesting drive along narrow roads through the mountains in mist.  At lunchtime we escaped the clouds and arrived at a small town with a large leisure lake where a number of para-gliders were floating over the water.

What was interesting for us was to see camper vans already pitched up on the sides of the road, particularly near hairpin bends, to be in the best spot when the Tour de France passes in a week's time.

We had lunch down in the valley and the owner was talking to us and said that one van had set up their spot on the Col de Tourmalet (perhaps the hardest hill climb) on the 7th July, 3 weeks before the riders will pass.  And really, all of the riders will go by in about one hour at the most!!!

And then, home, after 1000 km in 3 days.  It's tiring, this enjoying yourselves!!!

We got the Blues

By a coincidence, Guy's visit is at the same time as the Cahors Blues Festival and last night was when a number of bands played in bars and outside restaurants in the city centre.  Although it supposedly started at 7 pm we didn't get there till after 8.30 and even then things hadn't started to 'jump'.

we found our first band, and they we good.  People began to gather to listen and to eat.

We strolled towards more music, greeting friends as we went.  (You can't go anywhere without being recognised!!!)

Guy was enjoying it as the bands played on and more people appeared, making the atmosphere hum.

The music continued, the darkness fell and Sue managed to find a restaurant that would do us a plate of chips and a glass of Cahors!  What more do you want on a hot summer's night!

In the Viewfinder

We had a sudden surprise last week when Guy announced that he would be coming to see us.  His flight was delayed by a typhoon but we picked him up on Friday.

Yesterday we went to a photographic exhibition in a nearby town and found that it wasn't in one hall but in 5 different locations throughout.  So we not only had 'art' but a walking tour as well!

I enjoyed the photos as it wasn't just a random selection but each individual display told a story.

The Aliens have landed ...

... and walked through the Milky Way.

This 'installation', The Milky Way, made of dried Alium heads sprayed white, silver and gold, was positioned at the far end of the rear garden for our open weekend.  This morning 'something' had walked through it, searching for food.

We believe it is a badger and he had also visited a number of the flower beds where soft soil was available.

He wasn't interested in the daffodil bulbs planted around these trees!

What a Weekend!

Well, the weekend has been and gone and we are still recovering from opening the garden to the public.  Fortunately Pat and Mel came from England on Wednesday and then worked flat out hoeing dead heading etc. By the weekend the garden looked at its very best. We are thinking of turning the barn into the gardeners cottage!!! In addition we were able to call on the assistance of other summer residents, John and Leslie, Mike and Irene, and our neighbours Jean-Jaques and Nadine.
Saturday morning arrived bright and cool.

We had time to prepare and do last minute watering as, this year, we didn't open till after lunch on the Saturday.

However, yet again we seemed to find hot weather ... Saturday and Sunday were in the high 30 degrees.

So 'customers' began to arrive slowly during the afternoon and we had 25 visiting the garden on the Saturday.

Our rush occurred Sunday morning before it became too hot and, in all, we had another 55 visitors.

Hot work for the head Gardener taking people on tours.

This year, to broaden the interest for visitors, we organised an Art Exhibition in our salon.  We found 4 local artists who allowed us to have about 3 paintings each, and a ceramicist to show some pieces.

There was also a display of paintings in our alley.

 After we had closed on Sunday evening, we and everyone who had helped us collapsed around a table for wine and Tapas!

A very busy and hot time to get the garden ready, a very busy and successful weekend and a great result ... we raised approximately 760 euros for the charities which 'Open Gardens/Jardins Ouverts' supports.


ps We featured in an article in our local paper today reporting on our event.

https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2018/07/03/2829427-open-gardens-750-e-pour-l-association.html