Magnificent May
/
Emmie in the field, five months old.
Our first visitors of the season have arrived in May and as you can imagine we were busy preparing for this for weeks... nay months! The tonduse has been whirring around the lawns and making sure they are ready, and we have been tidying and preparing our outside spaces. The big clean always has to be done at the beginning of a new season and then each week the standard can be maintained for each new party of guests.
Sometimes I feel like an oil rig worker, work really hard for 3 weeks then get a week off (not sure if that is how it works for oil rig workers or us…. but you get the gist). As my Aunty Norma always says, “it’s all or nothing” and that is just how it is for us!
Our clients arrived and after greeting them and ensuring that all was well, Rob and I took the chance to have a week away and explore France. (We did leave our manager Paul in charge should there been any problems). If we are not careful we can always find another job to do at home and we don’t find time to have a holiday ourselves. (I can hear the violins as I write)!!
We decided to head for the French, Spanish boarder on the Mediterranean side and we were not disappointed. At this time of year, it was peaceful and calm. We enjoyed the Maresme coast of Spain and its beautiful sunshine before heading back into France and to the charming coastal town of Collioure. I can only liken Collioure to Salcombe in Devon, England. A place to return to for a weekend I think and an easy drive from The French Farmhouse.
On travelling through the French /Spanish frontier, we passed garden centres with wonderful, wonderful plant pots. Just the sort that I wanted. The Spanish have long been renowned for their ceramics. This morning before heading home to The Farmhouse we did a slight detour and nipped back into Spain to purchase the said pots. Visitors to The Farmhouse this year will be able to see them on the new drive!
Our south drive renovation: the removal of the box, the building of the wall and the planting of the hornbeam has been the project of the winter. It has totally refreshed and opened out this area and we look forward to adding to and developing this area further.
May has been our frontier month, the time when we change from moving the house forward with our endless projects , to a time when we stop, smell the daisies and see what we have indeed achieved and more importantly what we are able to provide for our summer guests.
