January 2020

My years sabbatical on the blog front has now come to a self imposed end and I am hitting 2020 with a new purpose with regard to the FFQ Blog. When I first began the Blog way back in 2015, my posts were every week. Things were moving fast with the renovations at The Farmhouse and there was a lot to report, I wanted to remember the changes and the blog became the tool to record and share our project with our family and friends. The blog then moved to a monthly post as time became pressing and I probably weeded out the witterings of an enthusiastic renovator. The content has moved between…Tales of the Renovation, Life in France and there have always been ideas of Places to visit. The break in the Blog has been a chance to explore new ideas, a time to refresh and reset this monthly communication with our FFQ friends. This continues to be a record of life at The Farmhouse and as such I do want it to continue. Let’s see where we go next, I hope you will come along for the read!

As it is January I feel that I should be showing you bleak midwinter photos of SW France! The leafless trees framed against the big skies and the morning frosts covering our fields in the belief of snow. The fiery red dawns and sunsets are indeed beautiful and in our rural position we get opportunity to appreciate them all, especially when Emmie demands an early morning walk! However the warm fire place shots were for Christmas and now those same home fires are burning and keeping us warm as our temperatures sink. We do have beautiful crisp days when outdoor jobs can be done, the morning mist having cleared and the sun shines through allowing the chance to stop work and have a cup of tea on the terrace.  We seem to live in a place where winters are cold and summers are hot, it is nature re-dressing the balance. At the Farmhouse we are conscious that we also have to help nature, look after our environment and take serious steps to make a change. 

Now that we are in the middle of winter, it is warming to think of the summer and  cheery to look through the photos of last year. The pictures above and below were taken at the very beginning of July and they are part of our new collection of photos taken by Alexis Mestre.

Blue skies.

La Cuisine. During the summer this is often the breakfast kitchen as the door leads out onto the “bolet”, a first floor balcony with countryside views.

“The Bolet”. This is a beautiful place to sit and watch the sun come up in the morning, a good breakfast spot.

Dining on the terrace.

We have had a few bright days of late and it has given us opportunity to begin the herb garden. This is going to be on a triangle of land outside of the Roquecor bedroom door. Formally this had been an undefined space with old bushes and suckers spreading out uncontrolled. It has not been an easy job to get the plants out, those old roots run deep. We have been able to replant the bushes in the hedge on the playing field, it feels good to know they have a new home and at the moment they look to be surviving. I have great plans for this polygon of cultivated space and hope to take some inspiration from geometric french herb gardens which is all rather grand for this small equilateral triangle!

We lost one of our old apple trees last year and another is not looking as good as it could. In the light of this we decided to plant two new apple trees down in the orchard… a good place! After a little research I learned that one should not plant a single apple tree because of pollination, so two seemed a good start for a novice agriculturist. We were recommended to visit a Pepiniere ( plant nursery) in Cuzorn and on their advice of …one for eating and one for cooking…. we set off home with our trees, one of which was laden… yes laden with five apples, and lovely they were too. They are now tucked up in the orchard soil and I have high hopes for a few apple pies in the autumn.

Well first blog of 2020 done…let me know what you think … if you would like to, you can use the comments box below or email me at info@TheFrenchFarmhouse.co.uk I would love to hear from you.

An inspector calls!! The herb garden in progress. For those of you wondering Emmie is wearing a tracker, with 7 acres, it is really useful to be able to look on your phone to see where she is!