Not more garden photos!

I promise this is the last of OUR garden photos for the time being!

I used the zoom to photograph these baby grapes. Each one is about 2 mm across at the moment, but it looks like we're going to have a bumper crop this year.

I mentioned that Tine's classes at L'Aiguillon had clubbed together to treat her to some wonderful end-of-year gifts. Here is the olive tree 'in situ' - check the blog in a year to see how it has grown (or Tine shrunk)!

These lilies were a gift from our good friends Edith & John (regular bloggers) when they visited last year. They cheerily greet callers at the house at the moment. Come again soon, you two!

Oh dear, I've just Googled this beetle and it attacks fruit so we'd better be on the look-out! We just loved it's fluorescent green colour.

Tine is sitting in our 'new for 2011' breakfast corner at the front of the house, being watched by a magnificent yukka flower.

This week's 'Name that shrub' competition. Come on LCA, Kate or Claudia Shiffer. Who's going to win?!

And finally some very bright orange geraniums outside the East Wing's bathroom.

Garden produce

As you can see we've been busy once again, already enjoying the fruit (and veg) of our labours. We haven't had any 'proper' rain for quite a while now so I have the nightly chore of watering the garden, luckily there's plenty in the well as a hosepipe ban is in the offing.

Here Tine is looking after the tomato plants, now beginning to flower. Mmmmm, those first home-grown tommies will be amazing!

Can you spot tomatoes, lettuce, radish, French beans and strawberries in the distance? (Plus mint for Matt's mojito cocktails.)

Courgette plants with beetroot just behind.

Our first artichoke of the season. Let's hope they're more prolific than last year!

The French beans have suddenly started growing and we've put plenty in!

Advert for Asda: try their £1 for four packs of salad leaves. The rocket is particularly delicious and the leaves grow really quickly.

From garden to table to tummy: radishes, cherries and strawberries. Bon appetit!

Flowers in the garden

It's been a while since I brought you up to date with the garden so the next couple of posts should satisfy certain people's curiosity!

Firstly a totally stunning rose which just seems to keep on flowering (plus it is heavily scented too)!

Our good neighbours Giles & Marie-Jeanne gave us lots of iris last year which have taken very well. What we hadn't realised was that we would have an almost Bradford City variety too!

Here's the white lilac shrub that Tine has hankered after for some time now. It was part of a wonderful thank you gift from her students at l'Aiguillon.

This is 'blé bleu' (blue wheat) which the town has growing alongside many of its roads. I'm not sure if the bread would be blue too though.

And what do you think of my creation? No, not the scarecrow attempting to keep birds off the strawberries, but one of the new wooden tubs.

It's summer already

This selection of photos was taken on 20th April 2011, hard to believe the crowds on the beach and in the sea so early in the season.

And yes, here's intrepid Nad showing how it should be done, breaking a new family record for going in the sea so early in the year. I must admit I would have joined her had I had my swimming gear as it was a wonderfully hot day. I'm afraid my first swim day had to wait until May 5th with no camera to record the evidence!

Vendée wildlife

No I'm not talking about summer evenings to come but a very close-to-nature cycle ride we did with Nad recently.

Nad actually stepped on this snake which was then quite happy to be photographed. It was easily 2/3 feet (60/90 cm) long and had been enjoying basking on a very warm afternoon.

Our snake encounter was en route for the stork's nest that Nad wanted to see 'for real', the stork dramatically landing for us.

Cows and swans? Is there no end to the close nature encounters around here?!

That was a bumpy track on bicycle!

Our final creatures were a couple of young ragondins playing on the canal bank and one swimming along without a care in the world.

Day out with Nad & 'Er from Brittany (2)

Continuing our day out we meandered back to Southern Vendée via more of our discoveries, firstly the Château de Commequiers, as impressive as last time.

A call from Nadine to announce she'd scaled the wall to the castle and the two following photos show that the inside is filled to wall height with Nad's photos to prove it!

A few kilometres further south we revisited the Château d'Apremont, complete with black crows swooping around the turrets

The village of Apremont is very picturesque with its tall church overlooking the château.

Much nearer home now and we had to show 'Er that not all standing stones are in Brittany. Here is Vendée's tallest, the Menhir du Camp de César at Avrillé.

Day out with Nad & 'Er from Brittany (1)

I left 'Er in Brittany to pick up my two favourite girls from Nantes airport after their few days of wedding preparation back in Sheffield. Nad arrived for the week and what a brilliant time we had, with excellent weather, but as usual it all went far too quickly.

'Er in Brittany drove down at the weekend for the first night of the Starfish & Coffee so next day we took the opportunity of venturing up the Vendée coast to show N & G some of our more recent discoveries.

We had an idyllic (and beautifully prepared) picnic lunch in a small cove at Sion sur l'Océan, complete with kir apéritifs and wine, watching the tide coming in very quickly. Of course G is just off camera in Photo 3, as usual!

This was followed by a lovely walk along the cliff tops to show our guests les Cinq Pineaux, stacks emerging from the sea. Hope you like the majestic cormorants, and the Devil's Hole, a fantastic funnel of water forced through the rocks.