Living in France

The magazine “Living in France” has chosen our garden for their new gardening page in the September issue of the magazine which has brought on a wave of nostalgia.  It seems as if we have turned a full circle from reading the magazine to becoming a part of it.

I was happy to be part of this issue but it also felt a little strange as this magazine had been bought and pored over by my husband while we were living in Aberdeen.  It had all started innocently enough with touring holidays in France but then the monthly purchase of the magazine warned me that ideas were brewing in his head.

In 2001 the deed was done and the house was bought.

The garden was uninspiring, as this view from the bottom of the gardening looking towards the workshop shows.  On the right you can just pick out the ex-Christmas trees.

Things have changed since then.   This is roughly the same spot now but there are more trees and flowers in the garden.

The front garden too has changed.  But it is not just what we have put into the garden but it is also what has come out of it!

We have had a Hoopoe fall down the chimney and get trapped behind the glass door.

Inside on side-table

The little green frogs are a special part of the garden and this one made himself at home on the coffee table.

Even in winter we have visitors like this solitary lapwing that visited us day after day one winter.

Some visitors are furry like this cute Barbastelle bat that roosted behind our shutters.

We also have a menagerie of marbled newts, salamanders, frogs and toads that we discovered in our old well.

Can you see her pink pollen sacs?

What we did not realise was that the more fruit trees and flowers that we added to the garden, the more wildlife would come and share it with us.

Butterflies…

moths…

and, of course, the bees.  The bees have become special to me as you can see from the bee kiss.

So much has happened since my husband first plotted his garden in France.  The garden did not turned out exactly as planned but perhaps all gardens take on a life of their own and give you back much more than you expected.

 

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