In the blink of an eye, (or so it seems), the letting season is nearly over. It has been a long hot summer and we have even found time to relax and enjoy a little bit of it. Sitting outside for our meal each evening and watching the sun setting has been fabulous. We even managed to get a few late night swims in.  This last few weeks, early morning the swallows have been gathering ready for their long trip south for the winter. It has been amazing to watch them all dipping in the pool for a drink on their way.

Over the summer we have been busy working inside trying to get a few things finished off.  We now have an office, I have a sewing room and we finished the upstairs bathroom just a couple of hours before our daughter & family arrived to test it.

All our guests have given us great reviews on HomeAway and everyone loved the villas with their private gardens and of course the pool area. The last guests are settled in for their holiday and we are back to building.

The job at the top of our 'Autumn List' is to get the outside of our house ready for when the facadiers arrive to do the rendering. They are booked for March, which seems ages away I know, but my list is a long one..... Poor Bryan !!!!   The day can't come too quickly when we won't have to look at the horrible red blocks. Yesterday we ordered 50 square meters of block paving for the path along the back of our house -which we hope to start to  lay early next week - weather permitting. At 30 degrees it is still too hot to work out in the sunshine, but it is good for an afternoon swim in the pool. My weather app says its going to be a little cooler towards the end of this week so hopefully we can do the preparation work then.

Bryan has had a few early morning jaunts on his moto with his new toy. He now has a drone.  The scenery around us is stunning and the vendanges (grape picking) is currently happening. The area is a fantastic place for walking and cycling. Watch this space for more of his photo's and video.

The windmill at Saint Chinian

Our plans for winter/spring are to finish the pool house and tile around the pool. Budget permitting there is going to be a small bar area and a pizza oven. There are also all the hedges to cut and the Olives to pick. I have plans for a rockery on the entrance drive but I'm not sure we will have time to do that this year. I also need to dig over the vegetable garden. The summer was too hot for the tomatoes and they had all been eaten or made into sauces by the end of July. The courgettes and peppers are still going strong and we have leeks & lettuce growing too.

This mornings pickings

We also have a UK and Australian trip to catch up with family to fit in and a holiday.  We missed our Ozzie trip last year due to my operation, (we did manage a short UK trip though), but all is booked for both this year and we can't wait.