I can't believe that I haven't updated since last July. Where does time go ?

Daffodils in our garden

We had a good summer with the lettings and our last guests left at the beginning of October.  Bryan was busy trying to get the staircase finished and I had a quick tidy round the the gardens and the empty villas and closed them up for the winter. A hospital visit for a scan for me at the end of October and then we were on our way back to the UK via the Loire for a few days rest. We managed to have 1 day - then we got a phone call from a friend to say Monsieur Macron had made an announcement and borders were being closed at midnight.  So we set off for Calais pretty quickly - We managed to get to Dover by the skin of our teeth.

Fast forward 3 months and we arrived back here just 24 hours before the borders were closed again !  I am now banned by our family for trying to arrange anymore trips for a while - they say we are jinxed and I'm beginning to believe them. 

The up side of being back in the UK for all that time was we managed to acquire a few things to bring back with us.......

Home again and after a weekend of rest we are back to work. The pile of boulders we had delivered in October are still in the middle of our garden and need to be made into a rockery on the side of the drive. We brought a greenhouse back with us and the concrete base is now done and we are hoping to erect the frame this weekend. Vegetable & flower seeds have been sown and are waiting to go into it. 

In between pool cleaning, lots of weeding and general maintenance we have started work on the pool house interior - wiring is in and the ceiling is very nearly ready for the plasterboard. We hope to have it all finished by the time our first guests arrive - Covid permitting. 

The staircase for the house is well on the way to being finished. We brought some panels for the balustrade back from England so that is the next indoor job.  We are saving that for a rainy day.

Our unfinished staircase

There has been a few sunny days since we have been home and its very nice to sit in the sun with our afternoon coffee. The daffodils are out and the Mimosa tree in Villa Picholine's garden is in full bloom.  It was such a welcome sight when we drove through the gates.   Its good to be home.

Mimosa in the garden of Villa Picholine