Only a few more sleeps until summer time / daylight savings – I can’t wait!
Sunrise this morning!
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Bring it on!
Really fed up of the rain and the grey now – I want to see this again!
Summer wine
Garden Part II – summer 2015
The summer of 2015 was hot, hot, hot with days well into the 40’s and most days well over 30 with no rain for months so plans for veggies etc didn’t come through as it was just too hot and dry. Most of the summer was spent just trying to keep the lawn alive, clear up any obvious weeds (including our nightmare Japenese Knotweed problem) and I also got a small herb garden and rose garden planted by the terrace where we spent most of our time when it was warm (right up until November actually as it was such a mild autumn as well!).
This was how I did the miniature rose garden, I dug up the grass as best I could then planted the roses (pink and white alternating – although some had lost all their flowers in the heat so it was a bit of a guess that did work out!):
Then I covered with thick brown cardboard with holes cut out for the roses and covered it all in soil:
Then a final layer of mulch to help further with the weeds and keeping the water in:
In hindsight I definitely did the right thing with the cardboard, I had very few weeds come through. I shouldn’t have used dry grass as the mulch as I think there were still the odd seed in it and I also should have been more thorough clearing out the grass to start with as it has been my main problem! The other thing I should have done was put an edge on as I’m always having grass creeping in. There are lots of things coming up for sale now it is coming to spring so I’ll get something soon to add. Despite the heat they did very well and flowered all summer and right through until November or December. I also don’t’ know how big these mini roses get and I fear I may have planted them too far apart so I’m going to attempt to move them closer to each other I think as I’d like to get a hydrangea in on the end of the bed! If anyone thinks this is a very bad idea please tell me!
I didn’t take many garden pics over the summer but my lovely sister in law Naomi just sent me some so I could share, including this fabulous panoramic one – it makes the perspective a bit odd – the wall is actually on right angles to the herb beds but gives you a bit of an idea:
Our lovely basil and other herbs and gorgeous niece Zelda (her and Rémy are only a few weeks apart and it was so lovely having them spend lots of time together!):
And a little montage of some late summer blooms!
I’ll make sure I get more pictures to share this summer!
The chook / hen / chicken house / coop plans!
For months and months I’ve been planning on getting chickens and trying to design the best house I can for them! Some of the coops online are just incredible and there is so much information out there on what you should (and shouldn’t!) do that the whole thing has become slightly overwhelming!
We are so blessed to have already at the back of the a 2m x 2m concrete base ready to go – I’m particularly pleased about this as it is the ‘gold standard’ for keeping your chickens safe from predators as nothing can dig under concrete! There is also a secure gate to open into the run and even the posts to take the wire in the run! Here was a photo I posted of that corner in another post:
And a rough sketch of the layout:
Within the 2×2 metre coop area the actual house will be the size of a pallet as that is what I’m using for the base (covered in a piece of chipboard then lino for easy cleaning) so that is 1 x 1.2 m.
Our neighbours all have gorgeous gardens (and we are trying to head that way) so want to make something that is attractive as well as practical and safe for our new family members! Here in the Dordogne they have a particular roof style known as the Perigord style so we have incorporated that as a design feature over the coop. Sadly as our house is a barn conversion we don’t have any rooflines like that ourselves so this is an exciting addition!!
The area itself is fairly shaded in the day in the summer but we are going to have shutters on the side facing the house so we can open it up to let air in (chickens need good ventilation), watch them from the house if they are inside and it will also enable easy access for cleaning.
On the southern side the will be 3 laying boxes coming out from the main structure with a fold down door to access the eggs. I’m hoping this is the right decision as I originally had it where you opened from the top which I thought would be easier for the kids to get at but then I was worried about cleaning it – would love to hear anyone’s thoughts on this.
The northern side of the coop is where the entry is and access is via the gate into the run then into the coop. I’m hoping this will reduce the chances of escaped chickens (our garden is currently only fenced on 2 sides and there are wandering dogs). I’m afraid my drawing / perspective skills got the better of me at this point so this only shows the front half of the coop!
And this is the view from inside looking at the house part (again struggling with my drawing skills!):
The area under the house is open for them and I’ll hang their food and water dispensers under there. The ramp will have natural sticks as the treads so need to find some nice ones as they are better for their feet than cut wood, and of course they look pretty! There will be a drop down door to close their house at night with a hook and rope system from the outside.
So there we have it – I can’t wait to get going! We already have the wood for the house section – 2 Ikea futon bases and a pallet for the base so just need to get the rest of the wood and the hardcloth for the coop and chicken wire for the run.
Homemade nettle tea!
Sorry for the lack of posts – our house has a been a constant stream of illness ever since we came back from our Christmas trip to the UK! It is a combination of us not having any European immunity and the mild winter which hasn’t killed off all the bugs! This week we all have shocking colds, luckily it is the holidays (again!) so at least the kids aren’t missing yet more school.
We are getting more and more interested in natural remedies and with lots of lovely young nettles springing up after all the rain we’ve had the man decided to make some nettle tea! I was a little sceptical and unsure how it would taste but I was pleasantly surprised! Nettle tea is good for a number of health issues, it contains lots of fabulous vitamins and trace minerals and is a great support for the immune system. The man felt much better after we had it – I wasn’t feeling as rotten yesterday to notice a difference – but I’ve just sent him out now to harvest some more!
Garden part I
One of the things we loved as soon as we saw the house was the garden. I thought I better do some posts about it as it has started featuring heavily in my life again the last few days with some gorgeous spring like weather!
It was pretty bare when we viewed the house as it was the end of winter. By the time we got back to France in May it looked like a jungle and scared the life out of us! Here are some photos of what we had to work and deal with!
The figs outside the back door!
The greenhouse all set up and ready to go (not – but at least the bones are there!).
Looking back up at the house from the greenhouse door:
Stood on the terrace (next to the house in the first photo) looking back down the garden (yes we do have our own windmill!!):
Panning left:
And left again (our land ends where the tree line is):
Some massive ancient yukkas at the front:
Wow that makes me exhausted just looking at that!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Sorry for the lack of posts since October – I think I was in the autumnal / early winter funk with the short days and never seemed to find the time or energy to post – I had the Halloween post open on my computer for over a month before closing it and only coming back to finish it today!
New year new beginnings! We are back from our Christmas trip to the UK and all excited about getting stuck in to the house and garden so watch out for lots of posts.
We had a fantastic festive season catching up with all the family in the UK. Sadly my dad was unwell and couldn’t make it to my sisters and we were out of time to go visit him but we can hopefully sort something soon.
I hope you all had wonderful Christmas and New Years and wishing you a happy, healthy and wonderful 2016!
Happy birthday baby boy!
This past year or so has just flown by. The end of November brought our babies 1st birthday – bitter-sweet as he is growing up so fast. He started walking a couple of weeks before the big day so we went and got his first shoes – so cute! He was so proud of his new red shoes!
The end of November saw a cold patch, with frosts and into the minuses over night so the birthday boy was all rugged up to go and get Louis from school on his beg day – bless him! Happy birthday little one xx
Project wreath part II
An update on the wreath project – you may remember this post where I made my vine wreath in the autumn: http://anotheryearinfrance.coolhippy.com/2015/10/home-made-vine-wreath/ I forgot to get a picture of the colourful leaves I added to the first decorations but they weren’t on long and I made a autumnal / Halloweeny / pumpkin wreath (again meant to get another set of photos as the light was very low so the pics aren’t great – sorry, I’ll learn!!):
The next theme was of course Christmas, I went for a lovely simple red, white and wood scheme:
Now I just need to think of a decoration scheme for the rest of winter (at the moment a bucket of water would be appropriate!!) – any ideas anyone?
Halloween fun!
We had a great Halloween this year (except for the baby – I’ll explain in a moment!). Louis and I carved the pumpkin (a bit boring but we didn’t have any time – next year I want to try something much more elaborate!):
Josh spent the day at his youth club preparing for a big Halloween murder mystery / live Cludo party! We then were to join him, in costume for dinner before the party. Louis and I went to get dressed and our make-up on while the little one was with his daddy. We re-entered the kitchen and he saw Louis and absolutely panicked – full screaming and crying the poor darling (the baby not the hubby!). Needless to say we didn’t let Louis back in the room and decided it would be best if he stayed home.
We all took a plate to the meal which was a bit rushed and then we all headed to the chateau where lots of others from the village were waiting for us. As a big group we went around trick or treating, there were some fantastic decorations in some of the windows (excuse the poor picture quality I’d forgotten the flash for my big camera and my phone didn’t cope too well with the light either!):
After the trick or treating we returned to the Chateau where Josh and his youth group did a life size Cleudo murder mystery through the Chateau. Sadly I missed most of that bit as I had to go home and feed and put Rémy to bed but arrived in time to hear the results of who the murderer was!
It was a fantastic night, very well organised, atmospheric (our very own castle!!) well done by the kids and a real family community evening that we all enjoyed!
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