A Sunday walk with a difference.

On a recent dog walk we were surprised to find ourselves

 sharing the lanes and tracks with some unusual traffic.

Bonjour!

Urban cowboy!

I don't know where they came from or where they were going.

Were they on the way to a competiton, in training, or simply good

friends out horse riding and carriage driving together?

What a great way to see the countryside!

Adieu!

All I do know is that it was lovely to meet them all,

 however briefly, on a Sunday morning in Normandy.

Joining Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday
and
Bunny Jean for Wednesday's Bunny Hop.

Click on the links, or sidebar buttons, to visit our gracious hosts.

The Lost Gardens of Heligan - The Productive Gardens.

One of the highlights of our recent stay in Cornwall, UK was a visit to the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

I imagine that most of my British followers will know the amazing story of how the abandoned and forgotten gardens were discovered by Tim Smit and John Willis (a descendent of Samuel Tremayne who purchased Heligan in 1569), after the devastating hurricane of 1990.

Fruit such as melons, grapes and peaches
 were cultivated for the Heligan table

It is a story that has captivated me for many years, since I first saw a BBC documentary featuring Heligan in the 1990's.
We joined the guided walking tour through the Northern Garden and these photographs were all taken in the walled garden of the Victorian Productive Gardens.

potted plants "resting"
inside one of the many glasshouses

There is so much to see at Heligan that I decided to devote a blog post to each of the special areas of interest.

Bee boles were incorporated into the wall outside the garden. Here bee skeps (the forerunners of bee hives) would be placed, the boles had wooden doors which could be closed during the winter to ensure that the bees survived.

 herbs planted close to an ancient stone building
where garden tools are housed
onions and shallots hung against the wall
a wheelbarrow full of leeks
ready to go to the restaurant kitchen

"A motto etched into the limestone walls in barely legible pencil still reads “Don’t come here to sleep or slumber” with the names of those who worked there signed under the date – August 1914. "
(source Heligan website.)
Many of the gardeners, who's names were listed there, were never to return from the Great War.

seedlings and sensitive plants are "brought on"
 in the large glass frames

A quote from the Heligan Gardener's blog.
The Productive Gardens at Heligan have been restored to reflect the workings of a Victorian garden before the First World War. We remain true to this period in our cropping plan, growing only heritage varieties and cultivating the soil by hand. The garden is fully productive throughout the year and there is a constant supply of produce ready for harvest. This is taken to our restaurant on a daily basis in much the same way that it would have been given to the cook at Heligan House a hundred years ago.

gourds and succulents sit in a shadowy, cool glasshouse

If you have enjoyed this virtual tour of the walled kitchen garden at Heligan and want to learn more about this amazing place all you need do is click here to visit the Heligan website and here to learn about it's chequered history.

Linking this post to

Outdoor Wednesday #142 @ A Southern Daydreamer

and also to

 Hey Harriets Shadow Shot Sunday.

Click on the links to join the other bloggers participating in these great memes this week.

Outdoor Wednesday - Spring has sprung!



Spring lambs with their mums.
4 sets of twins.



Spring flowers in our back garden.
The bees were already hard at work on the white ornamental cherry blossom.

Not too much time available to blog since Mme Fleur arrived at the weekend and Mr Darling Husband flew the coop for a business trip to the UK!

I just had to share some pix, taken on a recent Sunday morning, of the new lambs that Jacques the owner of our village epicerie has in the field next to the shop.

Also some very quick snaps taken in our back garden Tuesday afternoon whilst Fleur & Ben were chasing around like whirling dervishes, bonding over a tennis ball.

All the shots I took of their playtime were too blurred to share but I'm sure you can picture the scene, n'est pas?

Joining Susan for Outdoor Wednesday @ A Southern Daydreamer and Jill @ The French Cupboard for French Inspiration Thursday with this slice of rural Normandy Life.

La Vie Quotidienne.

Beautiful, bold, yellow forsythia bringing spring back to my garden at last.

Nothing much going on around here this week just everyday life -  la vie quotidienne.

Tuesday dawned grey and misty but by midmorning developed into the kind of day that's good for mooching around the garden clearing away winter debris, that sort of thing.

One of my hydrangeas looking forlorn and unloved.

Once I get a pair of secateurs in my hand I do find it hard to stop, and so after cutting back the hydrangeas and allowing the fresh green shoots to show their faces to the sun, I tackled the wisteria which is already showing signs of rebirth.

Bright green shoots at last.

Sharing the garden with all the participants of Susans

Outdoor Wednesday @ A Southern Daydreamer.

After lunch I decided to make a sweet treat for our afternoon teatime and baked a batch of Lorraine Pascales cookies and cream fudge brownies.

Here's the recipe:
Equipment and preparation: You will need a 20cm/8in square baking tin.
Ingredients
165g/5½oz butter, plus extra for greasing
200g/7oz dark chocolate, grated or finely chopped
3 free-range eggs
2 free-range egg yolks
1 vanilla pod, seeds only (or alternatively 2 tsp vanilla extract)
165g/5½ oz soft light brown sugar
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
pinch salt
154g/5½oz pack chocolate biscuits, such as Oreos, broken into quarters
icing sugar, for dusting
Preparation method.
1.Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease a 20cm/8in square baking tin with butter, then line with baking paper with the paper overlapping the sides a little.
2.Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. When the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat and add the grated (or chopped) chocolate. Leave to stand for a few minutes, or until the chocolate melts, and then stir together. Alternatively, you can put the chocolate and butter in a bowl and melt in the microwave in 25-second blasts, stirring well each time.
3.Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla together in a large bowl until the eggs begin to get light and fluffy. Add the sugar in two additions, whisking between each. Pour it around the side of the egg mix so as not to knock out the air that has been whisked in. Keep whisking until the mixture becomes stiffer. Once the egg mixture is ready, pour the chocolate into it - again around the sides so as not to knock the air out.
4.Add the flour, cocoa powder, salt and a third of the biscuits and stir until fully combined, then pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Scatter the remaining biscuits over the top, pressing them in slightly. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 25–30 minutes. The middle should be very so slightly gooey. Leave the brownies to cool in the tin - the top will sink and crack a little.
5.Pull the brownies out using the overlapping paper and cut into squares.
Dust with icing sugar.

These are those most luscious brownies I've ever made, dense and fudgy and so full of  "chocolateyness" .
Word of warning!
When you cut them they will crumble a little around the edges and, if you're like me, you will find it hard to resist popping these little morsels into your mouth each time you pass by the plate.

I think the safest thing would be for me to take these straight over to

Miz Helen's for Full Plate Thursday

 and share the love!

Meandering through the churchyard.

The mornings here in Normandy are chilly now, with low lying mist hovering over the tree tops making the view from our bedroom windows seem mysterious and more interesting somehow.
After a while the sun comes out and the mist tends to fade away.

One morning recently I wandered down to the churchyard to try and capture some shadow shots in the same way that I was able to in January.
Click here to see those.

However, on this occasion there were no crisp shadow lines to be had, just soft and mellow ones draped across the grassy banks and footpath leading to the church itself.

Instead I turned my attention to the fascinating crumbling, lichen covered, headstones, tumbled down upon one another in places, and the now rusty, elaborate wrought iron work, posts and chains surrounding them.

Later, walking back up the drive to the house, I suddenly had the feeling I was being watched..........

by these guys

well you should know by now that here in Normandy there are cows wherever you go!

Linking to Outdoor Wednesday, graciously hosted as always by Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer.
Do stop by her great blog and see who else is going walkabout this week and be sure to check out her Fall Reading Challenge, I'm certainly signing up for that!

Woo Hoo it's Outdoor Wednesday in the potager.

Last week Marla @Always Nesting launched a new meme which she is calling Woo Hoo Wednesday. It's another great place where we can all get together to celebrate home & life, something that I am always in favour of doing.

When I discovered this new meme I was tempted to link back to last Sunday when I blogged about the baby calves I'd seen, but after spending some time in my potager this morning I decided that as it was looking so Woo Hoo that I would show you what's going on there instead.
Pumpkin seedlings:
Runner bean, beetroots and courgette seedlings:

BTW for those who were puzzled about a vegetable that I mentioned in the last potager update: a courgette is what you call zucchini!

A potato plant:
Assorted lettuces and seedlings already planted out:

Another great weekly meme not to be missed is Susan's Outdoor Wednesday @ A Southern Daydreamer.Why not take a few minutes with your coffee this morning and spend it with Marla & Susan, tell them I said "Hi".
Tomato, chives and coriander seedlings:

Click here to see more of the baby calves and doting mothers if you missed them at the weekend.

Port en Bessin, Dimanche matin.

Some shots of the outdoor produce market and fishing boats, taken last weekend at Port en Bessin, for Mosaic Monday @ the little red house & Outdoor Wednesday @ A Southern Daydreamer, two of my favourite blog parties, graciously hosted by Mary & Susan.

I hope you don't think that I'm starting the week short changing you by using one set of pix for two meme's but, oh! I am so busy at the moment.

You may have noticed that I'm also over at the Quimper Club International blog this month showing Carolyn the ropes.

As a first time blogger Carol has been sharing with us how she first discovered Q and her recent trip to Costa Rica, soon we'll learn about her talent as a restorer of ceramics. Her work is truly amazing.

Also over at QCI this month our First Year Anniversary, and we're giving away a marvellous Henriot Bijoux necklace to one lucky visitor. Click here to find out how you can be our winner. The piece of Emmenthaler cheese in the above mosaic was huge, I wanted to make sure you saw how enormous it was!
If you've enjoyed the pix today please leave me a comment, you can leave one if you didn't like them too, if you must!! Then head over to see Mary & Susan and tell them I said "hi".

Baby, it's cold out there.

For Outdoor Wednesday today, graciously hosted as always by Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer, a snowy landscape mosaic featuring Mr Ben the Snowman and another of my white Christmas tree.

The snow mosaic photo's were taken in 2004 and 2005 when we had snow for Christmas and in the New Year.

I don't think we'll be having a white Christmas this year, although a glimpse out of the bedroom window early this morning revealed fields covered in a very thick frost.

On Monday I showed you the tree in our library, which I enjoyed decorating very much, the next day I couldn't wait to try out my ideas for the smaller tree in the sitting room.

I decided on a white with silver accents theme and used large white silk poinsettias, white and silver baubles, clear glass stars, silver gift boxes, stars and beads.

Pride of place went to the white heart with pearl accents that Joyce (stepmum) gave us for our 30th Wedding Anniversary.

Voilà !

Mr Ben, who is never far away from me, sat patiently nearby ready to give his opinion on the finished ensemble.

Jackie @ Jackie's Personal Blog took up my book recommendation recently and has just finished "A Redbird Christmas". She blogged about it here.

I wonder if anyone else did? I would love to know what you thought of it, if you did.