Grahy 2012

This was the year we finally moved over to France. I had taken voluntary redundancy in July – though it was slightly more complicated than that in reality – and we moved over in September.

The first job was to clear the area which would become the garden of the many trees established there. Including much acrobatic antics from Timothe the tree surgeon!

Only then could we think about planning out the garden. We planted up a new hedge at the end of the garden, planted a beech hedge to split the garden into an orchard and a vegetable garden and made up our first raised bed. One of three we had brought out with us from the UK.

The year ended with our first snowfall in November.

 

 

 

 

Grahy 2011

2011 was the first full year we owned our french house. We had arranged for a local builder to install a fosse septique, a bathroom and other improvements. Which he did during a very cold January through to March. So cold in fact that in February our neighbours contacted us to say the temperature was -18C at midday.

We came over for our first visit after the work had been completed in early April. For a very sunny week of gardening and cleaning.

This was also the visit of the giant hailstones.

On our next visit in September we tackled the overgrown terrace with its grindstone “table”.

Finally in 2011 we had our first Christmas at Grahy with a heavily improvised christmas tree.

Grahy 2010

This is the house as we first saw it in July 2010. It was all very overgrown!

The interior of the main house was used as a studio by the past owner and their many artworks.

We finally signed the Act de Vente just before Christmas and this time the area looked a bit different…

The interior looks a bit bare and featured the original open plan and open to the lounge bathroom and toilet. But we managed to get a good fire going.

We closed the house up and returned to the UK. Little knowing that the worst winter in many years was about to hit France.

 

 

Au Revoir to Grahy

For a variety of reasons we are leaving Grahy and our garden at 750 metres. Principally, for the last 18 months I have suffered from a muscle strain that developed into acute tendonitis and the amount of time I have been able to put into the garden has decreased dramatically. Life here is good, but hard physical work and you need two fully fit people to make it work. We are leaving in January, returning to the UK for a new adventure in Northumberland. This blog will remain as a record of our years here in the Auvergne.

I thought it would be good at the end of this year, to look back at our time here. So over the next few days I will be posting a blog entry for every year we have been at Grahy, including our two years before we moved over permanently.

Sophie

Last week our beloved black and white cat Sophie died after a heart attack. She was just over  four years old. She bravely struggled on for a few days and we had her back home from the vets for a couple of days, but she had to be returned as she was so weak. The vets tell us she had a congenital heart condition, as did it now appears certain, her sister Jess, who died two years ago.

She was the gentlest cat we had ever had and a real character. It’s hard to imagine I won’t see her chasing crickets and butterflies around the garden or staking out voles in the grass. The garden and the surrounding woods were a paradise for a cat and it’s comforting to know she had such a good, though short life.

She will be greatly missed, an integral part of our life here, as was her sister.

July Calendar 2016

We have had a very hot and mainly dry July, excepting a couple of dramatic thunderstorms. So everything has galloped ahead, especially the courgettes and pattipan squash. We should be having our first squash risotto this week, in fact.

We have dug and eaten our first new potatoes and have finished the peas which were again very disappointing this year. The herbs and flowers are also know looking fantastic, especially the hyssop and fennel and the jerusalem artichoke’s are as usual, reaching for the sky.

 

June calendar

Sophie among the rocombales

The first couple of weeks of June were very wet here and slowed down our progress in the garden but not our plants or the weeds!  We are now experiencing a dry warm period and it’s good to see all the plants progressing.

Red and blackcurrants are ripening and since moving the rhubarb it’s been the best year for it. The onions suffered some hail damage but are now – in the last few days of heat and sunshine – fighting back.

At the moment we are into a strawberry glut and are picking a bowl a day.

The wild flowers in the garden continue to impress and the new border is beginning to settle in well.

Wildflowers of Grahy

For a few weeks in May and early June the roadside verges leading down to the village are ablaze with wildflowers before the first cut of the summer. I’ve tried to identify them all but some may be wrong, so if you have any ideas please let me know!

buttercups

aquilegia

aquilegia

violets

wild orchid

wild orchid

forget me not

forget me not

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stitchwort?

euphorbia

one eye daisy

scabious

cats ear?

?

queen annes lace

vetch

cranesbill

buttercup

giant hogweed

weekly photo challenge: seasons

This February has been the mildest and warmest we have known since moving here. Usually it can be very cold with periods of -5C to -9C overnight and sometimes much colder. A few days ago it was 20C during the afternoon, so it’s no surprise that the garden is a bit advanced and we have primroses in full bloom.

These are also some of the first photos I’ve taken with my new phone (Moto G 3rd gen.) and I’m really pleased with the results, a great improvement on my old iPhone 4.

This post is inspired by the WordPress weekly photo challenge, this week the challenge being seasons.

bees and crocus

It’s been a lovely sunny day here today and the local bees have been all over our crocus plants. There isn’t much around the garden for them at the moment, just primroses and the crocuses, so they are a popular destination!