Provence Tayl's

We were working out its been Karen's Mum 9th Visit since we moved here which will be an incredible two years in a fortnight! how time flies when you are having fun!

Whilst I was out side painting I could hear raptures of laughter coming from the lounge - on entering I find Karen and my belle mère (the mother in law!)making themselves beautiful for dinner out on Friday! And here is the result - what a fantastic product!



We have excelled ourselves over the last week, we even worked Saturday & Sunday getting all the windows painted - so apart from a little touching up here and there the project here is completed. Here is the before




and after.



The new houses are gradually advancing with the main focus this last 10 days on the second house. The Floor beams will soon be added after which the concrete floors will be laid as they will be to the Gites.




So far we have only encountered small problems on the build, the most recent being that the entrance to the garage on the second house was too tight but we have been able to change it to 3 metres which should accommodate most vehicles!





This week has also bought a change in the weather - until Monday we were still basking in temperatures of near 30 degrees. Monday night the most amazing storm rumbled in with lightening and torrential rain for about 3 hours. When we awoke Tuesday morning we could not see our neighbours for the mist. Within hours the Mistral blew in clearing the mist, drying the air and reducing the temperature , albeit to a rather fresh 20 degrees!



The overnight temperature last night fell to 5 degrees and I awoke to a superb clear sky. I had a meeting with an agent this morning in Bonnieux, it is a wonderful drive with the roof down,





through vineyards (well not literally!) with views to Mont Ventoux, seen here from across the valley in Bonnieux.

After this we headed across to Nimes to look at bathrooms - very exciting! but we stopped for lunch just outside Avignon at one of those special places you occasionally stumble across. By 12.30 we just found a parking space, on entering there was an instant buzz and atmosphere, it was also evident that it was full of office workers. My menu comprised a green salad with Garlic dressing, Chicken with pasta and a lovely cream and tarragon sauce followed by ile flottante for desert , coffee and a quarter of wine for 13€ - thats 9 pounds. Superb!