Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts

30 September 2014

Good Bye to our Summer visitors.




Now I have to say goodbye to Summer as our last guests  have just left.

Officially Autumn started on 21st September,
 but while we still had visitors staying in La Petite Maison





and we're still enjoying lovely warm sunny days, I cling on to Summer as long as I can.
 
 


Mr France and I are off to the coast
 to spend a few days enjoying the sound of the waves.
I do love where we live, but I miss the sea.
 
 
 
 
I've thrown a few mix & match outfits in a small case, nothing fancy
as we're hoping to do some walking, nothing energetic.


So hopefully if Mr France wants to take a snooze after lunch
I'll get the chance to try out the new Inktense pencils with the waterbrushes.
and have some sketches to show  you
 
 
I've recently treated myself to a box of 24 Derwent Inktense pencils.
.
 



and a pack of 3 waterbrushes. Which I haven't yet tried, so that could be interesting


 I hope I'll like using them on this trip.
 
 
 
I'm also taking my Moleskin landscape sketch journal
which I bought months ago
and it's still waiting for my 1st sketch.
 
 
 
 
 
I don't know why I'm hesitating to sketch in it.
I feel like I'm back at school starting a new term
and not wanting to make a mess on the first page.
 
 
 
I'll be taking loads of photos
so I'll show you where I've been when I get back.
 
 
à bientôt
Barbara Lilian
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

17 September 2013

A day trip to Brantome in the Dordogne Region.


Brantôme (Brantòsme in Occitan) is a commune in the Dordogne department in southwestern France. It is the seat of the canton of Brantôme. Via Lemovicensis (fr), an old pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, runs through Brantôme. The commune, which retains its picturesque atmosphere, is situated along the river Dronne




Brantome is one of my favourite places to visit, it's about an hours drive from where we live, so we usually go for lunch. There are restaurants all along the river bank.The most prestigious being the
'Restaurant Charbonnel' owned by the well known chefs, 'Freres Charbonnel'
I've only ever peeped inside and looked on the Internet to find out the comments and decided to go to our usual riverside restaurant.







All these restaurants are on the banks of the river Dronne

 
We walked along the edge of the river, watched the river boats pass by, then crossed over the bridge.




heading to our favourite restaurant.


During the months of July and August we normaly need to make a reservation
 for a table on the terrace at the rivers edge,
 so were  pleased when the waiter asked where we would like to sit.






I'm a lover of fish so really enjoyed what I chose. However I'm afraid I can't remember what it was,
It wasn't a fish I was familiar with, but it was delicious,
served on sliced muchrooms, with diced vegetables in a spicy sauce.





After our lunch we strolled along the river bank admiring all the pretty houses.



 











As I was taking this photo a very haughty French lady appeared and told me NOT to take any photos.
It was an art gallery and I had intended  to look around, as the poster outside showed some lovely water colour pictures.
Needless to say I didn't go in. Oh well her loss.

As we have been here many times we didn't go inside the abbey on this visit.

Abbey of Brantôme, which was founded in 769 by Charlemagne;







On the right is the Abbey which is built into the rocks.

By mid afternoon the town was getting very busy & we don't like crowds.
so it was time we left.



On the way to the carpark we saw someone else who thought it was time to go home







I just loved the way his little dog was standing in the basket


Hope you enjoyed seeing one of the many places we love visit.



à bientôt

Barbara Lilian



09 August 2013

I'm back, after taking a break away from my blog for awhile.



I had to get my priorities in order during our upheaval period of house painting and decorating, preparing for our summer letting.
In  mid June my other half and I decided to take a break and took our eldest grandson to visit my family in Wales and England.
Maybe you might like to see some of the places we visited. My grandson met cousins he hadn't seen before, and they took him to visit the places I had grown up in.






This was the old city of Chester.












Boat trips on the river Dee.



Then we went to Llandudno which is on the coast in North Wales, where my brother has an apartment
and  he can spend time relaxing and enjoy the milder weather.




This area is very popular for retired and elderly people to visit as it has a micro climate, due to the mountain called the great Orme which makes it sheltered from the cold wind in winter.

You can take the tramcar to the top of the Orme.
The view is spectacular. Unfortunately we didn't have time.
 But I remember it from my childhood visits with my mother.







   





This is the small island of Anglesey just off the coast,




which can be reached by crossing the bridge over the river Menai.








The name of this town on the island  is written in the Welsh language 
and has 58 letters and is the longest name.




We went to where the old railway station used to be.
which is now a great tourist attraction with lots of small boutique shops.




This is the translation of the name .



Just a little bit of info




Whenever I have my camera, I like to capture the things I find amusing.
I stopped to talk to this elderly gentleman. who told me he motors along the promenade everyday with his two dogs ,One who sits between his feet. but had just that minute jumped off for his daily run along the beach.and this one who rides in the basket, looked too fat to do much else but enjoy the sea air.






I Hope you enjoyed seeing some of the places I visited.

I'll show you some of the other places we visited next time.
Until then.


à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

31 May 2013

My trip to Denmark.

I feel like I don't know what season we are in ! It will be June in a few days and I'm still wearing winter clothes. I've told you before I love my garden, but when it's cold and raining everyday I would rather be indoors doing something else.
Which means  I've made  very little progress in the garden. Usually by this time of the year all my hanging baskets and balcony troughs have filled out and everywhere is looking colourful, ready for the summer.
I have to tell you I had most of my plants hardening off ready to go in the baskets and we had a severe frost overnight and it nipped the tops of most of the plants, , the weeds are growing like mad, they don't mind the frost.
Although I've been busy planting my baskets ready to hang when we get some warmer weather, I thought I'd wait awhile  until  they are worth showing you. So how would you like to see some of the things I saw on my trip to Denmark at the beginning of May.
If you've ever visited Denmark it would probably be Copenhagen , which is a beautiful city, however my son and his family live in the North of Denmark, so it was a family visit, with some sight seeing.


Here's a taste of some of the things I loved seeing
and a few of my favourite places we went to.







After looking through the window on a rainy day, I could see that the Forsythia needed pruning.
and I know they don't have the time for jobs like this, so I went out with secatures. 



This is what I did with all the pieces I had pruned.

I just pushed the cuttings into the ground. I can't say planted as their ground is so soft. I hope they take.

I have a very good friend, who just shoves bits off plants in the ground and they always grow.
If she reads this she'll know who I'm writing about !

Where I live it's very stony ground, so I'm not always successful.





Bikes can be seen everywhere.
I think even I would ride around on a bike if I lived there as it's so flat.
I loved this pink/white one I saw outside a super market with a wooden box on the front
 for those small things we always forget when we do our weekly shopping.



This one looked so pretty with a large basket decorated with silk flowers.




Bicycles in the nearby city of Aalborg.





 Some of the flowers at the supermarket.
Which I thought were a better selection than I have here in France.








Our son lives near the Fjord/sea and 
we always like to take a walk at the harbour.                       










Half timber modern houses at the harbour.






We spent a lovely weekend at our daughter in laws parents
 summerhouse on the North west coast.




There was a special reason that this piece of architecture was hung here.
 it was to warn you there was a step.
I loved this idea.
 Each time everyone goes for a walk on the beach they collect pebbles with holes in
 so they have been threaded onto a cable.






A sheltered corner.





Our walk on the beach.





I just love the coast, even when it's windy
and as you can see so do my grandchildren.



we walked on to the cliffs and saw lots of birds.


 Some of the Kittiwakes.

They  build their nests on the very narrow ledges of the cliff.





I always love to visit this chateau, as it's so different from the ones I see in France.









These colourful houses are in the northern tip of Denmark



This  circular maze was amazing.
It was designed by a Dane and built from planks of wood.
It was an echo maze, the echo came back 4 minutes after the sound.













A familiar sight over Denmark.


Now we're back to where we started
nearby the local church.





Hope you enjoyed seeing some of Denmark from my visit.

and you'll join me again soon on my next trip .

.Until next time



à bientôt
Barbara Lilian.