Join me for a walk near where I live in France.

 

This is what I see on the new walk I've been taking, isn't that view fantastic ?

 

I must paint this, but I think I'll wait for awhile until the Autumn

 when the colours will be better.

 



 

Not far from our house the disused railway lines have been removed

and the track has been made into pleasant routes to walk or cycle along.

So recently we've been discovering some really pleasant walks.
Finding flat paths to take walks where I live is not easy.

One of the old stations is now a very popular restaurant.
We have eaten there, but I didn't take any photos.
We plan to eat there again soon, so I'll take my camera then I can let you see.
 

Some of the railway station stops  have been sold and converted into pretty little cottages.

Here's one that's been named La Halte / Stopping place.

Do you see the original stone underneath that awful modern rendering.

I do hope the new owners will remove it.

Now this one has been tastefully restored.

Maybe they could have tried to have gates made in the railway style.

 

 When I'm fitter I'll try to walk the whole track,
 then I'll get to see more of the stopping places, and let you see how they've been renovated.

 

Now we move on to a short local walk, to the nearest hamlet,

 where there is a farm and just a few houses.

 

 

The Limousin cattle can be seen everywhere

 

One of the many disused wells in the area,

which used to provide water for the tiny hamlets.

 

 

 

 

 

I just had to show you this lonely late sunflower which I saw today on the edge of the road.

( so pleased I remembered to put my aim & shoot camera back in the car )

 

Maybe the seed had been sown by the birds, as there wasn't another to be seen for miles.

 

 

 

 

 

The butterflies are still fluttering from flower to flower.

 

and wild flowers are in abundance.

 

 

 This is usually my weekend walk at my favourite place.

 I just love how it changes throughout the seasons.

The Maize is ready to be cut for winter cattle feed.

And these wild flowers are always the last to be in bloom making a purple carpet.

 

 

 

 

Our picnic place for after walk. There are picnic tables,

 but we like to take our reclining chairs for an afternoon snooze.



 

 

 

 

The lane back home.

This photo was taken in March

 before the Spring leaves have covered their branches.

Soon the leaves will be falling for the Autumn season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the lovely things

I get to see on my walks.

 

 

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 

Scavenger hunt

Scavenger hunt

organised by

green thumb Made with love

 

My  photos for March.
I've had to do a lot of digging in my photo files to submit this time,
as I'm still not  well  and I'm now waiting to go into hospital for some treatment.
So please excuse my effort.



M. for mushroom.
This is a field mushroom which we often collect during Sept and Oct,
 it's the first time I've seen one as big as this.
I made cream of mushroom soup with it.

Mr France found this in September in the farmers field which is next to our boundary.

 

 

 

Our guests table set  for breakfast  in La Petite Maison.

 

 

Some Holly berries on the trees near our house.

This was taken in the late evening last summer
 of the Monastery in Rocamadour lit up.

 

This grate is our French 'Godin' wood-burner. with the door open.

 

Mr France working on the deck he built this time last year.

The chimney breast, which we built in our guest house .
 The bricks where from inside the old bread oven which unfortunately
 we were unable to save, it was too badly damaged.

 

 

Some antique cutlery I found at a Brocante

 when we first arrived in France 24yrs ago.

 

Some troughs and a hanging basket
 with Surfinas and trailing Geraniums
 on our summer balcony.

A cold  crisp morning ,
showing the frost on the ground and white on the tiles of our well.

A souvenir from our visit to the Basque  region in France, which borders Spain.
This was my ticket from our ride on Le Petite Train up the mountain.
The views were fantastic.

It's difficult to find a coloured door in my region of France.
Most of the properties are old stone cottages and have heavy oak doors ,
which are usually protected with a stain and not paint.

So this is my painted door.

I hope you liked seeing my contribution.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian












          












           

Take a walk with me where I live in rural France.

What a difference a day makes. 

We had many weeks of rain, then snow and then more rain with grey skies. 

 This morning we woke up to a cold and frosty start to the day.

  and by mid morning the sun was shining and the sky was clear blue.

                                 

                                                   Would you like to join me on a walk ? 

                                                    We'll start off at the rear of the house.

These trees are Hazelnut which grow in abundance in our area.

I love the catkins hanging. When I was a child we called  them lambs tails.

   

 These Hazel trees form the boundary between our land 

and

the field where the farmer sometimes puts his Limousin cows to graze.

 We are now entering a wooded area.

This time of the year chain saws can be heard all around, as everyone is busy cutting their wood.

  Stacks of wood like these can be seen in most places stored and left to dry for a few years.

I thought you might like a peep at what is hidden in these woods.

 I'm not sure what some of you may think when you see these photos.

You will either love them! 

or think

 'how could anyone let this happen' 

Let us move on.

We're now out of the woods and back on the lane.

I love this view from my house where the stream is winding its way through the fields.
We can hear the rush of the water now after all the rain.

There's plenty of water at the moment, so the water level in our well will now be high.

We are now back on the road to where I live.

 Over the hill.

Et voilà, en face de chez moi.

In the summer we use the well water for all our hanging baskets.

I must show you just one more ruined house.

Since we have lived here we have seen this house gradually fall down.

Unfortunately there are many houses like this, just left to fall to ruins.

 It seems the younger generation now want modern houses which are built 'off plan' 

with very little character and look like matchboxes.

 I am very sad about this ruin, it could have looked something like this.....

The signs that spring is on it's way.

 Heather blooming and the Quince beginning to show signs of blossom.

Hope the frost doesn't kill it off.

I hope you enjoyed walking with me through the woods and the lane where I live.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

A country garden in France.

Our daughter dreams of one day having the time to make a garden & being able to find time to look after it. But having just spent a week at her home, I wandered around and saw such lovely focal points she never gets the time to enjoy.

So as my hubby had just bought himself a new camera, which does a lot more than my point & shoot, I took lots of photos, so sit back and enjoy my wander around her garden seeing it through my eyes.

 

Don't ask me why the chair was left in the 'potager'.

But I thought it deserved a photo to share.

A slow maturing Willow tree.
This is where her boys play rugby or football.

The boys bikes outside of the barn.
Probably left there till the next time they ride them.

Pretty wild flowers growing in the disused veg. patch.

The swing the boys used to play on when they were younger,
still hanging on one chain from a branch of a huge Chestnut tree.

The cockeral & his lady followers left free to roam.
These have recently replaced the previous batch,
 that one by one were attacked by a fox !!

The driveway leading to the house.
 A lovely variety  of trees.

A lovely typical cottage feel
Some of the Hollyhocks in front of the shutters.

The Walnut and Cherry trees, making a pleasant shady area
where we've enjoyed many meals shared with family & friends.

Buddlia shrub or more often known as a butterfly bush.

An arbour made from an old ladder which had been left in the barn
 when they bought their house.
 It did have roses growing on either side, but the Deer must have eaten them !

 

An old wire crate, where there had been wild strawberries growing in it.

 

The old well which has had doors put on

 to save any accidents when the boys were little.

So as you have seen, every garden has it's charm and doesn't have to be flowers all planted neatly in rows.

I love this garden, and hope you enjoyed sharing my photos.

 and when my daughter sees this, I hope she will enjoy seeing all the

 charmimg parts of her garden that she doesn't get time to see

 because she is so busy with her work.

I hope you will pop by again, when I hope to have had time to visit my friends garden.

A bientot

 Barbara Lilian.