Living and Gardening in Brittany

  What an onlooker may see as an undistinguished agglomeration of plants is often to its creator- HER ENTRANCE TO THE HINTERLAND OF DREAMS. I did a painting of my garden with the above quote and hung it on the entrance gate to my garden. Extracts from my blog Living and Gardening in Brittany. Buttercups Bloody buttercups And loss of camera 859 Feb 14th 2013 I am continuing to write as the Winter has been foul as regards the garden and weather. Maybe if I talk to myself here I can alleviate my frustration at not being able to do all my winter projects. In the last couple of days I decided to give up on trying to remove the damned buttercups and get on with more rewarding jobs; So everyday I aim to tackle the following:- a) dig out for one flag (making a terrace) b) put one barrow load of manure on new flower bed c) Fill one plastic bag (large) with leaves d) remove dead reeds in the gravel garden I really wanted to take some photos of the progress...

  Gardening in Brittany How I became an obsessional gardener Six years ago I bought a house in Brittany. Yes a house. What I didn’t realise at the time was that I had bought a field. This house had the three most important things the TV programs advise us to look for, that is ..location, location, location! My house is the only one in the lane, has an unrestricted view down to the Rance and up to the village church. So it’s traffic free, noise free and absolutely paradisaical. The field is bordered by poplar trees to the south and west, two hundred year old oaks to the east and I have planted horn beams to the north. I had lived in an upstairs flat in England for twenty tears and didn’t even have a window box. I had no intention of gardening. I moved to France to spend my retirement writing and painting. So how did it happen that I now go to bed planning the next for months gardening, I wake up eager to get on with the daily sowing/ planting/weeding/mowing or pruning. ...

  Garden Party in Mérillac was a Great Success. We were blessed with fine weather and a good attendance who gave generously. There was music, there was dancing , there were games and competitions and lots of tea, coffee and cake. The cake competiton was won by Sylvie Fournier from Ereac. Charity events are not possible without the volunteers. They work tirelessly behind the scenes and are usually unseen and unappreciated. It is not possible to name all the people to whom I am grateful but they were many and I couldn't have done it on my own. 640 euros was raised at the Garden Party in Merillac to be shared by 2 associations - La ligue Contre le cancer and L'Association de Chalonn. Dans La Photo; Isabelle le Fras et Anne Savenay from the Association of Chalonn; Sylvie Huet, adjointe au maire ; Freda Bateman, owner of the garden ; Annie Perquis, adjointe au maire; et Chantel Blanchard, from the Ligue contre le cancer des Cotes-d'Armor. Fete au Jardin à M é rillac a é...