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...

I can't continue with this blog because I don't live and garden in Brittany. I am too sad about the leaving so I feel I can't write about what it was like. The remembering is painful. For the time being this blog will be on hold. However, I shall attempt to continue on my other blog Wise Wild Women Writing. I have begun a new blog called Living Life in reverse and adapting to the Present and Looking to the Future.

I  suppose I should change the name of this blog since I no longer live in France. I can't call it Living and Gardening in England because although I live in England I have no garden.

I now have amazon Prime thanks to my grandson which means I can watch live tennis or even catch-up if I miss a match. I also have the internet and what's app on my smart phone. I don't think I mentioned the floods of yesterday but access to most of the town by foot was mostly flooded. However today it is sunny and warmer. Sunnier weather has been promised for most of the week. RESOLUTION- Must walk every day. Too much TV watching is no good for my health. Must begin gardening. I am waiting for my son to put down a base for a small shed. The cats refuse to use the cat flap as yet. Cheeky is happy but refuses to use the cat flap. This is my walk to Tesco. This is the view from my front door. I can't see it through the frosted glass window only when the door is open.