Friday purchases......

Just bought these gorgeous French enamel tins from the ok corral. I'm very pleased with them. I've been dithering about whether to buy them for a few days - this normally happens and then someone else snaps them up and I'm left gutted. This time I'm pleased I took the plunge.


oh.....also bought this rather fun cushion which I hope will be going in the sitting room. It's starting to look good in there......

So we are back from France and I have lots of photos to share with you. We had a truly wonderful two weeks in the Charente Maritime. Even the 8 hour drive in car with the girls (age 2 and 4) wasn't that harrowing although the youngest did insist on singing "Jingle bells" all the way - clearly its never to early to start getting some practise in!

Anyway we all had a wonderful holiday....including.......

.......Pony rides on the Ile de Olereon.

.......visiting lots of fabulous markets. The shellfish was amazing I just wish I had had my own kitchen to cook in (the gite was ok but its just not the same as having all your own basic ingredients and cookbooks for help!) Anyway, seeing all the seafood has inspired us to go on a course sometime later in the year.

.....we visited Talmont on a beautifully hot sunny day. The church and cemetery with all its hollihocks looked so pretty.

Now we are back to reality. The house is as chaotic as ever - still no dining room or sitting room and for some reason I decided this morning it would be a good idea to repaint the kitchen while I wait for the latest delivery of F&B paint for other areas. Must be mad. Photos of all the hard work to follow.

Oh la la....

Feel rather jammy as I am off on holiday again. This time two weeks in the Charente Maritime, France. After having a house full of workmen for weeks and now both the sitting room and the dining room out of action we are all really looking forward to a break from the whole house renovation thing.

In the meantime check out my brother-in-law Caspar's work as Eggcup Soldier at the Print Club. My favourite is the 'Cat, Sank, Cease' screen print poster.

A few photos from my new polytunnel which is officially going bonkers after all the lovely weather. I can virtually watch my squash and courgette plants growing and the pak choi has been amazing.


As I mentioned in an earlier post with is my first experience with a polytunnel (although I have wanted one for years) and I'm totally loving it. Everything is looking wonderfully healthy and its only been four weeks since the thing went up - and all the plants have been grown from seed (although I did start these off back in early May)

For years my husband as referred to me as "black finger" when it comes to growing things.......he may just have to eat his words!