Volunteering

We had a spectacular week at the end of May when 11 fit and energetic people from Canada, Germany and the UK came to La Maison Verte as volunteers. The group included an actor, a company director, a doctor, two professional decorators, a PhD student, an antique book archivist and a master gardener (what joy was mine!).



During the space of 6 short days, they decorated a bedroom, a bathroom and loo, and completely cleared and replanted our acre or so of garden, which included shovelling 6 tons of gravel around the paths in the lower garden (see picture below - fresh new path and brand new bed).

Sue did our cooking - and provided the calories deliciously that we lost doing our hard labour. It must be one of the best weeks I, personally, have had this year because it was huge fun, and the results at the end of each day were spectacular - I so often find I have slogged all day without much to show for it; many hands really do make light work. Looking forward to the next volunteer week in October.

Manna from Hungary

On Sunday, 54 Hungarian girls between the ages of 15 and 25 descended up on us in a chattering deluge. Apart from the problems of providing accommodation (we officially sleep 30) and food (the most I personally have ever cooked for was 20 - coq au vin for 54 tested me somewhat), the whole experience was a delight.

They are members of Pro Musica, a fantastic choir from the Zoltan Kodaly school in NYÍREGYHÁZA, who were on their way to Oviedo in Spain to take part in a Festival. Francis (my business partner, and for 30 years a professional singer) has worked with their director Szabo Denes over the years and has coached other choirs from their school, so when they asked if we could "put them up" for a night, we didn't hesitate - well not for long! And to say thank you they gave us a most sublime concert in the local church. Roujan has rarely seen or heard anything like it. It was astonishing to see the church filled with people who were truly lifted by the beauty of what they created; not a dry eye in the house. My personal favourite was Kodaly's Evening Song, with Biber's Ave Maria a close second. I was stuck at the back snuggled up with my four-year-old telling her the story of Gabriel appearing to Mary ("what are they singing about mum?") which is why the photo doesn't do much justice.

And afterwards, Francis and I were overwhelmed when 15 of the older girls - who were allowed to stay up late - sang for us alone in the rehearsal room. As singers ourselves, we could appreciate the extraordinary skill of the timing and tuning of this group. What joy was ours! Look out for them on Amazon as they have released 4 or 5 discs.

Waterfalls and Acacia Trees

Our main employment at the moment is pollarding the 15 acacia trees in the garden which have somewhat starved the centre of it of air and light. Getting the chainsaw up the tree is not the worst of it - when the branches come crashing down you then have to get rid of all the debris (bonfires mainly, though we take lots to the local dump). Still, the centre of the garden now has daylight for the first time in a while.

Eliza (4-year-old daughter) and I went up to St Guilhem le Desert on Sunday "to explore". It was a beautiful day, and after all the rain we've had recently, the whole village resounded to the torrents of water draining off the hills and into the ancient chanels that mediaevel predecessors were kind enough to provide (see photo above). It was lovely to see this charming village without the hordes of tourists who are (quite rightly) attracted there in the summer - you could almost imagine the pilgrims stopping off for a glass of wine on their way to Santiago de Compostella. We, however, had crepes in the square (Place de la Liberte) next to the wonderful Abbaye de Gellone before running all the way back down the village and heading home again.

Our volunteer scheme is now up and running, and we have 3 weeks this year when we will invite all and sundry to come and help in the gardens and house;

30 March – 4 April
18 – 24 May
5-11 October

We're asking people for 5 hours work a day in return for free board (accommodation and 3 meals a day), so we're hoping that expert gardeners and builders see this blog!!

Christmas is over

Our first Christmas at La Maison Verte is over. Bright sunshine (see above - our garden) and shirtsleeves followed by (at the last count) 3 days of driving rain... Shop keepers in the village greeted me with a cheery "just like England eh?" to which I could only reply that we almost never saw driving rain like Roujan produces - fits and starts, yes, but not stair-rods for 72 hours; in such weather we discover just how leaky these lovely old houses can be.

However, we've been cracking on with the massive pruning jobs in the garden, and decorating the kitchen of the main house, interspersed with trips to the astonishing Cirque de Maureze (dolomitic pillars) and to the beach at Vias Plag with friends escaping the pressure of British New Year celebrations.

Looking forward to school beginning again on Monday and normal life resuming...

Live Website... Enfin

So after 10 months of being here, we now, at last, have a beautiful new website. It went "live" yesterday, and I am contacting everyone I know (and many that I don't) to tell them about it and get some feedback.

And I've just had the most sublime morning at friends Ali and Lizzie's newly acquired Mazet (see picture) - 10 acres of garrigue where vines, olives, cistus, aloe vera, pines, pyrocanthus, heathers and herbs abound... My mouth is watering at the prospect of the spring evenings we can spend up there with secaturs and Muscat Sec.

I'm off to Margot's now for my weekly dose of French conversation and sweetness which is the Margot experience.

And I've just the most fantastic idea... to make one of our apartments available year round for volunteers. We always have gardening, painting, fixing, refurbishing to be done, and perhaps there are lots of people who might want a free holiday (with food included) in exchange for skills and labour. Let's hope it takes off.

End of autumn?

There was this incredible day where the colours in the vineyards, on the hills and in the garden were so clear and colourful it defied belief. And now, suddenly - two days later - the leaves are falling hard (like massive matresses of stuff) the temperature has dropped, and the fields all at once look ragged.

Work on the Gatehouse moves on quickly, but not without the usual horrifying discoveries (like the bathroom floor is about to collapse into the kitchen downstairs - years of shower water gently leaking through the tiles). However, the space itself is inspiring (a huge - well - triangle really) and I'm already planning colours and how I will use the space.

Our four-year-old daughter and her friend Louis are screaming about the garden at the moment pretending to be knights (or starship troopers or something) and look pink and rosy in the chilly sunshine. And I'm working with Lizzie on the website... So much to do, and so much space to do it in!

The first entry

La Maison Verte is currently on holiday itself, i.e there are no guests as we are closed for the winter. However, that doesn't mean we're lolling about doing nothing. Oh no. Our glorious November sunshine means that we are busy working on the garden while the tall boys, Ioan & Lee set about knocking down walls in the Gatehouse to make it lusciously open-plan.

Our plan with this blog is to keep you up to date with things here in sunny Roujan. We'll tell you about what's going on at La Maison Verte, and, when we have the chance to go out and about, we'll let you know what there is to see and do in the area.