Le Clos

Hey, it's vendage time again, and the last chance for barbeques, but, do you know what, although I do want to invite pals round for a last go at incinerating Toulouse sossiges and sinking too much local wine, we have discovered a new joy - shutting our gate.

We had new gates (and a new fence and a new drive and a new barn after the 2009 tempête blew it down,) in early 2010, but what with all the to-ing and fro-ing to hospitals etc, we rarely bothered to close the things. But all through the summer we've had unwonted visitors, especially when I am wearing my disgraceful gardening shorts, have just started cooking, while P is either up a ladder or sinking his first pint.

We live just down the lane from a Chambres d'hôtes. To reach it, intrepid Parisian tourists have to brave the neighbour's large greenhouse growing bionic aubergines, no, biological peppers, er, tomatoes bio, ah, got it, - organic veg, then a long chicken run, before finding their pretty but little house. That's if they don't just miss it completely, carry on , run out of road and end up in the woods with their 64 varieties of edible fungus. Neighbour Francis assures me they are there, he's counted, picked and eaten them. I'll take it as given.
So the Parisians tend to drive back down and turn into our place looking somewhat relieved.
And I have to say it is looking much better now Paul has renovated the big barn doors that are the first things you see, with the hollyhocks around them having a second flush. But their faces fall as they spot the shorts, and the wearer directs them back up the lane to the chickens.
The last straw was a woman who actually argued with me (come on, Madam, I would know if I was running a B and B,) then almost demolished one new barn door and was a squeak from hitting my car, as she turned round and drove off.

So since we got back from Corsica in mid-September we have been sporting our oak. For one spell, after Rupert-from-Siddalls came to lunch, we saw no-one for 5 days. It's a nice, safe, closed-in, private, nested feeling. We got loads done; P fixed the 40+ feet of guttering that has been bothering him for ages, I've sadolined some exterior woodwork, gardening has gone on, bread has been made, we had two barbeques just for us and P bought a tandem online.
He clearly feels we're ready for new adventures.