Beautiful Beaugency, and roses too!

I've already said that I arrived in Beaugency with a bump, but in actual fact it was more of a crash landing after I somehow misjudged the kerb and parted company with my bike, much to MOH's amusement. And my own too, once I'd picked myself up and realised there was no damage. In my last post from our Loire cycle tour I showed you the effortlessly pretty garden (and bike park) at our hotel in Beaugency. 

Today there's pictures from this pretty, picturesque town which in some ways reminded me of Devon villages with its streams running alongside the roads. But warmer, well on the days we were there anyway.

It's been the site of numerous military conflicts and has been occupied on four occasions by the English, I wonder if it was as pretty then and if that influenced their decision?

Being directly on the Loire, Beaugency was an important commercial centre and like many its role changed when trade moved from the river to rail and it became a market town for the surrounding farms. Today it retains some of that, but relies on tourism too.

Our sightseeing here was on the streets, we hadn't moved into full chateau-mode here but like all of the towns we visited it had its own. We were content with a wander and some cycling around its streets and capturing its prettiness on camera.

The Hotel de Ville was pretty impressive though; the detail on this 16th century building is amazing and it was definitely one of those the-more-you-looked-the-more-you-saw kind of places.

Our hotel was at the end of this pretty street. And you wouldn't know it - because they're not in the shot - but there's two restaurants in this road too. We ate in one and I had the largest piece of bavette steak I've ever had. It's a cut of meat I'm a fan of here in the UK too, but this one was fantastic.

Many of the houses had rambling roses growing up them and that added to the charm of the place.  These tightly packed roses were one of my favourites and they are the first of many rose pictures to follow as the flower of our holiday was scented roses. 

I think I may be just becoming a fan...

Shabby chic. For real.

I ended yesterday's post on our cycle to Beaugency saying that sometimes just because you're cycling you see parts of hotels that you might not otherwise see. It was true in Melton Mowbray when we "parked" in the compound, a real working part of the hotel. In Beaugency though the garage included a small pretty courtyard garden and a much larger store which intrigued me, but more on that in a moment.

First the courtyard garden, of course it helped that it was sunny, but it was packed full of plants - some roses, lots of geraniums and some plastic garden furniture. Bizarrely the orange chair fits right in and adds to the charm, the mirror leant against the stone wall is also a lovely touch.  Both of these aren't things we typically go for in our gardens, but seeing how well they work here I think we should all be braver!

The row of pots above separated the small garden from an area of bike racks, and it's a good reminder that a collection of pots can be arranged in a row to define spaces. And just look at those succulents at the start of the line in metal containers, I think I need some of those in my own garden!

MY EYES DON'T KNOW WHERE TO LOOK FIRST, BUT NOTE THE CHILD'S BIKE IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR

There was a lot packed into a small space. In another view there was a terracotta pot holder which brought more texture to the space and a glass terrarium. To some, MOH included, this space might look like a junk yard but I'm in awe of how effortlessly put together it looks.  There's a chance that it is both of those things, but I'm seeing the prettier side of it.

Up in the heavily pruned laurel tree sat a bird cage, I think any bird had long departed but it's exactly the type of thing you see in shabby chic shops, this one though is looking much more rustic than those ever do. Further down the tree there were enamel and plastic jugs hanging in a strange collection.

Turning away from the garden and back towards the store area of the garage I spotted these leather panniers hanging on a single nail on one of the building's beams. You can see behind, it's a real melee or items. Just in front of this picture there were a couple of large armoires standing there both grandly and forlornly.

There was a ladder leading to a half platform and I'd have loved to seen up there, but not being so good with ladders and not wanting to be a complete nosey parker I restrained myself. Underneath the platform were a series of characterful lights, either ready to be put into action in the hotel, or perhaps having been retired, or maybe just an avid collector of pretty things?

I soon settled on the idea that the owner was a collector of pretty and functional things. I mean for a garden so small I don't think he needed two tin watering cans, but they did look great and bring interest to the storage space.  Or perhaps they're containers-in-waiting?

Who knows, but it was great to get a glimpse into this very real, pretty and practical space. And it was a great reminder that you can make use of pots and other paraphernalia to bring personality into a space. Since I've been home I've acquired a couple more succulents, I'd forgotten about the metal pots in this garden until I sorted through my photos, so now that's what I need to pot them into.  My recent "rule" of only using terracotta or black pots in our garden is rapidly being extended to include zinc-like pots, but that's ok I think.

Are you influenced by the things you see on holiday?  I am, for sure!

Fox-proofing my greenhouse

Before we left for France as well as getting as many plants as we could planted in the allotment - it took at least two hours just potting them out! - we also needed to rig something up to make my greenhouse fox proof.

This wasn't on a whim, but because I wanted to leave the door ajar but as our neighbour has four fox cubs living in her garden I knew I'd need some kind of barrier.  Looking around in MOH's shed I found the chicken wire I was looking for and some random bits of wood he'd sawed for, actually I'm not sure what for.  But they were both commandeered for my plan, along with our staple gun and MOH.

I had a vague idea of what I wanted to achieve and MOH set about stapling the chicken wire to the blocks, which I hoped would act as a weight at the bottom of my chicken wire contraption.

And once it was in place, it looked as if it might work.

Now we needed to work out how much chicken wire we needed, we did that and added a bit to be safe,  MOH cut the wire and added a further block of wood to the top edge.  I'd hoped to be able to use the fixings of the greenhouse to attach it, but that wasn't to be as on closer inspection they were rivet-type things, not removable screws.

And with it assembled, in true workman style MOH downed tools. Most likely with permission as I'd yet to ready the greenhouse for our holiday. I sowed some squash and courgette seeds, hoping they'd germinate while we were away and so far six of them have and if I'm lucky there'll be some more yet.  I also upended plastic bottles full of water into my greenhouse bed so that they wouldn't be entirely without water for the two weeks (if you try this, don't forget to pierce holes in the lids otherwise it won't be much use).

With the greenhouse ready it was time to hang the chicken wire contraption. We stuck the ends of the chicken wire around the greenhouse fixings and used some extra wires to attach it to the left-hand side of the door.  On the right-hand side I hooked it over the handle twice and that seemed to secure it.

To be extra sure - because I don't trust those pesky foxes - I put a couple of bricks on the wood at the bottom of the door and strategically placed some pots to make it awkward for them if they wanted to try and to provide and extra barricade and make it clear that there was really "nothing to see here."

Was I being overly cautious?

It's true the foxes (cubs or otherwise) hadn't tried to get into the greenhouse before, but they have increased their forays into our garden as they've grown. The advice to deter foxes is to make things tricky for them, and this certainly did that.  We're often in the garden of an evening and at weekends and our presence is a deterrent, with the garden empty for two weeks I had a feeling they'd be making use of the extra space so I wanted to be sure that my cucumbers in the greenhouse and other seedlings didn't come to any damage. Once you've grown plants from seed you have a feeling of responsibility, don't you?

So did it work?

That has to be a resounding yes! It was still in place when we got home on Saturday and there was plenty of evidence of the foxes in our garden, yes that and they'd started to dig small holes in the lawn - which MOH wasn't too impressed about. 

Infact it's worked so well it's still there!  It's a bit more awkward to get into the greenhouse than before but knowing I can leave the door open is well worth that.

Do you have trouble with wildlife in your garden? What measures do you take to deter them?