Taking the train to Paris, Angers and Tours

At the very end of May we set off with a heavier than expected suitcase, a small wheely case and plans for a complete break. With MOH still on ‘light duties’ I think it was just the thing we both needed, especially for him as it was good for him not to attempt too much and jeopardise the holiday. Typically we’d booked this holiday just two days before any of this, so we were grateful that we were still able to go, even if that meant changing our plans slightly and definitely no cycling.

Newark to London and onto Paris

One of the things we loved about Newark when we were looking to move here was its connectedness, and the ease of getting into central London. Turns out that worked even better for getting to the Eurostar as it is just literally across the road from Kings Cross.

You can’t beat the Eurostar, and it’s been a while since we’ve been on it - but it is just fabulous.

Gare du Nord to Montparnasse

We stayed in Paris overnight close to the station at Montparnasse where we’d pick up our train to Angers the following day. People often say that Parisians are unfriendly, or brusque but I found exactly the opposite, especially with the suitcase and stairs on the Metro and more than once. Those people who offered to carry the case don’t know just how grateful I was.

Staying in Paris also meant that we had the perfect excuse to revisit our favourite Parisian restaurant, and even though it had changed hands it was just as good as we remembered. I’ll share more in a future post on this and another bouchon we visited when we returned to Paris, but in the meantime, here’s a glimpse of why it’s so special.

BOUILLON CHARTIER, MONTPARNASSE

Montparnasse to Angers

The next morning we were at the busy Montparnasse station earlier than we probably needed to be to make sure we could locate our train to Angers, which of course we did and was easier than expected. We settled in to our upper deck seats, yes the case came up the stairs too, and after a short taxi ride, arrived at our base for the week, a very pretty little chateau.

CHATEAU DES FORGES, ANGERS

It was perfect, and our room had a great view of the garden. It was a little out of town, but we knew that - and let’s be honest, not many chateaux are in the centre of town are they.

From here we explored the Jardin des Plantes with it’s spectacularly shored up tree and so much more, dodged a brief rain spell and discovered another art deco gem in a department store and saw the new bedding purchase which beat us home!

We visited the cathedral with its newly opened porch which was built to protect the fragile and deteriorating facade following the removal of the mediaeval porch. I didn’t realise at the time, but it was only officially opened in April of this year and was designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. We explored the town and I was unexplicably drawn to these large apples by Bruno, which were almost 2000 Euros and nonchalantly on display outside the shop.

And we enjoyed walking beneath the floral arched tunnel alongside the river on our way to the Castle, though MOH and his hayfever possibly less so. The Castle gardens were impressive as I peered in and looked over the wall, but those on the ramparts were even more impressive and I’ve more to share from this visit, including the vineyards on the ramparts and the Apocalypse Tapestry - the largest medieval tapestry known in the world.

Another day we left the hotel on foot to explore the nearby Ile Saint-Aubin and marvel at the Bac, a small chain operated ferry which is the only public access to the island and its 600 hectare nature reserve.

We went along to the Museum of Fine Arts which was fascinating though both MOH and I preferred the contemporary pieces, and then we spent a full on day at Terra Botanica which if I’m honest I wasn’t sure about beforehand. Afterwards though I’m a complete convert, and we had a great day - though we walked just under six and a half miles that day, including getting there and back to the chateau. It’s billed as a theme park for gardens, which was what put me off, but it was brilliant - and I haven’t yet worked out how I can share what I saw there yet, we saw so much.

It was our first time in Angers, and it was brilliant - there was so much to see and do, and it definitely lives up to its reputation as France’s greenest city, but it was time to move on.

Angers to Tours (via Le Mans)

We were back at the train station, this time heading to Tours for the second main part of our trip. We needed to change at Le Mans, so we got to see some more of the French countryside on our not quite so direct route. Once in Tours, a city we’d visited before, some ten years ago we immediately noticed some changes, and yet familiarity too.

We took the tram to our next hotel, also a chateau but more along the lines of a larger corporate hotel, but no worse for that. We came to Tours for one main reason, and that reason was to revisit the Chateau de Villandry.

In 2016 we’d arrived by bike, and that was our original plan to for this trip - but as we couldn’t a taxi did very nicely, and much more comfortably instead. Again I’ve much more to share from Villandry, and somehow I never shared my photos from there before, but this sneak peek will explain why I was so keen to get back there for another visit.

Yeap, it’s a wow of a garden isn’t it? Wait until I tell you that the section at the top right is a potager and is filled with edibles, yes my mind is blown too. It’s probably my second most favourite garden ever with Huntes Garden in Barbados firmly in number one spot.

We also found time to celebrate our nineteenth wedding anniversary with a spot of wine tasting, as you do - and it was just as well that MOH insisted on bringing his wheelie case as that went home three bottles heavier. Well, when in Rome and all that…

Tours to Montparnasse and onto Gare de l’Ouest

Just a couple of nights later we were back in Paris, arriving once again at Montparnasse and this time taking the Metro to our hotel located within walking distance of both the Gare de l’Ouest and handily for the next day the Gare du Nord. We also found ourselves in another Bouillon which was just as good as the one we knew and loved.

BOUILLON JULIEN, PARIS

Paris to London and home

With supplies of baguette and pastries secured the night before we back at the Eurostar to start the final leg of our journey home, but there was still the chance to put some final holiday stitches into my holiday embroidery project. It’s far from finished - and of course I haven’t touched it since we’ve been home - but I’m loving how it’s going so far, and it’ll be a great keepsake to have of our trip.

I’ve plenty more to share from our trip and I’ll do that over the coming weeks and months, and as and when I do I’ll add links to this post so eventually the story will build up with several layers.

New sofas and pondering paint colours

Back at the start of the year we had a flurry of house improvement type of activity, which included buying and installing the blue chandelier and some new sofas. We’d actually seen the new sofas when we stopped off in Bruton overnight in the December, whilst on the way to visit family in Devon.

Clearly they were meant to be.

MOH pointed the new sofas out in the window of a small showroom, and while he may not have fallen for them immediately, for me it was the sofa I didn’t know I was looking for. It took us a while to decide they were right for us, and after much measuring we took the plunge and ordered two rather expensive sofas.

We didn’t expect them to arrive until around Easter, so we thought we’d have plenty of time to consider our decor, and so the paint charts came out. I’d envisaged our lounge having dark green velvet sofas, and I wanted a relatively dark wall too.

But these sofas were not dark green, though they ticked the velvet box.

A rethink was needed.

I was still keen on green though, and the small show room in Bruton were really helpful pointing us towards greens that would work with the sofas we’d chosen. So we worked our way through various paint charts but mainly sticking to the Farrow & Ball colours which we had worked so well for us in our previous home.

Larger samples were ordered of the two that we thought would work best for us, and Farrow & Ball threw a spanner in the works by sending the samples in a green envelope - which was more like the green I’d had in mind originally.

Argh!

GREEN SMOKE, CALKE GREEN AND DIBBER

The Green Smoke was immediately dismissed for being too grey in our room - strangely adding it here confirms that it’s not for us. The Calke Green is still a favourite colour of ours, but not for the lounge so it’s likely that we’ll use that in another room, which leaves Dibber. On its own it isn’t a colour I’d choose, but with the sofa samples it changes from a drib muddy browny-green to something that gives me the darker colour I wanted, and goes brilliantly with our sofa samples.

The bigger challenge is choosing a white which goes with it as having these larger samples has shown that the builder’s bright white kills this colour, and it needs a softer white. The same goes for the Calke Green, builder’s bright white isn’t the match. And while on the Farrow & Ball site they give options for whites which match their colours, there isn’t a common white for both of the colours we think we’ll use in our downstairs decorating.

We don’t need - or want - three different colour whites in our downstairs, so the hunt for the white which doesn’t subdue the colours is still on. It’s harder than choosing the colours, I’m sure.

Our hunt was cut short by an earlier than expected sofa delivery, they arrived at the end of February taking us quite by surprise.

But looking good. So very good.

As you can see we still have the builder’s white on the walls, but life got in the way a bit and we will get the walls painted at some point, just as soon as we’ve found the white that works with both - and booked the decorator!

My garden in June

Gardens, or rather watering or lack of, is always a worry when I’m off on holiday, and I ended last month doing as much as I could to prepare my plants, especially those which hadn’t been planted out of their garden centre pots, for my time away. I don’t know if my plan of digging the pot half into the flower beds would work or not, but luckily for my plants it rained a fair bit while we were away, so when I got back everything looked quite healthy. Phew.

When I’m back from holiday I do like to have a walk around the garden and see how everything’s coped. I wasn’t disappointed, well apart from the weeds. Not only were there more weeds in my lawn (note it’s now my lawn since I’ve been tasked with cutting it!) but they had the audacity to flower!

The amaryllis with the hollowed out stem produced another flower, but still needed the wall for support. It’s amazing how battered and eaten it looks, but how it’s still programmed to flower. Hopefully I’ll have more luck with them next year, and less bugs.

The lavender throughout the garden, but especially in the outside border, really came into its own. Apart from the lavender bush that didn’t.

That’ll need dealing with, as no amount of positive thinking is going to bring that back!

The phormium, also in the outer border, was still flowering. These didn’t seem to open any further before dying back, so I think that’s what it does, apart from looking very dramatic and beautiful that is.

The tomatoes were all doing well, and there were signs of the teeny-tiniest fruits starting to form - I told you it had rained a fair bit, and while I was glad I’m sure most people weren’t.

The dahlias had also formed small flower buds, and I was looking forward to seeing what colours the four plants would bring - would they all be the same, or would I be lucky and get different colours. The colour reveal is coming later on in this post. The roses needed dead heading, and the bees continued to enjoy the lavender wherever they could find it.

The rhubarb which I planted last month was thriving, no doubt making the most of the rain and its shady spot. The plants in pots I’d dug in (some are visible above the rhubarb) also looked healthy, though the one on the right had greener leaves than when I’d left. They had previously been a dark purple, so I’m not sure if they need a sunnier spot to perform that trick - I’ll need to read the label again.

The dark flowered iris was just about hanging on, and as ever the lady’s mantle was looking glorious with its raindrops. I needn’t have worried, but I think it would have been a completely different story if the warm weather (let alone the heatwave) had continued while we were away. Typically the first few days we were home the weather wasn’t that great either, but I could see there was plenty to be done in the garden, but I was hopeful the rain would subside.

It did of course, and I managed to snap a couple of almost autumnal looking photos in the next few days, it was only the middle of June so I hoped autumn wasn’t closer than it should be.

Since we’ve been back from France I’ve been surprised by my pink jasmine, which we brought with us from London. It was originally a very small plant that I’d ordered from the Gardeners’ World Magazine way before I’d even thought about visiting a Gardeners’ World Show, let alone run competitions for them.

For the first time since we moved, it flowered. It’s been in a pot for a while, even for a while when we were in London, so I’ve really no idea why it was grumpy following our move, but it seems to have come to terms with Nottinghamshire life and has treated us to the prettiest pink jasmine flowers. I haven’t quite told it yet that at some point it might move out of its pot…

Both of our olive trees were also in flower this month, and they’re not shy about it either. Neither of them, perhaps MOH will be able to think about his olive oil production after all?!

After spending time nosing about gardens both in France and in the UK since we’d returned I got an urge to sow some seeds, which I haven’t had for quite a while. I don’t have a greenhouse space but I quickly realised that our old garden table could provide just the space I was after. And so far it’s worked pretty well, with an adjustment or two.

The first dahlia flowered and it was the most gorgeous cerise pink, what joy. That flower died back, only to be replaced with two more blooms from the same plant. The others look like they will flower soon, so now I’m putting my money on them all being this gorgeous colour, but I may be wrong.

I’d noticed that the hellebore was self-seeding into the gravel, and I wanted to keep as many of these as I could. MOH was banned from weeding this section of the gravel, and I could see him itching to tidy it up, so one afternoon I set myself up with a kneeler, a seed tray and had an enjoyable afternoon transplanting these small plants. Not all of them made it into a seed tray, as not all of them had what I deemed sufficient roots when I pulled them up, but I’m hoping those that I did will provide plenty of free plants. What’s not to like?

I also filled another seed tray with some self seeded lady’s mantle and a few lavender plants which were also happily growing away in the gravel. The weather warmed up again and I realised that my makeshift seed table also came with a built in shade provider so when the weather was at its warmest - thanks heatwave number two of the year - the seeds and the transplanted plants spent their time underneath the table.

One of my succulents has been enjoying the hotter weather more than me and has treated us to a pale yellow flower, which is both delicate and peculiar at the same time. It’s also grown out of the mother plant by about six inches so struggles to keep itself up, so you have to duck down to see its flower.

Our peace lily houseplant, which was a moving in gift from one of our new neighbours, was looking rather sorry for itself so I decided to repot it. Then once it was out of the pot, I decided to cut it in half and make it into two plants. The roots were really dense, and it’s the first time I’ve needed to saw a rootball to split it. Both halves seem to be doing well, and let’s face it they have a lot more soil than they’ve probably ever had, so hopefully in a month or so they’ll be back to their best.

This smoke bush has made us smile many times this month. It’s just a large ball of fluff, which from certain angles looks like it really could be one of those poodles with the fancy clippings.

The buddleia has grown and grown and is almost back to the height it was when I trimmed (/hacked) it back a month or so ago. It’ll need another cut before the end of the summer, but not right now as it’s bringing all the butterflies into the garden. As is I’m sure my two beautiful dahlias!

It’s amazed me to see just how much the newly planted rhubarb has grown in a month - this is it mid June, and since then it’s got proper blush rhubarb stalks on it. Sadly we won’t be eating those this year, we’ll let them die back naturally so that the plant can retain its strength, but next year will be crumbletastic.

We’ve got the promise of a strawberry or two on the new plants which I picked up at the Newark Garden Show back in April, whether or not they’ll come to anything who knows, but the promise of future strawberries is good enough for me right now.

Every so often this month I’ve poked my head into the small crab apple tree to check on progress, and there are apples so that’s good. There’s also a lot of growth from it’s hard trim, so I think I may need to give it a trim every year, just not as much, rather than leaving it to alternate years.

Oh, and that lavender bush that needed dealing with? We dealt with it. Most of it was very dead, some of the stems at the base were rotting and others snapped as they were so dry, so it really wasn’t happy. It’s odd as part of the bush had managed to do its thing, and the centre part I left hopeful that it will survive.

There were two other sections which while it looked dead in the centre had flowers and fresh growth. They looked a bit daft left on, so we cut those off too and quite a lot of the flowers ended up in a vase in the kitchen, and some more will hopefully provide even more free plants.

I’m also hoping that the free plants from the gravel, whether that’s the hellebores or lady’s mantle, or even some of the lavender will grow on enough to help fill in some of the gap above - though they have a bit of growing to do yet.

And if I had a greenhouse I could do more pottering, seed sowing and bring more cuttings on - and so I’ve taken the plunge and ordered a small greenhouse. I’ve pondered over it for quite a while, and while its ordered it’s on a six month delay which quite honestly suits me just fine.

I’ll leave you with this top down image of one of the sea holly’s which I hope will flower soon. Hopefully there’ll be an update on what it does in next month’s update, but before then no doubt I’ve got some weeding to do.