Autumn Cottage Diarist

A Hidden Garden in Angouleme

The 12th century front of Angouleme cathedral

We made the journey to Angouleme principally to visit the Cathedral there, which is high on the list of impressive Romanesque architecture in France. Unfortunately for us, though the Cathedral front lived up to its reputation, the interior was something of a disappointment - the choir, chancel, apse and transepts were all cordoned off, filled with scaffolding to do what seemed like a little over-enthusiastic cleaning, and also a film crew, recording who knows what.

The Ascenscion, Christ surrounded by symbols of SS Matthew, Mark, Luke & John

St George, doing his thing with the dragon...damsel in distress to the left!

St George, lending his cloak to the beggar

A charming statue in a quiet corner... St Antony of Padua. Can you see the prayer notes tucked under the plinth?
Scaffolding everywhere..the stonework rather harshly over-cleaned, I think

So our visit to the actual Cathedral was brief...but we had also noticed a sign to "Museum" on our way there. Taking the road on the south side, instead of retracing our steps approaching from the north, we arrived in the back-streets of the cathedral...and look at what we found - in the former Bishop's palace, attached to the back of the cathedral...

The entrance to the museum, yes...

But also the most beautiful, unexpected garden - perfectly suited to the hot, dry, environment of a city in South-western France

A well-head in the courtyard...limited colour palette of greys, whites and blues - and, of course, green.

Pathways transecting the courtyard

A tiny fountain amongst the greenery - how delicious is the sound of running water in a hot country

What would you give to have that wall and those capitals as a backdrop in your own garden?

A vine in a box - showing just what is possible in a small space

Never liked artificial blue - or any other colour - chips in the garden before...but I am converted - they looked fabulous here

Even the colour palette of the surrounding streets was subtle and inspiring.

In my next post, I'll take you on a tour around the museum - another hidden gem. but for now, take another stroll through the hidden garden :-)

A Little French Village Stroll

Back again from a week in rural France, with more than an average share of hitches and events to make the holiday a memorable one! But at last I can share with you some of the places which I visited during a blissful few days of sun, sea, good wine and food, street markets, museums, churches and graveyards  (yes, I know - not everyone's idea of fun...but you know me by now!)

I enjoy taking you on walks with me - so I thought for my first sharing of photographs with you, I would take you today around the streets of Talmont, on the Gironde estuary...a charming little village filled with flowers. As it was a holiday weekend in France, it was, on this occasion, also filled with other visitors...but by pointing the camera in the right direction, one would hardly know that they were there!

Ready for flowers and blue, blue skies? Then come with me.....

The approach to Talmont

Roses, roses everywhere - the hollyhocks for which Talmont is famous were not quite flowering

The North side of the church of St Radegonde, on the sea-wall, with - most unusually - the graveyard in close proximity - and filled with growing flowers, which seem to be self-seeded rather than planted deliberately

Hollyhocks everywhere - notice the unusual grave-slabs held in a stone hammock at each end

A clearer view of the grave slabs

Oh, those blues!

  Humming-bird moth - about 5 cm (2") wingspan - see the proboscis penetrating deep into the florets?

Potentilla and bearded iris
Early evening sky over the estuary - more blue, just for good measure...

Fifty Memories of Six Days in France

11-16^th June 2009

 

Chez Russell

The first view, the first steps, into the Magic Garden

The beating sun on the patio

The swish of the pool filter

The “chuk-chuk-chuk-chuckAH!” of the hens next door when they laid an egg

The incessant birdsong with no break for lunch

 

The skitter of the lizards from beneath-the-bergenia-and-up-the-wall

The humming bird moths in the lavender bushes

The red squirrel – dropping his nuts!

The walnut tree, the walnut tree, the spreading, verdant walnut tree

The soft patter of rain on the terracotta tiles

 

Ancient churches on a route to Santiago

Wall paintings discovered – and washed away

Cross-legs, fork-beards, musician-figures... on the western arch at Avy – who are they?

Ceramic flowers on marble tombs

The bedroom in a cupboard!

 

Poterie de Baignes on windowsill and wall

Baby hedgehog on an evening ramble

Elaine and her sister on a wineglass perambulation of Bran

Crumbling old buildings - dreams and fantasies – buyable for 10,000 Euros?

The dog, the sun, a ramshackle shelter and more than one tear in my eye

 

Sweltering lunch in the shadow of the Donjon in Pons

Precarious descent to the Lower Square in St Emilion

The tiny-train tour of the Vineyards and Chateaux

Roses planted at the end of vine rows- “to give warning of diseases”

Downloading David by his desk at dawn!

 

 Vin rouge Lestac in a box

Fine wines in many bottles

Accordion music floating through the garden on Sunday morning

Croustade - Gascon filo and apple pudding splashed with Armagnac

Eroding limestone everywhere

 

Chateau de Clerbise

A chateau lost in time

Sunlight filtering through muslin-hung windows

Leather embossed walls

A huge ceramic stove

A ruined chapel still hiding many mysteries

 

Sarcophagi and graffiti

Lavender and Roses

Oleander and Wisteria

A swan gliding beneath us as we dined at the Moulin de Sorgues

Glassy surfaced, lily-studded river, reflecting golden lamps on the walls above

 

A goat being chased by a pony, a bunny and a goose – all on the other bank!

Naughty Elaine, Camp Christophe and far too much XO Cognac!

Rain coming down, a pile of books and my journal – another sort of bliss.

Last-night -leftovers-supper – good bread, good wines, great cheese

Mist-covered vineyards, aquamarine sky at dawn departure

 

Strutting Norman soldiers along the Bayeux “tapestry”

Thomas a Becket being beheaded - again - in the cathedral

A heavy heart for the boys who landed on Sword Beach, Gold Beach, Juno Beach

Millpond calm English Channel crossing

The winking Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, to welcome us back home.

For Good food, Good wine and Good Company – Godde be Thanked!

The well is well and truly filled - for now.

(Each one of these lines holds a story - a List of Memories is a great way to capture your holiday if you don't have time to write much when travelling...I'll be expanding each of these, along with more of the 700 photographs, over the next few weeks).

 

Where has August gone?

Abernodwydd farmhouse at the Welsh Folk Museum, St Fagans

Hello again!
Here I am, my dear readers, showing up at the page again after far too long
away. The summer months are flying past - already the days shorten and
the shadows lengthen. I thank you all for your comments and enquiries,
even when I am not writing here regularly. Life has had its considerable ups
and downs recently, but my generous readers encourage me to put
fingertip to keyboard once more. Thank you - you know who you are.

Since I last put any contribution onto these pages, I have attended a life
enhancing conference on feminist theology, (of which more at a later date)
and spent a delightful, if wet, weekend in Wales with my friend Liz - the
other "Lady of a certain Age" with whom I travelled to Venice, nearly two
years ago now. Oh, yes - where does the time go?

At the moment, I am spending much of my free time sorting through and
throwing away clutter that has built up over twenty years.(Its been too wet
to do much gardening over the last five or six weeks).

De-cluttering is  a slow process, but it is happening - Charity shops and
recycling skips are already beneficiaries, and the house is looking
considerably clearer - but unearthing items from the backs of cupboards
brings back so many memories, so the clearing is bittersweet in so many
respects. Baby clothes, "Dragon" bookends, a hand-carved wooden
"merry-go-round" - all from when the boys were small - not the handsome
young six foot four men they are today. Where does the time go?

My committed time is allocated to preliminary reading  on "Death in World
Religions" and "Flowers and death" in preparation for return to college, to
cover the last two modules of my Master's degree (only the small matter of
a 20,000 word dissertation to write after that!), and finalising the content of
four new writing/spirituality/creativity workshops that I am running from
September.
And a pre-Christmas one in December.
Oh, and a training day for one of the counselling organisations that I work
for.
And contributions to two book chapters.

I'm also in the planning stages for a writing retreat weekend which I hope
to run  in Wales next year - here are some images of the location (Ty-Capten farm barn, below)
- now all I have to do is write the darned course! I'm trying to keep it low in cost, and
the most wonderful thing is that the most important factor - the inspiration
of the landscape and the surroundings to the main accommodation (set on
a 400 year old farm) comes absolutely free. (Any takers? if you are interested, please mail me)

The photographs on the page today are just a few from the weekend in
Wales - inspirational for putting pen to paper and journaling contentedly for
hours, is it not?

Liz contemplating the comfort of a Welsh box bed

Plain and simple on the outside - Llainfadyn Cottage from North Wales

Fancy on the inside - Welsh dresser, blue and white china and the door leading to a bedroom under the sleeping loft

The gardens surrounding St Fagan's Castle

St Fagan's Castle - fortified house

More gardens surrounding the house

Earthenware Wassail jug

Back at the farm - bubbly time!

Picnic supper on the old milk churn stands

Heavenly hydrangeas in the night garden

The extraordinarily ornately carved doorway of Kilpeck Church, Herefordshire

Green Man on the church door

Llanthony Priory

Ty-Capten farm barn - venue for writing retreat, 2009

Sam the Cat - barn sentinel and honorary scribe!

Carnivale Time In Venezia!

It’s that time of the year again – Lent approaches, but for the moment, Carnivale is here!

Each year, this wonderful site is updated daily with images from Venice, showing the glorious, magical colours of the modern Venetian carnival. The masks, the textiles, the exuberance of it all. Though I wonder how exuberant they are feeling at the moment – arctic winds are blowing down over the UK – is it the same in Venice? If so, I hope they are wearing their thermals under all their finery!

The image above is my own, of a puppet and mask makers shop from my visit in October 06, but click above to browse all the real people and costumes for this week – you have four more days offerings to savour!

Venetian Knobs and Knockers

My head deep in my books and glued to the computer screen, as I write my first module essay for college. Who would believe that I have already completed Module 1? It seems as if I only started a week or two ago! I have learned a tremendous amount - now all I need is another few months to assimilate that learning.

So as a mild form of avoidance tactic, I thought I would take a few minutes to share with you all some of the knobs and knockers that I spotted around Venice and the islands as I wandered through the backstreets.

Mostly visuals today – but I still hope that you enjoy their variety. I especially love the delicious textures - of bronze, peeling paint, weathered wood and rusting iron. How about you?

 

Soft Rain and Good Company

Back from a sojourn in South Wales, where I was invited to join my cousin Brenda and several of her friends for a "ladies evening" on Saturday night.

We stayed at a wonderful Welsh farmhouse, deep in the countryside, just outside the little hamlet of Llandegveth in Monmouthshire, at Ty-Capten Farm, in the sort of accommodation that most
people dream of finding, and very few do. Brenda had discovered this haven of peace and hospitality on her last visit home, and for me, certainly, it will not be my last visit there.

The interior of the house was an architectural history trail (we had the
use of a sitting room, kitchen, ensuite bathroom and two bedrooms!), the
friendliness and hospitality of Susan, (our smiling hostess below), far above and beyond the call of duty and the farm itself seemed still wrapped in the byegone golden aura of the 1950's.

 

That was a time when I partially grew up on a farm - and where I would also wander around, entranced as I wandered through old barns, finding baby lambs and newly hatched chicks with their "cuck-cuck"ing mother hens. How many memories this magical time-warp brought back for me.

Brenda and I spent Saturday afternoon on a magical mystery tour of the
local villages - after lunch in "The White Hart" at Llangybi we explored
the church of St. Cybi there.

I was thrilled to find 15th century
wall paintings inside, and some interesting gravestones outside - though
we were both incensed to see that many gravestones had been cleared to
the side of the churchyard and some had even been used to build a step
up to a stile into the pub carpark.

Maybe this was done a while ago - but it is still, in our eyes, an affront!

(Brenda decided to take my photograph "in the place where you are happiest" - the graveyard! - I must admit, I do look quite contented, don't I?)

Brenda's friend Julie arrived to join us at about 4.30,, more tea was consumed and a goodly amount of time was then spent in applying paints and potions in a girly session upstairs before we departed for the New Bridge Inn where several more of Brenda's close friends were waiting -

 

I suspend my judgement on one comment that we were a "pretty good looking bunch of broads" only because I am in the picture - but for the rest of the attendees, I cannot but emphatically agree. The fact that at least one of these lovely women, (in her 8th decade), can still give a showbiz high kick with skill and exuberance - (in shoes with three inch heels!!), might give you some idea of the vitality (both physical AND mental!) of the assembly gathered there.

Apart from looks, we women had a huge amount of life experience between
us, and it was so good to be able to speak to them all and enjoy their
company for an evening. In fact, I enjoyed the whole evening so much
that I felt moved to propose the toast of the Worshipful Company of
Dyers - "For Good food, Good Wine, and Good Company, God(de) be
Thanked!"

Brenda was, of course, thanked wholeheartedly by us all - for without
her motivation, the whole weekend would not have happened. How rich is the company of interesting women!

Everywhere a Garden

Venice and her islands touch the British heart in more ways than one. Their love of gardens and their ability to make one just about anywhere cause my own heart to smile as I turn a corner in one of the back
streets or come upon a gateway on a remote island.

Into every nook and cranny, flowers and verdure have been insinuated and  encouraged.
Balconies, window-boxes, pots, patios, courtyards...all are given up to a blaze of colour or the serenity of many shades of green.

Come take a walk with me through the gardens, great and small, of Venice
and Torcello.

Doesn't this gateway call you to muse awhile with me about the possibilities of this neglected cloister garden? - (of which more later)...

And say goodnight to Venice along with me, as dusk falls upon the Grand Canal.

Miniatures and Murano

I took a new camera to Venice with me - I'm delighted with it, but the images are four times as big, so they are taking me four times as long to edit. So I thought I would show you something small instead!

Many of you know that I am a committed miniature enthusiast - and my trip to Venice was a perfect opportunity to indulge my tastes. I was particularly enthralled when I visited last year, to discover a cabinet
of antique miniature glass upstairs in the little museum in the church of St Peter Martire on the island of Murano,

(At the back of the church and through a door on the left hand side if you visit. When we first went this time, the door was closed and there was no sign at all of any museum. I thought I had been hallucinating on the previous visit, but later in the afternoon, we returned - the door was open, and there was the sign to the museum - so don't give up if you don't see it at first!)

We also visited the Glass Museum on Murano, where I was totally overwhelmed by the huge (12-15 feet long?) miniature glass Italianate garden (a little bigger than 1/12th scale) and garden centrepiece that were on display there. I have included large photos of these, so click on the image to see them in better detail). The green parterre markings on the "ground" are made of crushed glass, and look a littel like table-mats on which the pedestals and pots stand. After seeing all these mini items, I had to have some for myself - particularly little pots of glass flowers - so I was on the hunt for those for the rest of the week.

I brought a number of very tiny pieces of glass back in October - and more this time. If you keep looking, you can find some wonderful mini items amongst all the admitted "tat" in Venice - but if you look in the picture below, you will see four mini pots of glass flowers - quite crude, but exactly like those in the museum, which I had seen and so wanted. Other shops in Venice were selling large glass flowers in pots, but I kept hunting, and finally found these four being sold by a souvenir stall keeper on the little island of Torcello.

They looked as if they had been there for ages, were covered in dust, but cost only 2.5 euros (about 3.5 dollars) each - and the touch of crude vulgarity amused me. If you look in any Victorian dolls house with
original furnishings, you will often find something quaintly out of scale - I like to imagine these little pots to be just the sort of thing that "The Ladies" would have brought back with them in 1906 - and they will certainly find a place inside - or outside - the Venetian house that I am currently making.

Enjoy this mini view of the museum pieces and the tray of items that I brought back. Again, click on the photo for a bigger view. (The blue mosaic box in the centre of the tray is 1" - 2.5 cms wide, to give some idea of the scale). Can you see the elephant, the ghost, the three little birds, the teeny weeny snail, the white cat (difficult to see), the two miniscule mice, the snake and the octopus, together with the delicious painted vases and the orange waterjug?

The two figures at the back of the picture are of Pantalone and Columbine - paper sculpted characters from the Commedia del'Arte, hand made at Ca'Macana, one of the craftsmen mask makers who also make these figures. All the other little items were finds that I hunted down in various corners of the city and out on the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello. Precious souvenirs - now they all need a tiny palazzo to live in!

Where Else but Venice?

Home yesterday from another week in the beautiful city – very tired and exhausted, but once again, I have "filled the well" deeply as Julia Cameron urges in "The Artists Way" – and now I need time to digest and absorb what I have seen (and recover from the flights - which I still think is the the foulest, most disgusting, uncivilised way to travel - how much more enjoyable was the journey that Liz and I took by train - and how much more delightful the view on arrival!)

Nearly 700 photographs taken with my new and wonderful Kodak Easyshare 2710 camera – never before was I able to capture roundels high up on the sides of a church, lizards under stones, or other fine specimens (such as these on the right - ahem!) with such ease and clarity.

I will share a selection of them with you over the next few weeks – but for now, here is just the tiniest taste of some of the sights that I have been lucky enough to enjoy over the last week....