The Vintage French Garden

Since making the move from the French countryside to the small historic town of Cognac I have gained a renewed enthusiasm for gardening.

We created a large formal potager in our first home in France but the task of keeping it under control was all consuming and very hard work especially in the heat of the summer months.

In spite of all the sweat and toil though there really is nothing like the flavour of freshly picked home grown produce.

Although our life is now more urban we are very lucky to have a courtyard garden on two levels and I absolutely love it.  There's nothing I enjoy more after a day's work than wandering leisurely around our garden to see what flower has appeared or how our grape vine is doing.  All that it demands of me is a bit of weeding, watering and some deadheading of the roses and the Paris daisies. 

With a nod to our former rural life a couple of weeks back we bought an old large copper pot from a flea market and turned it into a mini herb and vegetable garden that is now handily situated on the balcony just outside our kitchen door.

We try to use reclaimed or re-purposed materials as much as possible to keep costs down and to give the space some individuality, for example metal reinforcing bars over a pre-existing framework make an effective trellis to grow a clematis over.

This pretty pot rack is still for sale in my Etsy Shop

This frame from an antique light fitting was in the barn of our old house and we have attached a hanging basket to the bottom of it which I am happy to say is filling out every day and gracing the gazebo at the end of our top terrace.

I especially love our wrought iron screens that work well as a backdrop against the tall wall of the neighbouring house as well as the central one being a climbing frame for our lovely scented rose.

Another brocante find was a large earthenware pot with handles shown in the photo below. It's original purpose was to salt ham but it is now a charming planter for our little bay tree.  

And finally it's just feasible that I may have mentioned in a previous post the fountain we bought second hand from a garden in Poitiers (I'm so proud of it I do try to casually slip it into conversations wherever humanly possible!) The sound of it's gentle burble of water often draws me outside or to the window to gaze out at it when I really should be working. 

I have come to realise that the biggest garden doesn't necessarily bring the greatest pleasure and for me our town courtyard is really developing into a little paradise.   

Voila... An Instant Terrace

This past week instead of concentrating on my Etsy shop (again!!!) I've been outside with Spike trying to knock our terrace into shape.  We thought that while the weather was good we would attempt to create a little sanctuary away from the ongoing building work in the house.

We started off with a genuinely blank slate and having painted the railings black and planted the beds on the top of the walls with lavender (in the hope of a kind of hedging effect) Spike laid some tiles at the end of the terrace.

We then erected a gazebo that was bought a while back from a local supermarket when it was on special offer.  It was a bit of a squeeze so we chopped down one of it's legs so that it could rest in the bed on the top of the wall (thank goodness it wasn't very expensive).

After a short break in order to recover from the inevitable tension caused by a married couple putting up a gazebo the next stage of the transformation was great fun.  If you've never had the unusual pleasure and instant gratification of unrolling a lawn I can highly recommend it.  I bought some astro-turf from a specialist when I was last in England and it came complete with little brown bits to give it a more authentic look (I can feel the wave of disapproval from proper gardeners from here... happily the dogs seem to love it so that's all that really matters).

We then edged our lawn with some gravel before adding a couple of dwarf apple trees, a bench and a few planters here and there (more to come).  We also put out a couple of new sun beds that will one day be relocated to much roomier courtyard (when it is eventually finished).

We are both thrilled with our new terrace and are finding it quite hard to get on with any work as the pull of such an inviting space is very strong.  The lawn is not only soft and bouncy but it is also hard wearing and toe tinglingly (not sure if that's a word) warm when the sun is on it. We have also already enjoyed a couple of unapologetically smug meals under the gazebo. 

The only problem with our new and improved terrace is that it makes the courtyard look even worse than it did before.  Unfortunately this part of the renovation will have to wait until the barn roof has been fixed and numerous trenches have been dug across the courtyard for drainage pipes and electric cables. So for the meantime I will just have to try my best not to look down!