CLARES FRENCH COUNTRY DIARY

Clare’s French Country Diary

Hello dear February readers. This is my first column here, so I’d like to offer you a little history about how we came to live in Vienne, France, and our life here.

Simply, I married a Francophile, Martin. He loves everything French and although I had a short spell as an au pair in Brittany when I was 18, I honestly didn’t have the same love of France.

Gradually, through holidays around various parts of France, we found an area which we felt could be home in the future, and began to talk about buying a holiday home.

Fast forward 12 years, and we moved into it! The garden was a weedy mess, just two rose bushes for colour and various elder trees needing attention. Gradually, during that first real incumbent springtime, I came back to life, and started to think this could be our forever garden and a place to put down our roots.

Where to start though? I was told to plan very little for the first year, to look which plants pop up and where, and watch where the sun goes around the garden at different times of day and year. This proved good advice and helped me avoid mistakes.

Next, we seriously needed some fencing to contain the dogs and provide some privacy. This area is built on limestone, as are the houses, and the garden, well you guessed it, lots of huge stones just below the surface. The fence posts were extremely tricky to put in, we borrowed a garden drill implement to help make the fence post-holes one very hot May!

Over the years, we have planted apple trees which have given us amazing crops, and last year two cherry trees. I will be happy to see them blossom and in future years produce some cherries.

I have become something of a rose addict too. The two inherited old rose bushes, Peace and Queen Elizabeth, have inspired me to learn about them and over the last two years I have planted climbers, ramblers and shrub roses. An idea formed last summer to start an entire new rose bed.

The best time to plant roses is wintertime so I researched the rose growers and just after Christmas, placed my order for six bare

roots to go into the new bed. The email said delivery in four to six weeks. ‘Excellent’, I thought, that would allow me time to dig the grass up and create the bed, bearing in mind the limestone.

So last Wednesday, the courier rang the bell and was at the gate with a big brown box of my roses! Not the four to six weeks then! I placed the roses into deep buckets of water until I could plant out.

The following day, I began marking out the bed, taking up the grass and a few stones. I was busy for the next few days and the weather turned colder, foggy and frosty. I thought about getting the garden drill out, to help with the preparation, then Martin reminded me, it’s Sunday afternoon and no noise is allowed in the village. Good point.

Warm hat and boots on, spade at the ready, we made a start together. After five minutes, we realized we hadn’t hit the usual limestone but an enormous chunk of concrete. Between us, with the help of a very heavy-duty spade, we wrestled in the mud and got the beast out! It was about 35kg of concrete! I went to make a cup of tea and to think about the rest of the

dig. Fortunately, it was just a bit stony and with a little help from Étoile dog, we had it dug over ready for planting! Now the new roses are nestled into place and I am looking forward to watching them grow this spring.

There is so much to do outside. The potager area needs a big tidy and re-organize as last year I rather neglected it. The birds

are enjoying the seed heads though, so that is a positive. I must confess, I don’t really enjoy growing vegetables. So far it seems to be a battle against the elements and insects munching seedlings. Perhaps this year will be an easier growing year and I will enjoy it more, or I will plan a cut flower garden. Meanwhile, I enjoy browsing seed catalogues, and writing ideas in my journal! À bientôt, Clare.

Instagram; frencheclair.

Clare Hill