Dream Country Chat

SHOPAHOLIC FRENCH STYLE

Shopping is of course something to do when in France, I didn't actually buy much (really) but I just loved the shops. From a simple cheese shop to a basic butchers, there was charm aplenty.

Even the signs were delightful.

Of course there were certain shops that one felt obliged to visit, those special places that can add inches to the waistline and an unwanted extra chin to the face. Alas, I met the Chocolatier and loved it. The cake shops were devine too.......

Don't they look too good to eat. Not so, they tasted fab!

Dragging myself away from the food I did notice an abundance of flower shops. The French do love their flowers.

There are delightful flower shops in every village. They rather put Interflora to shame.

Flowers in general are very much in evidence. Everyone has flowers outside their houses. Whether it is geraniums on the balcony, or in pots on the steps. There seems to be an almost national urge towards charm and prettiness.

One shop I did buy in was at the vineyard.

This was a huge place where all the local wines were brought together, interesting and tasty.

And you can even buy your wine from a pump, just like the garage. Choose your red, white or rose and the kind lady will fill up your bottle/tank. What could be better, the European wine lake on tap!!!

See Karon stagger back to Scotland, somewhat heavier with maybe a touch of a hangover, ah but with some fabulous memories.

Karon x

SHUTTERS AND GERANIUMS

When I think of France it is always with an eye to its beauty, and not just in the countryside or the dramatic architecture. No, it is in the simpler things, like shutters and geraniums.

I remember years ago being so impressed by a pic in a gardening book that showed a balcony fairly overflowing with geraniums ~ I want that ~ of course it was in France.

It seems to sum up the lifestyle. Fragrant and beautifully colourful flowers, a balcony to stand out on (various sizes available, from the petit Juliet type to the large and impressive lounge about type) and delightfully painted shutters to shade you from the heat of the day.

 

Sometimes even a lowly pot plant will suffice. But just look how it tastefully blends with the faded shutters. Oh it beats the hell out of  heavy curtains and double glazing!

I think I spent more time looking up at balconies and shutters than looking at things on street level. I was amazed how downright pretty it all was, from the busy towns to the tiniest villages, there was a natural care in the appearance, nothing contrived or forced, just simplicity and a way of putting things in the right place ~ French chic.

Karon  x

ps  Have just grasped the nettle of modern life and joined Facebook, so drop in and say hello.

LOST IN FRANCE

Hi guys, I'm back. Back from the most wonderful, fun filled, relaxing and just plain good holiday I have ever had. Idgy and I were staying with friends Martin and Ann at their horse farm in the Landes region of France. Above is a pic of the lake with village at other side of valley looking like something from a Disney film.

 

Du Pouquet Stud is just heaven on earth.  Acres and acres of gorgeous French countryside, complete peace and quiet, the most charming old French farmhouse, and of course horses, horses everywhere.

In the early morning light the mares and young stock look as if they have stepped out of a Stubbs painting.

Ah, but they don't just stand around in fields all day. These horses are show jumpers. Here is the young stallion Arnie showing off in the arena. Isn't he fabulous!

There were cute creatures too. This is Tia and Maria the sweetest kittens I have ever seen. Idgy fell totally in love with them and had to be frisked before leaving, lest we arrive back in Blighty with a smuggled kitten.

But it is people that make a place. Here are Ann and Martin with Idgy (aka Tamara) playing tourist when we drove over the Pyrenees to visit Spain on Tuesday. We couldn't have had better hosts, it felt as if we had been there forever.

So what were we up to over there in sunny (very) France. Well we visited some truly beautiful places from Pau to Bearn, Aire sur L'Amour to Mugron, but the best place for me was Coudoures. We ate far too much (ugh back to the running again) and that European wine lake took a severe hit. I rode some fantastic horses and lived the dream. Idgy almost turned into a mermaid with all the swimming and I met some great people.

I snapped pix of everything from shutters to geraniums, beaches to mountains, and over the next few days I will bore you to death with my holiday snaps. I have to say the biggest THANKS to Martin and Ann for putting us up and being so great, you are both amazing. We got home tired and sad on Wednesday afternoon and I realised I had left something in France ~ yes I have definitely lost my heart to that country.

Karon x

BABY OH BABY

Yes it has to be done, the baby pictures! I started snapping yesterday and I just couldn't stop.

The one with the spots is a boy and we have called him Marty and the fluffy white girl is Annie. They are named after my friends Martin and Ann that we are going over to France to see today.

I have had sheep here for years and years, but these have to be the cutest lambs I have ever seen.

Descisions on their futures already made. Annie to join the band of ladies as a breeding sheep and Marty has already been banded (ouch!) and will be kept as a pet for Idgy. She had the most amazing pet sheep called Amos who has had his pix in various glossies beside his proud little owner. Unfortunately he dies last summer and I had promised Idgy she could have her pick of any future lambs as a replacement pet. Well here he is, Marty.

It ended up as a very sheepy day yesterday. I even managed to get Alexander to come up and sheer the other ladies. Now they are all in their summer best and hopefully will avoid  nasty fly strike.

Well that's it, cute baby pix done. I'm off to France tonight so will be back with lots of photos next week.

Keep happy.
Karon x

HIGHS AND LOWS

It has been a busy weekend, it has had highs and lows. Friday was sewing and label typing and generally getting ready for the Harrogate fair next month, nothing too exciting there.

Saturday was a whiz. I went to Rowallan with friends to watch the show jumping.

This is Nadine on her top horse Joycy. It was exciting and fun and I met some great new friends. Unfortunately I also fell into the European wine lake and suffered for it yesterday.

Now yesterday, what can I say. Drove through to Edinburgh to visit Mum who is back in hospital again after a fall last week.She was in a room on her own, she looked so very small and frail. "Are you the Doctor?" she asked me, it broke my heart. Apparently you can suddenly get confused and wobbly from a sudden drop in sodium levels. The nurse said they just had to get things leveled out. All I wanted to do was pick up my beloved and fragile little person and hug normality and life and love back into her and make her well. Instead I did boring things, I organised a bedside TV, checked clothes, spoke to nurses, kept  a stiff upper lip. Then I drove away from the hospital unable to see the road for tears.

I got home in the afternoon to see a highly excited Idgy in the yard. "Look Mum, Zoe's had babies". Sure enough there was Zoe my little Soay sheep proudly trotting up to the fence with two sparkly new lambs. Now last year I banded (castration bands) both of the boy lambs. Well guess I didn't do one of them right. I am now wondering if any of my other three girls is about to pop out new life.

Zoe was determined not to be photographed yesterday. I shall get a photo of her today for you, even if I have to play paparazzi  in my own field.

New life, always brings a smile.
Karon x

POPPY POWER

 

I know I have mentioned my love of poppies before, from those pretty yellow Welsh poppies that 'pop' up all over my garden, to the giant Tibetan variety, and all those others in between.

I love their robust colouring and at the same time their fragility.

They adore the sunshine, but fall like the wounded in the rain.

So here is my Poppy Pin which is now available on the web site. I have pinned it to my straw gardening hat here, but it looks gorgeous on a jersey, shirt or jacket. Very rustic romantic.

And while carried away on the Poppy theme I have done a new Mini Mirror for the range which has a hand painted poppy (well it is a little abstract but I like it that way) on vintage creamy white velvet. The velvet painting is so lovely and tactile, I am really pleased with the results. The little mirror will be going up on the web site very soon. I have to rejig things there to make it more 'readable' with the extra bits and pieces I have made.

And I almost forgot, my logo is another Poppy design, again a bit on the abstract side, but it is my favourite flower and I wanted it in there somewhere. It may not be a herb, but hey, the definition of a herb is that it is a useful working plant, poppies are useful to me - they are inspiring.

Karon  x

SNEAK PEEKS AND CATALOGUES

Time is rushing on and I am determined not to be a complete stress-out wreck before the Harrogate fair next month, but as I said, time is rushing on...............

My biggest time rushing worry was the price list/brochure for the fair. Oh yes I know I am over-reacting and could easily just type up info on A4 and be done with it, but come on guys, you know me by now. Every year since I started Dream Acres five years ago I have produced a little brochure at Christmas. It has varied over the years, one year it was a rather pretty little 8 page catalogue, all glossy and beautiful, and stupidly expensive, another year it was a simple A4 colour sheet covered in photos. I have run the gamut of home printing, local printing and on line printing - been there, done that, got the proverbial T-shirt.

So it was all rather worrying about how to do a price list for the fair that would be better than a sheet of type and cheaper than major printing. I have chewed this over for weeks, tried various looks and liked none of them. Well yesterday it was pouring with rain, so I decided to stay in the house at my desk and get this job done. Well a lot of digit pounding, photo sizing, swearing and coffee slurping later, I've done it. Dream Acres now has a neat little trade brochure with a smart deep red (same as the sewing I do on all my goodies) cover with colour photo of a group of products. Inside it has a page of company history and information, then three pages of black and white photos of each item and brief info. There are even the Christmas goodies in there. There is also a pull out price list and terms and conditions. It is finished off with a natty little bookmark fragrant heart on a string. 

I am so pleased to have this weight off my shoulders. Today is printing day in the house while I sew stock out in HQ. Sometimes I worry myself silly over something,  friends tell me to calm down and not stress about it. Well when I finally get the thing (catalogue in this case) sorted out, the relief and sheer joy make me so bouncy it makes the stress and worry worthwhile and part of the build-up to this all out euphoria!

So what's the photo at the top of the page? It is my new 'Bake Bag' to keep your rolls and muffins warm on the table, cute huh! I have a few new goodies that will get to the web site when I have the time, just now I am just thrilled that they have made it on to paper, cyberspace can wait!

Have a stress-free day.
Karon x

DANDYLION WISHES

One thing about going for a run in the morning is being able to really notice the flowers that are in bloom at any particular time.

From being a carpet of yellow, the dandylions are now all white and puffy. They really look strange when wet.

Almost as if the fairies themselves have been blowing away their wishes one tiny puff at a time.

Karon  x

HEART WINNER

And the winner is....................

Clare

Her heart of the home is her little girls bunkbed, where they all snuggle for special time together. I think that's lovely.

And for those who asked about those bargain mugs I picked up at the open day on Sunday, here they are. The perfect pale green that matches the 1930s storage jars that I have on my dresser. They keep your tea hot all the way to HQ, perfect!!

Have a great day.
Karon x

WONDERFUL WEEKEND

What a weekend! We have a friend (George) staying who is over from France this week, so on Saturday I thought we should go visit Loch Lomond which is only about forty minutes away from us.

 

The weather was perfect and as we went early it was quiet too.

The village of Luss on the edge of the loch is just so very pretty, with every little cottage spilling over with flowers. This would be the prefect place to live were it not for the thousands of tourists who amble past your windows all summer long snapping photos of your begonias!

 

Saturday evening and our little village hosted a Blues Night in the Village Hall. It was the first time this sort of thing had been held and was definitely a huge success. The village turned out in force and Colette, Naomi, Hayley and I got up and danced the night away. This soon got other people off their seats and the evening got livelier by the minute!

Sunday morning dawned bright and beautiful and I thought my hangover had really taken a hold when I met this giant hedgehog!  Actually we were off on a visit to the local wildlife rescue centre at Hesslehead for their annual open day.

It was lovely to see the work they do there and see some of the animals they are helping and rehabilitating.

There were lots of little stands there and of course a good range of bric-a-brac and book stalls. I came home with three fabulous pale green and cream pottery mugs that perfectly match the vintage storage jars etc in my kitchen - a fabulous find!

and the The weekend was completed with a lovely relaxing and yummy supper at Colette's house next door and much laughter when Idgy and I staged a rerun of Butch CassidySundance kid by both riding my bicycle home.

A good weekend had by all. Will announce the winner of the prize draw tomorrow.

Karon x