Belated Happy Easter........ Out for a drive and around the garden.

Maximum temperature today 22C, minimum 11C.  Dry.  15 km/h South-easterly winds with gusts up to 49 km/h.

Spent today day working in the garden, half of the potatoes planted, grass cut and edges trimmed.

Looking across the fields,

Down the road,

Citroën 2CV at Massignac.

Château de Montbrun. 

(In B and W as I had a lot of reflection from the windscreen and this was better than colour!)

Winding roads...

as above.

Presumably the ancient stone entrance into Saint Auvent.

Choisya ternata and bee.

Black tulips.

Iris.

Lilac in the neighbours garden next to our hedge.

Bluebell with what I think is Red-tailed bumble bee (Bombus lapidarius).

Orchid, the first flower from one of my own cuttings so I am pretty happy about it.

Weed in the lawn but pretty - Cranesbill.

Peony look carefully - 2 bugs.

Quince blossom. I hope we do better with fruit this year! Last year was not good!

See also my Bird blog 

and My life In the Charente

23/03/2019 Trying to catch up!

Maximum temperature today 20C, minimum 3C.  Dry. 11 km/h South-easterly winds with gusts up to 21 km/h.

The temperatures drop again on Monday but it looks good for the weekend

Just out for a drive.

Twins.

Having fun.

The roadsides are yellow with cowslips.

Full moon on the 19th. Handheld photo.

Horses just down the road.

An interesting line up.

Quite fancy the Aston Martin...

Citroën Ami 6 looks like fun...

and this Cortina was apparently on its first run since 1998.

You can just see a tinge of yellow as some of the rape flowers are starting to open, The fields will soon be gold.

A buttercup in the garden.

A wallflower just down the road.

Wednesday night's sunset.

See also my Bird blog 

and My life In the Charente

29/09/2017 Some of the photos from yesterday. Rain forecast for tomorrow so you may see the others then!

Maximum temperature 27C,  minimum 15C.  8 km/h NW wind with 18 km/h gusts. Dry.

I have been in the kitchen most of the day once more so it means I can catch up on yesterday's trip....

Not often do we see sunrise :-)

The usual road obstructions along the way.

We had a 30 minute drive to meet up with friends at Rochechouart.  This is the chateau and Town Hall car park where we met...

Rochechouart chateau.  This is one of my older photos as at the moment the chateau is in a restoration program and there is lots of scaffolding...

The courtyard inside though is a photo I took yesterday

Driving on to Solignac in the Haute-Vienne, I almost missed this drive by view of the city of Limoges in the distance.

Arrival in Solignac, the first thing to take my eye is this abbey. Founded in the 7th century by saint Éloi, the Abbaye Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul was destroyed and rebuilt several times.  It has masses of interesting history.

I could not resist this cat enjoying the sun in the car park in front of the abbey.  We had a 50 minute walk around the town and a quick sit down for a cup of coffee before moving on.

The main street is closed at the moment for major road works but you can walk along the pavements.  The hotel is on the left, and the front of the abbey in the centre...

Hotel Restaurant Le Saint Eloi.

The back of the abbey.

A few of the houses looking from up high on the road.

I loved this old barn.

For my American followers, I though you might be interested in this Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham driven by one of our friends.

A drive by shot, sorry about the windscreen tinting at the top of the photo, but I

liked the picture!

The church of Saint-Mathurin, in Le Vigen.

We were on our way to lunch and then a visit to the medieval ruins of Château de Châlucet. Watch this space for the remainder of the trip.

16/09/2017 All Nigel's photos today

Maximum temperature 16C,  minimum 8C.  5 km/h NW wind with 19 km/h gusts. 3 mm of rain overnight. Rain on and off this afternoon, not measured yet.

A trip to our Saturday morning market - fresh oysters for lunch :-)

The little cafe opposite the market,

Checking the cinema times - we are going to see Dunkirk tonight.

Then a trip up the road to watch a few of the cars in the  the Circuit des Remparts Charente International Rally.

Austin 7 followed by a Bugatti.

Citroen 2CV Van.

Audi R8.

Ford Mustang.

Ford Mustang

Lotus Elan Sprint Coupe.

Lotus Elise.

MG TC.

Morgan 4/4

Porsche 911.

Renault Alpine.

Renault Alpine.

Renault 8 Gordini with an MGA behind.

Simca Ariane.

Triumph TR.

and last but certainly not least a Porsche carrera.