Leesa's monthly blog

May 2023 – la Fête du Muguet

So the start of May, the 1st, is a significant bank holiday in France known as La Fête du Muguet.  Long associated with spring, renewal and luck, lily of the valley blooms everywhere and the beautiful fragrance fills the Manoir’s front garden, It is given as a gift and it’s thought that the tradition of offering … Read more

March & April 2023 – Gardening time

March has got away from me. I think with the start of spring and the garden beginning to open up, the start of the month was magical. The month was stormy in terms of billowing winds – good grief the roof creaked (actually thought it was coming in one night!) and it snapped a tree … Read more

February 2023 – the month of love

The month of love.  Only for the House!!  So now the rewiring and plastering of the stairs and landing have been completed (still wiring in bedrooms and Studio to go) the layers of sealing and painting is the next thing to do. I always start painting like “whoo yes it’s looking so clean” and then second layer … Read more

January 2023 – Bon année

A very happy new year to you all. So new year is a big thing here in France – not so much the fireworks (can never find any…) but parties in the village Salle de Fetes and at home. Lots more decorations, party hats and party poppers can be found in supermarkets and party shops … Read more

November 2022 – Birthday month

tiles

We are racing through the year, November already. Cersei’s birthday was celebrated with an old fashion dormitory style sleepover and fire pit with her new friends.  It was also my birthday and around this time is when I started to miss my friends and family. You can be so busy with this exciting project but then … Read more

October 2022 – French lessons

“TIMBER….!” The garden here is lovely, full of trees but unfortunately lots are dead and crowding the area. The garden has not been tended for many many years. So we got lovely Paul, the tree surgeon, in to tell me what was dead, could be saved or just tidied up. Paul has done half the garden so … Read more

September 2022 – Cersei starts school

Oh my, the heat is still on! Most days hitting 29 degrees but definitely cooler in the mornings, sometimes fog about 11/12 degrees. Which reminds me of the 15 panes of glass that are missing from the windows…eek! More about that later….  Cersei has started school …yay! And loves it  …whew! She has met a … Read more

July & August 2022 – And, we’re off!

Is it really over a month since we left leafy Lindfield for our new adventure? Well, from the first opening of the Manoir’s enormous door with an equally enormous key it has become an amazing adventure. I remember actually not quite believing it was truly ours for the first three weeks… a bit like an … Read more