A few days in London

We are in London for a mini break, house-sitting for our friends in Islington, which involves looking after a lovely house and Thomas the ancient cat, meanwhile Kevin and Lorraine are looking after BeBop in France.
Today we did the tourist bit and got on a bus.......... stopped at St Paul's and the Millenium Bridge

then on to the V and A for coffee and some inspiration

 back on a bus to Piccadilly for some window shopping and tea at the RA

a great day out. Tomorrow Culli is back to the RA to see the Richard Roger's exhibition and I am off to Ally Pally for the Knitting and Stitching show.

La Rochelle Aquarium

We have just had all the family to stay for a week, exhausting but great fun. On the last day we went to the Aquarium in La Rochelle, beautifully laid out with some amazing fish and the kids loved it, but you can't help feeling sorry for those fish endlessly swimming around in circles.......
Today is the start of our big knitting and crochet workshop here with tutors Jane Crowfoot and Debbie Abrahams and Culli is just off to La Rochelle to pick up the first guest! Look out for daily reports
www.knittingholidaysinfrance.com
www.accommodationcharente-maritime.com

Pet Friendly Chambres d'Hotes

We still have a few free nights for B and B guests in August.
La Verderie is situated 12km from the A10, a perfect stopping off point if you are heading for the South of France and pet dogs are very welcome! Visit the website here or email Sue to check availability.

It's snowing in La Verderie

I realise that most of the UK is covered in a blanket of snow, but it is quite a novelty at La Verderie. It's only the second time in 8 years that we have had snow that looks like it is here to stay and the last time was about 5 years ago which was the first time some of the younger children in our little hamlet had ever seen snow. Being snowed in could be good for the book, if I can't go anywhere I will have to sit and work on it, we have logs, wine and a freezer full of food.........

More Blues

Another trip to Cognac yesterday for a sunny afternoon in the park with Bo Weavil followed by the BluesEaters at the Irish bar.
Today it's a David, Yvonne and John's joint 65th birthday party, with music provided by Culli's band Bedrock. It has rained in the night, so fingers crossed for a dry afternoon and evening!
Kim leaves on Tuesday, so back to work then with a vengeance, I have two bedrooms to paint before more B&B guests arrive in two weeks!

The move

I finally seem to be surfacing from the mountain of packing boxes, my office still looks like a tornado has gone through it but things are improving. Kangaroo is temporarily set up in a bedroom at La Verderie, where it will have to stay until we get the work to the chai and the barn finished (which could be some time!) I have signed the contract for another book with a deadline of early April so the pressure is on again.

The move was even more stressful than moving house, with the added complication of keeping the computers running, finding stock in the mass of collapsible boxes and black bin liners, sending out orders and trying to keep all the customers happy. On top of all this I have to complete half year accounts for the UK, complete my registrations in France, decide on the best postage options, re-price and change loads of things on the website, design some new kits for KnitKits and then there is the garden.......

My poor little courtyard has been totally neglected for the last 6 months, so am trying to spend a little time every day out there. The weather is fantastic at the moment, still cold at night with a frost but up to 23 degrees in the daytime.

The crochet workshop here in October with Jane Crowfoot is now fully booked, which is really exciting. I am emailing tutors this week to arrange some more dates for 2012, so watch this space! We have had a few chambres d'hotes enquiries and  http://www.accommodationcharente-maritime.com/ is starting to get more hits which is good news.

Bed and Breakfast in France and Arts and Crafts in Crazanne

A few people have asked what has happened to the blog recently.....? well, I have been busy, busy, busy. We have finally finished decorating the final part of the house for the chambres d'hotes, see the new website http://www.accommodationcharente-maritime.com/ and have had guests! I also have two new knitting books in the pipeline, samples have just gone off for the first, so fingers crossed that sells and I have signed the contract for the second one - yikes! Now I have all sorts of scary deadlines to meet.

On Sundy I was invited to take part in the annual arts and crafts event at Crazanne, a pretty little village about half an hour away from us. Various artists and craft workers set up in gardens around the village to promote their craft, I was in our friends' Dick and Jackie's barn which was a great spot for an exhibition. The night before and all morning we had the most horrendous thunderstorms, so was glad to be under cover, however the sun did come out for the afternoon. It wasn't as busy as it could have been, but we had fun, I handed out leaflets and talked a few people into coming along to one of my knitting groups. My neighbour in the barn, Hazel was showing her beautiful ceramics and gave us all a hands on chance with some clay - since a brief fling with pottery at college I have always fancied going back to it, sadly not enough hours in the day at the moment...!

The chicks have flown the nest

The little Redstart family have gone out into the big wide world, they were all out of the nest yesterday morning and by the afternoon were launching themselves off the beams in the barn, no sign of them today so hopefully the five of them have survived.