The end of July

The sunflowers are nearly over and the blackberries, sloes and mushrooms are ready for picking, it feels like autumn has arrived already! Be Bop has been helping himself to blackberries straight from the bush and is covered with juice all over his nose.

The chateau at Crazannes

We had our photo club outing yesterday in the pretty village of Crazannes, it was a baking hot day and I was late as we had B&B guests the night before so walked for miles around the village and down to the chateau at high speed taking photos to enter in the autumn photographic competition. After this it was back to Dick and Jackie's for a lovely lunch followed by a trip around Les carrieres de Crazannes, the amazing limestone quarries that were used by the Romans. Stone from the quarries was used to build the Arc of Germanicus in Saintes and many of the Romanesque churches in the area. The cool shady paths through the quarries were the best place to be on a hot day, it was like being in a different world with trailing ivy and scenery straight from 'Raiders of the lost Ark', no sign of Harrison Ford but plenty of inspiration for knitting designs with beautiful leaf shapes, vivid greens and creamy limestone textures.

Crazanne quarry