Armchair traveller

Last Wednesday Andrew succumbed  to a heavy cold which he generously shared with me. I thought I'd got away with it but by Friday evening I had a sore throat and it's full force hit me Saturday afternoon. So I spent 36 hours festering in a chair by the fire. But there was an upside.

I got to snuggle in blankie which you may remember was made for me by a very generous friend.

Bright & beautiful blankie

I finished reading the very atmospheric 'The Winter Ghosts' by Kate Mosse

which is set during winter in Ariege.

Ariege in winter

Ariege took me to drop in on Margaret to see how her packing is going. Having lived in the area for quite a few years Margaret and her husband are returning to the U.K. I still can't believe she is leaving such a beautiful area and clearly such wonderful friends.

But all this winter weather was making me feel a bit chilly so I headed east to see what Vicki Archer was doing. Vicki has an enviable lifestyle split between London & Provence but it's nice to see how the other half live! Staying in France I travelled north to Normandy to catch up on Jennifer who lives a life that I'm more likely to achieve, but is none the less one I envy. Have a look at some of her photographs and enjoy her cheese tastings too.

Jennifer is a pinner and via her link I updated some of my boards.  I loved this fresh look for a granny square throw, something I could do.

White & bright via Pinterest

And found this amazing cake which I forwarded on to my porcine loving sister-in law.

Pigs in mud cake - via Pinterest

Apart from France I visited Italy, Spain, Canada and the Caribbean and who knows where via Pinterest. Not bad from my cold ridden armchair.

Blogging

I started this blog for two main reasons, firstly to keep a record of the work we are doing at Nelson House and secondly to let friends and family (we'd moved a fair distance from them) see what we were up to. Strangely we get more visits from 'strangers' than we do from people we know!

You can't blog without reading other peoples blogs and I have quite a long list that I follow regularly but they fall into four categories

• Design
• Living in France
• Friends ( mainly people we met whilst we were sailing)
• That great catch all - miscellaneous

What's really fun is you get to 'meet' or should I say 'bleet' (BLog+mEET) really interesting people. So I thought that I might share the occasional blog with you, not in any particular order or agenda but just as the whim takes me.

So first off the block is Kalba who lives in the Ariege region of France. I chanced upon her blog fairly recently and soon became entranced, deeply envious and with feelings of under achievement. Kalba is a therapist & counsellor, with her partner ran a very successful restaurant in Norfolk called 'terroir' and has spent the last five years in France restoring an old farmhouse into quality gites and chambre d'hote accommodation. They believe in slow living and I'm sure a stay with them would convince me too!

She blogs about life in what looks like a stunning part of France and shows the work they've done, and continue to do, on the farmhouse.

I've stolen some images from their website to tempt you

Kalba - is that a hint of zebra I see?

Doesn't that look like a great place to unwind? And no I'm not being paid for this, I just wanted to show you why I enjoy blogging so much.

Until next time

Sharon