Last week at Nelson House

We had more wet walks with Mortimer

And again please!

as well as his friends.

Glad Bennett wasn't coming home with us

Work recommenced on the second guest room (panic ye not visitors - the other guest room is still intact!).

Here we go again!

By which time I'd decided I'd had enough of wearing wellies and steel toe caps and bought these

Gorgeous!

Spent some time on Pinterest and found Gascony Magic via Kalba at Grillou. Makes me want a holiday.

Slippery stuff piping

Made piping so that I could finish a long overdue upholstery project of mine.



And made this divine dessert for New Year.

Winter fruit compote

If you want to have a go:

Pour a bottle of Pinot Noir into a pan with 6 juniper berries, 4 cloves, 1 star anise & a vanilla pod. Simmer for 20 minutes, remove from heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of Cointreau or Calvados. Or probably any fruit based spirit.

In a non-metallic bowl put 250g. dried apricots, 200g. prunes (Agen if possible but softish ones if not), and 100g. dried cherries. Pour over the wine, cover and infuse overnight.

Remove the fruit and set aside. Put the wine in a pan with 125g dark brown soft sugar and heat gently until dissolved, making a light syrup. Pour over the fruit and add 2 oranges peeled and sliced, 100g. walnuts and some fresh figs.

Serve at room temperature with creme fraiche or cream and a glass of dessert wine.

Simple but utterly gorgeous!


Wonder what will happen this week?

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