twin pleasures

We've got double fun this week, as among the lovely guests to our guest cottage are two totally delicious little twin girls.

They may have travelled around the world to visit us, that has never stopped them smiling and being up for any fun going on around them.

Jet lag seems to be an unknown concept, so  .....

they have taken apples to the horses each day, 

played in their bedroom ...

(I had such fun reworking the cottage to accommodate twin beds)

discovered some of my girls' old friends ....

brought our little play house back to life ...

and finally they have given Gibson the opportunity to feel big and  responsible, 

and for that he is truly grateful!

great guests in our cottage

We have been lucky this year to have such great guests coming to stay in our cottage.  Many visitors from Australia and from the States, all totally delightful.  

Just today, I waved goodbye to Debra from 5th and State.   She stayed for a couple of days, and it was great to get to know her and show her around our part of the world.  You'll hear more about her visit later on.

In August,  Julie from Being Ruby came to stay. If you know Julie's blog, you'll be familiar with her talent as a photographer, and today she has been kind enough to write a post about her stay in the cottage and show some of  the beautiful pictures she took here.  She has such a good eye for taking a picture, I just love these shots.

I think she might share some of her pictures of our brocante hunting soon, so if you'd like to see Normandy through her lens pop on over and say hi from me.

Thank you Julie, you are the best!!

play houses, jugs and meadow flowers

You can tell I'm still winding down .... had some more fun with flowers today!

Preparing our guest cottage for a family arriving with children the right age to enjoy the adjacent play house.

I walked up the path to feed the horses and found some pretty field flowers,

then I dug out some old enamel pitchers,

then one thing led to another and finally I just grabbed the camera and went for the whole thing!!

I sure hope they enjoy it!!

images from the guest cottage - before and after

At last the cottage is totally redecorated, we welcomed our first guests of the season a few weeks ago, and now it will be non stop until the end of May.

Several people have been kind enough to ask how the redecorating has been going, the chairs etc, so I though I'd show you a few snapshots.

recognise this chair?!

and this wide striped ticking? 

The downstairs bedroom has loads of new cushions

 one of my favourtie grain sacks on the wall

on the bedroom wall I've framed some embroidery journals

before and afters in our guest cottage

You may remember that a while back I asked your opinion on window treatment for the eaves bedroom in our guest cottage.  I thought you might like to see progress so far.

I worked out a simple method of fixing a crown for draped curtains behind the bed head.  I have been experimenting with linen drapes, lined with antique embroidered voile.  This is a good start, but at 28" each,  the drapes are nowhere near wide enough.  I'll be needing at least twice that width to give a proper fullness.

Here is the before shot!

There has been good progress redecorating the kitchen as well, calming down colours and freshening up.  It doesn't always need a total makeover to make a room feel welcoming.

and the before shot, not sure how I stuck with these colours for so long!

There'll be more to come, next stop will be the sitting room.
  I'm currently upholstering this baby!

watch this space ...

Brocante Tour Visits

My fixed-date brocante weekends are totally booked up now, but I am still taking bookings for tailor made short stays, including brocante tours, visits to châteaux and gardens, farmers markets, picnics and meals at home!

If you interested in visiting us for a day, a couple of days or a week, please don't hesitate to get in touch.  Accommodation would be in our guest cottage or in the local b&b le Clos de Mondetour.

Prices vary according to activities requested; but typically a weekend including all meals, station pick up, one night accommodation and trips to brocantes and a château would cost around 400 euros per person.  For a week day visit, without accommodation, including brocantes and lunch prices start at  120 euros per person.