Friday 1st November

We have had some lovely sunny autumn weather cette petit vacances.  Occasional showers, especially while I was painting the terrace of course, but mostly clear blue skies and sunny.  The mornings are usually misty, with a visible layer of white foggy mist laying like cotton wool over the rolling countryside, but by lunchtime the sun has burnt it all away and we have a few short hours of sunshine, almost enough to sunbathe in, and easily reaching about 24 degrees.  The fields look so different, most of the ranks of tall sunflowers have blackened and been harvested, the vines are looking straggly and the leaves turning brown, the remaining stacks of the corn on the cob are brown and dying off.  Several fields have been ploughed and tilled, the soil a rich vibrant brown colour.  But most of the trees still have their leaves and are all shades of green still.  It has been a really pleasant break, driving along through the countryside, stopping here and there for a coffee or to walk the dogs, wandering around the market with nothing we needed to buy, but unable to resist some gorgeous trompette mushrooms and those fat misshapen ancienne tomates.

It really is a lovely time of year, but now that we have had the house over a year, we love all the seasons.  The winters aren’t too cold, and again you get beautiful clear crisp days.  Spring is warmer than in England with flowers everywhere, Summer is glorious, hot without being too hot, and now the Autumn is gentle too.

We keep meeting English people who have decided to live here all year round.  Today we even met an Australian about our age, who has given up his beach-side life in New South Wales for the rolling hills of Dordogne.  He loves the food, the lifestyle, the culture.  It really is wonderful.