Thursday 9th September

The French have a tendency for neatness in their gardens and parks, and the rows of vines are always in beautifully straight rows.  We are always delighted to see the serried rows of plum trees, all exactly planted in geometrical rows so that as you pass in the car they form straight diagonal then vertical and again diagonal rows.  Another difference is that there seem to be very few hedgerows and the verges are generally well mown too.  This means that you have lovely undisturbed views over the sometimes massive fields of sunflowers or corn-on-the cob.  Here in South West France we are surrounded by gently rolling hills too, so there are constantly beautiful views.

There seems to be an abundance of wild life here too.  We have seen wild deer a few times, once even crossing the road just a few feet ahead of us, and hares and rabbits are quite common too, and we have seen one or two foxes.  Lizards scurry along white walls in the bright sunshine and there is no shortage of insects.  There are multitudes of birds, now massing for their winter migration, sometimes early in the morning or in the evening you can see them all land on a certain wall and perch on the vertical sides before flying off en-masse.  We are also seeing birds of prey, either circling the fields, wings spread wide as they ride on the thermals, or perched majestic on telegraph poles; some are quite large too and may even be eagles.  We sometimes forget how vast France is, it is several times larger in area then Britain, and it is a haven for wild-life.  Driving along in England with tall hedgerows and overgrown verges we don’t seem to notice as much, but we love just driving along tiny country roads here, often high up on ridges and just marveling at the gorgeous views and trying to spot sparrow-hawks or other birds of prey in the sky.