It has been a great summer so far. Chateau restoration is slow but steady with a few decorating jobs well underway. The old front door has a new coat of paint having had lots of restoration on the beautiful chestnut wood underneath. The metal door furniture is being cleaned ready for putting back on. A tiny storage room has been painted and the floor sanded and varnished.
Outside, the haymaking has gone well with lots of hay in storage ready for winter. This is always a huge task for us, but it is so satisfying to be self sufficient in feed during the winter months.
We have recently returned from Italy on a pen buying trip. It was great to just get in the car and go. No airport queues, no ferries. 690 miles of beautiful scenery, lovely food and interesting places to stay. Our journey trough France was great, like browsing a wine catalogue Macon, Chablis, Chardonnay, each region proudly showing signs for the products each region is famous for.
As a keen gardener and grower, I love peering over hedges as we travel along to see what everyone else is growing. As the landscape changes and each region differs it is great to see how gardens and fields differ to what we can grow in Normandy. The best thing – acres and acres of beautiful sunflowers.
As we drove closer to the Alps there were lovely towns and villages around lakes of blue water, we stopped for somewhere to stay. We found a stunning chateau to spend the night. What a treat to stay in such a lovely place with so much history and best of all it was finished! Not like our constant chaos of unfinished rooms. Parts of this chateau were a lot older than ours, with stone stairs and interesting architectural features. There was a chapel in the grounds undergoing a major refurbishment.
Then we were off again, through the Mont Blanc Tunnel to Italy. Magnificent views and such welcoming and friendly people. We purchased the pen collection, then home again. 400 pens to sort through and photograph for our internet shop. But what a fantastic collection of pens!
Whatever activity is going on, it is accompanied by the whine of the 3D printer. A complete set of table settings is being printed and painted for a wedding next month. We certainly have a wide variety of projects at the moment. Designing and creating beautiful objects for our customers.
