As a tree…. or blue sky…..I offer you both from our garden this morning.

Trees and blue sky in the garden at 8am, May 24 2010

I remember hearing “Blue and green should never be seen” – well, it is wrong

Since moving to Languedoc; in the South of France, over 15 years ago, Carole and I have offered b&B and apartment rentals, firstin out home in Nizas and now in our home in Montblanc near Pezenas and Agde.

When we sold our Nizas home and bought our home in Montblanc, we were able to use the years of experience and feedback from our guests to adapt our new home for visitors. For the last two years I have been building and constructing the new services for our apartments and I have made them so we can arrange the accommodation to suit a wide variety of demands.

There are four main double bedrooms, four bathrooms, four kitchens and three living rooms which can be put together in a wide variety of combinations, all living rooms can also accommodate two more people in good double or single beds, so we can, in total, comfortably have 14 guests staying with us. We also have our own home with four bedrooms which is carefully integrated, yet insulated and isolated from the guest accommodation.

Getting the heating, air conditioning, sound insulation, private access, dishwashers, washing machines and all the paraphernalia of a total of seven complete family units with parking access to the swimming pool and yet maintaining privacy and a calm environment – has been difficult – fun – but difficult – yet I have done it and I am blogging today to give myself a small pat on the back.

Sunday mornings I usually make coffee and fetch bread from the bakers just a few yards from our front door. Today is Valentines day so Carole will get chocolates with her coffee, Sunday paper, fresh bread and jam in bed this morning.

I have blogged a few times about the pleasure of being able to have warm bread and croissants on the table fresh from the bakers seven days a week – but today was exceptional – I like a type of bread called pavé, a “plumper” loaf than a baguette or banette, there was none on the shelf this morning, but my (very pretty) baker was just taking some from the oven in the shop as I walked in – the bread was too hot to hold so she gave me a shopping bag to carry the bread home.

Vive la France

I have often tried to keep a regular and up-to-date news post about local news, especially the latest travel information for people coming to our home.

There are many Internet sites with pages of information about weather, flights and rail services. To add this t oa web page is a full time job, using syndicated feeds also has problems as so much other rubbish can be loaded. We have a local site which focuses on these services and the travel page is one of the best have found, so as I cannot improve on a good service, her it is

HeraultWhatsOn Travel News

I finished, almost, working on the Chambre d’hôtes and rental apartments in our house during September, this was four months later than planned after a years hard work and all our savings.

I had hoped to start marketing our home in Villa Roquette last March, but only really started last month – so we are just beginning to get bookings and iti going to be a very quiet Christmas.

It does mean I can make sure all the details are finished and make the home a really good quality, charming and comfortable place for you next year.

Bread and dripping for Christmas though