The spring is sprung newsletter from France

Bonjour,

I hope you and yours are well.

It’s been a busy time here in my little corner of France. At last the sun has come out after the wettest winter and start to spring that anyone can remember, including my 94-year-old neighbour Claudette. Her favourite Victor Hugo quote, one she uses for almost every occasion that requires your spirits to be lifted is, “Even after the darkest night, the sun will rise.” Well, there have been plenty of days when it rose over the last few months but we couldn’t see it behind a thick layer of cloud.

The better weather has meant the whole village is abuzz with life – people are out cutting the grass, sprucing up the flower beds and sowing vegetable seeds. The wildlife is positively peppy. Walking the dogs every day up and down the hills of the Seven Valleys where I live in the north of France, we see buzzards, storks, pheasants and wild birds galore. Deer, rabbits and hares are everywhere, but never close enough to be worried by the dogs. The hedgehogs are back in the garden, they know where I feed the cats and for a few years now the adult hedgehogs have been showing their offspring where the buffet is. Meanwhile my chickens are very lively. They’re mostly getting on a bit now, some of them are several years old but still sprightly – maybe it’s because it’s spring! While I’ve been working in the garden getting my veg beds ready, I played some music and the chickens loved it. I knew they were fans of Lady Gaga, because they run about and make happy noises, but it appears they love Taylor Swift too and were shaking their tail feathers with abandon!

Even Bread Man (if you’re new to this newsletter – he’s not made of bread, he delivers the bread to our village!), has spring fever and he’s been making pastel coloured macarons to celebrate the blue sky days. I’ve been teaching him English for several years now, and he’s been teaching me French – they’re lessons of just a couple of minutes usually as he delivers the flaky golden croissants, crispy baguettes and naughty cakes each week! As a consequence, he now has a bit of a London accent when he says English words. And I have a Ch’ti accent – the local patois! I’ll tell you more about Bread Man next week!

I’m off travelling this month – to the southwest of France – Cahors and the beautiful Célé Valley, and to Villers-Cotterêts in Picardy where a new museum has been opened celebrating the French language, and to wonderful Arras, the historic capital of Pas-de-Calais. Later I’ll be heading to Cognac and to Clermont Ferrand and the volcanoes of the Auvergne region. Come with me via Instagram as I post photos and videos on my journeys.

Wishing you a lovely bon weekend from my little corner of France,

Janine
Editor

Read the whole newsletter and see this week’s top features and recipe picks

Janine Marsh is Author of My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream, My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life and Toujours la France: Living the Dream in Rural France all available as ebook, print & audio, on Amazon everywhere & all good bookshops online. Her new book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life.

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