In April the work I had done on the established Iris beds was beginning to pay off, and I also discovered a lovely Tamarix on one of the lower terraces.

John & Glenys came to visit in their camper van. Together we discovered the fascinating grotte at Rouffignac. John did sterling work uprooting the multitude of baby oak trees which were pushing up through the new gravel in Petit Versailles, and we benefited from Glenys’s archaeological expertise as she identified flints from prehistoric arrowheads in the gravel garden and we imagined primitive man admiring our view as they chipped at their hunting tools.

At the end of April we enjoyed a week of walking and sightseeing in Croatia in company with Dominique’s walking group.

By mid May the re-landscaping of the space between the garage and the house was complete. Instead of a scrubby sloping lawn bisected by  a gravel path, leading to a gravel rectangle and doubtful lean-to on the garage wall, we had 4 narrow terraced beds rising up from the parking area to the pool.

It only remained to get them planted. I contemplated trying to organize a work party of willing friends but the thought of importing top soil and gravel, and of laying down a weed suppressing membrane was daunting. Fortunately Jan and Jardins du Perigord came to my rescue once again, willing to do the work and source the plants to my design. My plan for this area was a Mediterranean style garden, borrowing from images I had seen of La Loupe in Provence. I wanted to create a tapestry of evergreens in different shades of green and grey which would grow together over time, with lavender bordered paths between. Flowering plants were not excluded but flowers were a secondary feature. I had until autumn to complete my design.

In the meantime I cleared the border on walnut terrace, again, planning to plant in the autumn. I was aiming for a cool feel, blues and white with some yellow highlights. I ordered drought tolerant plants from Pepinieres Filippi, and, in defiance of the deer, a few yellow roses.

The new boundary wall at the bottom of the drive was now complete, and with the trees gone there was space for some shrubs to brighten the entry. I bought a pick-axe and managed to dig some planting holes. My prize purchase was a Cornus Controversus, long coveted, and lovely it was for the week after I planted it. Then we went back to Scotland. When we got back the deer had shown their appreciation by chewing off every leaf. It did not recover and has been replaced with a white hibiscus which I had removed when I turned the small bed at the back kitchen door into a herb garden. Deer do eat the hibiscus, but not with any great enthusiasm. The chaenomeles and wigelia I planted at the same time have survived, but once again there were thefts of some of the smaller shrubs which have had to be replaced.

I also started a new bed, “the stone circle” since I bordered it with rocks, over the patch of grass at the north end of the parking area where the geothermie wells had been dug, largely to discourage vehicles from driving over the wells and the associated piping, which I had been warned was vulnerable. Early planting of dwarf conifers, which appear in general to do well in my neighbours’ gardens, were not successful, so that bed continues to evolve.

The perennial planting in the Gravel garden was completed in May, in lovely weather. The Wine Tasters arrived just as the planting finished, they had about an hour to admire it before, predictably as we had guests, the rain started, at least the plants were well watered in. The rain lasted most of the weekend, but at least we managed lunch in the garden at Tremolat before they left.

The “Angellos” which I had purchased form the brocante at St Capraise arrived the same day, along with a stone greyhound, christened Sirus, who totally fails to scare the rabbits from his vantage point guarding the Gravel Garden.

The Angellos were to provide a feature in the rather odd circular paved area at the top turning of the drive. I have no idea what its original purpose was, too shallow for a pool.

The Iris I had planted our first autumn. just uphill from the Angellos, also began flowering that spring.

I returned in mid June to spend a few days with my father. It had been dry so I set to watering the new plantings, which of course brought the rain down again. Memorable moment, soaked through in grubby shorts and t-shirt from trying to set up hoses in the rain when the local Jehovah’s witnesses arrived, I did not share their view that it was a good time for a chat!

Rob & I managed a trip to Perigeux, then he went home and I set off for a wine course in Beaune. Peter had arrived when I got back, and the rain had stopped  we spent the rest of that visit buying up all the mini sprinklers and small bore tubing in the vicinity to set up a more permanent watering arrangement. Our efforts were rewarded, considering the late planting the Gravel Garden was looking pretty good by mid July.

By August it was even better.

We returned to Scotland at the beginning of August. As we were leaving we noticed that one of the feet on the fridge had begun to sink through a crumbling kitchen floorboard. The carpenter thought it was probably just damp. He arranged to do the repair in September.