Last Thursdays visit to Montbrun Bocage

The church in Montbrun Bocage

A view of rue des moines

View of the chateau from the village

Another view of the chateau

Montbrun Bocage

This website is in French, using the google translator will enable you to find out more about this charming French Village.

More Garden Photos

The front door after the tulips have finished.

The back garden. I am trying to establish the garden so that it will have interest at all times of the year. As you can see here I have used a variety of plant colors and also a variety of different textures in establishing this part of the garden. The tulips that you see in the back of the photo were at the end of their blooming period.

In all of the years that I have been gardening, this is the first time that there has ever been grass involved. I am of the opinion that grass is for cows to eat, and does not belong in gardens. When we started our gite, we decided that we needed a place for the guest to be able to sit in the shade and have a place to read. I use a push mower to mow it about once a week. Keeping all of the invasive grasses and weeds out of it takes more time than the mowing does.

This is creeping thyme that I planted as a ground cover. This has been there for five years now, and provides great color early in the season.

Spring Flowers in the Front Garden

As usual last fall I did not get the all the tulips that I purchased in the ground. This is very normal for me, I always buy more than I have places to plant them. After January 1, I ended up puting them in pots. I did not have any idea that the results would be like this.

After doing so well with them this year, I plan on repeating it next year, for one thing you can place the pots in the shade, as these are after they have opened. I am going to experiment with leaving some of them in the pots for the entire year, just to see what the results will be.

This Japanese peony is said to be over a hundred years old. Not sure how anyone knows for sure, but this was what we were told by the previous owners.

We planted the olive tree this year to take the place of an Italian cypress that did not look very good.

Last Sunday's drive

It was a clear day and I decided to drive towards the Pyrenees to try to get some good photos of the snow. This is less than twenty minutes from the house where I decided to stop and take some photos.

The highest mountain in the photo is the Pic du Midi. On any clear day it always shows up on the horizon. These photos were taken on the border of the Haute Garonne and the Haute Pyrenees departments.

This photo is taken towards the southeast. St Gaudens would be in this direction from where the photo was taken.

This is one of the many houses that we saw when we were out that have been left to the elements and within another twenty years will no longer be here. I have know people who have purchased houses in this condition and fixed them up and had wonderful homes. The thing is, this place has the views that are in the photos above.

The Pyrenees

These photos were taken on 21Dec2008.

The Pyrenees

The highest peak that you see it the Pic du Midi.

Pic du Midi

Another view of Pic du Midi

The village that you see in this photo is Rejaumont, France.

Montbrun Bocage Automne Foire Part V

The main thing that draws people to one of these fairs is the fact that they always do a brocante, or vide-greniers (village wide flea market) in conjunction with their fair. You see some interesting things, sometimes a bargain, but most of the time overpriced.






Clark is looking for bargains. When I took the photo I did not even realize that he was in it. I was trying to get a photo that would give people an idea about the character of the village.

More of the vendors at the fair. This is the front of the church in Montbrun Bocage. The village and the church dates back to the end of the 1200's.

Still more of the vendors. The only thing we purchased was a block of beeswax from one of the vendors. As I said in an earlier post the village is one of my favorites in this part of France.

Not every street was filled with vendors. This is one of the most interesting buildings in the village. Not sure what the building was originally, but it has been restored.

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Montbrun Bocage Automne Foire Part IV

When I started this series of post on the Montbrun Bocage Foire, I should have started with this picture and explained more about the fair. This weekend event draws many people from this part of France. It has the reputation of being one of the best fairs as far as the quality and variety of the merchandise for sale. When we arrived we were directed to a parking lot that had been created in a meadow just outside of the village. Getting out of the car, this was the first image we saw.

I have posted other photos of this ruined Chateau on another post. I am not sure how to make a link to it, but it was the 3Avril post. This is looking at the Chateau from the other side of the village. I will post more photos of the village in the next post, as I have found it to be one of my favorite places to visit in the area.

This man was performing on the steps of the church. So many of these artist travel from village to village to perform in the small events and they always bring a smile to my face. The doors to the church are behind him and the balloon sculpt er appears to be coming out of the church.



This was a samba group that was getting ready to perform. It seemed as if they were waiting for all of the members to arrive. We wanted to hear them so we waited around the area, and sure enough when another two people arrived they were ready for their performance. If you look at the sign on the chair it is advertising the special that is being served in the outdoor restaurant.

The group was worth waiting for. This is where the different groups would assemble before marching (walking) through the village streets performing.