Summer Memories N° 3 - lune de miel (3)

Les Jardins d'Angélique à Montmain

We were curious to visit this garden, because it said to have British inspirations.

Un critère de séléction pour visiter les jardins d'Angélique etait la déscription d'une ambiance britannique.

Unfortunately I have not made a lot of photographs. Only because I was so amazed by this garden . I always was looking and discovering and wondering and I totally forgot to take photos!

Malheureusement, je n'ai pas pris beaucoup de photos dans le jardin d'Angélique. Parce que j'étais totalement absorbé par ce que nous découvrions dans ce merveilleux jardin!

At the entrance, as if it said: a heartily welcome
- à l'entrée: comme si on nous invitait de tout coeur

This thing about the heart did not leave me during all our visit. This place touched my heart.
Le symbole du coeur ne me quittait plus pendant toute notre visite. Cet endroit me touchait au coeur.

In fact, what one sees there, is the visitor's toilets!

En réalité, ceci sont les toilettes pour visiteurs!

I loved every single detail, the harmonious colors, the "thatched" roof and the bunnies.

J'adorais chaque détail - les couleurs en harmonie avec le toit couvert ainsi que les lapins.

The manor looked peaceful and all was quiet.

Le manoir avait l'air si paisible et tout etait calme.

too much silence...
Trop calme....

Nobody at the garden entrance but the gates were open

Personne à l'entrée mais la porte était ouverte

Suddenly a well known welcoming noise

Subitement quelqu'un nous souhaitait la bienvenue

It was the cat!
le chat du jardin d'Angélique!

At the last end of the front garden, half hidden in the border, we found eventually a lady gardener. The owner herself, explaining us, that on Tuesdays the garden is closed.... After a little chat, we were allowed to stay and to discover and to explore and to admire.

A la fin du jardin devant le manoir, nous trouvions une jardinière en plein travail. C'était la propriétaire qui nous expliquait que le jardin était fermé le mardi... Après une petite causette, elle nous laissait rester et explorer et admirer son domaine.

Every corner was tidy, flowery and just nice.

Chaque partie était propre, fleurissant et c'était tout simplement beau.

I would have loved to discover inside the manor!
J'aurais tant aimé de découvrir l'intérieur du manoir!

When going further round the house, one arrived to the other part of the garden and the dominant part in it, is the stream. The stream has a good flow and determines the many walkways. I am not able to describe the scenery, it was such an impressive discovery of well grown trees, fat hydrangeas - one of the favourites of the owner - big thalictrums, several old fragrant roses, grasses, colourful acers. The very mixture for our taste.
En contournant la maison on arrivait à la partie du jardin où une rivière coule rapidement. Cette rivière détermine aussi les différents chemins. Je suis incapable de commenter toute la scènerie car c'était une telle découverte d'arbres bien grandis, de grosses hortenses - une passion de la propriétaire - d'immenses thalictrums, de vieilles roses bien parfumées, des graminées, des érables. Tout une panoplie à notre goût.

After that complexity of impressions, we continued our road and headed to Beuvron-on-Auge, in the heart of Calvados.

Au revoir Jardin d'Angélique! Garde ta beauté.
Nous continuons pour Beuvron-en-Auge en plein Calvados.
tbc

Summer Memories N° 3 - lune de miel (2)

In case of interest, the webadresse of the hotel is http://www.chateaudebrecourt.com/

After a wonderful dinner at candlelight with all kind of delicious Normandy food, a nice digestif in the bar and a fantastic sleep by open windows facing out to the park, we woke up by gentle country rain. We had then a fabulous breakfast in the morning before leaving for Monet's garden and house in Giverny. We had been warned, that the place is not big enough for all the visitors and in fact, they compared it to the crowds of Sissinghurst gardens in Kent.

Therefore we arrived early and queued up before it opened and were nearly first to go in. Soon after that, the coaches with plenty of Japanese arrived as Monet is very famous over there.

We were truely stunned by all the impressions.

We visited also the inside of the house and whilst it is forbidden to take photographs, you can see a lot of good photos shot recently and published in this months Art & Décoration. Unpeuloufoque kindly give me the hint and I got the magazine immediately.

This is the view from the top of the steps into the garden

The house garden is not that big but full with flowers of all kinds

Once we had passed through the tunnel under the street (how strange), we arrived at the stream.

We just followed the path - as everybody - and then arrived at this spot: The famous waterlily pond at a first glance!

...moving on...

One can wander round and round....

The light was fanatastic that day and one could easily imagine, why Monet had to paint so many times his waterlilies and could always change from green tones to blue ones as he would see it then in the different moments of the day or seasons.

Whilst it would be difficult to top these wonderful impressions, we decided to continue our way direction Calvados. The day was young and the sun was out and the "Jardins d'Angélique" seemed worthwhile to visit. Tbc.

Summer Memories N° 3 - lune de miel (1)

This looked like a lazy summer, indeed.

But not inactive, if you know what I mean.

L'été était relaxe mais pas sans activités.

The humming and buzzing did suddenly inspire to have (another) party.

On était inspiré d'organiser une autre fête, cette fois-ci surtout pour les amis en Belgique. Le soleil présent, c'était joyeux et on a rigolé et chanté jusque tard dans la douce nuit estivale.

Après avoir rangé le maximum, nous laissions la maison à notre garde (merci Ben!) et partions en lune de miel. Destination Normandie. 4 jours mémorables pour visiter quelques endroits superbes.

The summer party, especially organised for our regional friends, was again on a warm, sunny day. We laughed a lot and sung until late night.

Once the most of the left overs were dealt with, we started our honeymoon. Destination Normandy. 4 days to visit special places which are since long on our wish list.

As usual, no reservations were made. We just had decided to start with the visit at Monet's garden in Giverny and found this beautiful place. A quick investigation if they had vacancies and at what conditions, a wee negotiation what was possible if we took the evening meal as well and after the inspection of the room, we decided to stay for the night.

Comme d'habitude, nous partions sans réservation. Nous cherchions juste la proximité des jardins de Monet à Giverny. Cet endroit-ci nous plaisait de l'extérieur et après avoir demandé si il y avait une chambre de libre, nous négocions le menu du soir en plus et décidions de rester pour la nuit.

Quel début pour une lune de miel!

What a beautiful start for a honeymoon!

More later....

Summer Memories N° 2

June was such an eventful month!

We sadly lost our last two geese - they became victims of a polecat or something like that. Still now, we are sad about the empty, quiet compound.

But then, one early morning, we woke up by a loud noise.

When I went out for the walk with the dog, nothing to hear or see. But once we came back, suddenly there was this wee kitten running behind us on the street. The dog wanted immediately to go after it and his eyes showed this special gloom of generations of hunting dogs. Once the dog was put in the house, the wee kitten re-appeared and slowly came to me, begging loudly for help.
It stayed two days in the court yard and would not move anymore, the vet came and found it had cat flue and was not in a very good shape. But nothing so bad that it could not be healed. It is obvious that this one, as well, has been thrown out from the window of a car.

The wee one adopted me. I have never been adopted by a cat. I generally prefer dogs or horses. It took two days of permanent observation and I was telling off the dog who still did not want him any good. But finally, he accepted the cat.
The wee one was namedRobRoy. RobRoy McGregor. Here he is:

The most disturbed one in this household was definetely the grey cat. She is a grumpy one and since RobRoy's arrival has never been friendly to any of us anymore. But eventually, she will have to give in.

In the meantime, the two boys are big friends. The wee one can always count on the protection of his big brown chocolate bar. Who would ever have believed that?

Other wee ones also had a happy event:

It was the celebration of the 1 st birthday of the twins, my grand sons.

And summer continued being warm and sunny.

The rose 'American pillar' was at it's best this year.

Then a spontaneous visit in the arboretum in Kalmthout -near Antwerp - took place. Again, fantastic summer weather, blue sky, no clouds and nearly no other visitors as it was a working day.

But see yourself:

Could you smell the air? And feel the warm sun on your skin? And the soft summer noises all around? Ok, from time to time, it was interrupted by the train which leeds alongside the arboretum. But it was a perfect day.

Luckily, summer was not over then. But this is for the next time. Bye for now!

Summer Memories - mémoires d'été N°1

Whilst some guests looked like that after the wedding and needed a good rest, we went back home to Belgium.

Certains de nos invités avaient l'air fatigué et ont pris du repos mais nous retournions directement en Belgique.

Because the second weekend in June and in September are fixed dates to visit Hex.

Car les deuxièmes weekend de juin et septembre sont réservé pour visiter le château d'Hex.

The gardens are open then as well and Hex welcomes a good selection of exhibitors and visitors. One can enjoy the parks around or the big gardens nearby and make nice discoveries for special plants and perennials. The whole atmosphere is relaxed and most times the weather is friendly and mild. Even having been already quite often, we enjoy it every time again.

Quand le domaine de Hex est ouvert au public, on peut faire des beaux promenades dans le parc et les jardins. Le temps est souvent ensoleillé et ayant été plusieurs fois déjà à Hex, nous ne nous lassons pas et nous réjouissons chaque fois d'y aller à nouveau.

In June, the roses are highlights and Hex has got a good collection.
En juin, les innombrables rosiers sont rois.

Plenty of charming details in the stands catch your eye.

Il y en a des masses de jolis décors sur les stands.

Every time these gates get a special floral decoration.
Et chaque fois, ces grilles sont décorées de fleurs.

Interesting people are around. On rencontre des gens intéressants.

I always admire the horse stables. The top picture shows the entrance. Inside, all of them are used as stands for exhibitors. The picture below showes the individual dog kennels belonging to the horse stables.

J'admire toujours les écuries qui sont utilisés comme stand pour les exposants (photo de dessus). La photo de dessous montre les niches des chiens -en dehors des écuries - mais avec accès individuel aux écuries.

view from the rear

vue de derrière

In the walled garden the roses flower in abundance and the pool invites you to jump in. Les murs du jardin sont tous couverts de rosiers et la piscine invite à faire un saut.

Some of the plants can also be found in our garden. (Crambes, Scottish thistles, Catalpa, Penstemon)

Quelques de ces plantes se trouvent aussi chez nous.

This time in June, a special scare crow competition took place.

Les épouvantails étaients les vedettes en juin.

We found also new inspirations for insect hotels or self made butterfly boxes.

Nous trouvions aussi des idées pour des hotels à insectes et papillons, fait-main.

Once at home, the hunted treasures were displayed.

Une fois de retour à la maison, les achats ont trouvés leurs place.

And this is how a beautiful summer day ended:

Voici comment une douce journée d'été se terminait:

Whilst this one had no idea that the quiet and lazy days would soon have an end.

Quant à elle, elle n'en avait aucune idée que ses journées paysibles et calmes allaient se terminer très bientôt.

To be continued...