I am absolutely addicted to old French shabby chic mirrors with delicious silvered mirror plates. I cannot resist them as each one is unique and has a look that simply cannot be reproduced. I love them when the silvering takes on a waterfall effect and those old mercury mirror plates always have such a deep twinkling reflection.

I bring so many home that they are everywhere!! Some ( less shabby chic loving) visitors to the chateau do not understand why anyone would want a mirror they cannot see themselves in! Sadly it is not worth me listing any of these wonderful old treasures for sale as shipping is so difficult. There are no regular carriers from here, they are too big and fragile for La Poste and overseas antique shippers are just SO expensive.

So.....I will have to live with them all. How tough..................................not!!!!

Calvados, cider and stencils!!!

I adore these wonderful old tin stencils that I found at the weekend. In a past life they were used to mark the crates in a local orchard that produced apples for the local calvados. I am listing them for sale tonight but as usual I want to keep them!!!

Come up and see me sometime......................

This card always reminds me of my adorable Jack Russell "Diggers". As soon as we made the move to France six years ago he grew a long set of whiskers on either side of his face that look like a droopy French proposterous moustache. I think it was his effort to become a little continental and to charm the local girls.

One such mademoiselle and a total strumpet is a poodle "Mimi" from a local farm. She quite often goes missing for days on end in her search for a man and you can almost imagine her dressed in a belted mac with the collar up, a cigarette in a long holder, stiletto heels and sporting a beret whilst leaning under a lamp post at dusk. She is the kind of mademoiselle that would have bright red lipstick and a painted on beauty spot. She sometimes takes her latest "Grand Amour" home and Pierrre and Delphine her owners always take them into their home until the brief romance is over. Quite soon Mimi decides she is tired of the affair and ignores her suitor until he leaves dejected with his tail between legs.

 I am hoping that Digbert Fanshaw Brownshaw ( Diggers to his friends) will not fall for her charms!!!

Willy Wonkas............................................

Every day on the way to La Poste with my bags full of parcels I pass this adorable old house in the village.................



The garden is well tended and the shutters are sometimes open and sometimes closed.................


In all the years we have been here and passing it almost every day, I have never seen anyone in there ...............so I have no idea who lives there.................




It`s a little like Willy Wonka`s chocolate factory......no one ever goes in and no one ever comes out!

I have had a fabulous weekend truffling for treasures around the flea markets and brocantes and have some delicious old shabby treasures to list this week. Some superb old textiles and lace, a batch of old dowry linens for re-working and some amazing old invoices dated in the 1890s have come to light again from the Emporium of Madame Palla. I also have old ribbons on their original rolls and some quirky little enamel signs and advertising pieces. I just have to photograph them all now!

This afternoon Charles le Baron du Breuil (our three legged rescue kitten) decided to lurch out into the garden and ran straight up a large tree. As the wind was making the branches sway he thought it was great fun and ran to the end of a very thin branch to investigate.

Of course his weight made the branch droop and his back end slipped off leaving him clinging on with his front claws! He could not use his one back leg to curl up and grip on again so was hanging there 20 feet in the air swaying in the breeze. I was screaming for Mark who was working in the attic and ran towards the tree with my coat in hand deciding I would catch him like a fireman with a blanket. I was terrified he would fall and damage another leg which would mean he would have just 2 legs and would be unable to walk.

Before I got there he plummeted to the ground, got up, shook himself and ambled away uninjured.

Mark arrived unable to see what all the fuss was about as by that time Charles was jumping around in the grass trying to catch a spider without a care in the world!

So now he has lost yet another of his nine lives!
He lost one being dumped in a ditch by some heartless idiot.
He lost another having his leg amputated.
He lost another when he got his tail tangled in the string of the mouse on his play stand and squealed the house down as he tried to drag it behind him.
He lost another when he got inside the plastic covering of a new mattress we had just had delivered and couldn`t get out whilst getting hotter and hotter.
And he lost another today falling from the tree.

I guess he has four left now.............

Truffling for shabby vintage treasures...................

Gone truffling for treasures.........................wonder what I`ll come home with? I`ll let you know tomorrow!

All alone and unloved...........................

This divine old statue stands alone and unloved in the garden of a local house for sale...................do I have to buy the house just to rescue it?

Enough cherubs?.............Never!!

Over supper last night........................... Someone asked me..........................

If I thought I had quite enough cherubs dotted around the place...................

Enough? .......Enough cherubs?.................Mais non!!

Enough.......................Is NEVER enough!!!!!

What........................more chairs?!!!!!

I know that we are in the middle of a restoration project and most of our life is packed away until it is over...............




And I know that we don`t really need more chairs ........................but...........


How could I not buy them? A pair of Belle Epoque boudoir chairs with the original paint and old velvet textile........I know I do not have any where to put them at the moment......but I will!!!! Honestly I will!!!!

The big wide world awaits..............

Charles le Baron du Breuil is now about 6 months old. His amputated leg has healed and he is full of life and so agile! The hunters have gone as the season ended on Sunday and the Baron is desperate to go outside now. I have kept him snug indoors just in case he was mistaken for game and now I have no excuse! I know I have to let him go but what if he doesn`t return? What if he wanders away and gets lost? Heavens.................its much worse that taking a child to school for their first day!

oh please....no more plaster dust!!!!

I sat in the cuisine this morning listening to the banging and crashing of this renovation project. The only real comfortable room in the house! As another huge cloud of white plaster dust came billowing down the stairs I wondered why on earth are we doing this? So, on went my coat, scarf and wellies and I took myself off around the grounds with Diggers and the Baron to remind myself.................


Claude...still sitting proud after this long winter trying to gather enough moss to match the steps............



The tiniest Oeil de boeuf window at the top of the stairs.....I wonder how many faces have peered out across the marsh in the 170 years it has been there? George the old girouette tin dragon flag high on the roof....not being very co operative and facing away from my lens!

The wonderful old stone doorways..............

And the view across the flooded marsh..............................now I remember why we are undertaking all this work....We simply adore this place!!!