starting our first season in France

We have arrived in the south of France to start our painting and sewing craft business from the little village house in Céret.

We drove down in our new little Skoda Yeti, which we obtained second hand but just three years old from the left hand drive place in Basingstoke. It is a little car with a big heart, swallowing an enormous load with the back seats folded all the way forwards, and a van-like loading area. It still feels pretty new, considering that we have grown accustomed to ten year old cars!

Despite the load, we managed about 50mpg, and kept up with all the motorway traffic. It felt very much like a normal car, with a nice seating position, upright like most other SUVs.

We stopped overnight at a lovely hotel just off the autoroute at Montargis, a little way south of Paris. They have a great restaurant and we had a four course meal for two for €50, and when you include two beers, under £25 each. Lovely French haute cuisine.

The sun came out as we arrived and it felt very warm in the sun, easily T shirt and shorts weather. The plane trees are in full leaf and look lovely.

There is still snow on Mount Canigou, so it will still be cold at the heights. I am guessing that the beach will be lovely when the sun is out.

It is great to go shopping with a suitable car, rather than by motorbike; the Yeti has quite a nice size boot considering it is a small car.

Then of course the tricky bit is finding space for all the shopping in the tiny kitchen diner!

The garage of our village house has now been fitted with gallery style spotlights, but is presently full of all the boxes that came out of the car, and no doubt it will take us a little time to get ourselves organised and using our space well. The spots seem to light up the walls nicely, and we shall see how it is full of paintings and patchworks. If we need more spots we can order them.

The neighbours we met were friendly and welcoming, French and English alike. And I am looking forward to seeing all the artists we know in the town pretty soon.

So the countdown to opening the gallery begins.

17/04/2015 Today we saw Suzanne, who runs the stained glass atelier for a brief chat, and Jane, who runs whimsical prints on the opposite side of the Place de Libération. Jane and Patrick have done great things with Jane's garden, which is looking very colourful.  Jane has indicated that she would like a fabric headboard from Carol, so I think work will come her way quite readily.