A tour of our village .... Maussane les Alpilles

A stunning village nestled below the Alpilles mountains, Maussane is the authentic provencial village that we were craving. Surrounded my the most beautiful countryside, mountains on the horizon, vineyards, fruit farms, and olive trees for days, the landscape is truly spectacular.

Most days we walk into the village for a bit of shopping and a wander - there are three excellent bakeries, a dozen restaurants and bars, organic grocer stocking only local produce, quite a few little shops and a great market on Thursdays. Our favourite little boulangarie has a garden out the front AND serves coffee (which is really uncommon) and the ladies are sweet, letting me get away with my awful french... not to mention their pain au chocolat is fast becoming E's morning staple!

The main square is shaded by plane trees and in the afternoon it seems the whole village is out having an aperitif before dinner, something we are starting to get used to! Last night E kept the locals entertained with his car races while we enjoyed a quick drink.

Fun fact: Maussane is a village of olives and olive oils, being one of the largest producers of olive oil in France! We visited one of the 6 mills last week and sampled so many olives and oils and wines, and came home with this bounty.

We find ourselves off walking in random directions and every corner we turn we are quick to grab our phones for a picture. It literally is postcard material ..... 

A xx

Remembering our ANZACs

Today we took a drive to Lourmarin, and even though I've been spotting poppies everywhere since arriving in Provence, the poppies today were something else. So fitting on Anzac Day.

Poppies were said to have been the first plant to have sprung up in the ravaged battlefields of Belgium and Northern France, and seeing them in all their glory today was quite moving.

In the town, this war memorial in the primary school reads "to the children of Lourmarin who died for France" and sadly many siblings were listed. Very moving.

Lest we forget ....

A xx

From market to table

It's seems all of Provence is enthralled with the harvest of asparagus. Driving through the countryside  there are little pop up stalls and signs directing us to asparagus farms. The market tables are overflowing with all varieties....

So today's shopping was quite simple... eschalots, mushrooms and freshly picked asparagus.

Et voila ... the most delicious risotto I ever did taste! Bon Appetit :)

A xx

Backtrack to London

How good is London in the Spring!

The gardens are in bloom, everyone is happy to be enjoying the sunshine, the pubs are sprawling onto the streets, and with E's love of buses and trains London transport was a dream come true.

Of course, travelling with a 2 year old means we spend a LOT of time in parks .... and even though we've been to London numerous times, the parks and gardens were something we had never really appreciated until now.

We hit up Hyde Park to see the ducks, had lunch along the Serpentine, played in Kensington Gardens, strolled Notting Hill and enjoyed a long Sunday lunch in the sun, waved to the Queen at Buckingham Palace and joined the crowds of tourists at Westminster and Big Ben.

A xx