Autumn colours painted all around ...

Well, Autumn has certainly arrived - heavy morning dew and evening chill ... but it's remained sunny with daytime temperatures in the mid-20's, and the garden remains colourful:

Planting conditions have been perfect, with the soil still warm and we've had the occasional rainfall that has provided some moisture - so we've taken the opportunity to complete planting in the large 'grasses and shrubs' area; and we have placed a row of hornbeam trees along the walkway leading to the pergola we built last year ... the idea being that we'll train these up and over the walkway to then intermingle with the climbing roses that are currently growing so well (they have grown 3-4 metres this summer): 

Meanwhile the vegetables have recovered a bit from the dreadfully wet late Spring, so we've been able to do some harvesting - all very timely and comforting:

And there's some other work in the garden that needs to be done before Autumn slides into Winter - our 'wildflower area' (which did not turn out to be quite as 'weed dominated' as we'd feared'!) must be scythed and the cut plants taken away so they don't rot down and make the soil too rich. Unfortunately it's not going to be a Poldark moment - I have the scythe, but lack the six-pack and the facial profile ... but in truth I'll be focusing on just avoiding cutting myself off at the ankles - one does shrink with age, but there are limits ...

.... oh, trust him to be in the picture - he's got a bigger following in France than Poldark anyway (so he claims).

Inside the house we have been considering how we might develop the remaining part of the lower barn .... this is the area that we did not renovate when we developed the dining/sitting room for guests 18 months ago:

The remaining, undeveloped part is about 35% of the overall ground-floor barn space - and it is in a good state. Our long-term aim is still to develop a bedroom, bathroom, sitting room area that would have full facilities for people with disabilities and that would connect seamlessly with the adjoining dining/sitting room and with the access to the garden. This year has been a good year for our Chambres d'Hotes and we have found that people seem to appreciate the ambiance and comfort offered by 'Nichoir'. But it has also been a time, largely created by the BREXIT vote, that has created uncertainty. So, we have decided on a policy of 'one step at a time' on any further building development and we are breaking it down into stages. We think that the first stage of this will be to create one large living space that could have multiple uses, including being a bedroom/sitting room for guests (we already have a bathroom downstairs, although not adjacent). The first step to take has been to remove the very large, old door at the far end of the barn:

This seemed a good idea - for security reasons, and also to stop the 'weather' and draughts (the door is north-facing), and to let in light. So in September, together with our good neighbour Laurent the carpenter (who worked on the ancient door replacement in the sitting room - see January Round-up Blog 04.02.2016), we designed a purpose-made double, double-glazed door. Laurent made a chestnut-wood frame and got the double-glazed glass inserts: 

The preparation work was considerable, requiring an old and very heavy steel and aluminium security roller to be removed and then the stone framework made good. But once this was done Laurent's frame and doors were fitted (he makes these off-site, so his measurements are extraordinarily accurate):

Of course, the work needed to be checked by the resident buildings inspector:

The old barn doors will be renovated, treated and painted and then fitted as shutters for the new door - just as we did on the other exterior door so successfully last January. This should be completed by the end of October. So, from mid-September to the end of October - job all done ... we are very pleased with the result so far and it will now provide the impetus to progress the next parts of this 'stage 1':

And lastly, what about the wildlife these past weeks? Well, just a few things of interest: we have, since we've been here really, been puzzled by croaking noises that appear to come from up in trees and creepers around the house. We have just discovered that there is such a thing, in this area of France, as the tree-frog - and, looking at pictures of the said tree-frog and listening to recordings of their 'croak', it is exactly those of many of the frogs we've seen around the pond and the garden more generally. We still have not spotted one up in the trees/creepers - but 'we know they're there'!

Our 'wildlife reports' seem rather 'frog-centric' - and this is no exception .... as I have to say that this year (maybe something to do with the wet late Spring) we've never seen so many frogs - there has been the usual large population in early and mid-Summer, but now there are just hundreds of baby frogs ... all around the garden, jumping and hopping all over the place.

But it also seems to be a good year for dragonflies - all shapes and sizes; in particular we've seen many large green dragonflies (pretty technical descriptor, huh?) - nature's drones, but infinitely more maneuverable than any man-made technology. We have rescued a few, from spider's webs and inside barns .... and I swear they then follow you, as when I go swimming minutes after 'a rescue' there they are, skimming the surface of the pool and circling my head - their huge eyes fixed, rather unnervingly, on you: 

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And talking of creatures with big, staring eyes - we've noticed a large number of crickets. They also seem very prone to getting stuck in webs, inside sheds and barns - so, very carefully, you have to coax them out and carry them to 'open ground' where they sit and think for a bit and then they leap and float away:

- which is what I must do, as this has been quite a lengthy Post!