Summer started as always for us, by travelling to France and renovating our beloved townhouse.  We aren’t changing very much about the house but there are a few essentials that are needed.  We now have a functioning bathroom – hot water landed last year and we delighted in having baths after long days of working.  This year, was the kitchen’s turn.  We have installed a sink and a hot water tap, but we can get no further, as we need to strip the plaster off the walls as it contains concrete and the house is not happy being strangled to a damp death.  And the ceiling also needs to come down.  This is an Autumn job as it is simply too hot in the Summer, so we have that noisy, dusty hard job to look forward to in October…

So we painted and enjoyed lunches in the courtyard and made plans for the garden, as well as enjoying a vide grenier or ten.  And I should mention that we had roof damage caused by a hurricane – just thankful as ever to have my wonderful French friend Maud helping us with the delights of French insurance claims.

We then popped back to Wales to install a window display as part of the Presteigne Festival.  And hold a Vide Grenier of our own, as my studio roof needs replacing – there maybe a theme going on here – and consequently we need to empty it completely.  Please do buy something from me to help us clear it all quickly!

Then a short few days up to Berwick upon Tweed to delight in the beaches, Lindesfarne and Alnwick Castle, which holds a wonderful art collection and I swooned over the eight Canelletos there.

I am extremely fortunate to be popping back to France soon for a couple of weeks to carry on work there.  I heard Summers were meant to be for holidays but I just seem to travel to different places to work at the moment!