Living surrounded by vineyards,the temptations are limitless.A little chilled rosé  on the terrace at lunchtime, sheltered from the searing heat, slips down all too easily and  before you know it the rest of the day has passed in a soporific haze.
However François and Vincent Pugibet of the Domaine  la Colombette just outside Béziers have come [...]

Summer has at last arrived,a little late this year,and it is hot, hot.Friends with holiday homes here arrive,grey and exhausted from their hectic lives in England,to recharge their batteries.The summer routine quickly establishes itself, a few friends over for lunch  after a quick dip in the pool,now 25°C which is just about ideal:soon it may [...]

One of the most remarkable features about France is the way in which the  tourist authorities of the regions promote their advantages and facilities. None does this better than the department of the Hérault.I have just been given a  memory stick(Can you get one of these that you plug into your brain? Maybe not quite [...]

Shopping down here is a bit of an adventure because opening hours tend to be ,shall we say,flexible.Most supermarkets are open during the week from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. but some shut for lunch from 12-2.p.m,as do almost all other shops. Some shops are closed on Monday having been open on Saturday,which is quite [...]

Today for the first time this year we sat out on the terrace,just a group of good friends, enjoying the sunshine ,the companionship, the stunning local landscape, a cool glass of white wine to hand. Then we went in to a delicious lunch of duck breast and our host put on a disc the first [...]

Last week the plumber came around to  see to my central heating boiler.As is the custom here I held out my hand to shake his. Unfortunately his previous job had meant his hands were dirty  so he offered me his elbow which  I shook.The normal exchange having been achieved,he got down to business.This also happened [...]

After the encouragement of my reader(see Truffles galore) there will be no stopping me now!
I could probably  just write about wine for the rest of this year but that would be even more boring than my usual outpourings. But wine does dominate the landscape and the economy down here. There are of course farmers who [...]

Despite living in the depths of the French countryside, what a joy, this does not mean one is deprived of concerts of a very hight quality.The other night I drove over to Clermon l’Hérault,about 40 minutes, to enjoy a concert of music by Mozart,Bach,and Prokofiev given by two distinguished musicians, Conrad Wilkinson(piano) and Paul O’Hanlon(violin).It [...]

La tour carrée
Standing proud above the old village of Colombières-sur-Orb,the tour carrée dates back to the 11th century and is the last remnant of a previous château.Unfortunately the rock on which the tower was built has split and it is in danger of falling down so the village of some 300 inhabiatants is trying to [...]

One of the delights of living in this area is that we have our local Slow Food convivium  (www.slowfood.com),and very convivial we are too! Our latest outing was to a local truffle plantation.I had visions of spending the afternoon stumbling around damp woods vainly seeking the elusive truffle on the off chance that we might [...]