Another four months on, and we've moved from our lovely mountain home back down to our lovely seaside home - in between we've seen cold and wintery weather in the UK in late April/May, although we did manage to visit the beautiful Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park on probably the only sunny day while we were back. And London Zoo, courtesy of the lovely Julieta (thank-you J!) which we both thoroughly enjoyed! I also (despite the rain and cold) had a great day with friends at the Foodies Festival, Hampton Court, to which Jane and I travelled by boat along the River Thames from Richmond, and again the sun even came out for my solo return boat journey. 
But before we knew it, we were back on that orange plane to Nice, and up to Sigale for even more R&R before the official start to our summer. We timed it nicely for the 'fete de partage', which we went to last year - basically a 'bring a dish' and eat and drink together afternoon, with a great band playing in the base of the old oak tree. I can't imagine a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon. The guys from the local snail farm even treated us to their snail vol-au-vents, with roquefort, goats cheese and garlic, which were delicious. I look forward to enjoying some more of the summer's festivities up in Sigale. But work did beckon eventually, and we descended to the villa to do some cleaning and gardening in preparation for the first villa guests of the summer.
It's good to be back, and into some sort of routine (well, at least as much as our lives ever fall into a routine......), and we're looking forward to the summer ahead, with lots of sunshine, hopefully lots of visitors (the first of which are my parents next week), swimming in the Med and ice cold rose. Perhaps I might even manage to persuade Giles to go camping? Watch this space......
