Gaudin Gardens : I'm back

Long post warning

Its been an absolute age since I last wrote a blog post.

Life has changed quite a bit in the past 14 months Mr O and myself have had a few health issues which have been a bit difficult, but life goes on and we are on the up, which is the only direction to go.

As we create more gardens and have more projects, we decided to invite Wwoofers to help us. For those that don't know, Wwoofers are people that come and work on the land or other projects or just general help, for about 4 or 5hrs a day maximum 5 days a week in return for board, lodgings and learning experiences. We have signed up to Wwoof France, Workaway and World Packers in order to find volunteers

Wwoofers accommodation

We have met some interesting people since we started to host Woofers.

Anne-Sophie and Anahee, two young French women stayed with us from the end of march for a couple of weeks, helping to prepare the veg beds for spring planting etc., which was brilliant as there was lots of work to be done after the winter. It was Mr O's birthday while they were here and Anne-Sophie gifted him a lovely celtic knot drawing which she had done.

In May Dhruv came to stay for 2 weeks, a guy from the city who fitted in from the moment he arrived an absolute pleasure to share our home with. Being from India he cooked some amazing meals and taught me loads about technology, which I feel the need to keep up with even though life seemed much less complicated without it.

Even though he's gone back to Paris Dhruv still helps me out with my tech issues which is brilliant as I'm not upto date with this and Mr O even less.

Dhruv advised me on a new mobile phone whilst he was with us. Here are a few photos that I have taken with it.

Different types of Aquilegia growing in the gardens

In September Gladys a young French woman from the Alps came for a week. She chose to come to us in order to learn how to process sheep's fleece and spin the wool, as she had inherited her grandmothers spinning wheel and wanted to put it to good use. We had loads of fun together, in the mornings she would help Mr O in the garden and in the afternoons we washed and carded sheep's fleece toghether then did spinning lessons. This seemed to come naturally to her. Both Mr O and myself were very sad to see Gladys leave.

Gladys grandmothers spinning wheel with side treadle

In October Pierre joined us and helped Mr O finish a shower room in the Wwoofers accommodation area of the farm house which was started with Dhruv. Using both new and recuperated materials. He also helped with mowing grass, strimming and fencing. Pierre had his own accommodation, a converted van joining us for meals. Pierre has left now to visit family in the middle of France but will be back to help out sometime in the future.