There is a fun little pink van to be seen on the streets of Paris ,bright pink, and wearing eyelashes Le Boudoir des Cocottes has been dreamt up by two girlfriends.  They bring a manicure and make up service to their clients;  busy Parisians who...

Shopping at our local market can be a dangerous thingI may well arrive with a list of things I need, there are too many other temptations and I invariably leave with a basket weighed down with unexpected goodies.The care that is taken to arrange and...

 One of my very favourite features of the older châteaux and  manor houses in Normandy, is their traditional chequered walls.Don\'t you think it would make you happy to wake up in a chequered château"!  I\'d have a permanent smile. These...

Yesterday afternoon my camera died ....  I\'m not crying, there are no boxes of kleenex required, but it chose to \'pass\' just as I arrived at an appointment to take pictures of a house, and yes ... I felt pretty foolish.I have never had a...

Now I love to make desserts.  We entertain a lot here, and while my husband generally cooks the main courses  (he is a great cook!), I am unfailingly responsible for bringing up the rear end of any meal.I am happy to turn my hand to pastries, and...

If there is someone in your life who is dotty about chickens and who loves all things French, then you have no choice but to get them this beautiful book for Christmas!Poules so Chic is a beautiful volume of photos of thirty different breeds of...

As I sat upstairs at my desk this morning, I  heard my youngest son come home, laughing and chatting with friends.It is the school holidays here, and they are making the most if it!  Places to go, people to see, you know how it is .  Yesterday...

As the temperatures drop, the brocante season winds down and makes way for low key relaxed country fairs, put together for a weekend in a château or a little store lost in the middle of Normandy.A weekend that brought me country style furniture ......

Could not resist stopping the car this afternoon as I drove down this beautiful forest road - seemingly alone in the world!So yes, these shots are taken with a new camera ..... and no, I\'m not entirely sure it was the right choice.  ...

Came across these pictures in a French magazine recently, I think it was Maison de Campagne, but can\'t be sure.Many people today are looking for an alternative to the squeaky clean fitted kitchen, preferring free standing pieces and a more...

Windows are the eyes to the facade of a house, their shape, size and style gives immediate character to a building, so how are the typical french country windows"The first thing to know is that French windows open in to the room, not out to the...

We are nearly at the end of October, and here in Normandy waaay overdue for the first frosts.  When the cold finally arrives, it will be time to say goodbye to my dahlias that have given us so much pleasure since late summer.  I have been asked...

Gibson and Ghetto continue to drive us mad  enhance our daily lives, and in particular with their clever schemes and tricks for ... running away.They have turned Running Away into an art form, and us into paranoid dog owners with a constant eye on...

Here is a lovely property for you to dream about, mull over and generally long for this weekend.  A rugged stone home, on its own spit of land on the beautiful coast of Brittany.This is a holiday home to a friend of mine, whose children are now...

The wonderful thing about winter soups is that they are so easy to make, and you can be so free with the ingredients!Our pumpkins are all ripe here, and a warm soup is welcome for a quick lunch,  or supper in front of the fire.I prefer to cook my...

This is a guest post - unusual in several ways.  Firstly because I don\'t normally do guest posts on MFCH, and secondly because the author today is one Ella Santoni, yup .. we are related!Ella is one of my daughters.  At the very outset of her...

Fresh off the press!   Coty has done it again, this month she brings us 200 pages of beautiful pictures on the wedding theme.  Pop over to enjoy the beauty and read the amusing accounts of bloggers weddings, for real or in their dreams!Styling...

The first of November arrived with buckets of rain, but it didn\'t bother me one bit!I had a lunch date with Vicki Archer, and I was looking forward to being tucked away in a little Parisian bistrot ... good food, good company, good location:  ...

As a family that just loves to sit down to a good home-cooked meal together, it is inevitable that we have several shelves full of cook books.  Some are hardly ever opened, some are turned to just for a specific favourite recipe, and then there are...

 Welcome to my new blog!!I so hope you like it!The layout is a little lighter and fresher looking; the archives are easier to negotiate; there are share buttons to ... well, share with; and many different ways of following the blog.The blog roll...

If you are one of the people waiting for an email reply from me then I owe you an apology .... I have been a little distracted of late, and maybe concentrating less than I should.  I try to keep up with mails each day, but I\'m pretty sure that a...

Same daysame gardensame seasontwo totally different palettesno wonder we love the autumn

Few labels can be as freely used as \'french country\' ... not that I am very well placed to say anything, but ahem ... well, this is  my blog and I live in France, in the country so I\'m allowed!I\'m sometimes asked what I think French...

One of the wonderful thing about taking pictures with a phone is that \'Slightly-Out-Of-Focus\' can not only be interpreted as \'Interestingly Artistic\', it also  hides all manner of things, which is why I have tried a Selfie.  I am told...

I don\'t know why it took me so very long, but I only recently discovered that I don\'t have to peel a pumpkin or a squash when making soup.   This discovery has changed my life.... well OK not my life, but my soup making habits certainly!Here...