LA DOUCE FRANCE: PEROUGES 1

From Dijon we headed South to a place called Pérouges, a place near Lyon. It was absolutely beautiful !

Our first day there was spent in a birdpark nearby, the weather was a bit better than it was in Dijon, but not as good as we had hoped, the temperature was about 18 C but the wind was really cold, nevertheless we had a beautiful day and we saw thousands of birds so my husband was very happy.

I’ll let  the pictures speak for themselves.

 

 

In my next post I’ll show you the medieval town of Pérouges.

 

Enjoy your garden and thanks for stopping by !

 

ONE YEAR OLD

My blog is one year old thanks to my readers who encouraged me so a big thank you to all my followers, and to those of  you who looked at my posts, gave me a like or a comment.

The following blog was my first blog post it was titled : BIRDPARK WALSRODE

Here we go, as promised, I’ll tell you about a beautiful birdpark called Walsrode situated in a village called Walsrode in Germany.  Perhaps you think what is a birdpark doing in a gardening blog, well it is a birdpark in a beautiful garden. We have been there several times in the past and we will go there again and again and again because it is so beautiful. We always go in Spring so there are loads of bulbflowers and rhododendrons to see, if you go later you have the roses and other flowers and shrubs in bloom of course. The park is huge so we go there for two days otherwise you can’t see everything. There are loads of pubs and restaurants all over the place so you won’t go hungry or thirsty, for the kids there are several play area’s.

Here are some pictures. If you click on the pictures you get a bigger picture.

TULIPA QUEEN OF THE NIGHT

Well this is it, I hope you enjoyed our tour through Walsrode.

HAVE A GREAT DAY !!!

BEAUTIFUL KENYA 2

The beauty of Kenya has no boundaries, there is beauty everywhere you see. The lodges where you stay overnight and where you eat are absolutely fine, nature, wildlife, people ……

Here are some pictures of the lodges.

MOST LODGES HAVE COTTAGES IN THE GARDEN, THEY ALL HAVE BEAUTIFUL GARDENS, THE GUARDS ALL HAVE WEAPONS AS SOMETIMES DANGEROUS ANIMALS COME IN THE GARDEN, THEY TRY TO SCARE THEM OFF OFCOURSE BUT….

A RESTAURANT

THE ROOMS ARE REALLY CLEAN AND TIDY

THIS WAS A LOVELY COTTAGE WITH LOVELY VIEWS ALL OVER THE SAVANNAH, THE FOLLOWING PICTURES WERE TAKEN FROM THIS LODGE FROM THE TERRACE OF THE BAR

I LOVED THESE BLUE GREEN LITTLE MONSTERS

AT FIRST WE SAW ONLY A CLOUD OF DUST, THEN THIS LARGE  GROUP OF BUFFALO’S CAME FOR A DRINK AT THE LODGE

THEY CAME SO CLOSE YOU COULD TOUCH THEM FROM ABOVE IF YOU WANTED TO

MY BEST FRIEND WAS THERE TOO

THE ZEBRA’ S TOO CAME FOR A DRINK, I WHISHED I COULD HAVE STAYED THERE FOR DAYS ON END

AS MY HUSBAND IS BIRD CRAZY HE HAD TO PHOTOGRAPH EVERY SINGLE BIRD WE MET, I THINK WE HAD ABOUT 1800 PICTURES IN THE END !!!

There is more to come in the near future. Thanks for stopping by and take care !

ABOUT CROATIA AND IT’S FLORA,FAUNA,FOOD AND ART (1)

We went to Croatia for a short holiday and as usual, wherever we go my main intrest is to see what plants they have and what tree’s and shrubs and most important of all ; do they have cacti or succulents I can take home with me or some beautifull pots for my plants.

It was our first visit to Croatia so I didn’t have a clue about what to expect. Croatia is located at the Adriatic sea in the south of Europe, it used to be part of Yougoslavia. What I saw was a mixture between Spain and Italy with about the same tree’s and plants and loads and loads of rocks in all sizes. The temperature was arround 25 C°(mid September) so this was really nice, not too hot and not too cool.

We went by car, so when you drive from Belgium to Croatia you drive trough the following countries ; Germany, Austria and Slovenia.

SOUTH GERMANY, CLEAR BLUE SKY AND FOG IN THE MORNING

ON THE HIGHWAY IN SOUTH GERMANY, FOG BETWEEN THE MOUNTAINS

WHEN YOU LOOK IN THE MIDDLE, AT THE BACK, YOU CAN SEE THE FIRST SNOW HAS ALREADY FALLEN, AS YOU CAN SEE MOST OF THE MOUNTAINS (THE ALPS)ARE COVERED WITH TREE’S, MOST OF THEM ARE FIRS

I FOUND THIS LITTLE FELLOW IN FRONT OF A RESTAURANT NEAR THE HIGHWAY IN GERMANY

THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN IN AUSTRIA, YOU CAN SEE THE MOUNTAINS (THE ALPS) ARE HIGHER HERE AND BARER  THAN IN GERMANY BUT ALSO HAD A BIT OF FRESH SNOW

THIS IS ONE OF THE FIRST PICTURES I TOOK IN CROATIA, THE PLACE IS OVERCROWDED WITH SMALL LIZZARDS, THIS ONE IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST WE SAW, MOST OF THEM ARE SMALLER BUT AREN’T THEY CUTE !!!?

HERE’S ANOTHER ONE, THEY WERE EVERYWHERE, EVEN ON THE BEACH ! THE REALLY TINY ONES WERE BROWN SO I THINK THEY WERE JUVENILES OR FEMALES

THE SEA AND THE SKY WERE SOOO BLUE, THE BEACH WAS COVERED IN ROCKS, TINY ONES AND BIG ONES AND RIGHT BEHIND THE BEACH WERE PINE TREE’S FOR SHADE

THE WHOLE COAST LINE IS COVERED IN ROCKS, IN AND OUT OF THE WATER SO IT WAS NOT EASY TO GET IN THE WATER FOR A SWIM BUT THE WATER WAS REALLY CLEAN, UNFORTUNATELY THERE WERE VERY LITTLE SHELL’S TO BE FOUND, I LOVE SEASHELL’S !!!

THE HOUSES WERE COLOURFULL TOO AS YOU CAN SEE

HOUSES IN A VILLAGE CALLED UMAG

BIRDS ON THE ROCKS IN FRONT OF THE BEACH

SUCCULENTS, YOU CAN ALREADY SEE THE FALLEN LEAFS OF THE TREE’S , A SIGN OF AUTUMN

MORE SUCCULENTS

I SAW A LOT OF MORNING GLORY, I THINK THIS IS A BEAUTIFULL COLOUR

A PRETTY SMALL RED ROSE WITH A DELICATE PERFUME

ANOTHER RED ROSE

THERE WERE LOADS AND LOADS OF OLIVE TREE’S

TRACHYCARPUS TREE’S EVERYWHERE, IN ALL SIZES

This is all for today but I will continue soon as I have lots more to show you.

Have a nice day, enjoy your garden and thanks for stopping by !

LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER FROM HEAVEN !

Today is “Sun”day but the sun is nowhere to be seen, it is cold, really cold, we haven’t even 10 C° and it is almost noon ! It has been pouring all night and morning and at the moment it is still raining but softly. I hope it will be dry this afternoon as I have lots to do in the garden. Yesterday was such a lovely day but alas we had to go away for the day. This happens a lot ! and it is very frustraiting !

My garden is looking lush and green and my plants are enjoying the rain after last weeks hot weather. I hear the birds singing and tjirping everywhere as there are many birds living in our garden.  I feed the birds in the garden year round, they have the pond where they can drink and have a bath, they have plenty of tree’s, conifers and shrubs where they can hide for birds of prey, cats and dog’s, they have plenty of food, so I think they are quite happy in my garden. We have sparrows who are allways fighting with eachother and they make a lot of noice, then there’s plenty of blackbirds and all sorts of tits, trushes, pidgeons, we have herons who visit our pond…we don’t like that !!! Then we also have magpies and woodpeckers and others. I like to watch them, it is very relaxing.

HERE’S ONE OF THE BIRDHOUSES COVERED WITH A CLEMATIS MRS BATEMAN

HERE YOU HAVE A BETTER VIEW OF MRS BATEMAN, ISN’T SHE JUST A BEAUTY !!! I THINK SHE IS !

THIS IS MY AMELANCHIER, EACH YEAR WE GET A COUPLE OF CUSHATS WHO MAKE THERE NEST IN THIS TREE,IT’S A VERY SIMPLE NEST MADE FROM A FEW TWIGS

The plants in my greenhouse are doing well so I am pleased. And my figtree, well he’s still a sad view but he’s making progress.

THIS IS HOW HE LOOKED LAST WEEK  !! NORMALLY HE SHOULD BE COVERED IN BIG GREEN LEAFS BUT WINTER WAS VERY HARSH.

HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY ALL ! and thanks for stopping by !

PS: if you click on the photo’s you can see them in a bigger version