The spring of 2013 had been unusually wet but the happy result of this was an abundance of wild flowers in our orchard: Provence orchids, honeysuckle, thyme, aquilegia and rock rose were blooming as far as the eye could see. Since buying the house and putting out wild bird food there had also been a huge increase in the number of birds around the house. As well as tits, nuthatches and goldfinches during the winter, our summer visitors included the Golden Oreole and a pair of hoopoes.

After a while, Bruno the Ram (as opposed to Bruno the Accountant) developed into a magnificent animal. He had a beautiful brown coat with a ruff around his neck, a black belly, yellow eyes full of malice and a pair of serious horns. Hubby was very proud of Bruno and often walked into the field to pet him or to give him an extra handful of food.

We pushed open the gate to Jo’s house, carrying a chocolate cake purchased from the best boulangerie in town. It was her birthday, but the household was in chaos. Jo and Arthur were having an argument with a man from a company that had just installed new internal doors at very high cost.

One day in July we saw a huge billowing cloud of smoke coming from the direction of the Spanish border. A fire had started after someone had thrown a cigarette butt out of a car window in Le Perthus.

One day in July we saw a huge billowing cloud of smoke coming from the direction of the Spanish border. A fire had started after someone had thrown a cigarette butt out of a car window in Le Perthus.

The day arrived and a group of well-coiffured ladies in their sixties and seventies climbed out of their hire cars. Each had a suitcase large and heavy enough to contain a dead body. After hubby and I had lugged these monstrosities upstairs we welcomed their owners with nibbles and wine and I thought I would take the opportunity to explain a little about Mas Pallagourdi and the area.

The day arrived and a group of well-coiffured ladies in their sixties and seventies climbed out of their hire cars. Each had a suitcase large and heavy enough to contain a dead body. After hubby and I had lugged these monstrosities upstairs we welcomed their owners with nibbles and wine and I thought I would take the opportunity to explain a little about Mas Pallagourdi and the area.

The day arrived and a group of well-coiffured ladies in their sixties and seventies climbed out of their hire cars. Each had a suitcase large and heavy enough to contain a dead body. After hubby and I had lugged these monstrosities upstairs we welcomed their owners with nibbles and wine and I thought I would take the opportunity to explain a little about Mas Pallagourdi and the area.

The next day we ventured forth to check our new trap and found it had been disturbed but not detonated. I was in the process of trying to disarm it when it went off with a huge bang and puff of smoke. For a few seconds we both thought we had been blown up. Hubby had actually been propelled across the lawn.