• Home
  • Les Iris
  • Normandy in the Press
  • About
  • Rent the Cottage

chaumierelesiris

~ A fairy-tale cottage by the Seine in Normandy

chaumierelesiris

Tag Archives: Flowers

Irises at Les Iris

05 Monday May 2014

Posted by chaumierelesiris in Culture, Les Iris

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Flowers

Last month in Amsterdam we admired Van Gogh’s irises.

20140505-105020.jpg

This month, it’s the real thing. Irises at every turn. Yellow by the side of the road, indigo along the drive and deep purple and bee-attracting at the end of the garden. The photos don’t quite do them justice.

20140505-105547.jpg

20140505-105602.jpg

20140505-105626.jpg

20140505-105644.jpg

20140505-110727.jpg

20140505-231551.jpg

20140505-231621.jpg

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Pont-l’Évêque Market Day

25 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by chaumierelesiris in Food, France, Normandy, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

calvados, chestnuts, Flowers, Food, France, Market, Normandy, Pont-l'Évêque

One of the joys of spending time in Normandy is visiting the area’s bountiful food markets. Our local market, held on a Friday, never disappoints: but in those weeks when we’re traveling or otherwise occupied on a Friday, a close second best is exploring the other markets of Upper Normandy and Calvados. This month we made our way to Pont-l’Évêque, where the weekly market is held on a Monday. It’s home to the eponymous cheese, and to a lovely church which survived wartime bombing.Church, Pont L'Eveque

The point of local markets is they change every time. You go for the seasonal produce and for the individual sellers. It’s the opposite of supermarkets, where it’s downright inconvenient when the aisles are changed around adding a precious few minutes to your already too-long shopping time.

In the first week of November, there were chestnuts, quinces, and the alien-fabulous chou romanesco. I’ve never cooked any of these, although the guests at our cottage the week before had collected chestnuts in the forest and roasted them over the open hearth. I’ll have to try that, and here’s how.Chestnuts, NormandyQuinces, Normandy marketChou romanesco, Normandy

I love these pre-prepared bundles of meat: so lovely and neat and easy, the original, organic, guilt-free ready meal.Pont L'Eveque Market

And the chrysanthemums were flying: you could see them lining the village streets, and all around around the cemeteries where families were marking November 1st, a day of remembrance. We left some by the cottage gateposts: I wonder how far into the winter they’ll last.chrysanthemums, Normandy

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

French Women Can Play Basketball

05 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by chaumierelesiris in France

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Basketball, cycling, Flowers, France, London, Olympics, sport

This will be my last post about the Olympics, I promise. I’m sticking to my rule that I will only post if it has something to do with France. So I won’t tell you about the excellent Italian fencing final we got to see. Or what an thrill it is to be in London this week.

What I will tell you is that today we were lucky enough to score tickets to see France play Russia at women’s basketball. The French team are unbeaten so far in the tournament, and we expected a good match.

Everything about going to the Olympics is exciting.  We arrived from West Ham station and walked along an elevated pathway that gradually reveals the panorama of stadiums in the park. There were jugglers and stilt-walkers and high-fiving volunteers. A carnival atmosphere, still celebrating Team GB’s record 6 gold medals won the previous day.

Inspire a generation, Olympic Park, London

How different it looked from last time we saw it, just three months ago. One of the great surprises of the Olympic Park is just how attractive it is. Banks of wildflowers shimmered everywhere in the early morning light. Redolent of the golden colour you see sometimes in Normandy.

Wildflowers, Olympic Park, London

I’ve already written about seeing the Olympic road race and would have loved to attend a cycling event the velodrome. Second best was seeing the magnificent stadium from the outside.

Velodrome, Olympic Park, London

Olympic Park, London, 5 August 2012

Now onto the basketball.

Basketball Stadium, Olympic Park, London

Given the number of French nationals who live in London (between 300 and 400,000 according to the French embassy), French support felt muted, especially compared to the vigorous flag-waving by Poland supporters at the GB-Poland volleyball match we had attended the day before.  However as French points rose, the tricolore started to appear around the stands.

French supporter, Women's Basketball, London Olympics

The French women played a smart and controlled game. They deserved to win, and we’ll be watching as they go into the quarterfinals later this week.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

The most famous garden in Normandy

13 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by chaumierelesiris in Culture, France, Normandy, Things to do, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Art, Flowers, Gardens, Giverny, Monet, Normandy, paintings

Giverny–where Claude Monet lived and painted for 43 years–is certainly the most famous garden in Normandy, perhaps in all of Europe or even the world. It was here that he created the water garden with its iconic Japanese bridge that he painted over and over and which hangs, in reproduction, on a million institutional walls.

A visit to Giverny, however, doesn’t start with the lily pond, but with the rather fabulous–and previously unknown to me–Clos Normand, his magnificent wildflower garden.

The garden, which fronts his house, is laid out in corridors of colour: one purple, one yellow, one pink. Flowers and rose arches rise on either side. Even though it’s crowded – on a midweek afternoon during school season we waited 20 minutes for our tickets – you can lose yourself wandering through the fragrant lanes.

Flower garden, Giverny

Flower garden, Giverny

Le Clos Normand, GivernyFlower Garden, GivernyGarden, GivernyFlower garden, GivernyFlower garden, Giverny

We visited in early June, and the flower garden was bursting with colour, all poppies and peonies and hollyhocks and irises.

Irises, Giverny

Peonies, Giverny

Hollyhocks, GivernyPoppies, GivernyPoppies, Monet's Garden, Giverny

All those poppies recall the Monet print that hung in my childhood nursery, the one of a girl and her mother walking through a poppy field, the girl wearing a boater not unlike my school uniform hat, and the mother wearing a scarf and carrying a parasol.

The gardeners were busy at work, tending to all that wildness.

Gardener, GivernyGardener, Giverny

If the flower garden offered more than I expected, then the water garden was slightly underwhelming. The two gardens are intersected by a busy road, and there is noise from the traffic on the road. And to be fair the day was grey, the light flat. The pond is really very small, and not as lovely as it is painted in oil and hanging on the walls of the world’s great museums. It reminded me of visiting the most famous gardens in Japan. Like this one they were perfect on a small scale, and elbow to elbow as crowds of tourists sought just the right picture for their holiday blog.

Le Jardin d'Eau, Claude Monet, GivernyLe Jardin d’Eau, GivernyMonet's Water Garden, Giverny

Monet’s house is worth a look. It has been renovated recently, and rooms on both floors are open for viewing. The bedroom overlooks the gardens. The painter’s bed is curiously small for two people, and the ensuite bathroom is luxurious. What is known as the yellow kitchen is in fact a dining room with a large table, with a smart blue kitchen beyond it. It seems that the Monet family enjoyed their entertaining–and who wouldn’t, in such a spot?

Door to Monet's house, Giverny

The children brought along The Magical Garden of Claude Monet, which takes a child and a dog on a tour of house and gardens. They enjoyed discovering the places shown in the book – especially Monet’s boat.

There are a number of official and unofficial websites dedicated to Giverny, of which we found the best for visitor information to be the Claude Monet Foundation website.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Spring in Upper Normandy

18 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by chaumierelesiris in Les Iris, Normandy, Travel

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

chaumiere, Easter, Flowers, Le Havre, Normandy, photography, restaurant, Scarecrows, Spring, Travel, Vieux-Port

Normandy is just about my favourite place in the spring. Get there at the right moment, and the countryside is trimmed with white apple blossom, like lace on a Victorian bride. The sky is big and the light changeable and nuanced. No wonder the impressionists discovered light here.

I was lucky enough to spend last week in Upper Normandy. Here are some of my pictures.

Spring in the arboretum, Château d'HarcourtArboretum in bloom, Château d’Harcourt

ImageEvening, Auberge du Vieux Logis, Conteville

ImageSpring garden overlooking the Seine at Les Iris

ImageEaster bells, bunnies, chickens, at the central market in Le Havre

ImageScarecrows, near Harcourt

ImageLe Havre from the pier

ImageSunset, Vieux-Port

ImageSpring flowers and herb garden, Les Iris

ImageVieux-Port and the Seine

ImageYellow field near Sainte-Opportune-la-Mare

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Abbey Aizier Anglo-Norman architecture Armada Art autumn Birds Books bread brocante buying a house Buying a house in France calvados Carousel chaumiere Christmas Christmas tree churches Cleres cycling decorations Easter Etretat Europe Flaubert Flowers Food France Gardens Gemma Bovery Gertrude Jekyll guests Halloween History home decor Honfleur House in France Jumieges Le Bec-Hellouin Le Havre Les Iris Le Touquet London Madame Bovary Market Michelin Monet museum Normandy Olympics oysters paintings photography pictures Pont-Audemer Pont-l'Évêque Property Recipes Renoir restaurant reviews Romanesque Rouen ruins Seine shopping shops sport St Fiacre thatched cottage Tour de France Travel Walking wild mushrooms

Twitter Updates

  • habituallychic.luxury/2020/02/tory-b… 3 months ago
  • This is a wonderful development for cyclists of all levels - and the route goes through our village! thetimes.co.uk/article/seine-… 1 year ago
Follow @lesirisnormandy

Instagram

No Instagram images were found.

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Categories

  • Culture
  • Food
  • France
  • Les Iris
  • Normandy
  • Property in France
  • Things to do
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Archives

  • September 2020
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • August 2018
  • May 2018
  • December 2017
  • July 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2016
  • August 2015
  • May 2015
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • May 2014
  • October 2013
  • August 2013
  • June 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • chaumierelesiris
    • Join 78 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • chaumierelesiris
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: