The Quercy Diary
CONTENTS
The Quercy Diary
A year in the Quercy Welcome to our month by month walk-through of everyday life in the Lot and Quercy region covering the departments of the Lot, Lot et Garonne and Tarn et Garonne in the south of France.Lot and Quercy Life
Archive January 2006February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
Discussion Forum
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On the Road
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Building & Renovation
Health & Wellbeing
Animals & Pets
Questions?
The Quercy Diary
Welcome to a Year in the Quercy! French-Entrée Lot and Quercy produce an increasingly popular and completely free monthly e-mail newsletter, "Lot and Quercy Life" . As existing subscribers will already be aware this contains an introduction written by Amanda Lawrence that gives a seasonal snapshot of life in the area and has quite a following. With this in mind we have created The Quercy Diary, a compilation of these pieces, chronicling life in the villages and markets over the last twelve months.Each new edition will be shown at the top as it is published, previous editions are shown below in reverse chronological order. Sit back and enjoy a seasonal walk-through of this beautiful region and dream of the delights in store:
Lot and Quercy Life
November 2011
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, and as the church bells pealed in solemn remembrance I stood in twenty-two degrees of glorious sunshine in the market square watching the parade on one side and negotiating half a kilo of Bleu des Causses on the other. Even for south-west France, it was incredibly warm. Normally by mid-November the fires are lit, every chimney is smoking, sales of haricots blancs have rocketed and I am holed up in my warm kitchen for the winter. Not so this year.
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Previous Editions of Lot and Quercy Life
Lot and Quercy Life
March 2011
In the forest glades dark carpets of leaves are punctuated by a
scattering of violets, like a stolen hoard of amethysts, hurriedly
discarded. And every now and then the paler daisy-shaped jewel
of an anemone blanda, so charming, so delicate and as tough as
old tree roots. Overhead the first green has begun to appear, long
lines of chartreuse willow and tangles of hawthorn and honeysuckle,
complemented perfectly by a froth of blossom from the early blushing
brides, wild cherry, almond and blackthorn. A triple wedding - a promise
of good times to come...
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Lot and Quercy Life
December 2010
Dawn revealed a sparkling scene. The huge pines at the bottom of the valley were veiled in a delicate frost, junipers shook the icing sugar from their needle sharp leaves, oaks bowed under the weight of their snow overcoats and forest animals creeping ever closer to the warmth of human habitation. It was Christmas Eve in the Quercy. Early that morning I visited the age-old Christmas market in Cahors, standing at the edge of the cobbled square I wondered how many Christmases have rolled by in that ancient place... more...
Lot and Quercy Life
November 2010
Mists drift past the dripping hills, shrouding the oaks and walnuts in their delicate, damp veils. As they shift and part shafts of topaz light pierce the scene and a breathtaking world emerges. The countryside is spiced with cinnamon and saffron, peppered with cayenne. Autumn has finally arrived in all her blazing glory. I drive down through the valley passing gilded vineyards of breathtaking beauty, line upon line of flame haired maidens swaying to the rustle and rhythm of the leaves in a vast Celtic dance...
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Lot and Quercy Life
August 2010
Summertime - and the living is easy… Okay so it’s not very original, but in countries where summers are hot, harvests are lavish and lazy rivers run full of fish, it’s so very true - nowhere more so than here in the Quercy. The fields are dominated by harvesters, crawling across the landscape like vast locusts; the markets are full of eye-popping colour and equally full of misty-eyed tourists...
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Lot and Quercy Life
July 2010
The dog days of high summer and the heat is on. Cicadas scream madly from the trees and sunflowers reach for shimmering skies washed of colour.
In the markets meanwhile, colour reigns supreme. Piles of misshapen scarlet peppers and shiny purple and mauve aubergines nudge their culinary partners, the abundant courgettes and vast, delectable Marmande tomatoes; a ratatouille dances across almost every market stall...
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Lot and Quercy Life
June 2010
Warm breezes caress my bare shoulders as I sit on the terrace amongst my lemon trees. Despite their diminutive size, the amazing scent of their blossom is almost overwhelming. At the bottom of the garden I can hear the first of the season’s cicadas screaming – the heralds of hot weather – and I sigh in contentment. Nowhere is summer more seductive than in the Quercy.
Down in the markets the early summer fruits are rolling in....
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Lot and Quercy Life
May 2010
May in southern France is like June in England. Soft air, the first of the season’s brides, markets stuffed with hopeful herbs and leggy tomato plants - and roses, roses all the way. The huge gallica by my kitchen door is smothered in breaking bud, lime green goblets filled with a deep magenta that simply spells summer....
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Lot and Quercy Life
April 2010
Spring is in full flow here in the beautiful Quercy. The countryside is foaming with blossom. Rivers of blackthorn, late after the freezing winter have run into the cherry, wild pear, plum and quince, providing a fountain of confetti for the thousands of avian brides newly arrived from their overwintering grounds in Tropical Africa....
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Lot and Quercy Life
March 2010
Early March and spring rushes in to relieve the chill of a long, hard winter. My almond trees are spreading their delicate petals to the seeping warmth and the Rosemaries have suddenly exploded into a riot of pale blues. The sun is hot now, despite the still-cool air, hot enough to eat lunch outside....
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Lot and Quercy Life
February 2010
It’s a strange phenomenon, but as winter loosens its iron grip and the first spring bulbs begin to feel their way into the exhilarating air of a Quercy February, my mind takes a retrograde step. I start to think of truffles....
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Lot and Quercy Life
January 2010
Welcome to the freezing Quercy in deep mid-winter. Today marks Epiphany, and the end of the festive season. It’s the end of puddings and pies and Buche de Noel, the end of Bing for another year, and the start of a new life for our Norwegian spruce in the little copse behind the old orchard....
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Lot and Quercy Life
December 2009
Welcome to the beautiful Quercy in ankle-deep autumn.It may officially be winter elsewhere, but here in this incredibly mild year, autumn clings on. The oaks, reluctant as always to surrender their leaves, are a splendid rusty brown and after every wind, a fresh layer of leaves means the forest floor disappears completely.... more...
Lot and Quercy Life
November 2009
Welcome to deep, deep autumn in the rain-washed Quercy.In years to come people will talk about the long hot summer of 2009 and remind one another that it truly lasted from April to October. But it’s November now and the bitter Northern winds have swept across the landscape, turning the shivering vines scarlet and bringing driving rain in their wake. For the first time in my life I really don’t mind.... more...
Lot and Quercy Life
October 2009
We’re not quite as far south as the Sahara, but if you lived here you’d be forgiven for thinking you might be on the edge of it! We have just had a most welcome and hugely dramatic thunder storm, but the last significant rain was a two day downpour at the very beginning of July and the countryside is parched. I’m thinking of investing in a camel train....
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Lot and Quercy Life
September 2009
The last of the season’s fêtes drew to a close at the weekend. The early morning light revealed a Coke can rolling casually down the street and tattered streamers flapping gently in the warm breeze. The tourists have gone and the lazy, hazy, crazy days are over, but the hot southern summer lingers on.....
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Lot and Quercy Life
August 2009
The oleanders and hibiscus on my terrace provide the perfect backdrop for lazy afternoons and steamy nights. And last week we had a little visitor who was thoroughly taken in by the façade and looked as if he’d dropped straight out of an Attenborough documentary. We were lingering over a late breakfast, about to pour a little more coffee, when our visitor announced himself with a distinct plopping sound.....
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Lot and Quercy Life
July 2009
July heralds the start of the tourist season here in southern France. Markets swell to five times their winter size, chefs sharpen their knives in eager anticipation and the rest of us try to remember where we found that tiny nook that was always available to park the car. But in congested Cahors, things have changed a little......
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Lot and Quercy Life
June 2009
Out on the terraces a thousand thermometers boil, cicadas scream from the trees and the oleanders have shaken off their reticence and burst into a riot of bloom. It’s high summer and a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of windsurfing. This can be a fortunate circumstance for me, because the resident man’s favourite puddle for this sort of daredevil activity is the huge lake caused by the confluence of the rivers Tarn and Garonne. It’s just south of the historic city of Moissac, and that happens to be a very convenient spot for me to meet a friend from the Gers, it was time for a highly indulgent lunch......
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Lot and Quercy Life
May 2009
Welcome to the Quercy in lovely May, where the first strains of summer can be heard drifting through the villages and across the fields.
Every month of the calendar year has its own special charm, but I have to admit, May has the edge. The verges foam with cow parsley, underplanted with the renowned orchids of the region. Meadows are knee deep in blond grasses studded with numerous wild flowers.....
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Lot and Quercy Life
April 2009
Last week as I drove south down that most characteristic of holiday routes - the A20 - from Cahors to Montauban, I gazed out at an enchanting landscape. The chequered fields and woods were newly green and the fabulous orchards of the Quercy Bas appeared in a haze of white blossom, as if somebody had shaken a feather pillow over the land. Closer to home, the vines are breaking bud, violets spread their purple mantles beneath the oaks, delicate lemon cowslips throng the verges.....
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Lot and Quercy Life
March 2009
Welcome to spring in the Quercy where the last few days have been as warm and wonderful as May. My lemon trees have been hauled out of their winter quarters to waft their delicious scent over the sunlit terrace; they’re chock full of waxy blossom and in dire need of a few bees.....
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Lot and Quercy Life
February 2009
Whilst England shivered under a blanket of snow, all last week the Quercy languished under sparkling blue skies. They lured me out for the day on Wednesday. It was market day in Cahors and by the time I rounded the chilly corner of the Rue Marechal Foch into the blazing sunshine opposite the cathedral the morning was well advanced.....
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Lot and Quercy Life
January 2009
2009 dawned bright and clear in the lovely Quercy and we’re all set for a good year.Out in the chilly vineyards half-frozen paysans bend over the wiry winter vines pruning and tidying, they’ve been out there for weeks and it’s a relentless task..... more...
Lot and Quercy Life
December 2008
We were to arrive at 12.30 on a Sunday afternoon – which means at least half an hour later as naturally nobody ever arrives on time in France. We were looking forward to this encounter, but with some trepidation, as our neighbours speak absolutely no English. This is fair enough of course and on its own we would have been able to cope with it quite well, but they add to this minor hurdle by having extremely strong southwestern accents.....
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Lot and Quercy Life
November 2008
Lunch in this café is a one-menu-for-all affair, and very good it is too. I began with a small plate of shiny, plump violet and black olives, a bowl of cornichons and a slice of nutty, air-dried ham from Bayonne. The bread came from the bakery on the other side of the church, a good chewy, yeasty flute, to be consumed with pace and care. I refused a glass of wine, to the frank amazement of my neighbouring diners....
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Lot and Quercy Life
October 2008
Late September and the temperatures were still sizzling. We’d had no rain for weeks and the leaves on my pear trees were drooping disconsolately, like a guilty dog’s ears. In the vineyards the farmers frowned, growled and stroked the grapes contemplatively....
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Lot and Quercy Life
September 2008
The last few weeks of summer are lazy. The mercury is boiling in a thousand thermometers and nobody feels inclined to move.Vignerons prowl slowly round the vines, squinting anxiously at distant clouds. Holidaymakers prowl round the little villages, cameras at the ready, squinting curiously through ancient stone doorways and posing in front of the old chapel; the rest of us do as little as possible in the heat of the day, and wait until the cool of the evening to conduct any serious business.... more...
Lot and Quercy Life
August 2008
Glorious August in southwest France lures tourists as a buddleia in full bloom lures butterflies. The heat, the holiday atmosphere that pervades every little town and village, and the outstanding food and wine available at every turn, have all contributed to make this once neglected little rural backwater one of the holiday hotspots of Europe...
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Lot and Quercy Life
July 2008
High summer in the Quercy and the skies are as blue as the wild cornflowers that line every field. Scarlet and pink geraniums foam from every windowsill, whilst on the limestone cliffs helichrysum and santolina bloom riotously on bone-dry outcrops of rock. Out in the immaculately groomed vineyards grapes are beginning to swell. Dogs lie panting in the shade; cats lie dozing in the sun and lizards scuttle hither and thither with newly minted energy...
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Lot and Quercy Life
June 2008
A month in which the residents of the Quercy prepare for the long, hot summer season. All along the boulevard in Cahors the little cafes and boulangeries that fringe this wonderful street have laid tables and chairs on the wide pavements. The established restaurants and bistros billow out in all directions screened from the road by strategically placed oleanders and potted olive trees...
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Lot and Quercy Life
May 2008
Welcome to lovely May in the Quercy, perhaps the most beautiful month of the year. It’s the month of flowers – and indeed fabulous flower festivals are being held in tiny stone villages all over the country. In my hillside garden the oleanders are in bud, the olives are putting out their new silvery leaves and chilly lizards are sunning themselves on numerous crumbling walls.....
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Lot and Quercy Life - April 2008
The sweet smell of a thousand fragrant Gariguette strawberries lured me round Cahors market last Wednesday. The day was warm, the sky a cloudless blue and the stalwart stallholders were in carnival mood. Asparagus assailed me as I entered the fray at the southern end....
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Early Spring in the Quercy
March 2008
It is going to be an early Easter, and in the Quercy a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of food – the other matter being on his mind all year round. All the markets are stuffed to bursting with bitter spring greens, tender and delicious; points de chou, broccoli de pays, navet and colza. .... more...
Lot and Quercy Life - February 2008
Spring has come early to the Quercy. An exceptionally mild winter followed by a week of brilliant sunshine, clear skies as blue as the virgin’s robe and warm southern breezes, have transformed both the landscape and the markets. The almond trees have suddenly exploded into riotous blossom and all my lemon trees are following suit, stiff, waxy white petals unfurling to release a delicious fragrance that pervades the whole terrace....
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Lot and Quercy Life - January 2008
Living in the heartland of French gastronomy can be an exceptionally rewarding business. No more so than on a cold winter’s day when you blow into a warm, bustling café a few minutes before twelve-thirty, chilly, hungry and teased by the tantalising aromas wafting from the kitchens. It’s one of the great pleasures of life in France....
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Lot and Quercy Life - December 2007
Christmas spirit has invaded the Quercy. Temperatures have plummeted, leaving the landscape shivering under a veil of frosty white. Geese are once more seen at the gates of scattered farmhouses and every shop from the Dordogne to the Garonne is liberally stocked with foie gras, oysters and Champagne...
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Lot and Quercy Life - November 2007
Winter is knocking on the door in Southern France. Here in the Quercy, mornings are sharp and frosty, afternoons blue and brilliant and temperatures have dropped like a stone. The markets are now less than half their summer size...
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Autumn in the Quercy
October 2007
Mellow October is upon us. Mornings are characterised by swirling valley mists that mask little villages and swallow the vineyards. From my balcony, high above the floor of the glorious river Lot, I look down on meringue confections as elaborate as any you would see in the patisserie...
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Sunny September in the Quercy
September 2007
It is early September and all the children are back at school. The fête tables have been packed away for another year and according to the calendar summer is over - but not here. Fortunately for those of us who have the luck to live and work in this enchanting little corner of France September is usually hot...
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Lot and Quercy Life
August 2007
Welcome to the steaming Quercy in high summer. And steaming it certainly has been, the weather still can’t make up its mind and switches from scorching sunshine to refreshing showers with little warning. Good for the vines, say the old-timers, good for the peaches and plums too, not so good for the cereal crops...
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Early Summer in the Quercy
July 2007
Lazy high summer is upon us and here in the lovely Quercy that means the season. Not only the tourist season but also the glorious season of the fêtes. Every turreted village, sprawling town and elegant city in France has at least one - often more – but if there’s only one it’ll be in July or August...
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Lot and Quercy Life
June 2007
Our village markets have now spread to their exuberant summer size, a mass of miscellaneous stalls winding their way round ancient churches and through cobbled alleyways. In one of my local haunts the lavender lady has reappeared after her winter hibernation. She sells dried bunches, tiny bottles of essence, fabulous soaps and handmade sachets. Her stall just emanates the fragrant south...
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Tomatoes and Basil, the Flavours of Summer
Lot and Quercy Life - May 2007
Welcome to lovely May in southern France, it must be the prettiest time of year. Café tables spread optimistically across cobbled pavements; oleanders, palms and potted olive trees screen clients from the traffic. They sit there with their ice-cold beer or delicately tinted kirs, pale arms tentatively exposed...
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Lot and Quercy Life
April 2007
April is sailing by and here in the beautiful Quercy glorious summer is already on the horizon; the weather is delightfully warm, our summer migrants have arrived – both birds and humans – and the stage is set for six months of outdoor living...
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Springtime in the Quercy
Lot and Quercy Life - March 2007
With a breathtaking suddenness, spring has arrived in the lovely Quercy. Willows drip slender green leaves, almonds turn their pale pink faces to the new sunlight and the hedgerows are lit with blackthorn. In the valleys all the rivers and streams are swollen with rain and melt-water, the Lot is in flood, lakes and ponds are brimming and we’re braced and ready for the droughts of summer...
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Bon Appetit! Lunch time delights from the Quercy.
February 2007
As I pick my way carefully down our little lane, avoiding rocky outcrops and sharp stones, I notice a few pale green shoots and swelling buds, hopeful harbingers of spring.It is the middle of February and there are a mere two chilly weeks of winter left. It’s a waiting time, most of the work in the fields has been done, ancient, rusty ploughs have turned over great slabs of milk chocolate coloured earth, liberally scattered with white chocolate chips, the hallmark of the Quercy Blanc. more...
A White Christmas in the Quercy
January 2007
What a breathtakingly beautiful Christmas we enjoyed here in the Quercy. It wasn’t strictly white because it didn’t actually snow, but I’m sure if I hadn’t just allowed the secret to slip, you’d never have known. It was five degrees below zero...
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Merry Christmas!
December 2006
It is the first week of winter and the vast oak forests of the Quercy are scarlet, golden and green, almost too beautiful to bear. In sharp contrast the vines are now completely naked and shivering in the cold winds, they’ve been severely pruned and appear as no more than dark shadows of their sexy summer selves...
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Welcome to the Crisp, Cold, Sunny Quercy
Lot and Quercy Life - November 2006
The last few days of October were as hot and balmy as August, the markets were thronged with visitors and full of flowers. Great clumps of chrysanthemums in purple, white, crimson and gold jostled against rank upon rank of pierrot-faced violas and armfuls of more exotic blooms, a wonderful sight which brought out a rash of resident artists...
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Welcome to Lot and Quercy Life
Lot and Quercy Life - October 2006
October has stolen in with her spectacular mists and temperate breezes bringing in her wake a flurry of seasonal activity. It’s the time of the vendanges and in the Quercy that doesn’t just mean the grapes but the walnuts too. All day long you can see the tall, blue harvesters sailing over the vineyards like land-loving catamarans...
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Welcome to Early Autumn in the Sweltering Quercy Heat!
Lot and Quercy Life - September 2006
It’s supposed to be the season of mellow fruitfulness, but there’s nothing mellow about September in Southern France, the weather is frequently hotter than August. This year, it seems, will be no exception as August was the chilliest since records began, according to our disgusted neighbours!
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Welcome to Le Quercy en Vacances
Lot and Quercy Life - August 2006
The season of the fetes has arrived in true style, vibrating with visitors all eager to join in the fun. Every little town, village and hamlet has at least one day of partying, followed by half the contents of the local cellars and at least four courses of splendid local cuisine, followed, if you’re not very careful, by some outrageously vigorous dancing. I was swept off my feet...
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High Summer Has Arrived
Lot and Quercy Life - July 2006
High summer has arrived in the Quercy. Little stone villages drowse in the heat, scarlet and pink geraniums foam from every windowsill, dogs pant in the shade and cats prowl through immaculate potagers.
A few days ago several of our local friends were to be seen pillaging the roadside walnut trees, baskets in hand.. more...
Welcome to the Quercy in Glorious Sunshine
Lot and Quercy Life - June 2006
We’re all recovering from one of the most arduous fetes of the year! Albas Wine Festival is an outstanding event. Six or seven thousand people – according to the Mairie – crammed tightly into one of the smallest and prettiest villages on the river. Naturally we always feel obliged to attend, as we happen to be in the commune of Albas...
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Welcome to the Quercy - Summer is on the way!
Lot and Quercy Life - May 2006
The weather is truly warm here now, meals are taken outside and the more exotic flowers are beginning to make their appearance. The oleanders are full of bud, numerous tamarisk trees drip with dusky pink blossom and on a recent five kilometre ramble I spotted seven different varieties of wild orchid - the Quercy is justly famed for it’s orchids - and after a copious amount of huffing and puffing...
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Sparkling Springtime in the Quercy
Lot and Quercy Life - April 2006
We’ve finally shaken off the last of the winter clouds and spirits are soaring. All along the grassy banks little darns of lemon yellow have suddenly spread to become huge patches of glorious cowslips. The willows are a delicious lime green, the almonds and wild cherries laden with delicate white blossom...
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Early Spring in the Quercy
Lot and Quercy Life - March 2006
It’s still a tad chilly here, cold nights and warm afternoons. There are few short-sleeved-shirts, with the strange exception of café waiters who seem to have an internal central heating system! There are fewer still bared shoulders, but there is an almost tangible air of expectancy, because when the warm weather comes to this land, it comes in a rush.
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Winter Treats of the Quercy
Lot and Quercy Life - February 2006
Welcome to the late winter treats of the glorious Quercy.
Foremost among winter indulgences in this famously gastronomic region must naturally be the truffle. Now is the time for it...
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Happy New Year!
Lot and Quercy Life - January 2006
The festive season has arrived! And here in sunny southern France the Quercy has been frozen into a Narnian landscape, enchanting and exceptionally beautiful but wickedly cold. A wardrobe full of fur coats would be a definite asset. The markets are winding up for Christmas, the geese are already fat...
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White Stone Black Wine by Amanda Lawrence
Want to find out more about the undiscovered Quercy Blanc?
White Stone Black Wine - "A relaxing and entertaining book about life in the Quercy region"
Synopsis
A light-hearted and whimsical romp through the lovely Quercy Blanc, one of the last undiscovered corners of southern France. White Stone Black Wine is generously slanted towards the regional specialities and famed local wines. It is as light as a soufflé, just as delicious and will fall very happily into a holiday suitcase..
What's the Weather Really Like?
Everybody Wants to be a Cat
It’s a cats life in the Quercy
It's a cats life...