Cath saw this in our excellent local paper La Provence so we thought we should go and take a look.

Cath loves tulips, it was Mother’s Day in England – it made perfect sense.

Lots of people obviously had the same idea as it was very busy. But the fields of tulips were gorgeous.

It is pick-your-own so we picked 20 stems and paid €5 for them.

It was a very pleasant day out – until it was time to leave. The traffic in the neighbouring streets was gridlocked so we sat stock still for about an hour.

But we eventually got moving and got home with our handpicked tulips.

Cath and I have started going to yoga classes. It is my debut on a yoga mat – Cath is a bit more experienced.

Our teacher, Amandine, likes to practice her English now she has two English students in her class.

But nevertheless the classes have thrown up a number of new French words.

• La omoplate – shoulder blade
• Le bassin – pelvis
• Chien tête en bas- downward dog
• Chien tête en haut – upward-facing dog
• Le nombril – bellybutton

As if yoga wasn’t hard enough already.

A nice view across a Venelles vineyard towards Mont Sainte Victoire.

From Temple Bar, La Ciotat.

I wonder how many of the 13 million pints of Guinness drunk around the world on St Patrick’s Day are downed in France?

Another new bird visited the garden today – one I’d never seen before.

It was un bruyant fou or a rock bunting.

Although I think bruyant fou also means noisy fool – which seems a bit harsh.

It had a lovely humbug head and chestnut back with a long tail.

It hung around for quite some time. Hopefully he’ll become a regular visitor.

I’ve added it to my life list.

Once again, one of our neighbours has decided to chop down some pine trees.

I think it was the same team of bûcherons as last year.

These pine trees were near the entrance to the house so we were warned to move our car if we wanted to be able to come and go during the day.

At least this time no tree came crashing into our garden.

I’m worried about the crested tits who I regularly saw in those trees. Let’s hope they find a new home.

Cath went on a day-trip to Lyon and brought me back some tasty treats from our former home.

It included this praluline.

Invented by Auguste Pralus in 1955 in Roanne, this brioche rich in butter and pink pralines is a real Lyon classic – and utterly delicious.

And of course there were impressive displays in the chocolate shops.

Merci Cath.

The sheep have been putting in a shift these last few days.

First they were in a field on one side of the road, then a field on the other side, then back across to another field – they must be exhausted.

I wonder where they’ll pop up next?

While driving down our road today, two of the fields by the roadside were full of sheep.

I’ve never seen any sheep here before but all of a sudden they were partout.

I guess they have been brought in to keep the grass cropped.

There were sheep as far as the eye could see. They were wearing des cloches.

But I didn’t see any à cinq pattes.

Regarde ça.

Le marchand des légumes à l’Intermarché à Venelles a un œil pour l’artistique.

Bravo.