January saw truffle season kick off in the Gard with the famous and very busy Uzès truffle market attracting buyers and sellers from around the world - including well known chefs scouting for the black diamonds for their restaurants. A market in the Place aux Herbes, complete with truffle hunting demonstration, soirees with wine tasting and formal dinners in the Bishop's Palace . My own contribution to truffle season? A very simple scrambled egg and truffle recipe, known as

Happy New Year. Bonne Année from the Gard. It's glorious sunshine with a blistering Mistral blowing. But with blue skies above it's hard to feel down cast. Work has been gathering pace here, with the exception of a hectic Christmas. Lots to repair, refresh, renew and create everywhere we look it seems! We like our gites to be top notch so are working hard to make sure no guests will be disappointed. In our own house builders are just about to mount an onslaught so we may w

The Gard is a fantastic region to explore, and though we have barely scraped the surface, we never fail to be astonished wherever we go. Turn into almost any village and you'll love the stone buildings, the unfailingly attractive Mairie, and you're bound to find a cafe open. Stop by a river, stroll for just 5 minutes and you're sure to find a swimming spot. Or call into a local boulangerie and drool at the meringues, cakes, tarts, and enormous selection of breads. Round th

Debate is raging locally over the future of stunning Roman mosaics found in Uzès last year. Sadly it may be some time before visitors to the Gard / Uzès get to see them. Found when works started on new school buildings in the centre of town, the mosaics are the first confirmation that this was the site of the Roman town of Uzetia - mentioned in an inscription in Nimes but never precisely located. The huge mosaics cover an area of 100m² and feature animals and birds in perfe

Where to start. If you're on holiday here in our gites you're going to need several weeks to take in all there is to do locally, but I have tried to distill it down to some of my personal highlights. 1. Walking - hike from the lovely Languedoc village of Vers-Pont-du-Gard to the ancient aqueduct. It's only an hour but the path takes you through olive groves and vines and through ancient woodland to the Pont du Gard itself. Along the way you'll find smaller, crumbling sectio

We have been winding down in more ways than one. Firstly a sudden change in the weather seems to be heralding Autumn - a welcome relief in some ways though Summer seems to have just whizzed by in a bit of a whirl. How did that happen? Autumn means a slowdown here at the Mas as our last gite guests arrive this weekend. We have so enjoyed our first season here - it's been a real pleasure to meet so many great people - our welcome dinners have always been fun, often running on

Over the months we have been here we have tried to record the changes in the garden - the rate of growth in the first few months has been stunning. We have been delighted by the ever unfolding array of different blooms - there was some clever planting done many years ago, so there has rarely been a period without flowers. Right now we are pretty parched - no rain for weeks and an early autumn seems to be upon us. Fortunately, despite a hosepipe ban, our amazing ancient unde