In April 2014 the first student knocks on our door. Ten happy years later.....

The moon in Lauragais is the same moon as seen anywhere in the world, but once a month in Lauragais, it takes on a special significance.

“But what exactly happens during an English immersion programme?”

Our prospective students sometimes have difficulty imagining their stay at La Selve, totally immersed in English. “How will we fill the day?” “How will I learn English?”

Read on, for detailed insight from a recent visitor.

Who doesn’t eat pizza? Nobody that I know of. The choice is almost unlimited: meat, cheese, fish, vegetarian, with this, without that. It’s this flexibility that has made pizzas such a worldwide success, rather like the English language really.

From our home on a clear day we can see La Montagne Noire. Is it called the ‘Black Mountain’ because when seen, at least from the north, its silhouette always seems black, or is there some other reason?

At the end of my last blog on the Little Owls that live close to La Selve I said “perhaps next year we will have a nest of little Little Owls”. I am happy to report that we now have at least one young owl, perhaps two. One of them paid us an unexpected visit ......

Amongst the regular visitors to La Selve is a little owl. It was some time before either of us saw the owl, but ‘all things come for those who wait’; and one morning, on her return from walking the dogs, Julie came into the kitchen excitedly, saying ‘I’ve seen him’.

La Selve is an old sandstone farmhouse, and just outside the kitchen door is the bell, a ship’s bell. The bell was bought in June 2000 at a chandler’s in England. Several bells were tried, several times, for this was a serious matter …

The rich history and heritage of this beautiful region of France was shaped by a simple colour – blue.

During the Renaissance, the Dyer’s Woad plant was cultivated in Lauragais, and its blue pigment was traded at the price of gold throughout Europe. This brought wealth to the whole region, which became known as the Pays de Cocagne; the Land of Plenty.

Each spring, the meadows around our French home are thick with wild orchids. Though not as large and showy as their tropical cousins, they are fascinating to find and to photograph.