Jonathon, the French Cabinet Maker

Pam had been longing for some furniture to be made from some of our barrels, which would be otherwise destined to finish their lives as plant pots, after seeing examples in Italy in 2002. Then along came Jonathon...from France! Apart from being a fabulous cook, and wanna-be chef, Jonathon is extremely gifted with his hands in the wood department. Et Voila! Before we knew it, some beautiful tables and chairs had been crafted from the resurrected oak.

Jon cooking up a storm

oak barrel stave wine-glass rack

barrel furniture - tre magnifique!

Roma & Rudy's Tarte Tartin

No prizes for guessing where Rudy & Roma hail from!

Bottom Scratchs

Amy and Oscar joined us from Hong Kong, sharing much humour with Kevin (from Manchester) and Jonathon (France). At one point we were perplexed as Amy asked if we wanted her to pick some "bottom scratchs" ! After picking ourselves up off the floor laughing, we worked out that she was refering to "button squash". :)
Here they are with Jonathon and Kevin, celebrating Kevin's very successful, first-ever, steak & kidney pudding!

Janine

Janine, from near Frankfurt, stayed for a short time, but made a great impression on us, and on Merlot. She got to practice dog-sitting skills on Merlot in preparation for her stay in the north-west of WA, where she will look after another Jack Russell Terrier.

Joelle turns her hand to gardening in the potager

Joelle, from Switzerland joined Helena (from Holland) at a relatively quiet time of the year, so they enjoyed summer days in the postager garden.

Homegrown Snails

In the south of France, barbeques are often preceeded by an entre of snails. Mathieu and Marie treated us to Escargot, French BBQ style. After collecting them from the vineyard, Mathieu put them in a small bird cage and fed them a selection of herbs from the garden...thyme, rosemary. Then they fasted for 5 days before being seasoned and popped straight on the barbie. We at them with fresh bread and garlic aioli. The custom in Provence is to eat at least 30 snails each. Pam managed to demolish a dozen, which greatly impressed Mathieu and Marie.

Helena & Merlot

Merlot helps out in the garden too!

Phillip and Lilly fight over dinner.

Priscilla and Joy

Priscilla (right) and Joy brought culinary delights and knowledge to the table.

Our first Korean Woofer

We celebrated the arrival of our first Korean woofer, Reiz, with Martina (from Germany).