A Year in Provence with Carol Drinkwater

Cosy Sunday nights in with A Year in Provence with Carol Drinkwater

A Year in Provence TV series with actress and writer Carol Drinkwater

 

The changing of the seasons has brought with it cold and clear morning commutes to work, lit with sunrises that hold so much promise for warm, sunny days - perfect for drying the washing. Knowing what to wear to keep warm first thing, but not overheat later is proving tricky, and digging out my winter wardrobe has just added to my already huge to-do list. As we approach another well-needed weekend, I just had to share the news that Sunday night TV (for those of us able to pick up UK TV) has just got a bit more exciting. 

 

Last Sunday the first of six programmes aired on Channel 5, set in the south of France with actress and writer Carol Drinkwater. I have been following Carol’s French life for longer than I have been living my own; her Olive Farm memoirs about life at Appassionata in the hills above Cannes, were a comforting companion for my early days in France seventeen years ago. It is always a privilege when a writer lets you into their personal life, sharing the highs and the lows, but writing about your homelife isn’t quite the same as opening the doors to your private life and inviting the cameras in. 

 

For an actress who has concentrated on her memoir and fiction writing in recent years, I imagine it was a big step for Carol to get in front of the camera again and for it to be such a personal documentary. Part home life on the farm she and husband Michel have owned for over thirty years, part out and about with her in Provence and the south of France; all I can say is that I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. Having loved reading her memoirs, there was a tiny part of me that worried a TV programme could take away some of the magic I’d found in her books. Would the reality of the villa and land match up to what I’d imagined it to be when I read the books all those years ago? I needn’t have worried. It was a great reminder of how much I’d enjoyed the books, and it made me want to read them all again. The highlights for me were Carol's natural confidence in front of the camera, the loving looks between her and husband Michel and her bravery as she clambered around moving boats, while talking to the camera, and then went snorkelling to see an underwater art installation. It was an honour to be invited in, to virtually share Michel’s passion for cooking, and I can’t wait to see what other gems we will see in the five remaining episodes. For me at least, as the nights draw in, I know this series will make Sunday evenings that little bit warmer.

 

If you don’t have access to UK TV, the first episode is already available on the UKTvShows YouTube channel, see here, so hopefully they will have the rest of the series as it airs.

 

As you wait for Sunday night to arrive, you might like to read my interviews with Carol, or the guest post she wrote for the blog:

 

France et Moi with Carol Drinkwater 

From the Writing Desk of Carol Drinkwater 

Lazy Sunday in France with Carol Drinkwater 

Lockdown diaries, day twenty-three, the Robin

If you look closely, you'll see our Robin

Day twenty-three, Saturday 21^st November 2020

 

A visitor to the garden

A number of times today I was aware of hearing a really pretty birdsong coming from somewhere in the garden. We are lucky to hear lots of birds here and although I know the Blackbird, the Hoopoe, the Redstart, the Great Tit, the Swallow and the Sparrow, I couldn’t identify this one. As it was so persistent, and so beautiful, I took a moment and stood for a while trying to see who it was. High in the tree, right outside the kitchen door, singing its heart out for me, was a Robin. 

 

Robins have long been associated with lost loved ones and many believe they are a sign that loved ones are near and at peace. In spirituality the significance of seeing a Robin is all about renewal and new beginnings, a reminder to let go of the negatives and encourage us to move forward to a happier place. The older I get, the more I find myself drawn to spirituality, and as it was four years ago today that we lost Adrian’s Dad, I am sure that Robin wanted me to notice him in the garden today and take a moment to enjoy his song. I’m also ready to embrace a new and positive future.

 

Phase two of the hallway/landings project this morning

It was important for Adrian to feel that he had achieved something today, so we wasted no time in getting going on our latest project, phase two of the landings/hallways upstairs. We were up early and the first job of sanding the filled bits in the walls, and cleaning the dust this created, was all done before morning coffee. I started off with the final side of the door into our bedroom while Adrian opened the new paint and got going on the pipework, and then we both attacked the walls. 

Another project finished

At first, we thought our duck-egg blue paint looked a bit too blue, but as it’s dried it’s much more like we were hoping, and we even managed to get a second coat on late this afternoon. Add in a wash load, another cake baked, a bike ride just before sunset, time spent preparing his course for next week and a batch of pizza dough proving, and I think between the two of us we’ve had a pretty productive day.

 

World Television Day

Today is World Television Day, as decreed by the United Nations in 1996 to stand as a reminder of the power of visual media and how it can educate, but also shape public opinion and influence world politics. I might not have heard of it until this year, but I think this is certainly something that is very relevant to the world today. 

 

We are not a family who are big on televisions. In 1997, when World Television Day was in its infancy, Adrian and I bought a second hand television from friends for £50. We then upgraded (for free) when his aunt and uncle passed on their old one, and again, when his Mum and Dad did the same. Almost ten years ago, we got our first brand new television, a fortieth birthday gift to me from his Mum and Dad, and in all this time we have only ever had one television in the house. We have never had a television in our bedroom, ever, and Ed has also never had his own, until this autumn, when we bought him a second hand one for the flat in Poitiers. Now how is this for a weird coincidence, when we were in Niort yesterday, we picked up an early Christmas gift from Adrian’s mum; a new television. It is so big that until we can get back to the DIY store to collect the unit we can’t buy in store; it’s resting on a chipboard shelf, and while we try to get to grips with all it can do, Ed is over the moon. He is now the proud owner of two televisions, one in the flat and one, for the first time in his life, in his bedroom.