Monday 2 August 2010

Potager d'un Curieux*




Noire de Crimee, 
Zebree verte,
 Tomate Ananas,
Tomate Russe,
Coeur de Boeuf,

just a few of the tomato varieties for sale
in the small village shop in Goult.

And then later,


we found this remote,


eccentric,


and seemingly deserted establishment.


Part art installation,


part garden centre,
with racks and racks of beautifully packaged


seeds.
But a dilemma ensued.
There was no one to pay,
and no indication of price.
Were they for sale?


We asked the concierge.


She had aucune idée.


' Désolé ', she said.
But after a while, 
when a few more perplexed people had gathered,
a door opened at the back of the shed,
and a young girl came out,
fresh from her siesta.
Certainly the seeds could be bought, she shrugged.


So if I'm still here next year
I might be able to show you these.


* The French titles will fade like my tan.

8 comments:

  1. What beautiful tomatoes. And does tomate ananas look like a pineapple or taste like one?

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  2. Well neither really, but it is a beautiful yellow and I am prepared to be enchanted by the name anyway.

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  3. Good to read a posting from our French correspondent. You have been missed!

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  4. It is so lovely of you to share your holiday with us - I enjoyed viewing your photos. The tomatoes look wonderful.

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  5. Oooh! I love that shop, especially the sweet concierge and the Picasso on the greenhouse plastic - seulement in France!
    We are growing a striped tomato like the zebra - trop delicieux!
    You were in Provence - did you meet Peter Mayle?
    Welcome home.

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  6. Thank you. No sign of Peter Mayle unless you count a well thumbed copy of his book on the shelf. It seems he was writing from very near where we were staying.
    I was reading a much earlier account of the English doing up properties in Provence written by Lady Fortescue, in Perfume from Provence and Sunset House.

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  7. What a fascinating place! Such collections of items, such colors. Wonderful.

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