Le Jardin du Berger

29/07/2020

Le Jardin du Berger is closing...
Thank you to everyone who has visited, to those who have "liked" our page and followed us...

We have met some wonderful people in the last 5 years - we hope you'll keep in touch by following my "Textile Holidays France" page instead: https://www.facebook.com/textileholidaysfrance/?ref=bookmarks .....because.....we are still going to be running Textile Holidays, but in Umbria, Italy, not in France. x

Bronwen Shepherd: I'm based in Umbria, near to Lake Trasimeno and I run sewing holidays and workshops. I also sell PDF patterns, textile items and sewing kits.

05/05/2020

I've received a wonderful gift... Maggie Patching - who came on a sewing holiday last July - sent me a poem she's written, about the holiday. I think it's just perfect - it exactly captures the weather and the corn, the harvesting crops...plus the time spent working away in the studio! Do click on it, and read it in full!

** Le Jardin du Berger **
Through patchwork fields of yellow
Their seed heads bowed in grace,
Enter the Shepherd's garden
The low walls guarding space.
The warming sun caressing skin
And bees in busy flight,
With welcome cool of stone beneath
And dust motes catching light.
Listen to the humming thread,
Shift needle to and fro.
The murmur of the dusty breeze.
The pedal pulse below.
Creating form and taking shape
In concentrated peace,
The papered pattern pinned and still
The shush of blade release.
And when the fabric's folded
And the needles neat away,
Take time to watch the set of sun
And keep the world at bay.
The sharpened light when sun is high,
The whispered air at morn,
The cracking ears of arable
As sun splits wide the corn.
Can you hear the combine thrum?
With swoop and dive, birds call.
Then silence as the barley dust
Lies thick on tree and wall.
Make memories to take away
And mull over and learn.
Fill suitcase full of thanks and love
With promise to return.
(Poem and photo by Maggie Patching)

25/02/2020

I forgot to post photos from our second day trip out with our family last week. This time, St.Emilion, on a perfect winter's day - warm, sunny, and a delicious lunch outside....obviously with a glass of the local wine! (Sorry - old phone/camera!)

20/02/2020

After living here for over 4 years, and with countless visits to Cognac, we finally visited Hennessy earlier this week. It was fascinating, and well worth the €20 fee for the "Classic" tour, though I must say it was bitterly cold!
Still, the sampling at the end was a great way to warm up..... :-)

14/02/2020

What a lovely day! An hour in the studio, a 5km run, then lunch in one of the lovely restaurants in our local town, just 10 minutes away. Most restaurants were full - it’s Valentines Day and as we all know, the French are romantic...! I think we got the last table in town, at the Boule d’Or, and as always we had a delicious 3 course meal for an amazing €19 each...

01/01/2020

Happy New Year, from John and Bronwen at Le Jardin du Berger!
Wishing you a happy, healthy and peaceful 2020 x

28/12/2019

We’ve had a lovely sunny morning out in nearby Jonzac. Returned home to find a ”Traveller Review Award” from Booking dot com, just waiting to be displayed! 😊

20/10/2019

Today Le Jardin du Berger feature in the Observer's article: "10 of the Best Creative Breaks".
I'm a bit disappointed there are no photos - but there are plenty on both our websites - but am delighted with the write up: "Relax in the gardens, swim in the pool and enjoy the immaculate accommodation"...

From an art workshop in Tuscany and a sculpture course in Wales to crime writing in the Highlands, we pick our favourite learning retreats

15/10/2019

As some of our followers know, Bronwen runs "Textile Holidays France" from Le Jardin du Berger... This side of our business appears in an article on Textile Holidays in November's issue of "Be Creative" magazine which has .

Dates for 2020 Textile Holidays now appear on her website - standard gite and B&B holidays can be booked throughout the year.

10/09/2019

As promised - here's the link to one of the "Guestbooks" (REVIEWS) on our website... There are separate pages for each of the two gites, though they do sometimes get muddled up so it's worth looking at both!

We stayed in La Maison d'ete, the smaller gite at Le Jardin De Berger with our family in late July. This in the most stunningly beautiful and totally peaceful, tranquil location with far reaching views over fields of sunflowers, vines and maize. We enjoyed relaxing on the many loungers, swimming in....

10/09/2019

We've been sent some lovely photos from guests this summer... More guest photos taken at Le Jardin du Berger to follow over the next few day!
Just a word about REVIEWS - they're mostly on our website - I'll put a link in a separate post.

31/08/2019

The sunsets have been particularly spectacular this summer... Here's a beautiful photograph sent to me by one of our recent guests... More to follow in the next few days!