Love-in-the-mist and roses.

Our only garden is a narrow strip of earth between one side of the house and the pavement.

Today, 10th June, it is looking very colourful. The roses and irises were already here, the love-in-the-mist is from a much-loved garden of friends in Essex and the yellow wild flowers look pretty, set off the other colours and are loved by the bees so we’ll let them be for the time being. I cannot recall  their name, but they are small dandelion-type of flowers so we will have to catch them for removal as soon as they “puff” - you can have too much of a good thing!

Laundries and Fountains - 8

Tuesday 9th June.  Cooler today under mostly cloudy skies with a brisk breeze.

After visiting the anglers at the family lake we decided to return home on “the scenic route.”  In truth, all routes in this area are scenic but we took the slightly longer way via…

…where there just happens to be a well-kept wash-house in the centre ready for use by firemen if necessary.

Another one captured - but many more to go!

Laundries and Fountains - 7.

Monday 8th June. Another summery day.  The puncture we got yesterday was repaired at the local garage this morning and in the afternoon we returned to…

…to photo the fountain with its fire hydrant behind a small door at the base of the pump.

We then took a drive through the Spincourt Forest to:

Then we continued on the Pillon road to Constantine and straight across at the cross roads to…

It is a small town containing a tangle of roads which curve up and down.  We saw no sign of the River Crusnes but did eventually find the wash house…

On the way back home, we stopped at Romagne and its fountain.

Searching for lavoirs et fontaines has been a good excuse for getting us out and about - finding what we hadn't noticed before and discovering roads, countryside and villages new to us. There are still very many more in the Meuse region so we haven't finished investigating yet...

Laundries and Fountains - 6 (a bonus discovery).

Sunday 7th June.  More blue sky and sunshine but with a stiffer breeze so a little cooler than yesterday.

We decided to go out but somewhere not too far today.  Green, water, trees for shade…it had to be a favourite - the village green and pond at Azannes, which is a pretty spot about 5 miles from home. As we arrive, we noticed a fountain and water trough which we hadn’t been conscious of before!  We hadn’t set out on the lavoirs et fontaines route so it was serendipity.

As we were leaving we turned up by the church to investigate...

 

...and saw this sign…

 

 

 

We thought we would be adding more information to our previous search for destroyed villages as well as lavoirs, but it was not to be.  The road became a track which climbed and got rougher the further we went and suddenly we were above Azannes which is set in beautiful countryside…

An old windmill...and continuing the panorama from left to right...

 

Dog roses and elder flowers grew in profusion on the hedges...

 The road dipped a little, we turned a corner and found two beautiful lakes. From a map we discovered the area is called Etang du Haut Fourneau.

Sadly there was no sign or signs of the former village of Soumazannes. 

We turned and went back to Azannes and, as we got to ‘good’ roads, strange noises came from under the car. We had picked up a small square of metal with two nails which had been stuck into the front offside tyre until it had flapped off into the road. With the prospect of a slow puncture we made no further stops and took a steady drive back.

On the way out of Azannes we spotted another fountain and what could be a wash-house.  We will be back!