Gardening Magazine

Getting Away from the Grey

By Mwillis
The weather here during the latter part of April was grim. Cold and gray every day with strong breezes and no compensating rain to help the gardens. It was therefore a blessed relief for Jane and me to get away from it for a few days by visiting our daughter and her family in France.
Although they work in Geneva, Switzerland, they live in France, commuting daily over the border. I can definitely see the attractions in this arrangement. I'm not very fond of big cities; I much prefer the countryside. This is the view from the bottom of their road. The snow-topped mountains are the Jura.
Getting away from the grey
A couple of hundred yards further on you leave the village and get out into the real countryside:
Getting away from the grey
It seems incredible that this place is just 20 minutes' drive from the center of a major city!
Getting away from the grey
When I'm out walking I always like to inspect the "flora and fauna" as closely as possible. These are trees full of clumps of mistletoe, which seems to be very common there.
Getting away from the grey
Turning round 180 degrees you see this:
Getting away from the grey
That view is of the Alps, with Mont Blanc dominating the skyline.
Getting away from the grey
The contrast between the beauty of Nature and the utilitarian ugliness of man-made structures was very striking:
Getting away from the grey
Like most places, the village in which my daughter lives is slowly expanding as new houses and apartments go up to provide accommodation for Geneva commuters. However it was encouraging to see that the increasing population has enabled a very nice food-shop to open in the village (something previously lacking) - thus cutting down on the need to make trips to town and to the supermarkets.
Getting away from the grey
I just hope that those lovely fields and open spaces don't all get swallowed up in some vast concrete-and-brick conurbation!

Back to Featured Articles on Logo Paperblog

Magazines