Le Couvent Diary

Thanks for all the kind messages sent to Darling the hen who suffered at the beaks of her bullying sisters. I'm delighted to report that she's obviously much happier since moving to her own quarters - to the extent that today she laid her first egg for a month.

Darling is gathering a fan club, so, as her agent, here's some more information about her. She's a 9 month old Sussex Light bantam who adores kicking leaves around.

She was an excellent layer, but her production ground to a halt as soon as the big girls started jumping on her. Her response to their attacks was to run and hide behind a 1500 litre oil tank and refuse to come out until I called her, whereupon she would leap into my arms to be carried to safety.

She's an extremely friendly hen and it's a mystery why the others suddenly took against her after a summer of living together perfectly happily. Her favourite food is bacon, but when that's not on offer she's placated by pasta - tagliatelle by preference.

Her current aim is to dash into the kitchen and here's Ali persuading her otherwise.

We'll keep you posted on her progress.

All through the summer our lovely guests ask us how we spend our winters. Well, between wine-making, repairing the house, looking after hens, dogs, cat and garden, catching up with friends, travelling and so on, the winter seems to pass very quickly.

This week we've been trying to find a pair of iron 'eyes' that we can cement into the wall upon which to hang a heavy old gate. We're trying to keep our chickens apart since one of them has become seriously picked on by several of  the other hens. Hanging the gate will allow Darling (the hen-pecked hen) to have her own area away from the bullies. Finding the hinges has proved a hopeless task and has used up a good two days of this week. It seems we'll have to have a pair made. I'm making a last-ditch effort to find them at the flea market this weekend, before commissioning a pair.

Meanwhile Darling has a temporary new home outside the back door in a small courtyard. She now has a ton of leaves to kick around and no big girls to worry about. In fact she seems to have forgotten she's a hen and follows me everywhere, watching my every move through the office and kitchen windows, leaping into my arms the second I go out to feed her. It's all rather flattering.

Here she is in her new billet.

We have two broody hens at the moment and broody hens don't lay. With nine hens in total that leaves seven potential layers. We have eight guests staying today and boiled eggs are a favourite, so at their laying best the hens are struggling to keep up.

Some guests take matters into their own hands. I came down to prepare breakfast this morning to find two eggs 'bagged'.

This is a dilemma because I can't bring myself to buy eggs when our hens lay the best in the world- it feels disloyal to the hens and it misses the point. I'll just have to serve boiled eggs on alternate days. Or pray the broody girls see the pointlessness of their nest-squatting given that we don't have a cockerel. Otherwise we have a wait of up to three weeks.

Wow, it seems ages since I last wrote a post. Meanwhile Ali's been to Western Australia to see her family - and I took the opportunity to organise a couple of surprises for her return. We have a friend who says I move the house three inches when Ali's away, but this time I managed 4 metres. Yep, the bridge between the convent and the garden has finally been constructed, some three years after we first thought about it. It is just wonderful to be able to walk from our apartment straight to the garden. We're both thrilled. Huge thanks to the Welder-Beast and Teddy.

The second surprise has been installed in the vineyard and is a real treat. Whenever we have a bit of time during the closed season Ali and I camp in the mazet (Chateau Malaudos ). But, to be frank, sleeping on a stone slab has quickly lost its appeal. So I've bought an ancient caravan to keep hidden in amongst the olive trees. She's 25 years old - at least - and we've painted her the colour of the surrounding foliage and soil. So now she's called Olive. Best of all she has comfortable beds and a gas cooker. I love having the open fire beside the mazet, but it's a fag to light a big fire when all you need is a quick coffee whilst working on the vines.

There's nothing better than breakfast in the middle of a vineyard in the warm sunshine of a March morning. Can you smell the bacon?

On Thursday we returned home to Le Couvent, the best B&B in the Languedoc (shameless plug), to find vast bag full of wild asparagus on the doorstep. Our kind neighbours over the road had been out foraging and had left them for us as a thanks for some eggs we'd left on their doorstep. Oooh, they are sooo delicious. We had lots gently steamed with a smoked salmon bake the other evening and I made a couple of Wild Asparagus and Cheddar quiches for the freezer - using our hens' wonderful eggs of course.

Cooking has been made even more pleasurable this week as the lovely Teddy made me a new chopping board.

I'm sure he'd make you one too if you like. Just let me know what size and I'll ask him.

In the evenings we can now hear the Scops Owl doing its impression of a car alarm and I've seen my first Hoopoe of the season. Ali and I both have agricultural tans from pottering about in the vineyard kitchen garden and the temperature hovers around 21 during the day. So Spring has definitely sprung.

This morning I went to feed the hens, one of whom seemed to be missing. I found her crouching under one of the hen-houses, sitting on a disappointing clutch of 24 previously unnoticed eggs. Disappointing? Yes, because if I break and sniff them all I can't possibly get through 2 dozen on my own, and how can I give them away when I don't know which are the freshest?

I'm going to crack enough to make the dogs an omelette each then ditch the rest. If you have any better ideas you have until the end of today to let me know - after that the eggs are for the chop.