A couple of Sundays ago we found ourselves in Beziers, having visited our pal Maria in her rest home. We'd been told about a large and interesting brocante in a former Intersport warehouse. Ever eager to spend money we haven't got on bits of art and odd treasures, we went to explore. I saw lots of things I liked very much, but none so much as this little chap. He weighs a ton and has sticky out ears and a hole in his head. He would have had a metal prong with a half moon rasp where the hole is, but that's not there. He's a tool for scraping the flesh out of a coconut and I adore him.

I use the word him somewhat loosely since he has both male organs and pointy boobs, so I'm a little confused.  But I love how he swims towards the patineuse on the other side of the table.

Guests who've been to stay at Le Couvent previously will know that we have lots of art on the walls. Some of it is 'proper' and worth a bit, and some is from flea markets. The game is to tell which is which. For the past three years we've housed a wonderful oil that belongs to our pal Yvonne - just while her house was being renovated. (It's taken longer than envisaged when she bought the painting, luckily for us.)

It's by Dominique Caby - a fantastic artist from the nearby village of Nizas. His paintings range from around 600 - 2000 euros. We have three that we own, but Yvonne's picture has disappeared off  to its new home, so we have a gap. Ali's gone over to see Dom and his artist partner, Line Mangin , to choose some paintings that we can have available for sale - and to fill the gap. I'm sure she's having the best time in their atelier among all the squeezed paint tubes.

If you are coming to stay at Le Couvent and fancy a visit to Dom's atelier do let us know and we'll take you to meet him. Bring your cheque book, just in case eh?