‘Would you like a baby donkey?’ I was asked a couple of days ago. Talk about temptation I thought, my mind twirling round the idea on how I’d get this animal past Nigel without him noticing. But the question was not so daft as I’d mentioned a couple of weeks ago to Liz that Nigel and I were planning on moving perhaps by the end of the year to bigger premises with more land. And with our burgeoning family of dogs, cats and kitties - what’s a donkey here or there?

These past few weeks, if not months really (though Nigel says it feels more like years to him . . .), I’ve been wanting to find a larger home with land rather than just a garden. Sadly, the type of place I’m looking for is beyond our financial reach here on the French Riviera so I’ve been looking at properties further afield. Thanks to the magic of internet, my nimble fingers have danced across my keyboard and most of France without me once having to visit an estate agent. My virtual search has led me to some beautiful places but also to wonder if the whole of France isn’t up for sale. Though I will admit that, at times, I may have gone off on tangents out of sheer curiosity (New Zealand at one point) I managed to restrain myself and cast my net within the boundary of what I understand to be the South of France.

In view of all these forthcoming exciting and more personal adventures, I felt I should extract my current blog from AMB Cote d’Azur and create a dedicated blog site with a new face lift in the process. The new blog also reintroduces an old favourite of mine: Highslide. If you’ve not seen it before, quite simply you just click on the image in the blog and up pops a bigger one, much like a Jack in the Box. I’ve already set it up on the one here so have a go.

I’ll get round to putting Highslide on all my blog photos though this won’t happen overnight but more likely in my dotage . . .

If you clicked on the photo you’ll know that it was one I took when visiting Ile St Marguerite last Sunday. The photo was taken on the fort where once the Man in the Iron Mask was incarcerated. You can read more about my trip in the upcoming issue of AMB.

We start our first round of house hunting at the end of May with Freddy and Bertie tagging along for the ride as we head off to the Dordogne to look at four properties. I know many of you dip into my blogs from time to time because you find them fun but if you’re now thinking of buying a home in France why not follow us on our adventures to see how we get on and if, finally, we find our dream property with room for a baby donkey.

Speaking of which, Nigel darlin’ . . .