I am getting interest for my photo courses planned to start in September. The aim is for you to share and enjoy your experiences during your stay and to discover some of the magic of Languedoc. In under an hour from Villa Roquette you can be among the black bulls and white horses of the Camargue, the peaks of the Pyrenees, exploring villages untouched for a thousand years, sitting in an arena where Roman gladiators fought 2,000 years ago or simply sifting sand through your toes on miles and miles of soft sandy beaches. See all this and learn to capture and share your photographs.
I have completely redesigned my courses into 16 modules which can be tailored to everyones needs. Covering; camera controls, light and lighting, post-processing and presentation with notes and demonstrations – the goal is to get out into this wonderful region and help you record and create good images. The courses are designed for digital photography, digital post processing and presentation, either online or printing for exhibition, both colour and black and white – but, depending on demand, I will also run traditional courses for black and white silver-gelatin photography and printing, or even colloidion or albumen, possibly platinum printing if there is a demand.
From a couple of sessions to learn new techniques or brush-up your skills, to a full weeks course of 16 sessions, I will put this together individually for you. The cost is from only 25 euro a session, plus accommodation at Villa Roquette either B&B or self catering.
Over the next few weeks I will be explaining the courses and course modules on my website http://2337.com/ – do write to me if you have any thoughts or wishes.
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A newsletter reader, Alasdair Scott, sent me a great recipe including Roquette from his book ‘The Spaghetti Tree’ – our home is called Villa Roquette because the fields around us are full of roquette (arugula, rocket) – which also happens to be an aphrodesiac, so I am told 
– I also see he has a beautiful home for sale near Toulouse
| Tagliatelle with preserved tuna, rocket and lemon juice You need for two people 300-400 gms of tagliatelle A 300 gram jar of best quality tuna (preserved in olive oil not water) One clove of fresh garlic (with no green bit in the middle) One or two handfuls of fresh rocket Juice of one lemon Method Chop one garlic clove and briefly fry in 1 ½ tablespoons of olive oil. Do not allow it to get brown Drain the tuna. Add the tuna to the pan, squash it with a masher and warm it through. Turn off the heat. Now cook the pasta and when it’s ready, turn it into a large warmed serving dish Now turn up the heat under the pan, add the rocket and the lemon juice, turn it over and over as the rocket wilts. Serve immediately onto the pasta. Add extra lemon juice and olive oil if desired. |
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I get a lot of questions about the weather in Languedoc and the South of France. No matter how hard I look at the entrails of chickens, I simply cannot divine what the weather may be in the future – but I can look at some websites which can tell me what the weather has been in the past and perhaps get clues to seasonal trends. I have put a page online with links andIn The News information about this at http://southernfrance.fr/weather/
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The New York Times published an article on Tuesday on Paris short term rentals A lot of this material is from the research done by Susie Hollands of Vingt Paris and myself – I have a blog at http://parischarade.com where I publish anything I find relevant to this subject. A statement is expected from the Mayor of Paris’ department in September.
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I have been offered a special deal of two weeks, 1 to 15 Sept in an apartment in La Clusaz, near Annecy, for 4 people for only 170 euro per week – please contact me if you are interested.
We still have some days free at the end of August in Villa Roquette – coming or going to Spain, stay with us and break your journey – contact me – I promise you a great deal for the self catering apartment, full/half board or B&B.
Why not winter in the South of France – contact me, I will be offering super deals on our Facebook page, but would like to first offer these here exclusively to my newsletter friends.
