Late Summer in South West France: Figs, Garden Days & French Country Living

There is a particular point in August when summer seems to settle into its own rhythm here in South West France. The days are long and hot, the garden has become a little wild around the edges, and the pace of life naturally shifts towards the cooler hours of the morning and evening.

At La Maison de Belasyse, these weeks are filled with small seasonal rituals. Figs ripening on the tree, vegetables gathered from the potager, flowers brought into the house and, somewhere amongst it all, antiques arriving, being photographed and finding new places within the rooms.

It is perhaps not the neatest moment of the gardening year, but it is one of the most abundant.

Figs beginning to ripen beneath an August sky.

 

The fig tree in August

Few things mark late summer quite like the fig tree.

For much of the year it sits quietly in the garden, but by August its branches are heavy with fruit. Some figs are still firm and green while others soften almost overnight, meaning there is always another handful ready to pick.

They rarely travel very far.

Most are eaten fresh, brought into the kitchen in bowls or simply left on the table to be picked at throughout the day. Their deep purple and green tones also happen to look rather beautiful alongside old pottery, worn wood and antique linens.

There is something very simple about gathering food from the garden and bringing it straight into the house. It is one of the things we enjoy most about living here, and one of those everyday details that makes the seasons feel much more noticeable.

Old French bowls, dishes and jugs are still some of our favourite things to use around the house. Pieces that were originally made for everyday life feel particularly at home filled with fruit, flowers or whatever happens to have come in from the garden.

Their chips, worn glaze and softened surfaces only seem to become more beautiful when they are being used.

 

From the potager

 

By late summer, the potager is a long way from the ordered rows of spring.

Plants spill over paths, flowers have seeded themselves in unexpected places and courgettes have a remarkable ability to hide beneath their leaves until they are considerably larger than intended.

It is not particularly pristine, but it is productive.

 

At this time of year there is usually something to bring back to the kitchen. Tomatoes warmed by the sun, courgettes and handfuls of herbs are amongst the regular harvests, with lemon basil adding its wonderfully fresh scent whenever the leaves are disturbed.

We tend to like the potager most when flowers and vegetables are mixed together. It means there is nearly always something blooming even when the summer heat has taken its toll elsewhere in the garden.

Cosmos, sunflowers and other summer flowers bring colour amongst all the green, while the bees seem to appreciate the slightly unruly approach as much as we do.

 

Bringing the garden indoors

 

Flowers rarely need much arranging when they come straight from the garden.

A handful of stems in an old French jug or rustic pottery pot is often enough. We tend to prefer mixtures that look as though they have simply been gathered on the way back to the house rather than anything too carefully composed.

It is also one of the easiest ways to change the feeling of a room through the seasons. In spring there are softer greens and early flowers; by August, everything is stronger, taller and a little less restrained.

Antique pottery works particularly well for this. Confit pots, old jugs and humble kitchen vessels were made to be useful, and we like continuing to use them rather than treating them as pieces that need to sit untouched on a shelf.

See our French Pottery collection.

 

 

This is also why the antiques around the house are constantly moving. A bowl that was on a shelf one week may be filled with figs the next, while a jug might move from a cupboard to a table simply because there are flowers to put in it.

For us, French country interiors are at their best when they feel collected rather than arranged all at once.

 

Summer at the table

Meals in summer tend to become simpler too.

When it is hot outside, there is little appetite for anything too elaborate. A table set with old linen, pottery, fresh vegetables and perhaps flowers from the garden feels more than enough.

We have always liked mixing antique and vintage pieces into everyday settings rather than saving them for particular occasions. A slightly worn piece of linen or an old plate instantly makes a table feel more relaxed.

 

Linen is one of those materials that seems particularly suited to an old French house. Softened by years of washing and use, it has a texture that newly made fabric rarely quite replicates.

The same is true of many of the antiques we are drawn to. Signs of age are part of what gives a piece its presence.

 

And, of course, summer evenings often involve something cold to drink.

Old copper is especially beautiful in the softer light at the end of the day. The surface catches every mark and variation in colour, giving even a very simple arrangement a warmth that feels particularly appropriate at this time of year.

 

Quiet corners of the garden

 

Not every part of the garden needs to be planted or styled.

Some of our favourite corners are the simplest: an old wall, a chair placed in the shade, terracotta edging weathered by the seasons.

These are the places that tend to become most useful during the hotter months, when the midday sun makes shade suddenly far more desirable than a perfectly arranged garden.

 

The garden around an old French house never feels entirely finished. Plants grow, stone weathers, things are moved and plans change.

That gradual evolution is part of its charm. Much like the interiors, it feels better when it develops over time rather than being completed in a single moment.

 

Antiques arriving home

 

Summer is still very much a working season for us.

Antiques continue to arrive at the house, sometimes sitting exactly where they were put down before they are cleaned, researched and photographed properly.

There is often a brief moment when a new piece first comes through the door and simply becomes part of the house. We move it around, look at it in different light and decide where it feels most at home.

That part of the process is one of our favourites.

Pieces are eventually photographed for the shop, but before that there is usually a much less polished stage involving boxes, tables, piles of linen and objects temporarily occupying almost every available surface.

See our New Arrivals 

 

Beyond the garden gate

 

Life here extends beyond the house and garden, of course.

The roads around us wind between vineyards, fields, small villages and farms, and summer changes the landscape almost daily. Greens fade towards gold, sunflowers turn their heads and the evenings begin to carry the first suggestion that the season will not last forever.

We spend a great deal of time driving these roads while sourcing and collecting pieces, so the landscape has become part of the rhythm of the business too.

It is perhaps one of the reasons we are so drawn to objects with age and patina. Here, weathered stone, faded shutters, terracotta, old plaster and imperfect surfaces are simply part of the surroundings.

They make newness feel slightly less important.

 

The cooler end of the day

 

By evening, the heat begins to lift.

Villages become quieter, the light softens and church towers and rooftops stand out against skies that seem much larger at this time of year.

These are often the nicest hours of the day.

 

At home, the garden becomes usable again and the colours change completely. What looked bleached by the afternoon sun becomes warm and golden for a short while before dusk.

Summer in South West France can be intense, particularly in August, but these quieter moments at either end of the day make up for the heat in between.

And then, almost without noticing, the days begin to shorten.

There are still figs to pick, tomatoes ripening and plenty of summer ahead, but the light starts to change and the first hints of the next season begin to appear.

For now, though, we are making the most of the long evenings, an abundant garden and a house filled with the things we have gathered along the way.