A Year in Villefranche sur Mer - Moving to France

  Day 1453 (Monday) 31 st May 2021. It was lovely and warm today and Huw kindly gave me a lift to the villa in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat and it was magnificent. I rang the bell on the gate and they smoothly opened to let me in where a security guard asked me who I was and Eduard must have told them I was expected because a steward from the house came to walk me to the front door down this gorgeous path.   Eduard was sitting at his dining table and the steward offered me a coffee which I gladly accepted. I asked how staff it takes to run this villa and he mentioned a chef, 3 or 4 cleaners, 2 stewards, a team of gardeners and 2 security guards. He explained that the security guards are vital because villas get targeted by thieves who are helped my someone working there. He said this happens quite rarely in Cap Ferrat but regularly in Cap d’Antibes – how sad is that? Their son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren had arrived yesterday and the kids were playing in the pool, which...

  Day 1452 (Sunday) 30 th May 2021. What a lovely day! We had a bit of a lie in and after breakfast we did a bit of gardening with the plants we bought yesterday in the garden centre. Huw got out our painting plastic sheet so that we could do the planting in the blue room so we wouldn’t make too much of a mess and Badger thought all his Christmases had come at once and went berserk. Huw removed the almost dead basil plant to replace it with a new one and I planted the three new small flowerpots and Badger kicked the crap out of the old basil plant. He made such a mess but we were both laughing too much to stop him. When we’d finished I had to follow Badger around the flat with the dust buster to try to get rid of all the soil that he’d rolled in. The new basil and the magnificent geraniums and the bougainvillea, lavender and new flowers. I did all my pay claims and Huw did my taxes so all in all it was a very productive morning. We had planned to meet Kevin and Angie in Le Phare a...

  Day 1451 (Saturday) 29 th May 2021. The day started off lovely and we planned to spend the afternoon on the beach so we did all our household chores and it was lovely to see all the restaurants were busy lunchtime. There were a few large yachts in the bay and Huw used his app to the find their names and I looked up the beautiful sailing yacht first and it sounds wonderful. Elena of London Builder Factoria Naval de Marin Guests 08 Cabins 04 Crew 08 Built 2009 Max speed (kt)13.0 Cruising speed (kt)11.0 Length (M)55.0 Beam (M)8.10 Draft (M)5.20 Born to Sail A meticulous recreation of the 1910 yacht of the same name, 44m schooner Elana hails from the golden age of sail. Sail with the grace of bygone eras beneath charter yacht Elena’s towering wooden masts and watch mesmerised as her highly skilled captain and crew manoeuvre her impressive sail plan. A world away from regular sailing yachts for charter, Elena offers classic, stately accommodation reminiscent of a country home, b...