The Hexagon Space

the podcast by Sarah Heath | The Accidental Car Race http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Car-Race.mp3 It isn’t often that you can join in a car race by accident. Definitely not a Formula One race but you’d think even a vintage car race in the French countryside would be tricky to insert yourself into. Anyway, I managed it! And experienced this drive of shame one afternoon after my usual long Sunday run. I drove the short distance to do circuits of the lakes in...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Our Tour de France http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TDF2019.mp3 We’re feeling just ever-so-slightly famous today in our little bit of the French countryside. The Tour de France passed through less than 3km from our front door. In fact, on one stretch it would have been possible to see the peloton from our house. Admittedly, with some very strong binoculars and some spectacularly precise timing and we didn’t make it back in time….but still! All...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | UNESCO: the French gastronomic meal http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/UNESCO-Gastronomy.mp3 This new series is on France’s contribution to the UNESCO World Heritage list, a distinguished catalogue of French places and cultural traditions as classified by UNESCO as being of “outstanding value to humanity”. In episode one, I’ll be discussing a slightly unusual but absolutely spot-on addition to UNESCO’s list. If you were told to imagine France,...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Armistice Poppies http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ArmisticePoppies2.mp3 This coming Sunday, it will be Armistice Day and this year has a very special significance with it being 100 years since that very first eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day when World War 1 was finally brought to a close. When the Germans agreed to sign the Armistice in an old railway carriage in the forest of Compiègne about 35km north of Paris. In the...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/HTL-Master.mp3 In this episode, I’m keeping the subject close to home once again and talking about a painter, illustrator and printmaker who comes from my local town, Albi, down here in the south-west of France. The artist's name: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Actually his full name is Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa. Not often you need to draw breath midway through saying...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | The Grape Harvest http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Grapeharvest.mp3 A very seasonal topic at the moment in the area where I live is the grape harvest, or les vendanges as it’s more sexily called in French. Although I live in one of the oldest wine-growing regions in France, I’m still embarrassingly mystified when it comes to winemaking and knowing about grape varieties and some of the slightly bizarre terminology used – apparently wines can be...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Le Rentrée http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/La-rentree.mp3 And breathe! The children have FINALLY gone back to school! The collective sigh of relief of mothers across the land as the school term starts, is almost audible. La rentrée is a really big deal here in France, often likened in importance to the New Year in Britain as a sort of a psychological “new beginning”. For most parents it is more a renewed freedom going by the looks of joy in...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Buzzard Attack http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Buzzard.mp3 A couple of years ago during a visit to my physio, I was asked, while she was manipulating some body part or other, whether I was scared of running on my own. She was referring to the possibility of bumping into the likes of farmers with Pernod breath precariously waving their shotguns around. Or their hunting dogs, who can be a bit over-friendly in a hungry-looking kind of way. I’m...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Apéro pique nique http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Apero-pique-nique.mp3 On one of the few beautiful days we have had this spring (the UK has been tropical in comparison), we were lucky enough to have been invited to an apéro-pique nique at one of the local vineyards. It was a Bank Holiday Monday (Pentecost Monday), the vineyard was about a two-minute drive from our house, we were going with some of our gorgeous neighbours and the sun was...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | The Veggie Patch http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Veggie-Patch.mp3 Any self-respecting French country-dweller grows their own fruit and veg – it’s a matter of green-fingered pride. Actually, the fruit really takes care of itself – we are lucky enough to have so many different kind of plum trees, we could set up our own natural-laxative factory. But the veg needs love, attention and back muscles like an Olympic weightlifter. Our little attempts...

Some of our oldest friends came out from London to visit us this past weekend. Being fearless foodies, they are always interested in trying new and strange produce from far-flung – or less-far-flung lands. This time, they themselves semi-discovered a new delicacy to try after having seen various people on the way to our house, rummaging away in the ditches at the side of the road. What were they looking for? Our time here has meant that we have learnt two things: not to be surprised at cars...

Speaking FrangaAfter our President's recent little faux-pas in calling the Australian Prime Minister's wife "delicious" (we assume he meant delightful but... maybe not?), linguistic challenges trip up even the greatest of the great and the good. As Charlemagne, King of the Franks once said, "D'avoir une deuxième langue, c'est posséder une deuxième âme" (Having a second language is to have a second soul). Would Franglais have counted or would Charlemagne have fainted at the horrors which slip...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Chinese Lantern Festival http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Lanterns.mp3 The Gaillac region is usually known for its wonderful vineyards and historical bastides or the medieval city of Albi. But now, all of a sudden, Gaillac is the talk of France thanks to the stunning, world-renowned Chinese Lantern Festival, Festival des Lanternes. It is the first time ever it has appeared in France, or even in Europe. The event opened at the beginning of...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Galette des Rois http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Galette-des-rois.mp3 La Galette des Rois is another unavoidable food tradition in France! Just when you've resigned yourself to eating lettuce leaves for the whole month of January after the excesses of Christmas, French bakers unashamedly put your resistance to the test by making the most simple-looking, but wickedly calorie-laden cakes called galettes des rois. The galettes are traditionally...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Two veggie's at a butcher's http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Two-veggies.mp3 Having never been to the Provence Cote d’Azur area of France, we were very excited when my sister-in-law and her family invited us to stay with them in a beautiful villa they had rented for their holidays. The villa was just outside a little village called La Garde Freinet, about half an hour inland from St Tropez. Our adventures began just as we were winding up the...

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Remembering World War II http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Remember-WW2.mp3 It's difficult when admiring the peaceful countryside we see today, to imagine the barbarity which went on in this part of the world around 80 years ago. German forces took over south west France and the reality which had to be faced by the people who lived here was unthinkable. And while the military heroes are deservedly saluted each year on days of commemoration,...