Je suis arrived.

I am here and currently enjoying that sensation of languid soporific relaxation that overcomes all else once you leave home shores and head off. It’s amazing how easy it becomes to drop the cares and woes of work when you reach the Perigordine region of France.The propellor plane from Exeter (felt a bit nervy about that) got me here safely, Kay and Steve met me at Bergerac, we waited a while for Penelope Lively's flight and then off to meet Julia Blackburn at Bordeaux, so have had a grand tour of France already.

We are a house-party in the gathering and slowly others are making their way to Leygonie from all directions in readiness for the course proper which starts at 10 am tomorrow.

So far I’ve done plenty of eating and drinking and a lovely spell of reading this morning, A Time For Silence by Patrick Leigh Fermor. The first of my week’s reads and chosen as a book that would ground me perfectly in France and on retreat mode from day to day life. My copy of the letters between Debo Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor , In Tearing Haste arrived just as I was leaving Devon and despite its weight I couldn’t bear to be parted from it, so along with a great article in the Telegraph magazine, which I read en route, I feel thoroughly up to speed on all things Fermor.

I can recommend A Time To Keep Silence along with some Gregorian plainchant playing on the iPod whilst sitting in comfortable chair in a farmhouse in rural France after a breakfast of fresh croissants.

More soon once we get memoiring proper.