theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Cellpic Sunday: Just visiting
Posted on September 20, 2026
Down in la France profonde, statistically you’re far more likely to see a sheep than a human being: homo sapiens is very much in the minority around these parts.
Of course, we see (and hear) sheep all the time, but not often at such close quarters as was the case last Sunday afternoon. It being still warm and sunny, as usual we had the back door open and I was a little surprised to glance out and see, no more than twenty feet away, eleven ewes quietly cropping what remains of our grass.
They’re certainly not ours and we immediately suspected that they belonged to our nearest neighbour. They’re usually penned in a field on the other side of the road, but had perhaps decided on such a nice day to go for a stroll in the countryside. Anyway, they mooched and munched about for half an hour or so and then trotted off back to base, as quietly as they came.
Pity they didn’t eat the weeds, though.
Last on the card March 2026
Posted on April 2, 2026
Our back fence was in a bit of a sorry state, so we’ve just had it replaced, exchanging some solid panels for a ranch-style alternative. This has had the very pleasing effect of opening up the vista of our neighbour’s fields with, here, a couple of his horses grazing.
I tell you, it’s like living in the countryside…..
Cellpic Sunday: Incongruous Pink
Posted on January 5, 2025
The French countryside is pretty rugged, especially in the winter, and any signs of human habitation or exploitation are usually no more than utilitarian and predominantly in shades of brown or green.
Accordingly, it was a little unusual to find that this nearby farm gate was secured with a tie in two shades of pink.
Cellpic Sunday: On a country walk
Posted on November 10, 2024
A walk along a country lane yesterday yielded this spectacular cloudscape.
Leading lines, anyone?
Posted on November 3, 2024
A little 30-minute constitutional last Friday morning led us down a narrow and rarely used country road with pastureland on each side.. The low autumn sun cast long shadows and the tractor tyre tracks at the entrance to this field produced enough leading lines to make anybody happy.
Cellpic Sunday: Sunset in La France Profonde
Posted on September 15, 2024
A particularly dramatic dusk one evening last week, here in the depths of the French countryside.
Rural layers
Posted on September 11, 2024
This image, captured in a rural area of north Yorkshire, not only pays due deference to the ‘rule of thirds’, but also meets the brief of Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week:
Lens-Artists Challenge: Habitat
Posted on July 2, 2024
My regular reader (sic) may recall that where we live in the depths of rural France is very much sheep country. I’d estimate that most of the local farmers have at least some sheep as part of their agricultural ‘portfolio’, so to speak, although none of them do so on what you might call an industrial scale.
Our nearest neighbour and her late husband were full-time sheep farmers, albeit only on a modest scale. Their flock used to graze in our fields, which certainly kept the undergrowth under control. Now retired, she still has a small flock of maybe ten ewes, more as a hobby than anything else.
Their new habitat is a field just across the road from our house, from where they view me, should I happen to pass by, with a mixture of curiosity and contempt, as I wrote about here.
Street scene with stray sheep
Posted on May 24, 2024
This is the road that, about a mile and a half further on, eventually gets to the hamlet that we call Tranquility Base.
The sheep isn’t supposed to be there of course, but it’s not at all uncommon around here to come across one that’s managed to escape from wherever it’s meant to be.
Cellpic Sunday: The Uninvited Guest
Posted on January 28, 2024
As I’ve mentioned on many occasions, out here in the sticks we are surrounded by sheep. They easily outnumber the human population, not only of our commune but all those for miles around.
The nearest sheep to our house are actually just across the road – a small flock of about a dozen that belong to our neighbour. This ewe must have been feeling particularly adventurous, because it somehow slipped through the gate or over the fence (or under – they can be quite enterprising sometimes, although mostly they’re just terminally thick) and came trotting down the side of our house. She cropped some grass and then turned round and went back home.
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