We have been on a mission to pollard/ prune all of our many  trees here at La Madelene. This is a mammoth task and one that generates a huge quantity of garden waste  - the oil drum that serves as safe bonfire ( it is so important not to make a mistake with embers here) has been on overtime - and the woodstore for next winter is filling up nicely. Doing the work has been for the most part a pleasure as february has been extremely mild - really quite odd as the mornings start at - 1/2 degrees and a heavy groud frost but by early afternoon we are having lunch on our south facing terrace in the sun with temperatures around 25 degrees! Chatting yesterday to Beatrice Gely of neighbouring Domaine Champ Long this strange weather does not bode well for the vignerons…vines are being lulled into early budding in this false spring….after all there is potentially plenty of winter to come, March can be bitterly cold here, last year we had settled snow on March 18th. However its hard not to be enjoying it, especially after the severe December we had here.