Its that time of year again, the spring flowers are starting to peek through the soil and the birds are singing once again. We will soon be preparing Les Deux Platanes for another season and hopefully we have some beautiful weather in store as 2012. Maureen has all her garden flowers on order from the nursery to ensure the cottage garden is once again a beautiful and relaxing place for all our valued guests to enjoy their holiday in this beautiful and historic area of central France. Over the winter of 2012 - 2013 we have been fortunate to visit New Zealand. NZ is in many ways like central France, few vehicles and tourists are thin on the ground due to the size of the country and the low population. NZ also retains that quaint charm of the past, people are warm and friendly and the scenery unspoint and beautiful - just like our area of France but without the history!
During our visit to NZ we had the opportunity to make a late evening visit to New Zealands premier observatory at Mount John (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_John_University_Observatory) .
It was a very interesting visit and this set me thinking.....always dangerous! It was soon clear that the night sky on the mountain top in NZ, although very good, was certainly no better that the night sky from the garden of Les Deux Platanes. In fact the light polution is much lower in rural France due to the complete absence of street lights! If we could observe stars from Mount John then guests to Les Deux Platanes could certainly observe a vast range of stars if we had a good telescope.
Hey Presto! telescope ordered and delivered so those who may be intersted in enjoying the beautiful star filled sky from the garden can do so - maybe accompanied by a nice glass of wine!
A short video on the telescope you can use can be found at :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV_2nl8VHwg
All we need now are clear night skys and these are normally available in abundance!
