Cote d’Azur is blue heaven
Invest in the right plants and equipment now and reap benefits on warmer days
WHERE: Set at the foot of the Alps, the capital of the Cote d’Azur was favoured by Queen Victoria – finding the mild climate a welcome respite from the bleak British winter. And famous artists such as Chagall, Matisse and Picasso took up residence here in the 20th century, inspired by the magical Mediterranean light.
Less than a two-hour flight away and a 15-minute drive from the airport, this chic city is a quick getaway.
WHAT TO SEE: A relaxing way to get your bearings is to board Le Petit Train from the Promenade des Anglais, for a 45-minute tour with commentary (£9). It trundles past some of the city’s main sights such as the atmospheric Old Nice, Nice’s main square Place Massena, Port Lympia, one of the oldest on the coast, and the futuristic building of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMAC).
If you hike to the top of Parc de la Colline du Chateau, you will find the best views of the city and the sweeping curve of Baie des Anges. For the less energetic, there is a lift.
For the flavours, scents and colours of Provence a visit to Cours Saleya, the lively heart of Old Nice, is unmissable with stalls brimming over with local cheeses, juicy black olives, glistening glace fruits, bunches of lavender and other herbs sitting alongside the ridiculously pretty flower market. (Don’t be caught out, though, it’s closed on Mondays).
WHERE TO EAT: With a profusion of bistros, restaurants and cafes, you’re spoilt for choice, but you must try local dish socca – a chickpea pancake best eaten with fingers. Chez Pipo on Rue Bavastro, near Port Lympia, has been serving them for almost 100 years. Tourists dine alongside locals at jolly Chez Palmyre on Rue Droite which offers simple Nicois dishes from a prix fixe menu from around £16.
WHERE TO DRINK: Rosé wine accounts for more than half the wine produced in Provence. And family-run wine bar Cave de la Tour (3 Rue de la Tour) has a delicious bouquet of rosés listed alongside other fine Alpes Maritimes wines.
WHERE TO STAY: On the corner of Boulevard Victor Hugo and Rue Gounod, the four-star Splendid Hotel & Spa was our elegant base. It’s a five-minute stroll to the Promenade des Anglais while Avenue JeanMedecin, the main shopping street, is a 15-minute walk away. And after a day of sightseeing we were ready to relax by the rooftop pool and bar (open mid-April to mid-October).
BOOK IT: EasyJet flies from seven UK airports to Nice from £26.99 one-way. easyjet.com.
Doubles at the Splendid Hotel & Spa from £125 a night. splendidnice.com. More info at en.nicetourismecom
AFTER a bitterly cold snap, it was a pleasure to feel the rise in temperatures and a sense that spring may be on the way. So whether you are working from home and need a little break from staring at the computer or you haven’t been doing much gardening over the winter, it’s time to venture outdoors!
First of all, take stock of your equipment. Good tools will make light work of heavy jobs. A sharp and strong pair of secateurs is an invaluable tool for pruning jobs. The secateurs I’d recommend are the Classic Felco No 4 and they will last a lifetime. Spades, shovels and forks should have long handles which will save your back from too much bending. Keep a stiff brush and clean rags in your garage or potting shed to brush soil or garden debris off the tools after use. A quick wipe with the cloth prolongs the life and performance of your tools.
A spongy mat or kneeler can be a great benefit if you’re on your knees for hours on end planting or weeding. A sharp pair of garden shears are good for trimming hedges and cutting back larger areas of plant growth. They’re typically used for cutting back or shaping shrubs and ornamental grasses, and cutting back flowering plants after blooming season.
It’s handy to have a large durable bucket to collect weeds, mix compost and fertilizer in and drop damaging snails and slugs into.
Robins make great company
Check your lawnmower engine and if necessary have it serviced before grass growth takes off. Always change the oil before grass cutting gets underway. If you haven’t been out much, there is probably a lot of tidying up to do, cutting back those decayed perennials, weeding and mulching.
If you are working in areas where you have spring bulbs emerging, you’ll will need to adopt a delicate approach so as not to damage new foliage. It’s a job I love – I pop my earphones in and enjoy getting to grips with the borders again, usually accompanied by a robin redbreast on the lookout for worms.
As the soil thaws, it’s a good time to do some moving of deciduous shrubs while they are still dormant. All of us make mistakes – perhaps planting too close to another shrub or simply in the wrong place so now’s the time to shift things around. Replant at the same depth as the plant was in its previous position as planting too deep can kill trees and shrubs. Depending on the size of the shrub, this can be hard work so pace yourself and be realistic about what you can achieve or what you will need assistance with.
February and March are really an excellent time of year to prune many shrubs to ensure they look and perform their best for the rest of the year.
When shrubs are leafless, it’s much easier to assess their overall outline and see exactly what you are
doing with them.
To encourage the best flowering possible on deciduous shrubs that flower on new wood later in the summer, an annual shearing is necessary. Established deciduous flowering shrubs should be pruned back now to 2-3 buds of the previous season’s growth and remove about a fifth of the old stems.
This will help encourage the shrub to produce some vigorous shoots that
will carry flowers in summer such as buddleja davidii, deciduous ceanothus, perovskia, ceratostigma, cotinus, hardy fuchsia, lavatera and spiraea japonica.
What you don’t want to do is to remove flower buds that are about to open – eg forsythia, ribes and kerria, so leave these shrubs alone until after they have flowered.
Once you get out, you’ll see there’s plenty to do – happy gardening!
IT will take you just a short few miles to realise the tiny engine tucked away beneath the SEAT Leon’s snub new bonnet has a very big heart.
With just a 999cc motor to propel it, the five-door Leon is deceptively lively. And unlike some small engine cars, you don’t have to rev the life out of it to get a decent response.
True, the three-cylinder unit emits a rather unusual sound – a sort of muted thrum, if that makes sense. But it’s never harsh and as other mechanical intrusions, plus a bit of road noise come into play, the sound fades into the far distance.
Immediately recognisable as a Leon, SEAT’s big selling family hatch, its looks have been freshened and made ‘of-the-moment’ with more bold body creases, a slightly
LEON SE DYNAMIC 1.0 TSI PRICE: £20,995
larger grille and a reflective strip that ties in the two tail light clusters. So more than just a simple facelift, then.
Driven here in SE Dynamic form, costing just over £20,000, it lays down a tough challenge to its brother, the Volkswagen Golf. Star of the wide range which includes diesel, petrol and plug-in hybrid, is this turbo 1.0 litre which goes well enough for most and is easy on the fuel.
The latest cabin design is minimalist and uncluttered with a noticeable reduction in knobs and switches, which follows the example of the new Golf. It’s somewhat stark but works perfectly well. A large screen takes pride of place on the dash and controls most of the functions. Further switches can be found on the adjustable steering wheel and to its right.
One quibble are the heating controls, which are via a sliding bar on the touchscreen – not easy to adjust on the move.
Space front and rear is improved, with a surprising amount of head and knee room in the rear, thanks mainly to an extra 86mm length, most of which has gone into the wheelbase. The boot space isn’t increased though, coming in at 380 litres, the same as the Golf but smaller than some of the opposition. With a standard six-speed gearbox that’s quick to shift, a light clutch and really positive steering, the Leon will certainly appeal to keen drivers. A further bonus is the supple suspension which copes well with our ragged roads, yet doesn’t inhibit enthusiastic cornering with body roll.
With an under 11 second sprint time to 62mph, the little Leon compares well with other small cars and it remains unflustered at cruising speeds. The turbo 1.0 litre is an engine that encourages you to put your foot down. Even so, most owners will get good fuel consumption with the low 50s being well within reach.
It is reasonably quiet mechanically, apart from under full acceleration, but there is some tyre noise over certain surfaces. Top speed of 122mph is a reflection of its clean aerodynamics.
Fun and manoeuvrable, yet reasonably priced, this Leon shows just how much compact family cars have improved in the last decade.
In SE Dynamic form, costing just over £20,000, it lays down a tough challenge to its brother, the Volkswagen Golf.