In this episode, I’m keeping the subject close to home once again and talking about a painter, illustrator and printmaker who comes from my local town, Albi, down here in the south-west of France. The artist’s name: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Actually his full name is Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa. Not often you need to draw breath midway through saying someone’s name so I’m just going to call him Lautrec for the rest of this podcast.  He was born here in Albi in 1864 into an aristocratic family – his parents were the Count and Countess of Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa. Possibly ..read more

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Our Tour de France http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TDF2019.mp3   We’re feeling just ever-so-slightly famous today in our little bit of the French countryside. The Tour de France passed through less than 3km from our front door. In fact, on one stretch it would have been possible to see the peloton from our house. Admittedly, with some very strong binoculars and some spectacularly precise timing and we didn ..read more

the podcast by Sarah Heath | UNESCO: the French gastronomic meal http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/UNESCO-Gastronomy.mp3 This new series is on France’s contribution to the UNESCO World Heritage list, a distinguished catalogue of French places and cultural traditions as classified by UNESCO as being of “outstanding value to humanity”. In episode one, I’ll be discussing a slightly unusual but absolutely spot-on addition to UNESCO’s list. If you were told to imagine Fra ..read more

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/HTL-Master.mp3 In this episode, I’m keeping the subject close to home once again and talking about a painter, illustrator and printmaker who comes from my local town, Albi, down here in the south-west of France. The artist’s name: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Actually his full name is Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa. Not often you need to draw breath midway through saying som ..read more

the podcast by Sarah Heath | The Grape Harvest http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Grapeharvest.mp3   A very seasonal topic at the moment in the area where I live is the grape harvest, or les vendanges as it’s more sexily called in French. Although I live in one of the oldest wine-growing regions in France, I’m still embarrassingly mystified when it comes to winemaking and knowing about grape varieties and some of the slightly bizarre terminology used – apparently wines can be ..read more

the podcast by Sarah Heath | Remembering World War II http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Remember-WW2.mp3 It’s difficult when admiring the peaceful countryside we see today, to imagine the barbarity which went on in this part of the world around 80 years ago. German forces took over south west France and the reality which had to be faced by the people who lived here was unthinkable. And while the military heroes are deservedly saluted each year on days of commemoration, civ ..read more

the podcast by Sarah Heath | The Accidental Car Race http://thehexagon.space/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Car-Race.mp3       It isn’t often that you can join in a car race by accident. Definitely not a Formula One race but you’d think even a vintage car race in the French countryside would be tricky to insert yourself into. Anyway, I managed it! And experienced this drive of shame one afternoon after my usual long Sunday run.     I drove the short distance to do circuits of the la ..read more

  We’re feeling just ever-so-slightly famous today in our little bit of the French countryside. The Tour de France passed through less than 3km from our front door. In fact, on one stretch it would have been possible to see the peloton from our house. Admittedly, with some very strong binoculars and some spectacularly precise timing and we didn’t make it back in time….but still! All those men in lycra gets the heart rate going before the thought of riding a bicycle is even mentioned, although I’m not generally into cycling unl ..read more