I have been reunited with my house in the Lot-et-Garonne after four months away. My in-laws, a wonderfully funny, warm and welcoming French couple who live not far away in the Dordogne, have been keeping an eye on the house, scooping up dead mice, watering plants and accidentally catching a kamikaze pheasant as it hurtled to its death against our wall. My nearest neighbour has sent me regular photographic updates of emerging spring flowers and by the beginning of March I was