With no one to overlook us we left the cab curtains open last night and this morning we lie in bed watching a beautiful, colourful sunrise.

We've decided on a couple of rest days here so nothing is going to be hurried.

Harvesting [vendanges] is in progress and we can see the grape pickers moving among the rows of vines as soon as we are up. Ali goes to take some photos of the workers and is invited to join them. It only takes a few bunches before she is left with sticky hands, realising why the pickers have rubber gloves, and decides not to join up for the duration. As a reward she gets to eat one of the bunches.

After lunch we go for a stroll around the estate, the pickers having finished for the day.

Apart from a few unkept plots, [apparently up to 25% of the land is uncultivated at any time], vines stretch away in all directions. Some have been fully harvested leaving just a few withered black bunches behind, others are waiting to be picked, hanging in heavy dense clusters ripening in the sunshine. Most are dark, almost black grapes, but Freddie grows different varieties of grape; syrah, merlot, grenache and muscat among them and the grenache are a delicate pale-plum colour. Each plot and variety is marked by an enamelled sign with the name of the plot, grape and year planted. 'Jules - Grenache - 2009' marks the birth of Freddie's son and heir.

The soil is as hard as concrete and strewn with rounded stones and pebbles, showing these flat-lands were once sea.

There is a plantation of fir trees along the drive. We stop to take in their spicy aroma then notice the little buds, pale green with a knurled pattern on them that will later form the cones.

Also along the drive we come across an ants' roadway. These are large ants perhaps 9-10mm long, marching in file both ways across the lane. Ali draws a line across their path with a stick. Initially there is confusion. Most stop, some turn back but a few meet in the groove, have a conflab and carry on. In only a few seconds the message is relayed and the march resumes. The ones unavoidably squashed by Nick's wheels as we cross their path are swiftly picked up and carried away underground. Fascinating.

Early evening we go for tasting, and when we have made our selection it is all boxed up for us. Jules, the future vigneron, is summoned by his grandmother to carry our boxes back to the van. We've got a lot more than usual for a two day stay but we know we'll enjoy it in due course, and with a bit of jiggling it's soon all safely stowed in the locker known as le Cave de Mary*Lou.

The day ends as it began with a colourful solar lightshow.