The most beautiful place in the world...

I was lucky enough to be taken to the most beautiful place in the world on the weekend. The godmother of one of the little girls I am au pairing for has a holiday house up in the mountains of Lebanon and we were invited to stay there.

There was a two hour drive to the house, up the most winding road that was in such awful condition and I felt so sick. But when we finally arrived, I was just in heaven.

The house was so lovely. I am normally such a sucker for white interiors with dashes of colour – that is my trademark style. The interior here was totally different to that. But it suited the house so well. And it was just perfect.

They have the most beautiful garden in the world. Ten terraces in total. The one next to the house is full of beautiful pink and purple flowers. And the other nine have every sort of fruit and vegetable imaginable. So we picked peaches and nectarines and strawberries. And we had courgettes and radishes for dinner, fresh from the garden. And we saw watermelons and raspberries and apples and pears and tomatoes and plums. It was just amazing.

The little village that the house was in was so cute, but it was the extraordinary amount of greenery that made the area so beautiful. There is no green in Beirut. I have seen no parks, no gardens. Of course, it is a big city, but it is amazing how much even a little bit of greenery improves a city. So after the concrete jungle of Beirut, it was just such a welcome break to be in this beautifully lush area. The weather was much fresher than Beirut too – also a relief!

I don’t know if any of you are planning to go to Lebanon any time soon, but if you are, do go to the mountains. We were in a little village called Maaser el Chouf, where there is actually a great youth hostel: http://www.aubergearcenciel.org/maaser.asp. But there are lots of villages in this area known as the Chouf. Try Deir el Qamar, the “capital of the area”. And I forgot to mention that the area is also home to the ancient and beautiful Beiteddine Palace.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my pictures from the most amazing weekend. I hope you all had a great weekend too :)

Love Polly AB xxx