Other than apples, the other big crop in our area is sunflowers. The endless fields of bright yellow heads adjoining every road is one of the things that drew us to this area when we used to come on holiday, and we feel so lucky to now be able to see this explosion of sunshine every year.

Sadly, we somehow managed to completely fail to get any photos of the grand display this year. I think our summer holiday to Carcassonne coincided with the best of the bloom and we never seemed to get a chance to capture the splendour before they lost their shine.

However, on a bike ride just recently we passed a field of sad sunflowers, hanging their heads in mourning for the passing of the summer. I felt there was still something darkly beautiful about the black heads that were once so bright, so I snapped this picture.

I’m pretty fond of this one, but next year I’ll definitely capture these vendéen beauties in their full summertime glory.