A Little Place In The Country

This is my chocolate box cottage in the countryside. O.K maybe not but it is a box of chocolates so that's at least part of the way there! :-) I've gone for the lilliputian affect by placing it amongst some of the plants (and I must admit weeds) in a narrow flowerbed at the side of our house (the real one that is!).
It's actually a little tin of chocolates that my sister brought back from her recent trip to the South of France. The chocolates are made by a chocolate maker called Antton Chocolatier who are based in the small village of Espelette in the French Basque region with its traditional Labourd houses (on which the tin design is based), a castle and a 16th Century church.
It's also famous for its dried red peppers, used or ground into a hot powder (pigment d'Espelette in French) - utilised especially in the production of Bayone ham. The peppers are hung to dry outside in the late summer under the red shutters which many of the traditional houses have. 
The pepper also makes it way into the chocolates which mean some are surprisingly spicy but the local tourist website promises that you will want to continue eating them as they are so good. My sister hasn't actually opened them yet but I can't wait to find out!