A decidedly French affair

On the 24th August, I set off to France with the rest of my adventurous crew, CBC; his mother, J; Monkeygirl and her fiance S.

We met at St Pancras for breakfast and then faced the delights of Firstclass Eurostar!! I've never been first-class on anything in my life, (almost my degree, but not quite!) so it was exciting (alas, only on the way there, was an upgrade close in price). And comparing the journey on the way back, I have to say, Firstclass is worth the difference. The seats were so much bigger, you had so much more legroom, the headrests were made of dreamy, cushiony, soft leather and you could easily sleep on them, the service was lovely and nicest of all, we were served essentially, a 3-course mini-meal, wine (not me), tea and coffee, magazines and papers were available, WIFI, plug sockets and the whole experience was lovely. (By contrast, the return journey was worse than a British rail journey!). We took at taxi from Paris Gard du Nord, managing to skip the entire taxi queue because of J's walking stick (the driver called us) and then drove to Paris Monparnasse to pick up the TGV. Wonderfully, a random, nice piano had been placed at the station so I had a jolly time playing some pieces which soared beautifully up to the high roofs and echoed around. It felt a little Amelie. If only I had thought to play the Valse from Amelie, that would have been fitting!

Lovely big, leathery, cushiony, swidgy seats.  Being able to compare it to Cattle class on the way home, I can definitely see the difference!

This was my light lunch!  It was delicious!

 We took the TGV, to Bordeaux where we picked up a hirecar to drive to Monsegur, the nearest town to the rural retreat we were headed for. We ate an exquisite meal in a very grand restaurant called Le grand Cep. I ordered duck which was fortunate there were no Mushrooms or ceps on the plate!  If you ever go there, the prix fixe menu costs 30euros. We had a lovely gooey dessert.  The Amuse-bouche was delicious too- Gazpacho!

One good thing for anyone who'd love to go to France but is terrified of languages or just can't get the lingo is that in the Dordogne and this region, there are many many people working there who are English or speak English so if your French is terrible, then it's ok!

 It was around midnight that we reached out abode and even in the dark, I could see the amazing beauty and immensity of the garden!

 The house was set in 1 acre of land, thriving shrubs, trees and bushes, serenity and peacefullness.  We had a next door neighbour but no one else for a mile or so.  The house was surrounded by vineyards and fruit trees which be seen in the picture below.

 They have a lovely vegetable garden which provided us with a wealth of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, marrows, aubergines, herbs and there was a plumtree also!

 The veranda was the scene for every sun-drenched breakfast, lunch and dinner spent here.  It also allowed CBC who had an essay deadline, to work whilst appreciating the beauty!

 One fun element was an adult-sized paddling pool which we cooled down in once or twice and I even survived a wasp sting within!

 We spent many happy hours lazing, reading, chatting, wandering in the garden. 

 I had a couple of lovely walks down the lanes, it was utterly deserted.  Just me, sunflower fields, cornfields and vineyards.

Every morning, someone would walk a mile to the village of Taillecavat for bread and pastries from the bakery, ready for a breakfast.

Though we ate out several times, we also did a variety of cooking.

MG and S made a delicious tarteflette on the first full day,


J made a lovely tomatoey, courgetty chicken dish.  I made Spaghetti bolognaise, MG made a lovely Paella

 CBC used some of the many plums on the tree to make a tart without a recipe

I

It was a wonderful place to relax.

More of excursions soon...