Lost in France

03 Oct 2020 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in 50 Fabulous things, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

Three years ago my good friend Annette gave me the most amazing present for my 50th birthday. In that year to celebrate becoming half a century I planned to do 50 fabulous things and this present certainly added to that fabulousness.

Annette gave me the use of her gite in the Dordogne area of France for the week and I took along 2 of my besties Bev and Deb. See what we got up to by reading this There and back again

Nestled in the heart of the Foret de la Double in the beautiful Hamlet of Chadenne are not just the one but now three gites owned by my fabulous friend. Since our visit Annette has been very busy renovating the 2 empty buildings that were next door to our gite.

In addition to Cepe, our home for the week, a 2 bedroomed perfectly formed beauty that sleeps 4, there’s Sanglier and Cert. Both have 3 bedrooms and sleep 6. All decorated to a very high and tasteful standard.

All three gites have their own private terraces and use of the communal outdoor swimming pool.

Please take a look at their website to see for yourself the wonderful photos and find all the information you need about the area and activities.

As I said in my original post, Annette is the most amazing host and as a guest you feel so welcomed in every way.

I am definitely planning another trip as there is so much more to see and do, also I really want to see the new gites and garden because Annette and her husband Peter has worked so hard to this all happen.

De nager ou de ne pas nager

17 Aug 2015 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , ,

Or……. to swim or not to swim for the non French speakers.

While I was on my Workaway adventure the weather was glorious and very very hot, which was lovely but I was at least 2 hours from the coast. My only option for cooling off was lake swimming.

I’ve always been nervous about swimming in lakes since I watched a programme as a child when someone got caught up in a load of reeds and drowned. Also nasties such as eels and leeches lurk in lakes ready to feast on unsuspecting bathers.

So I wasn’t that enthusiastic when Susie, my host, suggested a dip in a lake in La Souterraine, the next nearest town, but I was so hot and bothered I was prepared to be brave and give it a go.

I needn’t have worried, the lake at La Plage Suisse was man-made with sand on the bottom and not a bit of vegetation or creepy swimming things. The experience was so enjoyable that we went back quite a few times and even branched out further afield.

In nearby Gueret there is another artificial lake called Courtille Lake, which is considerably bigger than the lake at La Souterraine. There was a lot more going on such as sailing, giant water floats, canoeing and other water based fun! The grounds around the lake are perfect for walking, cycling and running. This, however, was much more than I was prepared to do in the sweltering heat and I spent the afternoon dozing under a tree!

swimming

La Chambre d’Hote

14 Aug 2015 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

Susie decided to turn the main house into a bed and breakfast after she bought the smaller property next to the tea shop. She named the house La Bourge which in French means a lady who has to dress with everything matching; shoes, hat, bag and hat!

It’s a beautiful, traditional french house with 3 very tastefully decorated guest rooms and an attic converted into a studio that sleeps 4 people. While I was there only the guest rooms were being used and we had a steady stream of guests. They were mainly French couples and families travelling from the north to the south for their holidays and breaking their journeys in the village. Although we did have a lovely couple from South Africa who were touring Europe.

The main job in the guest house was serving breakfast and then cleaning, changing the beds and getting ready for the next visitors. At one point I considered changing my name to Widow Twanky as I washed and dried so much bedding!

Anyone visiting La Bourge is guaranteed a very warm welcome and great hospitality in a gorgeous house by a fabulous host.

Have a look at the website: http://www.chezlabourge.com, and if you are lucky enough to stay there check out the beautiful tiling on the ground floors.

sitting room the blue room the cream room the grey room

Le voyage commence

23 Jul 2015 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , ,

After a very early start and a ride to the airport with a very nosy taxi driver, I was soon jetting off to Limoges. An hour and half flight time later I landed in one of the smallest airports I’ve ever been to. Another taxi ride, this time with a very quiet driver took me to Limoges train station to continue my journey to La Souterraine. My internet search told me there might be a bus from the station that would take me to Le Grand Bourg, but as it only ran four times a week it would have been too optimistic to hope that Friday would be my lucky bus day. My host, Susie, very kindly picked me up.

Susie is a Brit and she owns the Tea shop, the bed and breakfast and the house next door. The other members of the family are; Pongo the dog she adopted while living in Morocco, Tripod the three legged cat, while she was a kitten a dog, (not Pongo), mistook her for a toy and bit off her leg, then there’s Colin the tabby cat with an identity disorder, he and Pongo think they are Yorkshire Terriers as they only eat dry food made especially for that breed.

There was another Workawayer here, Karet a French language student from Estonia. She had already been working for two weeks and had another two weeks to go.

My room was small and perfectly formed and I knew instantly I would be happy.

pongo tripod 20150709_214238

En Vacance

20 Jul 2015 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

When a person finds themselves single again there is always the dilemma of what to do for a summer holiday. A lot of my friends are married with younger children or in relationships. My sons are adults now and certainly do not want to spend a couple of weeks in a foreign land with their old mum. I’m not really a lying in the sun kind of person and definitely wouldn’t want to do that on my own.

So having scoured the internet for ideas for holidays for billy no mates I found a site called Workaway. In return for 5 hours of work a day, 5 days a week, (on average), a host will provide accommodation and food. There are hosts in a variety of settings offering all kinds of work worldwide. As this was my first adventure I decided to stay close-ish to home and look for a placement in France.

Imagine my delight as I found a vintage tea shop in the Limousin region in a small town called Le Grand Bourg. My joy continued when I discovered that I could fly directly there from Bristol.

According to the site, the work included baking cakes and bread, serving customers and helping out in the bed and breakfast attached to the tea shop. As none of this sounded too taxing I booked myself in.

The next few posts will tell the story of my grand adventure en Francais.

workaway