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Published: September 5th 2016
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There’s nothing like having a lie in to start the day off well, unless of course you have a mammoth who has his own agenda and decides that he wants to count his nut stocks! Having stayed in bed as long as I could I went to check out the living area of our new glamping tent. Woolly says – With the tents currently unoccupied Adrian and Fiona had very kindly allowed us to move into one, the living space has just enough room to spread out my collection and carry out a stock infantry, I didn’t need Jo coming along and putting everything into one pile again! Having sat on the deck and sulked for a while and getting no response from the women I started singing..... that seemed to work and before I could start on my next tune we were in the car and cruising through the country lanes to our first destination. I can cope with most things but his singing is not one of them! Woolly says – a short drive to the town of Bourdeilles, a village which sits on the edge of the river Dronne and boasts a chateau, a moulin (mill), a medieval centre and a panoramic viewpoint. Having parked under the shade we wandered through the deserted main street to the chateau’s entrance where we were met by the large wooden doors which were barring my entry ..... lunchtime! I really can’t get used to everything closing for lunch I mean didn’t they know that I was arriving! Having glared at Jo and Zoe and muttered about lie in’s, Zoe came up with the idea of carrying onto our second stop and returning later, she’s quite bright sometimes!
Back to the car we went with the small fur ball muttering away under his breathe and threatening mutiny if our second destination was not open. Woolly says – luckily for Jo the pretty town of Brantome was open and having collected our tickets from the tourist information I trotted across the bridge and into what had once been the monastery. The Benedictine monastery of Brantome was used from the 8th century and was cut into the limestone cliff that sits above the town. As we entered the first part of the museum the chill was wonderful after the heat outside, small corridors took us past areas that had once been dormitories for the monks and having left Jo reading the tourist boards I rounded a corner to find the two most incredible carving’s of the Last Judgement. Dominating two of the walls it took quite a while to take them both in, but having spotted Jesus, the angel of death and a number of other people I was quite chuffed to check out the information and find that I had correctly identified nearly everyone.
Both pieces of work were wonderful and quite unexpected, having taken some pictures I followed my small companion into the next area which has once housed the pigeons. Woolly says – with holes just big enough for me I could have had my choice of dwelling if I had wings and could reach high enough. Next to view was the Saint Sicaire Fountain, whose waters are supposed to bring fertility and prevent illness, they are apparently a place where many pilgrims would have once visited. Having found myself back in the blazing heat I stood for a moment admiring the small garden which was once attached to the monastery but is now open to the public, a rather nice round tower and square tower presented themselves, along with a beautiful view of the river and the abbey itself.
As we entered the abbey I think we all expected it to live up to it’s splendid exterior..... Woolly says – It didn’t, it was incredibly plain except for the stained glass which was pretty and it smelt dreadful, having covered my trunk with my paws I sat and waited in the open air for the girls to finish looking around. ....the interior wasn’t that inspiring and as the mammoth had pointed out the smell of damp was pretty grim. The troglodyte caves and monastery had however been a hit so having relaxed by the river with the necessary ice cream we set off back to Bourdeilles once more. Woolly says – Parking the car again I was eager to see if the workers of the chateau were now actually ready for my visit and as I raced through the gates it appeared that they were as a nice Cornish man greeted me warmly and pointed me in the direction of the medieval part of the chateau. The oldest parts of the current castle date from the early 14th century ad consists of an octagonal keep, connected to a two story building of which only the outer walls remain, I leapt up the steps and into the first room of the two storey building. The huge fireplace must have been amazing in the days when it had been used but the spot lights and modern fittings didn’t really give me any idea of how grand it must have once been. The second room was the same, I turned to moan at Jo to see her disappearing through a small doorway, I shot after her to find myself confronted with rather a lot of steps!
I could have felt sorry for making him walk up the first flight of the tower steps but thought that at least if he was out of breath he wouldn’t be able to moan! Woolly says – You see what I have to put up with! Having reached the octagonal first floor she took pity on me and as we scaled the 124 steps to the top we both agreed that the view over the town and across the river was well worth the climb. Coming down was easy and as I left the courtyard behind I was faced with a completely different looking part of the chateau, built during the renaissance at the end of the 16th century it looked more like a grand house than a chateau. The large stone corridors took us past huge wooden carved chests and into what had once been a kitchen, although I’m pretty sure that the two stone coffins wouldn’t have been part of the original kitchen area! Upstairs led us into the large reception rooms with beautiful painted walls and ceilings, could all do with a bit of a dust though, Jo would enjoy that!
I think I’ll leave the dusting to someone else thanks Woolly. Woolly says – Another flight of stairs brought us to the bedrooms which seemed cluttered with chairs, the first one had the most uncomfortable looking bed in the world but the second and much bigger room displayed a rather grand gold affair for sleeping with lovely views across the valley. So a two bed chateau, mind you, you could have had four rooms in each one if you knew a good builder! Outside lead through a small garden and as we admired the small towers at the end my tummy rumbled, I looked at Jo who seemed to be thinking the same thing...food time. Having thanked the Cornish man for his hospitality I led the way across the road to what looked like a likely candidate in the food states and as my tummy groaned I licked my lips at the thought of a plate of gambas, plonking myself at the table I looked round wondering why the women hadn’t followed me, weren’t they hungry? Were they looking at another place to eat? I want my food! What do you mean it’s not open until 7pm and we have to wait for TWO HOURS!!!!!!! Anybody out there......emergency send snacks!
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