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Published: July 21st 2011
The first night we went out to watch the end of year dance show that Adele and Helene were both in. It was a fun little community gathering in the local school hall. All ages do the contemporary style dance classes, and were represented in the show, from four year olds to adults. The half time refreshments were crepes (much to Sophia’s delight) and coffee.
The next day, Sunday, Francoise had planned a garden party to celebrate the end of the school year, and our arrival. There were 16 adults and about 10 teenagers. They came for lunch, then the afternoon was spent chatting, playing petanque, and the teenagers kayaked along the river. It was so hot (around 30 deg) we all went for a swim at Joelle and Freds house nearby with a pool. Most people were still there around tea time, so all the leftovers came back out, along with a bit more barbequed meat, and plenty more wine, with everyone finally leaving around 11pm. We had fun and enjoyed the conversations. Most of them spoke enough English to communicate with us, and someone always translated the gist of the conversations that ran away in French – although
it was fun listening and trying to follow the French.
Monday we spent in Perigeux (30 min drive) which is where Thierry works and Adele went to school. Thierry showed us around the ancient Roman area. I was amazed at the size of the ancient grain silo, that kept the old town supplied through the winter. There was a very modern museum built over some other ancient roman remains, the architect of which was a famous Perigeux born man. We had a nice lunch, a look at a few shops (most were closed being Monday), and a look through the church, which had an impressive organ which was being played.
We also had a look around Bordeille which is the village closest to the house (5 min). It is very cute and picturesque, with a medieval fortress, renaissance palace, church, river, and well maintained cute little houses.
Tuesday we went to see the Lascaux caves near Montignac. They were famous for its prehistoric cave paintings that were painted 17,000 years ago. It’s incredible and mind boggling to think there were people here that long ago, and that the paintings have lasted all that time. They were only
Dinner at Josiane & Jean-Guys
Nicole, Josiane, Joelle, Pascalle, Francoise, Jennydiscovered about 60 years ago, by a boy looking for his lost dog who had fallen into the cave. Thierrys parents knew him, as they also live in the area. The original caves are now shut to the public to protect them from deterioration, but they have recreated the best portions of the caves 200m away, and everything is replicated exactly – the cave walls, shapes, crevices, and the methods and products used in the paintings themselves. The paintings are mainly horses, bulls and other mammals and it is interesting that no people are represented, or the actual animals they ate. Some of the animals were even fantasy. Thierry has seen the original cave but said they could only turn a light on a minute or two to look, then get spoken to by the guide for the next five-ten minutes in the dark. That was then repeated over an hour or two.
We had a picnic lunch then went to some other caves – above ground this time, called La Roque St-Christophe. This caves were basically a village and had been lived in continuously since 50,000 BC. We got home to find Adele had her BAC results and
she’d passed, which she was most relieved and happy about. Her highest mark was for English! We’ll take the credit for that.
Wednesday we looked around Brantome (15min) which is the nearest town, and where the primary school is and where Francoise teaches. It is very picturesque as well, and I was amazed at the number of tourists there. We had lunch at Carole and Bernards restaurant here which took most of the day. A local artist Mitau had exhibitions on everywhere here – at Carole and Bernards restaurant, at the church, and even some work he has donated to the town, permanently installed in the caves behind the church (in the open air!). I quite liked them and asked what the prices were. I was told that to buy you have to meet with him and chat with him, then he’ll tell you the price. He prices according to how passionate you are about it, and I guess what you’re able to pay. He will sell it quite cheap if you’re poor but really understand and love it.
Thursday we drove to Limoges and toured a porcelain factory (with the guide only speaking French) but it was
interesting seeing how labour intensive it was. We visited Maison de la Porcelaine, and Bernardauds, and bought a few pieces that hopefully we will get home intact.
Thursday we also visited the sheep farm of their friends Martina and Francois. The sheep stay inside the barns their whole lives, and are sold for meat only. They are shorn once a year but it is thrown away as is worthless. It didn’t look like they produced much wool anyway, with some sheep half bald. Thierry tried to take us to a goat farmer/cheese maker he knows but unfortunately he was away on holiday and only the relief milker was there – who didn’t know much about the cheese making.
Market day is Friday in Brantome so we headed there to get some supplies. It was one of the best markets we’d seen. Perhaps because it was a bit more tourist orientated. There were certainly plenty of English speaking people to be heard, and quite a number with guide books and cameras at the ready. As well as the usual range of fresh fruits, veges, meats, cheeses and breads, there was a huge range of jewellery, crafts, and house wares.
I bought some New Zealand kiwifruit I found there for the pavlova I was planning on making on Saturday for a dinner we were going to at Josiane and Jean-Guys house Saturday night.
Saturday we visited some caves near Brantome that had very impressive range of stalactites and stalagmites. It was effectively lit, with lighting and sound shows in parts, and very well narrated, I couldn’t believe we’d been touring it for a whole hour. There were even a couple of small old cave paintings similar to the Lascaux ones. There are a huge number of caves like this in the area, it puts the Waitomo caves to shame.
Sunday we spent a few hours canoeing down the river near the house. It was fun and relaxing. It was a beautiful hot day, but nice and cool under the shade of the trees most of the way, and with the slight breeze off the water. It was a very gentle flowing river with only one very very minor rapid – you could hardly even call it a rapid. There were bright fluorescent blue dragon flys hovering over the water most of the way which were awesome to see.
The countryside around Adeles house was fields of either wheat or sunflowers. The sunflowers look so stunning with all their heads facing the sun, or drooping on cloudy days. We even say a little family of woodpeckers one day, and heard them pecking away another day while going for a walk. The field of wheat directly bordering Adeles happened to be harvested one evening just as we were starting to eat dinner. It was noisy and dusty for about half an hour, but gave us something to laugh about. Wasps were everywhere all week as well but we soon got used to ignoring them. They put it down to it having been a long hot dry spring / summer, as they were not usually around.
Sunday evening we were all feeling a bit flat knowing it was our last day, after having had such a great week. Adeles family all seemed the same to. When it came time at the train station Monday morning it was even more emotional than when we arrived, with most of us crying. Hopefully we’ll see them in New Zealand in the next year or two. (They are planning it).
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