Fayence: Wine, Cheese, and Carbs

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It is amazing that despite France being rather expensive overall, a good bottle of wine could run you no more than 7 Euros, whereas in Hong Kong these cost you an arm and a leg.

We’ve spend the last few days at the Chateaux de Bradshaw, located in the quaint town of Fayence (know for its boulangeries back in Medieval times) half an hour outside of Nice in Provence. Picture your quintessential house in the South of France - and this is it. Walls covered with ivy and vines, great big green lawns enclosed in large walls of manicured bushes. Pebbled driveways, hanging flower pots, shuttered windows, bottles and bottles of wine. No internet, no sounds, no nothing besides the voices of your good friends relaxing on more cheeses than any American could handle.

After the first two days, I was getting stomach aches from all the breads and carbs I was eating. As ridiculous as it sounds, I’m pretty sure all the croissants, baguettes, and pain au chocolat were just expanding in my stomach and stretching it way too far. At least one pain au chocolat, a croissant with butter and fresh jam, and more than several slices of a fresh baguette for breakfast alone (you can only imagine what the other two meals of the day saw.) I’m just simply not used to eating this much bread!

I wish I could say that after a few days in the French countryside I am well-versed in the matters of all things cheese, but that would be a gross lie. I still think some of the cheeses stink a god awful mess, that mold in a cheese does NOT look appetizing, and honestly I ate so much soft brie-esque cheese in the first couple days I think I got cheesed out pretty quickly. And you know what? Cheese platters for dessert still don’t make sense to me, I think I will have to stick to chocolate goodness.

Our time in Fayence though, was exactly what I pictured France to be like. Days of doing nothing but playing card games and lounging by the pool in a big white bathrobe, drinking wine and eating cheese, morning visits to the local boulangerie for your day’s fresh-baked goods, wandering through the grass picking cherries (John has an amazing cherry tree in his backyard) quiet strolls down the road to your neighborhood Michelin-star eatery, dabbling in the vineyards and wineries along the way... If only I got to pick grapes and stomp on them a la Fantasia, and the experience would have been complete.

Thanks so much to the Bradshaws for the weekend. It was an absolutely lovely time in a lovely place, with lovely conversation with the best of friends... Certainly a perfect transition between my old life in Hong Kong and whatever is next to come.

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Photos

picking cherries off the trees
in bathrobes

fayence museum
what a find...

olive man
thought i was a reporter and that he was going to be in a magazine!

Comments

[Sam]

amy, you are so freaking hard to keep track of!!!