We awoke to a sunny morning, perfect for packing the car and taking some leaving photos! Having said our goodbyes we soon found ourselves in the Cognac vineyards, still sleeping and looking decidedly stick like. Once we moved into the Bordeaux region vineyards they were showing some signs of life; fresh green leaves just emerging. The weather was still fine so we had our picnic lunch just outside St Emilion, surrounded by the vines – and we didn’t even need our coats. The plan was to stop in St Emilion, have a wander, buy some wine and have a coffee, however, despite it being a ‘heavy’ (not raining, but could do any minute) April day the town was packed. We don’t do packed and we don’t do pay for parking either, so we drove around a couple of circuits, agreed it is beautiful and set off for Eymet in the Dordogne. Leaving the Bordeaux vineyards and crossing into the Bergerac region meant we lost the dry weather and hit some nasty wet stuff. We reached Eymet, a lovely Medieval Bastide town and the setting for the recent ITV Little England series (so also home to lots of Brits!). We had a quick wander in the wet (not Ades’s favourite thing to do), were somewhat disappointed that Geoffrey Palmer (and his sexy voice) wasn’t there waiting for us in a café so we decided to phone a friend. When I say a ‘friend’ I actually mean someone I met on Twitter a few weeks ago, who said pop in for coffee on your way (don’t try this at home kids). Andy Frazier has been living in the area for 6 years and writing about his experiences, (he is a real writer) and he and Wendy were happy to spend an hour with us, thanks guys. They live in The Party House – my name – as it contains an indoor/outdoor games room and a fantastic covered terrace overlooking the hills (and sheep), complete with music and BBQ and seems to be the frequent venue for lots of drop in parties! He organises a Chutney Fete in October (as he thinks he is King of the Courgette Chutney) that he has invited us to – I feel a challenge coming on as I’m not sure he knows I am Queen of the Courgettes! He has also agreed to guest blog here soon! From Andy and Wendy’s home, nestled in the Agen Prune orchards (no problems being regular there, I’m guessing), it was just a short drive to Villeneuve-sur-Lot for our first night. The wifi is a bit hit and miss, but the hotel is lovely (and warm) and we found our food heaven in a Pizzeria with a woodfired oven (visible from the restaurant), perfect.
Thanks Christine, I do hope the sun is shining for your holiday, we have a mixed day today, but not too bad.
this sounds lovely - and i'm delighted the sun was shinning as we've coming over next week...so hopefully the sun will shine even more..