The faded elegance of a French Chateau...

Just arrived back from ten relaxing days in France. The first seven days at the Chateau in St Cyprien where we stayed last year. This is such a lovely house and one that gives a real taste of what aristocratic French life must have been. The faded elegance of the Chateau combined with the large park garden is a wonderful place to stay in the Dordogne. St Cyprien is a small town with red roofed houses, an Abbey and a collection of individual shops bars and bistro's. There is a strong and friendly community feel to the place and this was demonstrated during our stay by the street markets, the Fete de Musique and the weekly community meal. Emma and Nick were with us, arriving on Monday at Bergerac airport in about 30 degrees of sunshine. They were keen to spend some time on the Dordogne in canoes, so the week was split with some joint trips and some individual ones. On Tuesday, Emma and Nick spent the day canoeing 28Km down the river whilst Marg and I visited a chateau which belonged to Josephine Baker, a Folie Berger dancer of the 20's. To find out about her life story, which progressed from nude dancer to active member of the French Resistance during WW2 and on to supporting Martin Luther King in his fight against racial segregation in the USA where Josephine Baker had originated from was particularly interesting as we will be staying in the 'Josephine Baker' suite at Burgh Island in September. We also spent time visiting our favourite Dordogne haunts, Monpazier, Belves and Sarlat, all lovely places just to wander around for a couple of hours in the sunshine. This year we also went to Lascaux where the prehistoric cave paintings were found. They have recreated the cave and it was very interesting to see the artistic skills of these people and the history surrounding them. We spent more time at the chateau this year just relaxing and enjoying the place as well as having some lovely food both in and out. After our week in St Cyprien we drove up to the Charante Aquitaine area to spend a few days at Don Hatherley's cottage. From here we went into Royan where we revisited the amazing concrete cathedral and spent a few hours enjoying the coast on an extremely warm day (36 degrees). Emma and Nick made several trips on the train over the next few days whilst we relaxed and visited some of the local towns. All in all, a very good break with some excellent weather and the time to chill out in the surroundings of a place which is quite unique.