We spent a week in Mauroux, a tiny hamlet on the Lot river, in early May and discovered a dozen incredibly beautiful bastides, chateaus and fortified towns in the area. A quick word on the particulars of each: A bastide is a ‘new town’ established in the 13th and 14th centuries as a means for the French to secure parcels of land (before the English did) across France and to […]
We fulfilled a bucket list dream that started back in 1994 when we were freshly engaged and exploring Europe in an old Mitsubishi L300 carpenters van. We were en route to take the Hurtigruten down Norway’s fjords when our van broke down and had to get towed back to London. We’ve always had a yearning to finish off that planned voyage and what better time than to celebrate our 30th […]
We spent seven days in late April house/dog sitting in a little town called Chapelle des Pots just ten minutes from the city of Saintes and loved how richly packed the Charente-Maritime region in Nouvelle-Aquitaine area is with so many historical, pretty little towns. Here are some of the highlights. The Charente-Maritime area Saintes sits in the north of the Nouvelle Aquitane region (the largest region in France) about 90 minutes […]