Domaine La Castage

Days exploring the French countryside

After our canal boat adventures, we had a farm house booked for 10 days. This was very much a time to relax and wind down after our travelling. Mum was with us for the whole time; also our niece Sarah Sugars joined us for three days, from London. 

We can't remember how we chose Domaine la Castagne, a farmhouse just outside of the village Montmaur,  as we looked at so many places! We are certainly glad we did as it is a very comfortable gite (french word for accommodation), with everything we needed, including a great outdoor eating area and pool. It made it very easy to enjoy 10 days of down time. The countryside was filled with fields of sunflowers. Most of these were now dead, but not yet harvested. They are primarily grown for the oil in the seeds, so the sunflowers are grown and left until they are very black before they are harvested. There are still some fields where the sunflowers are yellow and they are stunning to admire.  This photo above shows a field of sunflowers on the left, with our farm house on the right. 

Our gite in the background

As big as Lach's head!

The sunflowers grow in the most barren ground. It is really just dirt! They are so tall - many were taller than Sophie ... and the heads of the sunflowers are bigger than the heads of our children! Lots of sunflower seeds in there!

We have spent our time exploring some of the local villages, which I'll expand on in the next few days. We are loving the "quaintness" of them; the lack of commercialism; the simplicity of the exterior of the houses and constantly wondering why people live where they live!

We (the children) also spent lots .... and lots .... and lots..... of time in the pool! The children have loved it and with the temps hovering around 28-30 degrees, its been a perfect way to spend the day. With some reading, eating and sleeping thrown in, we have all relaxed significantly. The gite has several other guests also, who are often ready to chat and share stories of what they've done and new suggestions.

We (the adults) have drunk lots ..... and lots .... and lots.... of French wine! At about 5 euros a bottle ($AUD 7.50), how could we not? Topped off with local cheese and a fresh baguette for lunch each day, we are really enjoying the gourmet side of France. We aren't quite eating croissants daily, but still regularly! We had a night out, thanks to the owner of our gite for providing some babysitting. We sampled some of the local specialities, which included the roasted camembert, foie gras and the main one, a cassoulet. More on food in another post!

The weather is cool in the morning and evening; just giving us a hint of autumn which is on the way. The trees have a slight tint in them also but haven't started to fall just yet. The days are hot, with a clear blue sky - very much like an Australian sky. Temps are around 28-30 degrees, so just perfect. Mum is very content ... she's completely forgotten about that plane trip home!