Pretty villages

November 1, 2023

DORDOGNE – OUTSTANDING SCENERY – COUX-ET-BIGAROQUE

Jackie Usher French B&Bs, Pretty villages, Restaurants

10^th May:

DORDOGNE – MISSING SOME PRETTY VILLAGES

Dordogne was on the lips of many of our friends, and reading accounts of it’s outstanding scenery, Dordogne was a must place for a prolonged visit. I had studied all the options on Google maps and chose a route starting on the D140. This took us through increasingly scenic countryside and some notably historic and pretty villages. I was disappointed when Graham drove right past Barbezreux. It was too soon to stop for coffee under the small cluster of trees in the middle of the main street, and I knew better than to push for deviating at this stage.

– AND A CAVE CHURCH

Similarly, I had found information that there was a ‘rock church’ – in other words, a cave church, in Aubeterre-sur-Dronne, the next village on this lonely country road.
Of course, from our car we could not see enough to tempt us in, but presently a very eye-catching cluster of old buildings came into sight.

DORDOGNE – TYPICAL BUILDINGS

Bigaroque House - Dordogne — **Bigaroque House – Dordogne**

We saw some mansard roofs typical of the Dordogne; the houses were definitely taking on a ‘different’ look. They proved so attractive to Graham that he found a place to safely stop the car in order to take photographs.

DORDOGNE – ST PRIVAT-DES-PRÉS – TYPICAL VILLAGE

A glance at my Google map showed that we were gawping at St Privat-des-Prés. Soon we were approaching Neuvic, marked as a larger town. I hoped we would go into the centre to find lunch. However, on the way we almost drove past a really superior boulangerie (and as all the boulangerie in France are impressive, this was saying something.)

DORDOGNE – GREAT LUNCH IN A BOULANGERIE

We saw tables both inside and on the pavement, and they were mostly filled with people who were eating more than sandwiches – we could see hot food and salads. That decided us.

FRENCH FOOD IS A MAIN ATTRACTION

We had not stinted ourselves regarding paying for nice meals on this particular holiday. French cooking, to my mind, still deserves its reputation as the most imaginative and delicious food in the western world. As we are not sure if we’ll be able to take another holiday like this, and French food is an important part of the attraction – we decided we would not, as previously, seek to eat cheaply most of the time. A wise decision, as my breathing was playing up already.

GOOD FRENCH FOOD NEED NOT BE EXPENSIVE

Even so, we would save quite a bit by sampling the good, fresh food on offer here – maybe allowing extravagance towards a gourmet dinner later on. As it turned out, we were so well fed in that boulangerie that we did not look to eat dinner that evening.

Of course, we did not turn off into Neuvic, but when we reached St Alvère some forty five minutes later, we were sufficiently enchanted by the quirkily-shaped ruin right on the village street that Graham looked for a parking place, in order to get out my scooter.

DORDOGNE – A WALK BY THE RIVER

There was plenty of historic and architectural interest and beauty in this medieval village beside the river. By the time I’d had a little walk and got back on my scooter, we decided to join the crowd sipping long drinks in the shade of umbrellas shading the many tables set out in the large town ‘Place’.

DORDOGNE – TRY AND SEE LIMEUIL

We were now only about half-an-hour from our destination, so we decided to save Limeuil for another day. I had seen some really lovely images when researching – an angled bridge reflected in the river, and gardens.

DORDOGNE – WE FIND OUR SMALL HOTEL

Of course, this place so close by got forgotten when we finally reached base in the tiny village of Coux-en-Bigaroque (even Miss SatNav went round in circles until we realised that the sizable old house next to the church at the bottom of the village was actually our hotel.)

Bigaroque's Hotel roofs peeping through - Bordogne — **Bigaroque’s Hotel roofs peeping above**

LUGGING OUR SUITCASES

The concierge (or was he the manager?) was very helpful about letting us park on the grass next to the church. Still, Graham had to lug our suitcases up the steep road and round the side of the hotel. We then crossed a charming courtyard lined with rambling roses. They climbed up the galleries shielding set-back rooms (very promising). He then had to haul our luggage up a steep, narrow staircase to reach the floor where our bedroom was facing us. A sign on the ugly flush door informed us that we would be staying in ‘Monet’.

WERE MONET’S PAINTINGS THIS GLOOMY? NO!

Our bedroom was nothing like the glimpses we’d had from the courtyard. Instead ‘Monet’ had borrowed the most sombre tones from that artist’s palette. The walls were in two dark shades of greenish-grey, with long, thin curtains of a dull mulberry framing the view of the somewhat wild garden opposite.

A DINGY OLD BATHROOM

The bathroom was even worse. The bath suite was recognisably circa 1930, and the only light (above the sink) was very subdued.

– AND A BED THAT ATTACKS YOU

The bed was one of those iron-framed jobs that catch you in the shins unless you spot the problem first. The small wardrobe (again 1930’s in cheap oak) was badly in need of a coat of wax. Still, in the centre of the Dordogne we were lucky to get a room for around £50 a night. Shabby and dismal it may be, but the bed was comfortable enough to allow for sleep, and we had been given the extra pillows we had requested.

COUX-ET-BIGAROQUE – THE VILLAGE IS A GEM

And this village! An absolute gem. We wasted no time in walking along the road at the bottom, and very soon Graham was clicking madly away with his camera. House after attractive, charmingly detailed house came into view. However, it was an ancient barn with a perilously sagging roof that presented the most artistic challenge.

Roof tiles in Bigaroque _ Dordogne — **Roof tiles in Bigaroque**

I shared his enthusiasm for at least twenty minutes before I finally scooted off on my own to find yet more subjects.

DISAPPOINTING DINNER

We were almost too late for dinner in the hotel by the time we returned – and there was nowhere else to find an evening meal in this hamlet. Besides, we did not know where to find the nearest town.

The dining room was attractive, but the meal mediocre, served by over-worked staff on an exceptionally hot evening. We could not but sympathise with them.

We took another short walk afterwards. This time up the steep, short village street. There was a boulangerie (now closed) at the top, near the police station. That was it. Immediately, we found ourselves descending the other side of a loop. We had now circumnavigated modern Coux-et-Bigaroque – shorter than its name!

Text by – Jackie Usher, SWWJ. (aka author Debbie Darkin, & ‘Graham Liverpool’ on Trip Advisor.)
Photographs by – Graham Usher.

February 28, 2022

A FIELD OF CARVED MASONRY

Jackie Usher Art, Local History, Pretty villages, Travelling through, Uncategorized

An Architectural Museum in a Field

It seems so French – plonking down an open-air museum in the middle of a field; no board, no fee, no attendant. Somebody (perhaps a mason) had cast copies of a plethora of beautiful and often vastly amusing carvings. And perhaps not finding a museum to pay for them (just conjecture) had found a field to place them in.

We walked on raised ‘duck boards’ through two quite long avenues of intriguing bits and pieces of architectural art. Statues, incredibly intricate pillar capitals, slabs and busts – all absolutely attention-grabbing and entertaining. It is discoveries like this that are the rich rewards of DIY touring – because they are so totally unexpected. LUVit!

We have no idea where the originals come from, but some seem incredibly old. Instead of writing a long post about what we found, we felt the images speak for themselves.

A FIELD OF CARVED MASONRY - Cats Head — Cats Head

A FIELD OF CARVED MASONRY - Horseman and Child — Horseman and Child

A FIELD OF CARVED MASONRY - River Spirit — River Spirit

A FIELD OF CARVED MASONRY - Fallen Capital2 — Fallen Capital

A FIELD OF CARVED MASONRY - Fallen Capital — Fallen Capital

A FIELD OF CARVED MASONRY - Repeat Foliage Pattern — Repeat Foliage Pattern

A FIELD OF CARVED MASONRY - Madonna and Child — Madonna and Child

How old is the original of this charming Madonna?

Text by – Jackie Usher, SWWJ. (aka author Debbie Darkin, & ‘Graham Liverpool’ on Trip Advisor.)
Photographs by – Graham Usher.

Jackie's book - picture all askew

Blois - feature picture Bloise Cathedral

June 9, 2021

LOIRE VALLEY TO BRION PRES THOUET:

Jackie Usher Pretty villages, Tourist Town, Travelling through Good Roads

Loire Valley is justly famous for its Chateaux, wine, pretty villages and lovely scenery. Unfortunately Graham lost a lot of photos of this trip when he downloaded them and his computer crashed. This area was among them.

BLOIS RIVER ROAD

After our meal we decided to take a little longer, and use the AD152, which snaked alongside the River Loire. However, because we wanted to avoid spending all that time going back to Ligny, we instead we took the D922, which turned into the D917 to Yvoy-le-Marron. This proved to be a very small, but very pretty old village, with the tiniest ‘Mairie’ we had ever seen. Soon we passed at least two grand chateaux by a river. This route took us through some nice scenery and a few more villages until we reached La Ferte-St-Cyr, with its two bridges – the lovely, many-arched old one, leading from the ‘old town’, and a magnificent new one, where the arches soared high above the road.. We turned onto the road to Cruoy-sur-Cosson, which joined the river road along the Loire until we shortly found ourselves looking over to Blois, on the other side of the river.

ON THE LOIRE IS BLOIS – A NAME FROM ENGLISH HISTORY LESSONS

Now Blois was a name I’d often encountered reading the complicated interwoven histories of England and France. The expectation was of a grand city, but looking over, all we could see was what appeared to be a rather large, very grey and huddled town dominated by an enormous cathedral.

GREY BLOIS DID NOT TEMPT US

This edifice is probably very grand, and certainly important historically. At that time in the afternoon it did not tempt us to go on to the bridge and then double back to explore it. No doubt we have sadly misjudged Blois – but there is only so much deviating we were prepared to do in that one day. We chose rather to go off road to pass through Chinon, on another river – the Vienne, and visited all too briefly just once – a long time ago.

CHINON – RICHARD WOZ ERE:

Chinon bears definite marks of the Plantagenets – particularly Richard the Lionheart, who in my schooldays had been given a much better press than he deserved, as he was only ever six months in England. Nevertheless, he was presented to us as a romantic figure!

CHINON CASTLE AS IN THE FILM ‘THE LION IN WINTER’

Also, I hoped to establish whether or not the castle depicted in one of my favourite films – ‘The Lion in Winter,’ was authentic, and if it still survived intact. Happily, it has – although we did not see it on this occasion, as time was pressing. We promised ourselves to return the next day, but as so often during holidays we never did. It still remains to be discovered by us…
The plot of the film relayed the squabbles when Henry11 released his imprisoned wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine to join him and their three remaining sons – Richard, Geoffrey and John, for Christmas celebrations. The hidden agenda was to discuss the division of lands amongst them, and settle on Henry’s successor; who, of course, was Richard. They were a feisty family.

AZAY-LE-RIDEAU – GOOD SMALL HOTEL – CHARMING LITTLE TOWN

Azay-le-Rideau - Azay-le-Rideau — Azay-le-Rideau

Back on the road we experienced some deja-vu as our road ran straight through Azay-le-Rideau, and glancing up a side street I saw, as expected, the sign of the little hotel where we’d stayed two years before. I tried to alert Graham, but he quickly snapped, “I’m too busy driving to look. What of it?” After all these years I should have known better than to try and distract him.

BRION-PRÈS-THOUET – WE ARRIVE TO A WARM WELCOME:

Blois - Evening glow over rapeseed fields — Evening glow over rape seed fields

We finally arrived at our destination; Brion-près-Thouet, just as the sun had set. We searched in vain for the street with our B&B, even Miss SatNav was stumped. After asking for help we were given minute instructions by a genial couple out for a stroll. Our ‘street’ was more of a short alley between two buildings – one of which had clearly been empty for years.
Hidden to one side we spotted a pretty little gate in the stone hedge. It led almost straight onto an attractive small house – or large cottage. The frontage was nicely paved and flowers were everywhere.

BRION-PRÈS-THOUET – GLAMOUR QUEEN IN RURAL FRANCE

I rang the bell. The door flew open, held by an exceptionally pretty woman. Though clearly a retiree, she exuded glamour. I wondered if she had been on the stage or in films.

“Yvonne?” I enquired, and to my surprise her assent came in English.

Now, over the years I have learned to book with the natives of any country I am in. British B&B hosts abroad tend, on the whole, to be as greedy as at home; overcharging and often offering mean breakfasts.

Not so here: Yvonne gave the lie to all that.

BRION-PRÈS-THOUET – A REAL ENGLISH ‘CUPPA’

She immediately offered good English tea and little cakes, after which she took us up to one of the two charming guest bedrooms. Both were tastefully decorated in period style, with some very nice ornaments.
Stephen, her husband is a very genial and interesting man. After a distinguished career in South Africa he became Mayor of Lambeth – and in Millenium year, too…

AN UNAVOIDABLE FEATURE:

Yvonne was very apologetic that we had to descend a winding staircase to use the guest shower room, placed at the end of the large and comfortable guest sitting room.

SUPER SHOWER ROOM – LUXURIOUS BEAUTY PRODUCTS

A very attractive and well-designed facility, the shower stall was full of top-of-the range products for body and hair. I delighted in using them all.

STAIRCASE – ELEGANT AND SAFE

The staircase had a very good, sturdy though beautiful banister rail. We would be undisturbed, and hopefully not disturb others, when we needed to use the loo in the night. Really – everything had been thought of to provide for the comfort of their guests, even to those little touches of luxury.

BRION-PRÈS-THOUET – MORE B&B HOSTS BECOME FRIENDS

We soon became friends with these kindly and affable hosts. We certainly hope to return if my health allows. We can confidently recommend – Le Trois Puits, 2 Rue de la Civette, 79290 Brion-près-Thouet, France.

Blois - Le Pont De Taizon - 13th century — Le Pont De Taizon – 13th century

THE HISTORICAL BRIDGE AT TAIZON.

Blois - The Mill at Le Pont De Taizon — The Mill at Le Pont De Taizon

A few miles from Brion-pres-Thouet is the bridge pictured above. It was built in the 13th century to span the river Thouet and was a “tithe” bridge. German troops partially destroyed it in August 1944. It was restored in 1966 but not to carry traffic.
It is characteristic of the area, and the largest medieval bridge preserved in Thouarsais: Registered in the supplementary inventory of Historical Monuments since 1943. Close to this is an old mill.

Text by – Jackie Usher, SWWJ. (aka author Debbie Darkin, & ‘Graham Liverpool’ on Trip Advisor.)
Photographs by – Graham Usher.