Friday 25 July 2008

Into the Champagne region

Now we travelled down to Clamanges, in the Champagne-Ardennes region. Here we found ourselves staying with the delightful Valerie & Didier Coulmier in their beautiful farmhouse; the room was without doubt one of the most comfortable and relaxing we've ever stayed in.

Our fellow guests shared the delicious evening meal with us, and we enjoyed the company of Mike & Joanna (who, it turns out, are hotelliers themselves in Manchester) and their three great kids. The conversations were an interesting mixture of French and English, accommodating the linguistic knowledge (or lack of it) around the table! Finally, our hearts were captured by the amazing Ramedame (we think we've spelt it correctly) - a Berger de Brie, a great soppy bear of a dog. The photo below links to a few photos taken on the morning we left.
France 2008: Au Pre du Moulin
Finally, on driving away from Au Pre du Moulin, we were treated to one of those beautiful moments. The French seem to be making a habit of planting fields to wild flowers - we saw many such during our holiday - but this was by far the most beautiful.
France 2008: wild flower field