Sun 21st Apr - Had a nice walk around the property, Daisy found the chickens had laid an egg ('ooh, egg! egg!), then on to see the horses and up around the green path around the estate. Back just in time to miss the heavy rain! Got a snack for Daisy then in the car for a trip to Belves. We entered the town from a different direction than last time and it didn't look half as nice as had no view up towards the hill. Had a 'picnic' in the car (cloudy and spots of rain) and then wandered up to the square and around the old style buildings. Really nice feel to the place but was dead as everything was closed - imagine it would be lovely on a market day. Glenn found a takeaway pizza place (!) so got himself two (!!) and then we drove home.
Mon 22 Apr - I did some work then Glenn went for a run. Sat out in the sun and then had lunch before heading to Monpazier for a little wander around the town and then to the Bastideum for an Easter egg hunt for Daisy. She got to dress up as a knight (Glenn chose her outfit) and find hard boiled painted eggs in the museum and gardens. We were there late in the afternoon so it wasn't busy (thought there would be more kids around for Daisy to interact with), but she still seemed to enjoy herself and collected the correctly coloured eggs to claim her chocolate eggs prize:-) There were lots of traditional French games to play in the garden area so Glenn and I had fun too! Back home for about 6pm then the usual routine and bed.
Tue 23rd Apr - Both did a bit of work and went for a run in the morning. After lunch we headed into Beaumont and did the short walking route that I'd done earlier in the week with Mum. Daisy did so well and walked the start of the walk, up in the backpack for the middle section and then walked the last uphill section. Went to the supermarket and then home for tea and drinks.
Wed 24th Apr - Did some work, Glenn took Daisy out for a little walk then we swapped and Glenn worked while Daisy and I played with her plastic eggs and drawing game. She can now recognise and name all of the colours and shapes and put them in their right place in the box (after mum spending time talking about the shapes when she was over). Neither Glenn or I were feeling very energetic today but we headed back into Beaumont in the afternoon and did another walk, this time doing a slightly longer route to the east of the town which took us on lanes, woodland trails and grassy tracks through lovely scenery. The weather is quite changeable here and during the walk we had blue skies and sun then dark and stormy clouds and back to blue again but luckily missed the rain. Really glad we got out in the end! Daisy enjoyed a bit of down time but spent the majority of the walk in the backpack, narrating as we went along 🙂 Got back about 5.30, gave Daisy tea and a bath then the normal routine of milk, brushing teeth and watching In The Night Garden. I did a bit more work then Glenn planned our day for tomorrow before taking Daisy up to bed (but took about 25 mins to get her off to sleep!).
Thu 25th Apr - Full day today! Drove to Eymet which is a town to the south-west of us, about the size of Issigeac (bigger than Beaumont). It was busy as it was market day...didn't have the same feel as Issigeac or Monpazier, think because if had new buildings surrounding the old town. Still, there was a nice square lined with cafes and shops and a fountain in the middle and the place was buzzing. We bought a few bits then sat outside a pub for chips (Glenn's choice, after having himself a chocolatine from the boulangerie) and a half pint. Heard lots of English-speaking people here - Glenn said 30% of the population are English due to it's close location to the airport etc. It actually put us off the place hearing lots of southern english accents and made me want to learn french and be able to converse better with the locals so we're not put in the same category as Brits abroad! After a cloudy morning the sun was now out and we got back in the car to visit a little local vineyard. This area to the south/west of Bergerac is known as vineyard country and you could tell - the landscape had changed from around Beaumont and at times all you could see around us were vineyards! Glenn had found details of a family-run vineyard in the area (Chateau Marie Plaisance); we arrived and sat in the car while Daisy slept and a wild hail shower passed by..even though it was warm and sunny too! There was just a small shop which had a shelf of each of their rose, white and red wine on offer and a small bar area to enjoy a sample. We were greeted by the wife of one of 3 sons who run the vineyard with their parents who own the property (the vineyard had been in the family for 5 generations). The lady had just had a 3 week old little girl called Avril and we had a nice chat while we sampled the wines which were all bio (organic) before realising they didn't accept card and we were out of money! So while Glenn drove to the nearest town to get cash out Daisy and I stayed chatting to the lady and then went to see their horses along with her 2 neices who she was looking after too. Once Glenn was back we bought 5 litres of red, white and 1 bottle of rose along with 4 wine glasses. Very nice experience with the locals! Then we drove on to Chateau Bridoire for a look around the castle and play in the grounds. There wasn't much to see in the castle, however the grounds had loads of traditional french games and there were loads of families and kids out playing - it was so nice to see! Unfortunately it was already past 5pm so we had to think about heading back for Daisy's tea etc so we just had a little play but it would have been lovely to have spent longer there and enjoyed a picnic in the sun!
Fri 26th Apr - Raining early on then cleared up; Glenn went for a run then I followed with Glenn and Daisy accompanying me on the bike again...although Daisy got a wet bum on the bike so didn't really enjoy it! Forgot to write up the blog today so can't actually remember what we got up to in the afternoon...can't have been that exciting!
