Well it has been a month like no other!
The first two weeks saw us seeing as much of the North-East as possible before leaving for France. Visits to Cragside, Beamish, Stephenson's Museum, and visits to family and friends.
There was also the small(!) matter of getting Piper to the UK before we headed for France.
Thankfully with a lot of help - thanks Nana P & David -Piper arrived on the morning of 18 April and that night we set sail for St Malo and the 900km drive to Montlaur, Aude.
Oh and did we mention that John had his Quarterly Review at work and went to LA twice and Hong Kong once! All of this resulted in Denise packing up the house alone (AGAIN!) and driving the 400km to London with Maya and Will! What would I do without her?!?!?
Thanks to Auntie Agnes et al for all of their help. John then arrived from LA and the next morning we picked up Piper - happy to see us for 5 minutes then the cold shoulder for the next 2 days! - and a drive down to Portsmouth - another 100km!
Thanks to Anna and Kerry once again for their incredible, continued hospitality.
The overnight ferry was terrific and Maya & Will loved the bunk beds - and play area, and restaurant, and the bunk beds...and the bunk beds!
The drive to Montlaur went without incident - not! - as the car decided to smoke, limiting our speed resulting in lots of friendly toots from the locals. This after two service checks before leaving the North East. Still, we made it to Montlaur at 1030pm to a beautiful village and equally beautiful home. The children were fantastic - they're nothing if not adaptable!
We all love the home in Montlaur and it has that comfortable home feeling about it - we all particularly love the third floor deck (thanks Terry and Debbie for finishing it). Now its time to put that Intermediate French into action!
To check out how the home came to be the way it is visit http://www.terrydebbiemontlaur.blogspot.com/
Montlaur is in a truly amazing area - just like you'd imagine a French village to be - and with Carcassonne and La Cite just 30 minutes away - truly breathtaking!
There's the local boulangerie, boucherie and bar/brasserie - and a little park that the Flett's take over at least once a day. We've come to the conclusion that we are the noisiest family in Europe. In fact the local church bells ring several times more than they should which we've interpreted as asign to the locals to stay indoors cos the Flett's are out and about!
There wasn't a lot of time to get to know the area before our first visitor arrived. Brian had been in Cannes for a TV Market and took the time to stop over for a few nights before heading to Paris. Needless to say we all unwound over the weekend.
More to follow...
(Note: We are now online in France at the same e-mail address - sorry for the two week break)
The first two weeks saw us seeing as much of the North-East as possible before leaving for France. Visits to Cragside, Beamish, Stephenson's Museum, and visits to family and friends.
There was also the small(!) matter of getting Piper to the UK before we headed for France.
Thankfully with a lot of help - thanks Nana P & David -Piper arrived on the morning of 18 April and that night we set sail for St Malo and the 900km drive to Montlaur, Aude.
Oh and did we mention that John had his Quarterly Review at work and went to LA twice and Hong Kong once! All of this resulted in Denise packing up the house alone (AGAIN!) and driving the 400km to London with Maya and Will! What would I do without her?!?!?
Thanks to Auntie Agnes et al for all of their help. John then arrived from LA and the next morning we picked up Piper - happy to see us for 5 minutes then the cold shoulder for the next 2 days! - and a drive down to Portsmouth - another 100km!
Thanks to Anna and Kerry once again for their incredible, continued hospitality.
The overnight ferry was terrific and Maya & Will loved the bunk beds - and play area, and restaurant, and the bunk beds...and the bunk beds!
The drive to Montlaur went without incident - not! - as the car decided to smoke, limiting our speed resulting in lots of friendly toots from the locals. This after two service checks before leaving the North East. Still, we made it to Montlaur at 1030pm to a beautiful village and equally beautiful home. The children were fantastic - they're nothing if not adaptable!
We all love the home in Montlaur and it has that comfortable home feeling about it - we all particularly love the third floor deck (thanks Terry and Debbie for finishing it). Now its time to put that Intermediate French into action!
To check out how the home came to be the way it is visit http://www.terrydebbiemontlaur.blogspot.com/
Montlaur is in a truly amazing area - just like you'd imagine a French village to be - and with Carcassonne and La Cite just 30 minutes away - truly breathtaking!
There's the local boulangerie, boucherie and bar/brasserie - and a little park that the Flett's take over at least once a day. We've come to the conclusion that we are the noisiest family in Europe. In fact the local church bells ring several times more than they should which we've interpreted as asign to the locals to stay indoors cos the Flett's are out and about!
There wasn't a lot of time to get to know the area before our first visitor arrived. Brian had been in Cannes for a TV Market and took the time to stop over for a few nights before heading to Paris. Needless to say we all unwound over the weekend.
More to follow...
(Note: We are now online in France at the same e-mail address - sorry for the two week break)
