A month ago we set out for the Touraine, visiting old friends from Wirksworth on our way to a family week in a splendid gîte in the north of Brittany.
Some towns in the Loire are named for historical characters who lived there or even built them - this was Richelieu named for the Cardinal, laid out on an elegant grid pattern, where we ate a pleasant lunch on the terrace by the town square. Then on to Brittany for a family week.
Our three sons, Sam, Jeff and Ed, came with some of their families - Fi, Sas, Ben and Heather but sadly not Isla, Karen or Joseph. The special occasion was Mary's 80th birthday (in September, but everyone needed to be back for work and school). The lads had booked a marvellous gîte near the village of Plurien close to the Brittany coast, where we were all comfortably accommodated and had a marvellous time, sharing cooking (all three of them are good cooks) and making various excursions along the coast, eating meals out and doing as much or as little as we felt like doing, separately or together.
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| Mary's birthday bottle one of many consumed over the week, but this one among our favourites from long-term wine friends the Jacobs in the Côte d'Or |
The second part of M's birthday celebration was earlier this month, over her actual birthday. We hired a tiny studio among the vines near Beaumes de Venise. More about this in the wine blog soon, but the 4 days we spent together was very tranquil despite activity nearby as grape picking commenced. The countryside is rocky and convoluted, steep hills and small roads winding among the vines with glimpses of the Mont Ventoux popping up from time to time. We were blessed with beautiful weather on both trips, and that has continued with one sudden storm (67 mm of rain in Lunel in a few hours) for the rest of the month.
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