Easter in the hills near Limoges

So the Easter bunny saved the day. Her name was Christine and she is the host Mum for our sit in the hills near Limoges, not far from the village of Saint Germain-les-belles. Of English descent, Christine and her husband, Nigel have lived in their 17th century stone cottage with multiple outbuildings and stone sheds, for the past 22 years. When I asked if the English have Hot x Buns, she duly pulled 1/2 a dozen Tesco buns from the freezer and said 'Enjoy!' - and I am, and they are truly delicious, very fruity and spicy too.

Due to a unexpected death in the family they had to travel to the UK for the funeral with only a few days notice, so here we are. Our charges are two black labs, mother, Poppy and daughter, Tinks plus a petite grey pussy cat called Esme. And then there are the two barn cats, Thelma and Louise and more recently a hive of bees, up in one corner of the roof, apparently awaiting the arrival of the Queen Bee - luckily I have my anti venom patches, after all it is the 'Year of living dangerously'. We're here for 10 days all up and we feel sure, we're going to like it.

It was a 3 hour journey across from Les Petites Rivieres, and we had an awesome coffee stop, after the first hour at a delightful village called Aigres where Google maps suggested the 5 star 'Nana' epicere for coffee. Wow, we were blown away. A stunning cafe, beautifully decorated with some fabulous gourmet goodies and some unique local gin. After a very substantial cake and coffee experience- think the French equivalent of a chocolate mudcake and an orange and rose petals cake, we departed with a bottle of macerated Gin (where the botanicals are infused directly in the alcohol as opposed to in the still itself), and a tin of speculoos spice.

We did have a brief loostop at a picturesque town called Saint Junien where there were spectacular flower beds and the most highly rated public toilets were located on the edge of the local cemetery in the centre of town. Parking was easy and just adjacent to the entry was a beautiful flower garden full of daffodils. There was a sign in the garden which I assumed was saying 'Please do not pick the flowers' but not so in France. Cemetery visitors were encouraged to pick the flowers and place them on their loved ones graves. So civilised and sensible. And as an aside, I guess to potentially limit the number of graves in the cemetery, we observed a total of seven pedestrian crossings as we came up the main street - a distance of less than 500 metres!

We were warmly greeted by our host, on arrival, who promptly announced there'd been a disaster- the wifi modem had had a meltdown and was kaput. As we're located halfway down the hills in the gorgeous Les Vergne Valley, even the mobile service is pretty dodgy, but we will survive. Christine took us out to the local village where her English friend Alison runs a restaurant as part of the local camping ground, beside a very pretty lake. She has wifi and we are welcome for coffee, beers, wine and wifi at our disposal.

Back home for GnTs in front of the fire as the temperature was dropping rapidly, and a delicious home made fish pie, along with several glasses of wine, and many tall tales of both her and Nigel's life in France and our wayward nomad life for the past 3 years. We all got on famously and then wrapped up warmly under a large winter doona and quilt cover as the temperature plummeted to 3degrees.Read more