MY LONG WEEKEND IN FRANCE
This time last week I was getting ready for my imminent trip to France with Tom. I couldn't wait as it was the second time this year that we'd be travelling together to see his family and get some much needed relaxation time away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Come Thursday, we quickly packed, got our bits and bobs together and hopped on a train to Stansted to board our afternoon flight to Poitiers. We managed to watch half a film on the flight before we touched down at the tiny, remote airport in the mid-west of France. We were greeted by freezing cold weather as we got off the plane and awkwardly waddled our way through passport control with our luggage to be welcomed by Toms stepdad who had kindly agreed to collect us.
As we had planned to stay with Toms mum and stepdad for the first night, we were driven back to their quaint little home town of Charroux (Sha-roo) just north of Angoulême . We took a pit stop in one of their local watering holes called The Green Man Inn and rehydrated with their signature drink called the TGV (tonic, gin, and violette). I might add that this drink went down very easily and I was soon feeling the effects of the gin. We had a very enjoyable evening in the pub where we reconnected with people we had seen on our previous visit and met up with Toms sister, Grace, who had driven all the way from Belgium to see us for the weekend. At around 9pm we retreated back to the house and spent the rest of the evening chatting and enjoying each others company.
The next day we had planned to meet up with Toms mum again at a place called La Vallée des Singes (The monkey valley). I had heard many stories from Tom about this park so I was extremely excited to go and visit the monkeys as I had never seen one up close before. Little did I know that I'd be leaving the park with a sore finger and a prescription for antibiotics!
On the final day, Tom and I had a late afternoon flight back to Stansted. We enjoyed a little lie in and packed our bags again ready to leave. Toms dad suggested taking Lily (their border collie x Pyrenean mountain dog) to a village called Rejallant before lunch. When we got there, Tom told me about how he used to go there as a kid in the summer with his family and friends and how they all went swimming and kayaking. Looking around I could genuinely imagine growing up there and what fun it would be.
En route back to the house for lunch, we pulled over to admire one of the many Châteaus in the area. This particular one is called Château de Verteuil owned by the famous La Rochefoucauld family in a town called Charente. It was genuinely breathtaking and looked like it belonged in a fairytale with the numerous towers and massive gates. We made it back to the house soon after and sat down to enjoy another delicious meal courtesy of Vikki.
Toms dad and Harry dropped us off at the airport in the afternoon where we said our au revoir's and boarded the plane again. The weekend went so quickly that it felt like we had blinked and it was over. Before we knew it we had landed back on British soil dreading the thought of returning to work in the morning. I guess we'll just have to book flights to go over again soon!
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