Sunday, September 06, 2009

A Few Days In The Auvergne

This past week Ken and I spent with some American friends in the Auvergne region. We were in a small town called Saint-Chamant which is in the Cantal département. There's a cow's milk cheese called Cantal whose production is centered on the nearby town of Salers.

Entering St.-Chamant.

Our gîte (rental house) was a beautifully restored stone house with three large bedrooms, a huge living room and equally huge dining room, a modern kitchen, and two full baths. Five of us were very comfortable there. The house faced south with a gorgeous view across a small valley.

Our rental house. Can you spot Callie?

We arrived Tuesday evening after about four hours on the road, the last hour and a half of which was spent on small mountain roads through low clouds and rain showers. We arrived and got settled, then prepared dinner with ingredients we had brought from home: fresh garden tomatoes, mozzarella, grated carrots, rabbit rillettes, and other goodies.

The back of our rental house and the view.

Callie was good on the ride, but we could tell she was happy to get out of the car. She settled in as well and we all spent our first night comfortably.

7 comments:

  1. So good to hear that Callie is getting used to car rides. The gite looks fantastic as do the views. Looking forward to hearing all about it! I mean photos, menus, excursions, everything!

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  2. What a fabulous gite. I am also looking forward to hearing all about your hols.
    I bet Callie had a great time exploring new territory, too.

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  3. My first thought when I started reading your report was of Callie and how she fared in the car. You see how invested we all are in her? ;-)

    Wonderful gite, looking forward to all the details!

    BettyAnn

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  4. Oh, my, oh my! I want to stay at that gîte! I can't wait to hear more!

    Judy

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  5. how pleasant. And delicious sounding too.

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  6. cheryl, stay tuned!

    jean, callie like the house, but not all the riding in the car she had to do. And she saw cows for the first time. She was not impressed.

    bettyann, she did better in the car this time, but really didn't like it much.

    judy, I'll give you the info about the gîte if you like.

    urspo, oh yes!

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  7. The gite was perfect for us and it exceeded my expectations. We slept really well there and loved our dinners. Your garden veggies were so good not to mention the rillettes, truffade, pasteries etc.

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