European Christmas markets are world famous and France boasts some of the best inlcuding our favourite in the Beautiful city of Bordeaux – just one and half hours drive from our lovely holiday cottages – La Treille Gites.

The Bordeaux Christmas Market or ‘Marche Noel’ is held every year and is ideally placed right in the heart of the city, it’s open during the whole month of December with the stalls trading their unique wares up till 8pm on weekday evenings and 10pm at weekends.

We went with friends and had a lovely time browsing around the pretty market kiosks searching for ’special gifts’, having lunch in one of the numerous bistro restaurants and then sipping hot mulled wine later in the evening.

Getting to Bordeaux was a breeze with 90% of the journey on the motorway.  We drove straight into the centre of the city and parked in the underground car park at the Allee de Tourny  – this was immediately below the market stalls – perfect!  We purchased ourselves a Sat Nav a few weeks earlier and although we took it we really didn’t need it – we found our way directly to our chosen car park with not a single wrong turn… an unusual feat for us!

In between visiting the markets we stopped for lunch in a lovely little bistro restaurant.  The prices are amazingly good for city centre dining – in our eatery we chose the menu de jour which consisted of 3 courses including a bottle of wine for just 11 euros each. Fully refreshed we hit the streets again and made our way to the famous ‘rue St Catherine‘ – one of the longest pedestrianised shopping streets in Europe.  Here we discovered France’s top department store ‘Galeries Lafayette‘ and many other trendy French high street stores… A shopaholics mecca!!!

There are so many interesting places and buildings to see in Bordeaux including The Grande Theatre, museums and many churches and monuments including this beautiful bell tower ‘Gross Cloche’ and Cathedral Saint Andre… Here’s a link to a very good site with lots of information.

We had such a lovely time and would definately recommend a visit to Bordeaux – especially at this wonderfull time of year… we’ll definately be coming back to explore more that this amazing city of culture and all it has to offer.  If you want to come too you’re in for a treat!

1 – Rambling around La Treille Gites in the glorious September sunshine -

It’s been an absolutely perfect summer and even now during late September the sun is out giving us temperatures in the mid twenties.  It may well be the end of the main summer holiday season but there is still so much to see and do around our gites this time of year.  If you are looking for an Autumn break in the French countryside the Dordogne is a wonderful region with so much to offer all year round.

Our last guests of the season arrived yesterday (Saturday 26th September) and are here for 5 nights – the forecast is good all week with no rain predicted.

In the meantime we donned our walking boots and went out to enjoy a little ramble (sounds like we’re really getting into this country lark) around our patch of the woods.  We headed down the lane to the hamlet of Bernichoux, up the white calcaire track and then down into Tocane St Apre.  It’s only a short walk of about 45 minutes but quite lovely this time of year.

Jeff & Ruben enjoying the late summer sunshine

Lovely walks around La Treille Gites

Julie the rambler

Blackberries and elderberries are in abundance and the walnut trees are promising a good harvest. I scrumped a few apples and made some scrummy apple and blackcurrant pies and crumbles

… mmm lovely comfort food for stocking up the freezer and to remind us of our summer’s past during the chilly winter months.

Home-made Crumble

Ruben in the Dronne

Here’s our dog ‘Ruben’ cooling down in the River…

2 – Autumn Harvest in the Dordogne -

All our local farmers are busy right now and the Combine Harvester is working overtime – the sunflowers were harvested at the end of August and they are now starting to harvest the corn crop.

Here’s a few pictures showing the harvester working around La Treille… they worked well into the night and were still going strong at around 1am!

Mr & Mrs Harris

Corn Harvesting

Corn Harvest

Fortunately I’d pre-warned our gite guests this might happen but they were absolutely fine about it…  even commenting in our guest book “that ‘it was magic”‘!

Harvesting into the night

The municipal workers have been around and trimmed all the hedge rows and cut the grass verges – it’s all looking very neat although there’s a secondary reason for keeping the grass verges short… when the walnut’s fall from the tree’s lining the lanes a few local folk are out collecting them for hours on end.  It must be a back breaking job and I hope it’s all worth while when they take them to the local markets to sell. (they must have claim to these particular trees)

The walnut trees at La Treille

Walnut harvest

This is a picture of our neighbour James Hatton…

James on his Tractor

Sitting proudly on his latest project, ‘A Massey Ferguson Tractor’.  He bought it off our other neighbour and has been restoring it over the last few months to it’s former glory.  James along with his wife Jane and their two lovely boys successfully run a dog and cat kennels just over the hill from us – it’s where Ruben will be staying in a few days.  The Kennels are called Pattes et Griffes Pension Canine (Paws & Claws boarding kennels).

We were passing through St Astier today and there was a farmers fair along with the usual Sunday vide grenier (car boot sales that seem to be in every village on every Sunday these days).  The farmers had this old fashioned bailing machine, at least I think it was old fashioned it looked ancient and they were demonstrating it… it was really noisy and creating a lot of dust but fascinating.

Bailing machine

St Astier Farm Fete

Well, that’s about it from me for a while as we’re off on a well earned break to sunny Spain to visit Jeff’s brother who lives in Catalunya.  Our last guests have left, we’ve closed the gites and put away all the garden furniture and Jeff’s even cleaned the car (a very rare event) so we’re almost set for the ‘great get-away’.

Autumn at La Treille

Jeff & The SAAB

I’ll be back though with posts throughout the rest of the Autumn and Winter of our life here in the Dordogne.

If you are into street car racing or classic cars you would have loved today’s event… the streets of the ancient city of Angoulême were closed off to normal traffic today to allow hundreds of classic cars owners the chance to rev their engines, don their racing gear and hit the streets with their mean machines trying to win a place in history at the CIRCUIT DES REMPARTS IN ANGOULEME.

Classic car

It’s actually a weekend long event held every 3rd weekend in September and this year was the 70th Anniversary.  Thousands of spectators from all over the world came to see the spectacle.  The programme of events runs from the Friday when all the cars are exhibited in the stands around the city.  On the Saturday there is the ‘Rallye International de Charente‘ starting fromm 8.30am and departing from the Géant Casino (Supermarket) in the North of Angoulême and finishing at 5.30pm at the place Victor Hugo Square. There is also the ‘Présentation du Championnat de monde des Rallyes 1973 : Alpine A1100 Gr 4‘ – this starts at 3pm at the Esplanade du Champ de Mars.  These events are all free!  Then on the Sunday you have the main street racing events…

Spectators at Circuit des Remparts

There were ancient Bugatti, Morgan’s, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and dozens more actually racing.  The roar was incredible as they raced through the streets, taking the hairpin bends at break-neck speeds and  thundering towards the finish lines.  The crowds were loving it even the rain couldn’t dampen our spirits and the when the sun came out everyone cheered.

Spectators on the remparts

The city of Angoulême (the capital of the Charente Department) is, at any time pretty spectacular… with it’s Beautiful cathedral, churches, ancient fortifications (known as the ‘remparts’) encircling the city and so much more to offer visitors, that this most unusual weekend event only adds to it’s many attractions.

There were numerous ticket offices about were you could purchase entrance tickets for 13 euros each which allowed you to enter the remparts for excellent viewing or an armband was available for 26 euros each which included entrance to the remparts, the seated viewing area’s and the paddocks.  Not sure what the prices were for children – sorry!

There was also a very good Programme available from the ticket offices.  Here’s all 48 of the photo’s that I took on the day as well as a few scanned snaps of the Programme pages…

!

So, if you fancy joining in all the fun next year why not book yourself in to our lovley gites here at La Treille which are only an hour away from all the action!

]]> http://www.dordogne-gites.net/local-events/circuit-des-remparts-angouleme-2/feed/ 1 http://www.dordogne-gites.net/local-events/circuit-des-remparts-angouleme/ http://www.dordogne-gites.net/local-events/circuit-des-remparts-angouleme/#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:58:38 +0000 admin http://www.dordogne-gites.net/?p=2802 This amazing event is held every year in Angouleme and this year should be pretty special as it’s the 70th Anniversary.

An absolute must for classic car racing enthusiasts – the streets in the centre of Angouleme are closed to normal traffic for the racing and the public can get up close and personal with all the action.   Find yourself a perfect viewing spot in one of the many cafe’s, bars and restaurants that stay open all hours especially for this brilliant weekend.

It is being staged over the weekend of Friday 18th September till Sunday 20th September – see the official website for more information.

La Treille gites are just 45 minutes drive from Angouleme.  We still have all 3 of our gites available for these dates so if you are looking for a great getaway, both relaxing and with plenty of action check out our web site and contact us as soon as possible to secure your accommodation

The weather has been glorious as normal for this time of year, unlike the UK which I hear has not been having the heatwave the weathermen had predicted.   Our guests have been getting well and truly chilled-out whilst holidaying here… relaxing around the poool, having a BBQ in the evening, enjoying the regional food at our lovely local restaurants and hopefully leaving with many happy memories.

We have a new local restaurant that opened just last week in Tocane St Apre. It’s called ‘Rouge’ and is already a hit with our guests and ourselves. The local newspaper or should I say journal, the ‘Sud Ouest‘ promoted the opening with the owners Janice and Paul Studer standing proudly at their bar! Janice’s cooking is ‘to die for’ and already you have to book to guarantee yourself a table – according to one of our guests Janice’s “Lavendar Scones” are amazing and Paul’s ‘Special Coffee’ is the best in the Dordogne!

You too could be here at La Treille,  perfect for families – enjoying a BBQ, playing one of the many games, having a swim in your glorious pool or just watching the sun set over the glorious views.   Just book yourself a little piece of heaven at La Treille Gites! There’s plenty to do all year round but during July & August there’s even more to do and see – every weekend there’s a different fête being held, all within  shouting distance of La Treille and the beautiful gites.  Here’s just a few that we’ve visited this month…

The Fête at Montagrier…

Creyssac Fête…

You may be surprised that I haven’t mentioned what I thought would be the biggest festival in the whole of France… ‘Bastille Day’. To be absolutely correct it is known as ‘Fête Nationale‘ or more commonly ‘quatorze juillet‘ (14th July) and not ‘Bastille day’. Some of us may remember learning about the historical event from our school days… the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison on 14th July 1789 and the beginning of the French Revolution. But like many historical events the origins and meanings have become jaded over the centuries and having mentioned this to a few friends I’m not the only one who mis-understood the true meaning of this National Fete. I guess we all think of it like Independance Day for the USA but I have recently learnt that a huge majority of the French public do not actually celebrate this event. I’m no history teacher so will not try to explain but it’s all here if you want an explanation. The bigger towns and cities do ‘put on’ a show and Perigueux apparantly had a pretty good Fireworks display over the river although we decided this year to spend the day and evening at Montagrier. suffice it to say that the Fête Nationale is not as much a big deal as I thought, especially in smaller towns and villages!

Poster for the Fête de la Musique event

What a night… 5 years we’ve lived here and I’m ashamed to say this is the first time we went to see this!  We have certainly been missing out on one of the biggest events in Perigueux and I’m kicking myself for not going on the previous years.  Me and Jeff both thoroughly enjoyed the evening.  There were 100’s of bands and musicians playing (I’m not exaggerating) all sorts of different music from serene and beautiful Traditional French Accordionists to loud and brash modern rock & punk bands.  Every square and street corner in the city had a different band playing to the crowds with many more inside the numerous bars and cafe’s, the evening weather was balmy with a beautiful sunset… perfect!

We arrived quite early at around 7pm as I wasn’t sure ‘what to expect’, it’s probably just as well as we struggled to find a parking spot then, even later would have been quite difficult. Anyway we found a spot on the Allees de Tourny (near the Préfecture offices) and strolled the short distance back towards the town and the action.

Punk band 'Never Late'

The crowds had already started arriving and the musicians were tuning up with some already playing.  Like this punk band ’Never Late‘ who were performing on stage that had been set-up on the Square Marius-Lévy.

By the way all this was amazingly totally free to everyone who came to ‘enjoy’.

French Duet 'Almacita'

These couple of guys were hidden away in one of the small square’s ‘Place Saint-Silain’ off the high street (Boulevard Michel de Montaigne) playing to the people who were sitting at the numerous café’s there.  I managed to find a ‘myspace’ page for them – see here!

'Blues Buster' on the corner of Rue du President Wilson

This 4 piece band ‘Blues Bluster‘ were playing to the crowds on the corner of Rue du President Wilson. They were excellent, playing blues, rhythm n blue’s and boogie.

The night was still young and we just kept moving around trying to see all the bands… I’m sure we missed some that were hidden away down the narrow streets of the old town.

Cathédrale Saint Front

Spoof Gendarme

I’ve seen this ‘Spoof Gendarme‘ before at a Vide Grenier – he must be a ‘local character’.  Anyway he noticed I was trying to take his picture so he very kindly pulled this pose!

During all this excitement we never once saw a ‘real policeman or Gendarme’ which was amazing when you think of the thousands of people that had gathered. All ages were here including families with young children in pushchairs and prams – everyone was just thoroughly enjoying themselves.

A group of Accordionists - 'Euterpe''

We strolled around for an hour watching various bands and then stopped at Place Saint-Louis for a quick pizza and a beer… thirsty work all this walking you know!  This group of accordions who go by the name of ‘Euterpe‘ were playing to the diners.

Line dancers at Place Francheville

Moving on we made our way back down the main high street to Place Bugeaud in front of the department store ‘Monoprix‘ where the ‘Périgueux Western Dance’ Line Dancers were putting on a show and it seemed some of the crowd were joining in although I’m not sure that was supposed to happen.

High Explosive

In complete contrast at the other end of the Place just about 50 meters away were this crazy punk/rock group called High Explosive.  Their music was really heavy and the lead singer (if you can call him that) was screaming from the back of his throat into his mic. Some of the older crowd were walking away completely unimpressed but the youngsters seemed to enjoy it.

I’ve seen this band before… they were at La Guinguette de Ranamont (near where we live) last year.  The band is made up of all ages from toddlers to pensioners and the band leader really seems to get them all worked up into a frenzy. Again I found information on the net for them, see here!

View towards Avenue Georges Pompidou

Place Francheville at night

Here’s a few more shots as the night wore on just to show how many people turned out for this wonderful event…

‘Damoclès’ at Place André Maurois

And another couple of excellent bands -’Damocles‘ &’ Isoplane‘.

We had to call it a night unfortunately at around 10.30pm as I had stupidly put high heel shoes on that were crippling me.  It seemed as if the event was going to go strong for at least another couple of hours.

Monument aux Morts, Jardin du Souvenir

View of Perigueux at night

Just a last couple of shots to finish the night off.

Roll on 2010 but next year I’ll definately be wearing sensible shoes!!!

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The vide-greniers in France seem to have a better class of ‘junk’ to the car boot’s in the UK and I love the way the sellers all stop for the obligatory 2 hour lunch, out come their hampers and bottles of wine… no burger stands here I’m afraid!

Coutures vide Grenier

Coutures Vide-Grenier

Just like the one’s in the UK though you do find all sorts of unusual finds.  Today there was this Virago 135cc Motorcycle for sale -

Virago Motorbike for sale at the Vide-Grenier

No we didn’t buy it although it might be more suitable for Jeff nowadays than the Busa he’s got… lol.  Then again I wouldn’t mind something like that for around here. At least I’d be on the road again… long story and if you’re interested you can read all about it here… http://julesbike.blogspot.com/

Rusty farm tools at the Vide-Grenier

Further on we seen this collection of rusty old farming tools and instruments – I love stuff like this and really have to stop myself buying any of it.  I’m making a determined effort to be a minimalist!

Vide Grenier at Coutures

Actually we did buy something… we saw a children’s bicycle and decided to buy it – it was only 20 euros and I’m sure out gite guests children would make use of it.  You can just see it before we bought it here…

New bike at La treille

And here is it just waiting to be used back at the gites….

Visiting these vide-greniers is a great way to discover the local area and all the little villages that are tucked away here in the Dordogne.  I remember when we first came here, of only hearing of the odd 1 or 2, but now their popularity has grown and there are dozens every weekend all over France – just like in the UK.  France is also slowley catching up with the 20th century and there is even a website dedicated to vide-greniers and brocantes – see here oh, by the way, just in case you were wondering what vide-grenier means… a direct translation would be ‘empty attick’.