Burghley... but not as you know it!

given that it's on the A1, and on the way home, we decided to go see Burghley house.. its normally shut, of course, during the horse trials.

You aren't allowed to take photos in the house...

I highly recommend the house ... fantastic collection, and you can see it all (unlike in the NT places, where everything is usually in stygian electrically lit gloom....)

and then we went into Stamford,

and had lunch at the George. Both Stamford, the town, and the George, the pub, have featured in lots of films and telly...

so that's the end of the Holiday, this blog is now closed until our next holiday! normal service will be resumed on Molly's blog tomorrow - the farrier is due at 15.30 and we will be discussing ringbone, if you recall....

Blois

is where we stopped on the way North, decided to have lunch there and then visited the Chateau, which was a Royal Chateau. Then, of course, there was an RTA on the motorway, and then we got stuck in the Paris rush hour (should have known that would happen) so didn't get to hotel until 9.30 pm! ah well. it was a good day.

And, Trudi, I had to log in in French tonight (everything else is still in english, save that!)

so some towers and staircases

well, there WILL be pics of towers etc but tonight it isn't uploading!

service resumed...

sorry about that! the internet, landline and everything went down but Trudi & Patrick are back now so all back online! Here is the last 2 days; didn't do anything except pack, today, but partner went for a walk round a reservoir so there may be some photos later...

Friday

Lovely day at Di's at Le Puy, tried the Vogue on Corky who was then discovered to be not quite right behind... not lame, but not right... but nice to ride! All her horses are lovely, Bon Bon the 2 year old learning how to tell the gelding to go away! He's a bit outnumbered, LOL, the only gelding with three mares! Lovely house, good craic, arena really good going. When we got back I discovered that there's no landline anymore...something has gone wrong with it, possbly as a result of storms, so therefore no internet access either. Can send emails via the phone, but the phone had an accident yesterday in water and whilst most of it has survived, no one can hear me talk! Happily I found the one i'd originally lost, so will be able to put the sim card back in that when I get home. Then dropped partner off for her to try the correct walk home again, which she did....but no deer pics tonight.Partner cooking.. duck! And nice tarts for pudding. In the meantime, we are listening to the last disc of an audio book (we like those when on long journeys) Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, excellent.

Saturday 25

Our last full day before we have to start packing tomorrow for an early start Monday. Went into St Yrieux in the morning to look at the shops that were shut on Monday, then went to Chateau de Puygeilhem at Villars after lunch. This was built in the 1530's by an advisor to Francois 1, fell into ruin in the late 19th century and was restored during and after WW II.

the facade

an inscription on the oldest tower

the back

the dovecote

and a lizard, because it was there ...

closed castles and whiplash in horses...

first, the closed castles..

We decided to go to Chalus for the afternoon, the Chalus Haut Chateau is where Richard LIonheart died....


it was shut. it is privately owned, but according to michelin one could get in. we were disappointed, as were a Belgian family and another brit. The Chateau Malmont was open, but it had nothing to do with Richard


we then went to the Chateau de Les Cars. this could be seen ... but was all fenced off, probably because of structural unsoundness.

so, third castle, Lestours ... also in private ownership, also closed.

so came home, having dropped partner off for her to walk back...she got lost, but to good effect:

and Whiplash in horses? it was partner used that phrase, but essentially it's right.... a problem caused by horse pressed too hard against front bar in trailer on trailer being braked sharply...

Hadn't thought of that before as a possible issue, but really, it has to be.

also, interestingly, partner had thought he was wrong behind, and we hadn't credited that.. but she was right.

so further treatment wiill happen. and she was a lovely lady and shame she lives in france, LOL

thunderstorm

and rain woke me up ... must go get horse in for physio coming ..and my raincoat is back in Durham, LOL

there's more to brive than rugby....

Brive-la-Gaillard has a very good rugby team, which often plays Newcastle Falcons (the main rugby team at home....). Today, we went to Brive. it's a good shopping centre, an interesting old town, and a nice church. But i wasn't inspired to take my camera out...

Pompadour, on the other hand, was a different matter... we went there on the way back, as it is on the way pretty much.

It houses the Haras National (National Stud) but we didn't have time to do the full tour and see the stallions.

We did, however, have time for the chateau tour which was interesting.

Here are the stables built by Madame Pompadour


and a view of the Chateau

and a view of the racecourse/cross country course (very clever) seen from the battlements

and a nice bit of metalwork outside the chateau

weather all over

yes i know that's the title of my other post on molly's blog.. but they're both relevant, LOL.

here, we've been tottally melting... horses had fans on in the stables and were still hot! and i didn't turn out until 8 pm...but now it's raining, which is good all round!

we went to Limoges... where it was very hot. but cool in the cathedral


this mural is great!

and looking at this fountain was relaxing if not cooling.....

shut on monday...

everything except the supermarkets, pharmacists and tourist attractions...so the first plan, a tour of the china shops in the local town, went by the wayside.

so we went to thiviers, also shut, but found a "salon de the" run by a chap from Halifax, West Yorkshire, and his wife... so i was able to have a proper pot of tea with my lunch.

this was the view from the church at Thiviers


then we went to St Jean de Core, a few miles outside Thiviers, which was open LOL - a medieval village pretty well preserved and lived in with a church datin from teh 11th Century and chateau started at that time currently being restored on an occasional basis as and when funds become available.

hautfort

a chateaux with its foundations in a roman fort, via medieval and Louis Quatorze; rather impressive at the top of a hill! and some rather neat formal gardens...

travel and first day

good travelling weather yesterday, as it wasn't too hot and didn't rain TOO much, just the odd patch....

stopped at one motorway service area near Abbeville where there's a tower overlooking the Baie de la Somme, and they have a lake with loads of ducks



Today was planned to be a horsey day with some riding and stuff, and Diane from Le Puy came for lunch ... but unfortunately the horse came in lame, and the vet had to be called. hopefully it'll be all ok, but we're not sure what's wrong yet....

and reports on the news of flooding at home, have texted home and they had the horses in last night!

nearly a year later

and we're back in the campanile calais on the way to Trudi's....

uneventful drive down through england, through the chunnel 3 hours earlier than booked (YAY) and long drive tomorrow...

no pics yet of course, nothing to take pics of!