Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Just back from visiting great friends Dave n Sue at their magic abode in Vaux sur mer. Celebrated with them as they transitioned from ex-pats to full French citizenship – many congrats.

Nestling on the Atlantic coast close to Royan, the local beach of Nauzan is a sheltered crescent of beach ideal for families – also has a Tiralo chair for people with reduced mobility to enter the water - with bars & restaurants and a lifeguard and first aid station in the summer period in the immediate vicinity. You can follow your beach day with a relaxing drink at La Maison Blanche.

Follow the picturesque headland Custom path round to Saint Palais sur Mer. A traditional seaside resort situated between the smaller beach of Nauzan and the larger textile/naturist shared beach at plage naturiste les combots. Here you can taste the delights at Nausicaa or Chez Lolo.

The area gets very busy during August as hoards of Parisians head to this part of the coast for their annual holiday.

The headland walk up from St Palais takes in the long bay with its legendary rocks. This walk offers a panorama of the "carrelets" - traditional fishing huts on stilts – a famous example of a blow hole and crowned by the Terre-Nègre Lighthouse.

 

There are stunning views of sunsets to be had from the headland.

There is much to see and do in the surrounding area. Special mention of ‘Les Jeudis Musicaux’ where the churches of the Agglomération Royan Atlantique take turns to provide regular summer evening concerts where international artists and talented musicians give recitals. The programming blends beautifully the architecture of buildings with the music. 

Also the stunning seafront of Ryon and its marina and its ‘Cotton Club jazz venue

 

The surrounding area contains many Chateaux with stunning features – in season you drive through miles of sunflowers, vines and corn fields. This year we visited the beautiful Chateau de La Roche Courbon

 

and the ancient Citadel at Blaye. The Citadel encloses a one meter long small town and has stunning views of the Gironde from the battlements.

 

It also houses superb eateries.

All too soon it’s time to say goodbye again 

 

 

Malvern Revisited

Had a great time in the Malverns Saturday. The main purpose of the trip was to catch Young Malvern Theatre's performance of The Crucible (remember another memorable performance some years back when Marion was part of her year groups production at BRIT :) They threw everything + the kitchen sink at it. Really amazing. 

Also walked up an bloomin great hill to St Anne's Well Cafe only to find it closed for renovation, but they have opened a temp pop-up cafe :)

 













After wandering some highways n byeways it t'was market day and also time for pre performance soup n roll :-p

Sunday we cycled from home to the Over Canal Fest. It's the smaller of the canal fests but v cosy. One of our neighbours runs wheelchair accessible river trips n water sports and was taking people up the canal in this little narrow boat.

boys toys :)

 There is also a short woodland walk past bee hives, old canal workings and amazing fungi

 

  

Finishing at the Docks, where they have a summer 'beach' fest - tons of sand in giant pits for the kids and stalls - and our fav themed Cafe on the Cut:

Bodiam Castle

 

Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II, mainly with wealth plundered from his adventures in France, ostensibly to defend the area against French invasion during the Hundred Years' War.

The French did invade the south east but failed to reach Bodiam.

 

Dalyngrigge was never an important figure in national politics but in 1385, likely in recognition of his military service, King Richard II gave him license to ‘crenellate’ -a license which allowed the creation of battlements.

well well well :)

Bodiam is often portrayed as ‘the perfect English castle’ – a jostling crowd of tall, grey stone towers protected by square battlements, secured with a round drum tower at each corner, and surrounded by a carp filled reflective moat fed by natural springs.

Invaders had many obstacles to contend with, as the tortuous wooden walkway, which wound through the moat parallel with the battlements, would have made them very vulnerable to arrow-fire from the castle. Even if the invaders made it to the Barbican, the next problem would have been entering the gatehouse filled with numerous intruder-traps, including murder holes in the roof through which lethal objects and boiling oil rained down.