Sarah's Churchill Adventure: Chateauneuf & Pont de Vaux

Un Chien at Pont de Vaux market

Just a simple street market but lovely

Yesterday was another fairly lazy day with just a trip to the Pont de Vaux market in the morning. 3 big punnets of raspberries, 2 of strawberries – the lovely delicate ones they grow here are quite different from those at home – more flavour, and a tray of lovely dark red figs. Plus a cooked burgundy chook and some fromage from Martine the neighbour who has a cheese stall at all the local markets. Sausicon for Geoffrey and Curtis plus green beans to go with the chook. Dinner was just a lovely simple combination of produce plus a bottle of Moulin A Vent from just south of here in the Beaujolais region.

I also got a bit of work done yesterday – contacting people for the American section of the fellowship. I’m pleased to see that some of them have actually replied and set appointment times which feels like progress at last. I think I’ll have to have another go at it tomorrow though.

Today we decided that we’d better do some sightseeing but not too early in the day mind you. Geoffrey was charged with choosing a suitable Chateau to visit and as we saw all the really convenient chateaux last time we were here we now have to travel a bit further afield if we want to see a new one. After a very leisurely morning riding the bike down to Shopi for croissants, jam and milk – and a baguette of course, we finally got away for our day trip just before 2pm – hopeless I know. The chosen chateau was north from here about an hour and a half drive if you don’t take any wrong turns but of course we did – both coming and going.

I do love the French autoroutes for many reasons but the entries and exits are laid out in a way that is totally at odds with what we are used to in Australia. If like us you are somewhere between Lyon and Paris and you want to head north roughly in the direction of Paris you need to look out for the sign that says Lyon/Paris – which is incredibly confusing – it’s all about the pay stations – you don’t separate into your particular direction until you’ve been through the pay station (hark, I hear a donkey in the distance as I’m writing – sorry I thought you’d like to know that). I know this is way too much detail and you’d rather hear about the chateau, but when we did finally get onto the autoroute a truck moved into the next lane to make it easier for us to merge – so elegant, so polite, can you believe it? The trucks travel in the right lane about 30km per hour slower than the cars and it’s just so damn organised and civilised – no road rage here – absolutely no need for road rage. You’re going as fast as you could possibly wish to go and the trucks all get out of your way. So enough of that… now for the chateau

So our initial destination was a chateau and village called Cormarrin between Beaune and Dijon (both lovely cities but bypassed today). This chateau I must confess was initially a little underwhelming. Entry was via a turnstile and only into the garden, which was extensive but not particularly well cultivated. The chateau itself was out of bounds and inhabited by someone who had their golf parked in the forecourt. As chateaux go it was a bit of a renovators delight – or a marriage wrecker depending on which way you choose to look at it. Some work had recently been done on the roof (best place to start in my opinion) and there goes a lazy 50 grand or so I’d say. The chateau was surrounded by a moat of green sludgy water inhabited by hungry carp who gawped at anyone who came near the edge. The real charm of the place was its grounds, which though uncultivated were spread out and a bit of a wilderness by French standards. There was no one else there visiting (the imminent rain may have put off other potential visitors) and the longer we stayed there the more we felt seduced by the place – so off the beaten track, no hordes of American tourists or anything like that. It had a kind of dilapidated sleepy charm that grew on us over the hour or so we wandered about. I also felt keenly how the cost of maintenance of these gigantic old places could really cripple the family responsible, especially if they find themselves in reduced circumstances and many such families do.

After the chateau we wandered about the village, which had the same sleepy charm as the chateau, a couple of shops and a handful of maisons particulaires (slightly fancy houses) that would be lovely for spending the summer in.

As the rain set in we jumped into the car and headed down the road to another nearby village and associated chateau called Chateauneuf. I think this is really where we should have gone first as it really was a picture postcard village and chateau. The rain delayed us getting out of the car and unfortunately by the time we did the chateau itself had closed for the day. Geoffrey had a glimpse inside before it closed and was really disappointed that we didn’t get to see it properly. Fortunately the village itself was super cute medieval and just charmed us completely. We loved it so much we decided to stay for dinner and found a lovely little restaurant with an open fire and a nice but unremarkable menu, which featured a lot of crepes with unusual fillings. A nice enough meal but not fantastic – but the surroundings more than made up for it. Unfortunately after a relaxing meal we had to drive the nearly 2 hour drive home in the dark. Missed the autoroute entry, which added 15 minutes on to the trip. Lots of fog on the roads around Romenay – happy to be home safely by about 9.30 with time to write this over the cup of coffee tucked up in bed.