After spending a week in the countryside in France, it's going to be very hard to get back to real life! I had the most amazing experience, met the most wonderful people, had terrific food and was in one of the most idyllic places I've ever been. I managed to take almost 400 photos, and it will take some time to go through them all, but I think I'll get started blogging about the first day or two of my trip, and as I sort through the rest of the pictures, I'll continue the story. I arrived in Toulouse, France last Saturday, a total stranger among 16 (or was it 18?) other women. Kaari Meng, owner of French General, (and the one who put this all together) met us at the airport, and we drove to the tiny town of Auty, France. We arrived at Chateau Dumas, and it was just gorgeous.
It looked exactly like the photo from Kaari's website! Kaari, and Lizzie (the owner of the Chateau), took us each to our rooms after we arrived, and mine was on the top (3rd) floor, directly over the main entrance.
The buildings that are in this photo are the coach house, where Lizzie and her mom, MommaJo, stay. The section on the right houses the craftroom that we spent some time in. We had the opportunity to make some jewelry, do some wool felting, and made a cute hat pin over there.
My room was adorable. It had a slanted ceiling, very French styled décor, and I just loved it.
I didn't realize until I got home that I didn't get a good photo of the window area. (My suitcase, etc. clutters up the picture, but oh well…)
We ate on the patio for almost every meal. The weather was perfect. Lizzie's mom (MommaJo) did almost all of the cooking for us. She's brilliant. In this photo, it's not MommaJo, but Kaari's mother, Kick, setting the table for dinner.
The views were stunning.
After our first night's sleep, we woke up bright and early to get to a farmer's market in Saint Antonin Noble-Val.
It was hard not to buy everything. Cheeses.
Produce
Spices…
Well, I could just go on and on.
Next blog will be the flea market in Toulouse, and more peeks at the chateau and it's grounds.
can't wait to see more photos and hear all about it!
Posted by: cori | July 13, 2009 at 11:39 PM