Memories from France: The house

We picked up our hire cars from Bordeaux airport on Saturday each family was given (by mil) an Irish flag sticker to stick on the car to recognise it amongst all the other hire cars. Tim and Kathryn went off to a baby shop as there had been a mix up over their car seats and they had to go and buy some. The other three cars headed off to Sarlat. We left first with Joules driving and me navigating using a map and the psp. We exited the airport drove around a roundabout twice then entered the airport because the road the psp said I needed was not signposted. A quick argument look at the map and we were on our way circling Bordeaux on the ring road and life was just peachy.

Then the exit we wanted to take was closed off and we found ourselves on the road heading for Paris. Paris was no where near where we wanted to be heading so we took the next exit, I abandoned the psp and using all the skills I learnt in the Girl Guides I navigated us cross country (a very scenic route) and back onto the motorway we wanted.

Life was great, I could sit back and relax and was just nodding off when we approached the toll. We knew there were tolls and had some change ready but could see no booth to pay at so pulled into an automated machine. There was no sign we could recognise telling us how much to pay or even a slot for money, what should we do? Joules reversed out to try another lane. Luckily for us another car pulled up so we followed it to see what to do. They were ticket booths, we collected our ticket which then allowed us to pay at the next toll.

At the next toll we caught up with mil, fil and sil and we all stopped for lunch before leaving the motorway and travelling through the prettiest of villages on our way to our destination. At last we arrived and the view was breathtaking, chateaux, woods, hills and fields from our balcony as well as a large swimming pool and all bedrooms en suite. The main house was full of character (but the internal floors and walls were very thin) with a good, well stocked (30 wine glasses) kitchen and large sitting room. The other two houses were fine for sleeping in but a bit dark and drab so everyone lived in the downstairs of the main house and we ate our dinners on the balcony looking out at the wonderful view. We could shut the door to the courtyard making the house safe for the younger cousins but it was a bit of a hike to the pool which meant that our children couldn't go up there unless there was an adult available there to watch.

All of the pictures above were taken in and around our house which came with a lot of land including some woods.