(View from our window! We’re in Disneyland….. not really….)

We’re in a little town called Masseret, just south of Limoges, which I think means we’re in the Limousin region of France. All day today we have been passing beaucoup de (lots of) châteaux. So we went in to visit one, little did we know we’d be sleeping beside one tonight.

(Chateau de Broudeilles in Broudeilles)

I think the travelling may be getting to us… we moved from our lovely ex-banker Logis to another hotel for last night. Nothing odd with that. What’s odd was the new hotel was only thirty minutes away. We (well to be completely upfront, I’m the accommodations clerk, so I…) thought it was somewhere else…. further away… but still in the Dordogne.

(Light and dark in the chateau)

It wasn’t.

Not a huge problem, just an unnecessary move, when we loved our last home and hosts. My French was coming on great. So much so the wife seemed less nervous about talking to us (I think she was afraid she’d get our order wrong…cheese instead of an extra pillow…..) in French. She even said I was very good!

(French Blue)

So we turn up at the new hotel in the window of opportunity yesterday between booking the Grotte de Laceaux and being a little late for the tour of the Grotte de Laceaux. Lovely little French hotel. I dive straight in with my most used phrase “nous avons une réservasition pour la nuit”, possibly not perfect but it gets the message across (“we have booked a room”). But the girl made one of those “What?” faces and walked away. What had I said? But another girl came back with a key, so pas de problem…

(Yummy poppies)

Not exactly…

(Lane beside a church)

We went off to get our little bags from the bike and there standing in the door is the manager saying…. “L’hotel est ferme”, we both got the gist of that!

The hotel is closed.

Which would ordinarily seem like an insurmountable problem, right? But it wasn’t. In a mix of French, English, sign language and body language, he went on to explain that we would be the holders of the keys to his hotel, we were to lock up well, and they would be back in time for breakfast. All the time smiling at us. So we smiled too, and said we’d see him in the morning, but…. “could we have some lunch before you go?”

 

(Old tapestry on wall in chateau)

After lunch we went to the Grotte and when we arrived home they were gone, the hotel was locked and we used our keys to get in!

(Tower and bit of garden at chateau)

Last night we owned a hotel, tonight a round tower, what will tomorrow bring?

From a sunny France to you, wherever you are, have a great day, Mairead.

 

STOP PRESS I just got the email below from my mother, it’s not very clear but it seems the Queen has heard of our hotel and chateau purchases (we didn’t actually purchase anything, but the way it works with royalty might be different?) and she’s coming to visit me…she thinks I’m still in Cashel? My mother is probably doing a bit of a tidy up for her as I write. Will keep you updated.

“……….the Queen will be in Dublin on tomorrow lunchtime,Great security.a lot of roads will be closed down.The main road to Cashel also cut off. Everyone is told to go anywhere by public transport.she is coming in to us at 10 am on Fri and going on to the English Market in Cork in the afternoon.Dull and windy here.Some rain.That is it for now. love Mam”