The gap between blogs seems to be getting longer and longer - sorry!
We are coming to the end of a wonderful year at Vue de Duras. We have had fewer guests over the last couple of months, so we have managed a couple of trips away. In the first week of November we headed south, to the lovely little fishing village of Collioure, close to the Spanish border, for a couple of days.
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| Lunch on the beach |
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| ..and what a lunch! |
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| Collioure |
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| The harbour wall |
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| One of a series of 'frames' at beautiful viewpoints - sculptures in their own right. |
From Collioure we headed further south to Barcelona. We discovered 500m from the Spanish border that our sat-nav didn't cover Spain! Luckily Barcelona was sign posted from there, and we bought a very detailed map which enabled us to find our hotel with no problems. (Expert map reading from me, and driving and listening from Hugh!)
Barcelona had been on our 'to do' list for a long time, and we thoroughly enjoyed four nights in the city. The Sagrada Familia was just amazing, definitely worth the money and time. We included audio tour and visit to one of the towers - stunning.
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| The Sagrada Familia |
The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed wandering around the city taking in the sights, especially the Antoni Gaudi buildings and the Park Guell.
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| View from Park Guell |
We went to the Spanish village near the Olympic Park and found ourselves in the middle of a film set. Apparently it was a coffee commercial - and I managed to stay out of camera shot!
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| This poor girl did at least a dozen takes, in high heels, being chased around the same corner, again and again! |
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| This girl seemed to have the easy job, just looking down on the chase and drinking coffee |
It was a lovely trip.
At the beginning of this month, we took another week and headed back to the UK. It was a whistle-stop tour to see all our offspring and granddaughter, Orla. We managed to catch up with a few friends, although not as many as we would have liked. It was good to see Hugh's old work friends - thank you to all of them for turning out on a cold Tuesday night. I am sorry to all of those of our old friends that we didn't get to see - maybe next time - we'll definitely take longer for our next trip!
We loved spending some relaxed time getting to know Orla, who will be one next week.
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| Orla and her Dad, sharing a book - in French of course! |
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| What lovely blue eyes - and Orla's too! |
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| Thank you Rob and Susie for a lovely weekend with you, and Tom too. |
While we were in England, a storm brought down a tree just over the lane from the house, blocking the road and missing the roof by just a few centimetres. It was cleared up pronto by the landowner. I'm pleased it missed the house - especially as we have already replaced the roof there! But wish we had been here - I reckon there was a couple of months worth of fire wood there!
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| He's taken down the other dead tree too, just in case! |
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| Taco |
A big thank you to Taco and Anne for looking after the chickens while we were away, and also for arranging the removal of the fallen tree so efficiently! Thank you!
Back home now, fires lit, looking forward to a visit from Ellen for Christmas and then from our good friends Denise and Andy in the new year. Apart from that, a bit of hibernating, waiting for the weather to reach painting temperature, so that Hugh can finally finish the shutters!
In the meantime.....
on Sunday Duras held it's Christmas Market...
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| The donkey seems to be a regular visitor |
Then we went to the Christmas Market at Castelmoron d'Albret, also known as the village of the creches.
The village was full of little nativity scenes. Every window and nook had a different scene, from all over the world. Some were made by artists in the area - the village is well known for its artisan potteries.
And so to home - the Christmas tree is up, the cards are written and sent...
We wish all our family, friends and guests
A Very Merry Christmas
and a
Happy and Prosperous
2013
