29 April 2015 - Piegut-Pluviers, Dordogne

Ah, sunshine again and a crisp clear morning.  Perfect!  We had to car shuffle a bit to get all seven of us to the market and we had the time constraint of the market closing at 12MD.

Luke enjoying his car cart

The first carload, Garry, Alex, Luke and I and Karl at the wheel, went across the county border from Haute-Vienne to Dordogne.  The countryside is lush and lovely but we did notice some slightly different architecture in Dordogne.  Our first stop was St Mathieu where we went for a walk, found a supermarket and bakery and arrived back at the town square for Karl.  Tim and Annika then had their turn wandering around St Mathieu while Karl drove his first crew to the Wednesday market in Piegut-Pluviers.

Snails for sale

St Mathieu is much bigger than our little Videix but even so the supermarket closes between 12MD and 3 PM!  It was interesting wandering around the supermarket.  Luke was in his element in a little car cart and was delighted to see snails for sale!! We didn't buy any as we knew we had a morning at the market ahead.

Meringues around here are huge!

After a funny visit to the bakery pointing at one of each four goodies that had on their shelves which resulted in a triangle biscuit, a biscotti, a croissant and a meringue and the other customers giggling!

Town view of Piegut Pluviers

Then we were on to Piegut Pluviers and the market was in full swing.  The market has been held every Wednesday since the 17th Century.  Luke had a ball.  Of course he headed straight to the fish stands and insisted he had seen the eels move and indeed he had!  There were cheeses and salamis and honey and handcrafts and clothes and sweets.  A lovely market with dogs and French people!  There were French speakers everywhere but surprisingly some English speakers too!

Veggies!

Onions

Honey man

We sampled a few things and were particularly impressed with the honey man who took great pride in his product and explained the difference between his spring honey and his summer honey.   And then there was a lathe man using a foot pedalled lathe.  And then there were all the crazy characters of the market and the little old organ grinder merrily winding the handle to produce the traditional French music as he sang along!

Organ grinder

Wood turner

We bought some vegetables and a few other things before choosing our lunch from the pie stand. It turned out to be run by a British man who referred to his neck of the market as Little England.  We chatted to him and discovered that it is so much cheaper to move to France than live in England and he and his wife love it here! 

Amazing meringues! - looked like loaves of bread

Live eels

Tim and Luke went back in the first car load to Videix while the rest of us explored a bit more of Piegut Pluviers.  What a lovely town!  First through the church to check out the stain glass.  As it happened the spiral stair case door was open but I decided we shouldn't as there were hundreds of dead flies on the steps indicating that no one had used the steps for a long time!

Piegut Pluviers church

More stain glass

Well maintained church as opposed to our poorly maintained church in Videix

 The old castle was destroyed by Richard the Lionheart in 1199!  We had a lovely time clambering up the old steps and wandering through the castle. 

Castle remains!

Garry and Alex

Smarty pants!

Richard the Lionheart destroyed this castle in 1199!

Jailbird

Tower with Truman Story clouds!

Former spiral staircase!

Prisoner escaping!

Hello!

I always love castles!!

Grand staircase

Irises!

 We stopped at the cafe (seemingly the only thing open after 12 MD) for a drink! Thanks Garry and Alex! All so very French and just perched on the corner of a street in the little town.

Now that's a cappuccino!

Crazy hairdo crew!

Dordogne architecture

Love the roof!

Back in Videix, we had school to conquer for the day!  Dear little Sasha was keen to sit in on school, too, and motivated Luke and praised his work and he finished in record time.

Local ford

Prior to dinner, I was keen to have a brief walk and so Alex, Garry, Karl, Annika and I walked up the lane, over a little ford and through the farmland.  So beautiful!!  Annika described the clouds as "Truman Show clouds" and so they were, perfect and fluffy.

Creek in late afternoon

Enjoying a walk

There has to be a jump!

St Gervais across the paddocks

Daniel and Luke are building a sled for the "snow times" in the big old barn.  We are so fortunate to have these lovely kids living next door.  They are good at playing and inventing which suits Luke just fine! 

Heart shaped stone - love!