The loveliness of waking up here to the autumn colours and the promise of a sunny day ahead are balm for my soul. I keep reminding myself how wonderful it is to be here and how fortunate we are. This is not always shared by the children who miss the constancy of life in Australia way more than I do. I miss my friends and family and it really was wonderful to meet with friends in Holland and feel at home there. I think we are sort of missing that feeling of belonging.
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| These grapes were delicious!!! |
As we had a day of travelling in the week, there was still a bit of school to do even though it is Saturday which didn't go down well. A scoot to the bakery as incentive helped a little. The bakery prices are great I suppose as bread is so much part of life here. It is very French!
The pool here proved to be a bit too tempting for Tim who "had" to go in for a dip even though the water is unheated and the temperature outside the water was 16 C! Funnily enough he complained of a headache afterwards! Brain freeze, no doubt! Luke has a little dip, too, but I think I'll skip the dip until Thailand where the water will be warm!
After glancing through the tourist information, we decided a visit to Herbeumont would fit everyone's requirements: a castle ruin is always a good choice!
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| About 15 kms from Izel is Heubeumont |
The village of Herbeumeont was so quiet. The wide roads seem to make the quiet villages seem even more quiet. Friday was quiet but Saturday was even quieter. Tomorrow will most likely be extremely quiet in rural Belgium....but we do know that the bakery is open for the morning!
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| Herbeumont sur Semois |
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| A wild boar! Slate is mined in this area and I loved spotting all the slate on buildings |
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| Slate walls of differing designs |
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| Slates on walls... |
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| Herbeumont School with signs for Filles or Garcons over the doors. |
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| The diamond slates first drew my attention to this building style, typical of this region of Chiny. |
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| Looking down to the town |
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| Autumn colours everywhere |
The ruins of Chateau d'Herbeufort sit above the village on a rocky (slate) hill. The Chateau was built in 1268 by Jehan of Rochefort, son of the House of Walcourt and occupied by other families over the following
centuries until it was destroyed by fire in 1657 on the orders of Louis IV. I can't imagine the rudimentary fire brigade dragging their wagons and water up the hill to fight the fire, so the ruin is all the remains today.
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| Herbeumont - 13th Century Chateau |
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| Ruins among the trees |
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| It is impossible to capture the vibrancy on camera. |
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| Luke feeling confident that this 13th Century arch was made to last! |
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| The courtyard of the chateau. |
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| One of hundreds of ladybirds. |
Ladybirds in plague proportions greeted us as we went through one of the
ancient arches. It was clear what had drawn them to that spot but I
have never seen so many ladybirds at once.
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| It was a huge chateau as seen by Tim looking rather tiny! |
It was SO good to be out exploring today in the gorgeous sunshine. An outing where we can all clamber over ruins and enjoy the challenge always brings good humour. It is even better when we can fit in a forest walk kicking autumn leaves about and drink in the beauty surrounding us.
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| A former window? |
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| Teenage boys always like to challenge the main pathways and find their way to mostly inaccessible areas! |
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| Ruins are to be climbed on but must be respected. |
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| Nice to see smiles from our big ones! |
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| Handstands in an old chateau - of course! |
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| And star jumps and wall climbs are mandatory as well! |
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| I think these are called button daisies |
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| Beautiful! |
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| Can't stop the photos! |
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| Walking on the carpet of leaves through the forest. |
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| The village below in the sunshine! |
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| Lovely forest fairy. |
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| The light is lovely |
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| Such softness |
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| Slowly does it down the steep path |
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| Nature's carpet |
Enticing as the river might look it is freezing at this time of year and will get colder!
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| The Semois River |
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| We were voting for and choosing which house we'd like! The prices are seriously affordable. |
When we asked the lady at the tourist information here about forest walks near by she told us that it was hunting season and that deer hunters would be out and about in this region over the next few weeks. We were a little hesitant about walking in the forests but at least we knew the path we went on was close to town and therefore would be safe. On our drive home we saw the hunt signs warning of "Chasse" (chase) and we thought we might see a deer but we were delighted when a herd of about 30 wild boar run across the road in front of us. Whether they were part of the hunt or not we don't know but it was fantastic to see. Included in the herd were 8 little piglets trotting along. I had no idea that wild boar existed in forests today. I thought they were a thing of the past!
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| A herd of about 30 wild boar trotted across the road in front of us | |
Yesterday on our afternoon walk we found a mass of deliciously ripe apples at the base of a tree which clearly no one was wanting, so we took 6 of the best and found them to be sensationally crisp, sweet and fresh! Inspired by our local bakery, Annika created THE most amazing apple tart. Needless to say there is none left! This could be repeated...just saying...
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| A most delicious dessert! |
Oh the forest scenes are amazing! Straight out of a fairy tale :) Perfect Apple tart Annika yum!
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