Unless you are a Buddha living under a tree you will have noticed we are in the grip of a pandemic which has severely restricted our freedom of movement. It now seems like some distant dream when we could move about unfettered! In February this year Frank and I had a two-week house sit in SW France in the region of Lot-et-Garonne. The weather was truly awful with almost non-stop rain each day so it will go down in history as a memorable house-sit for all the wrong reasons. I had some health problems too, but hey, we survived.
We had to care for two cats, an elderly brown lab and four horses. No trips to the vets fortunately but plenty of trips for me to the doc’s for an infected salivary gland. (With thanks to my cousin, Cheryl for her kindness in taking me back and forth to the surgery.)
I got in two decent rides on the Fjord pony, Carmen, then unfortunately she went lame but it was far too wet for riding anyway. The last night before our flight back to Bergerac we decided to stay in a grand chateau, Le Stelsia The chateau has been restored in bright colours and is owned by retail mogul, Philippe Ginestet, local man and owner director of the Gifi group. In 2011 he purchased the estate and, with his friend and architect Jacques Bru, decided to create a unique hotel complex. Several months of work was necessary to get their audacious architectural project up and running and thus give birth to this exceptional place.
Frank and I first visited the spa within the hotel complex and were very impressed by its design and the friendliness of the staff. The deluxe room was on special offer for Sunday night and it most certainly did not disappoint. Definitely a high point of our trip. The lawn and gardens and topiary animals were also very impressive! Afterwards we took a trip up to Penne d’agenais and admired the mighty river Lot winding through the landscape. Atop the hill is the impressive Basilica of our Lady, needless to say I lit a candle and prayed for the safety of humanity.
Amsterdam Oriole 
You were lucky to get one trip in this year. Despite the lousy weather, it looks like it was fun. At the moment we are all sitting in the same boat, tied up at anchor and going nowhere. 😦 No telling when we’ll be able to visit Italy again. Poor Italy!
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