Un sejour au Château Lagrézette (6-10 June 2014)

As we were travelling to Les Baux on Elle’s birthday, she read a facebook message from a French friend in Melbourne, Lilas.  We met Lilas and Paul, and their children Kenya and Curtis, when they moved from Paris to Melbourne a couple of years ago, and Kenya started at our school and she and Grace quickly became friends.  The message was an amazing invitation from Lilas and her family, for us to spend a few days in their family château.  We were temporarily stunned and overwhelmed.  Fortunately we recovered our wits in time to accept the invitation, and make a plan for a long weekend in June, not long after the last of our visitors would be departing.

The drive to Caillac, in the Lot Department in the Midi-Pyrénées region of south-west France, should have taken about four and a half hours from Uzès.  Unfortunately, about an hour after we left, near Montpellier, traffic on the 130km/hour auto-route slowed to a crawl (at best), presumably because it was afternoon peak on the Friday at the start of a long weekend.  This delayed us by about 30 to 40 minutes, and will forever be remembered by Elle as the “Chaos de Montpellier” (although the signs she saw for this attraction must in fact have been much later on the journey).

After the acres of relatively flat fields of wheat, orchards, and of course vineyards around Provence, it was refreshing to pass through dramatic mountain passes and to see lots of cows.  But it was a man-made feature of the journey that made us stop briefly for photos: the Millau Viaduct.  This is the tallest bridge in the world, with a dramatic modern design.  Andrew remembers watching a video about it on a Qantas flight about five years ago, and being very impressed with the design and construction.  It was an added bonus to this trip that it is about midway between Uzès and Caillac, and the GPS “fastest route” took us across it, after which we pulled over into a viewing area for this view.

The only other significant event of the outward journey was the invention by Elle of the “Random Seatbelt Check”, to encourage Xavier to keep his arms in their straps (no matter how tight we adjust the straps, he can Houdini his arms out, leaving his bottom half restrained, but still...).  Compliance was rewarded by a tiny jelly bean or gummy bear, and gradually the need for "random" seatbelt checks (conducted when Xavier was non-compliant so that he missed out on a lolly) decreased over the course of the trip.

We eventually arrived at Château Lagrézette at nearly 11pm.  In the dark countryside, we took a few wrong turns past some vineyards and ended up at the Château’s cellar door instead of the house.  Good-old Google maps took over from the GPS, and its blue pulsing dot guided us accurately to our destination, where we were welcomed by Nadia and Michel, who take care of the Château. 

Given the late hour, we had a quick supper and were then shown the essentials – the kitchen and our bedrooms and bathroom – and it was not long before we were all sound asleep.

Over the next few days, we were able to better appreciate the impressive history, architecture and character of Château Lagrézette, and its attached winery,  particularly after guided tours of each by Michel.  The Château was constructed in the 15th century, on the foundations of a 12^th century medieval fortress.  The first records of a wine harvest date back to 1503.  When it was bought by Lilas' father, the Château had been badly neglected, but after major investments of time and money, the Château, its gardens, vineyards and winery are now a wonderful combination of historical monument and family holiday home.

Our bedroom

The kids' bedroom



The winery

Old-fashioned mechanisms to stop mice getting into buildings

Will and Grace were thrilled to discover frogs in several ponds, including the one above

 

We all also appreciated its more modern appointments, particularly the pool, jukebox and pinball machine!

And on top of all these amazing surroundings, we appreciated Nadia and Michel.  On behalf of Lilas' family, they made us feel very comfortable and welcome, including meeting some of their family, and we were totally spoiled with delicious meals (including local specialities and Nadia's own specialities) and wonderful Lagrézette wines. 

Being with them for four days also gave us a good opportunity to talk mostly French, as they patiently and gently encouraged our efforts.

On the day after we arrived, we visited the local town of Cahors on the river Lot, seeing its Saturday market, its beautiful streets and shops, and the historic bridge Pont Valentré, and Cathedral of St Etienne.

We also took the chance to take a day-trip to the much-recommended Dordogne region. (See later post.), and on our way back to Uzès, we visited one of the beautiful little towns Lilas had recommended, Saint-Cirq Lapopie, a stunning medieval town perched on a cliff 100m above the river Lot.

Mostly though, we relaxed, while at the same time absorbing as much as we could of this unique place and experience.  It is an amazing privilege to stay in a place that is so rich in history and so special to its owners.  This unexpected and generous gift from Lilas and her family is a stand-out highlight of our French Adventure.