Well, we took a vacation this fall – to the south of France! For years we had heard about “Lou Recantou”, a gite owned by two former Londoners, Susan and Tim Wallis. Finally we took the leap and got there ourselves. What a treat! Check out the website: www.lourecantou.com
I won’t tell you about the whole trip, what I will tell you is that the only thing I planned was our transportation – plane to Paris, train to Montpellier, and rental car to get us around to all of our unplanned adventures. First adventure was, of course, finding Lou Recantou, which is in Oupia, a teeny tiny itsy bitsy town, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but actually is the centre of everything that makes me want to be in France – history, good food, wine, nature, and the laid back culture of the south.
We stayed in “L’Ancien Pressoir”, the apartment that is associated with Lou Recantou. It is a bit smaller, but a perfect fit for a couple. Susan and Tim have thought of everything you could possibly need to make your stay at their gite comfortable- right down to re-usable shopping bags to take to the market. The kitchen was perfectly out-fitted for any level of cook, the bed comfortable, the bathroom modern, and the balcony sunny and private. The best part is that they also provide you with a binder. We referred to this binder as ‘the bible’ because it had everything you could possibly need to know about the area. This was our tour guide for the two weeks that we were there.
We drove- through winding mountain roads, we cycled –along the Canal du Midi, we hiked – in the nearby hills; we walked- on the beaches, and relaxed to our hearts content. Lots of wine, lots of cheese, olives, baguette, and delicious local food every day. Did we get our fill? Absolutely not, we can’t wait to go back.