But before I begin I think it’s important to set the scenario – I went there with Nikki to work – gratis… in exchange for accommodation and food, we would work 3.5 days a week. Simple.
I will start with my first memory – one of the strongest – but I have no intention of continuing in a chronological fashion ... it will be a random select and, I imagine, it will be in instalments.
Now to begin. We arrived at the small rural train station and hauled our luggage up and down stairs toward the entrance … there a man stood with a scrawled sign on limp cardboard “Chateau Valcreuse”… he spoke no English.
We loaded up the car… It soon emerged that English was no problem. While Nikkiii sat silent in the back he and I nabbered for a good 20 minutes as we drove in the countryside towards or new home. Random words of French and English, much gesticulation, pointing and much much laughter. I discovered that he was the jack-of-all-trades on the property, essentially the gardener but also handy-man et al. I learnt he lived there with his family. (I am giggling to myself, my writing is interrupted by the intrusion of Spanish words that rudely want to hybridise my own writing… I delete them, they have no place in France) At first I understood he had 13 children! No – he was too young, I still have no idea what that was about – he has one. But we talked about what we do, that is I am an English teacher and Nikki is a PE teacher. We talked about the size of the Chateau, the work involved (he started to scare me!), our surrounds, all sorts of stuff. I think Nikki was a little overwhelmed by the bizarrely animated, nonsensical “conversation” in the front.
But it turns out Noel – a man normally of few words - was my first French teacher (sorry to whoever taught me in year 7... but I remember nothing so it doesn’t count) … the phrase I retain most clearly is vache blanc (white cow)… this is a picture of an edible one… though I guess they all are of course this vache is – blanc y negro – am I writing in French, English or Spanish? – fuck my head is muddled!! . Sadly that conversation was probably the most I ever got to speak to Noel… we had a laugh most days but never quite so intensely or protractedly!… he was shy with his English and I am just as shy with my French.
As we approached he pointed out the castle where we would soon live – somewhat obscured here - it still seems surreal. We arrived and our bags were taken straight downstairs to our rooms… across the hall from the wine cellar. Caroline – the chateau owner introduced herself… and we were taken for a tour and to meet the others. We were there and it had all begun pretty quickly.I will now do a tour for you – purely and simply of the chateau itself – I will orientate you before I really introduce you in the next entry to the people and the lifestyle… then in a final blog I will take you some of the many day trips we went on.
The names of the central characters first of all… well you’ve met Nikkii before, in Paris – the woman I would share a room with for 6 weeks!
And just now you’ve met Noel, he is married to the lovely and lively Laurence who is both the housekeeper and primary translator of French and English for any folk when the owners are not around. They have a daughter Roxanne who I only really started speaking to in the last couple of weeks – she has the coy shyness of many twelve year old girls… despite a budding confidence in speaking English and a shared desire to learn Spanish. Then there is Caroline the owner and manager of the Chateau, Flroence, her 2 year old daughter and Alexander her husband who is often there early in the season but was only here for one weekend during our stay. And of course our co-workers, Corey and Corina – a young married Christian Couple - unconfirmed but most likely... besides I wanted as many C-words as possible :) - from Canada. Anyhow you’ll meet all of them properly next time!
For now, the Chateau, inside and out. The Chateau has four levels. As I said, when we arrived we were taken straight to our room… in the underground. At once, it was clear they had a penchant for antiques and flair for decoration… even in the hall.
At one end of the hall was a door that opened out to the bbq/pool area at the other the worker’s entrance – a twirling old flight of stairs that lead up to the dining room.
Welcome to the underground (I think if you click here you will get a mini video tour... I think!)
PS can someone tell me if they work? And sorry the above camera work is such bad quality!
our room
featuring two singlebeds… this trip has reintroduced me to the joys of s-s-s-singlebeds, s-s-s-singlebeds (ain't no room for mysweet head!) something I hadn’t experienced since I was 14 except when on school camps et al.
a telly
storage places
and Frenchdoors that open out to pebbled area with outdoor furniture
a space that in turn provided a magic view of the river… and sunrise.
The Breakfast roomDirectly next to ours was an oddly empty room that essentially functioned as a servery room that is set up each morning for guests to help themselves to buffet breakfast and take outside to enjoy the view. Each side of the room had an offering - this side had the bulk, but juices were against another wall, as were cereals and a fromage blanc creation that was made every moring... anyhoo, from here most mornings an ambient soundtrack played on loop and could be heard in our room... I may never be able to listen to Jack Johnson or Norah Jones again!
Corey and Carina’s room
Like ours only a double-bed and lilac-coloured walls… well, actually, as is the way here, two single-beds kept together by a double-bed sheet!
Laundry and our bathroom
At the end of the hall opposite C&C’s room was the laundry – 2 washing machines and dryers. A blessing as any traveller will tell you, to be able to do your washing as needed without the hunt and trek of laundromats! Having said that ALL machines were pretty frequently on the go – sheets and towels and tea-towels and aprons staple meals gobbled by said machines before being spat out for Laurence to wash.
Directly behind it was our very cute bathroom… that was none-the-less oddly unfinished with exposed wires to lights and electric sockets! The shower was heavenly large and decent pressure and hmm I’d like it again right now!
The guest's downstairs bathroom
Again cute, with attention to detail - no exposed wires here! This was were guests could come if they were in the garden or by the pool. Oh, the other notable difference here was the solid silver (I kid you not) dunny roll holder and matching dunny brush!
Next door to the laundry, just turn a clunky old-fashioned brass key in an old wooden door and you gain access to the wine cellar. In it boxes and boxes of assorted wines. Most quite reasonable in price and quality… then there were the dustier top-shelf bottles, crates of beer assorted – mainly Belgiun, crates of soft drink, a box of freshly harvested potats and walnuts, a smaller alcove of last years confiture and preserves. They sat in this dank and mouldy room that was just across the hall from our room. The moulds didn’t seem to need to turn the brass key but floated out and straight to me – I spent much time hayfevered and snotty!
Let me blow my nose and then I’ll take you up the twirly-whirly stairs… stairs that I thought would cost my life or at least their china… but never did.
And now for another Storey
The dining room
at the top of the stairs the opulence is immediately apparent.
a wonderous chandelier dominates the space, it is suspended over a giant table (comportably sits 14+) and reflected in the huge antique mirrors.
This room also has a great view over-looking the river.
This room was used for breakfasts when the weather was getting cooler. It was also used for the semi-regular dinners that were cooked by the 3-star Michelin chef Sidney someone-or-other! And hosted by his partner Alison. More occasionally dinners cooked by the “house-sitters” were served to guests.
But this oddly formal room was most frequently the office/internet café of the house! The table was often a change-table for Florence’s nappies! It was were we sat and played cards at times, and ate our dinner most nights. This in itself was an odd struggle with food and drink, a constant tension existed… don’t spill anything on the table – there were only two table-clothes and it was a real palaver to get them dry-cleaned. Guests were often served with strategically placed lace doilies and flower vases!
The Bar
Directly off to the side of the dining room is a bar. a little stuffy to my mind with the inlaid antique card table with a "no drinks" sign on it. Antique Chinese statues... it's a little barren. Guests generally only came in here for a night cap after a night out... but we had to be ready and I'm glad Nikkii was adept at bar work!
The Salon
A large lounge room with a beautiful open fire that we would set and keep going in the later weeks for both guests and ourselves. We would light candles and pipe in the music... oh so ambient, even if a little beige for my taste it was certainly a tranquil room. It also had a lovely coffee table and lamps and on nights when guests weren't using it the four of us would routinely sit in here and play cards. During the day one "couple" was required to hang around and be available to the needs of guests, to greet new arrivals and answer calls (actually one of the scariest things given they may only speak French!), we often sat in here and watched dvds on laptops or facebooked away. In the first 3 weeks there was little time for this... in the last 3 weeks there was plenty of time for this!
The billiard room
Littered with gorgeous antiques this room was underutilised I think. While a huge billiard table dominated the space, very few people knew how to play it... they should have had a back-up set of pool balls!
The EntranceWe have nearly completed the tour of this floor. The entrance is what guests first see - an impressive antique, split staircase greeted them. And on the first landing was a beautiful mirror on a ledge made of woven driftwood... exquisite. To the left left was an antique glass case with the obligatory tourist info available. Hidden behind the desk was a desktop computer... another place we would hide away at the ready.
The KitchenIf to the right of the entrance was the under-utilised billiard room, to the left was the kitchen... the throbbing, pulsing heart of the house.
Or at least my existence in it.
In this room we prepared gourmet breakfasts, swore, cooked dinners, made compote, created, baby-sat, learned many French-food words, scavenged, impressed, wrote lists, laughed, sweated, plated up, WASHED BULK DISHES, made jellies (as in rose-petal and quince), planned, panicked, made confiture, listened to the Grandfinal (very quietly) while guests ate breakfast in the dining room next-door... twice, burnt stuff, invented, cried (once - nothing to do with grandfinal :) ),felt frustrated, posed with artichokes, felt elated, gossiped, clowned and sang (or did air-guitar). It was the room guests rarely entered. Which was wise!
I'm goin up
The guestrooms
Up the grand staircase was the guest's floor, again decorated tastefully in antiques and... beige. Though there was one feature in the landing area a full-size and exquisite yet disquietingly repulsive antique stuffed peacock - the only thing in the house with magnificent colour... but I never quite knew how to feel as I passed it on the way to the rooms.
The rooms themselves, I have little to say about, and it is interesting I forgot to document visually... There were 4 of them on this floor, again tastefully decorated and each night we paid attention to detail, turning down beds, placing chilled water and a freshly cut rose, turning on lamps etc while guests were having their dinner. Of course if you were Nikkii and I, you laughed at tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum matching PJ's or took a bet on who would find a pube on the pillow first... then challenged each other to floss with it! I'm sure the people who turn down your rooms would never be so... juvenille!
I'm on the top of the world, looking down on...
The final guestroom
Had an amazing view of the whole valley, but otherwise was like the other rooms... except more exercise to get up to! Have I mentioned all the rooms were single-beds that were put together? Weird huh? Apparently not, apparently it's normal because these old buildings with narrow staircases makes it pretty hard to move a double or queen-size around.
Also on this floor was the apartment (still in process of renovation) that housed Caroline, Alexander and Florence - our landlords, bosses and hosts.
Creation...
Outside
So much is here. It is a huge expanse of land that is broken up into sections and dotted with wrought-iron furniture to sit on and appreciate the vistas. As you come up the pebbled drive, to the right is a small vineyard, plump with fruit when we were there. Originally I had been told we would be doing picking for this years wine batch but thankfully, issues with the presser and barreling meant that never happened. We did use some though in our jam making exploits. Along one side was a long row of apple trees and a plum or two also picked and preserved in bulk. There was a boule (boche to many of you) court which we remembered to use once or twice.
Had the drive not curved a car could have driven down to a lovely (though permanently icey) pool. I only braved it once - Nikkii never did. But the sun lounges were a lovely spot to be when the guests were away.
Up a little closer to the house was a huge and beautiful tree - underneath it an extensive, paved bbq area. We often ate our dinner there as the sun went down... I also sat there and wrote a blog or two (about Spain!)
In front of the house were colourful garden beds that featured an array of roses . These roses were used daily in guest rooms. They were also once used for a trail of rose-petals and a heart on the bed for a honeymoon couple (but twee if you ask me! and there were aphids ewww!). These rose petals (washed) were also used to make jams - subtle but fragrant.
Closer to the fence was a grassed area that featured furniture for their daughter... cute huh? I never saw her use it though!
Further to the left of the house was a self-contained house were Noel, Laurance and Roxanne lived. Near it was the small vegie patch full of herbs that I picked most mornings to decorate plates or flavour eggs etc
Down a pebbled path was a larger garden and orchard with peach, pear, apple, quince and walnut trees. The garden ripe with tomatoes and various berries - yum! And behind the house a rolling green hill that lead down to the river lined with trees and shrubs... ahh all of it lovely!
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