To The Chateau...

After staying at our house for the last two days, we were determined to go on an outing, weather co-operating or not. 

Our first choice was Bournazel; it has been on our list for a while and time is running out here...We leave next weekend for two weeks of city life in Toulouse. 

So, Bournazel it was....a now privately-owned Renaissance castle from the 16th century in the ancient village of Bournazel. After the revolution, only the facade of the east wing was still intact; the remainder of the east wing and the tower have been rebuilt in recent years as part of a major project of reconstruction by the owners. Inside, are furnishings, paintings and other art works in the period style. The  garden is also in the renaissance style and has been classified as a "Remarkable Garden of France". It all sounds worth a visit, right? 

And it was. It was a fairly easy drive on major roads, which for me is a bonus of any outing...The guided tour took about an hour and a half and was, of course, given en français, but once again we lucked out with tour guides... Our guide this time was also English speaking and reassured us that he would be happy to answer any questions we had during the tour and even gave us a booklet with the English translation of his tour to read ahead and refer to during the tour...How was that for luck? We actually understood most of what he had to say! 

The village of Burnazel was interesting in itself...all nestled in around the chateau with a maze of little streets weaving their way among ancient buildings..We had lots of time to meander around it as well as the "remarkable" garden before heading home.

So much to see here..so little time...We can see the end of this "country living" segment of our trip approaching and we are not ready for it.....How quickly a month can go by!