Cherry picking in the Dordogne

Once we had finished loading the car and the kids had said goodbye to their beds, bathroom, kitchen (yes, my kids are weird) we then had to say goodbye to Leandra which turned out to be an emotional encounter for us all. The girls gave each other a shell with a message written on in their language and with their names and embraced each other. Olivia has now learnt a few german words and Leandra some english ones and we will treasure the shell and the photos that I took of the two of them.

We then set off for the final stage of our holiday. My husband has some family friends (actually they are the parents of Olivia's Godfather)who own a place in the Dordogne and happened to be staying there, so we arranged to stay with them for a couple of nights on our way back home. We weren't really sure what to expect and it would have been a nightmare to find (sat navs are no good in this area) without the detailed instructions we'd printed out. We couldn't believe it when we finally stumbled across what I can only describe as picture postcard perfect. Their Gites (they have three as they used to rent them out) were simply stunning and in an idyllic setting.
They made us all feel so welcome and had gone to such an effort as they had a birthday card and gift for Olivia and something for Dexter to play with. The kids really responded to them and Dex, especially took a real shine to Larry (we think because he reminded him of my Dad as they are similar age, build, very gentle and patient). They took us for a tour of the property and showed us our own lovely little gite and the kids were happy to run around and explore, but the real highlight was the cherry tree. Viv armed the kids with plastic pots and we set off to pick the cherries which the kids took great delight in and kept asking if we could go back and pick more. We picked all that we could reach with the kids on our shoulders but had to leave the higher ones for the birds.
We then enjoyed a barbecue before retiring to bed happy to have some time to explore some more tomorrow.