Arrival in France

This blog documents our trip to the Lot Valley in France in July 2007 where we attended a paint-along with American pastelist Elizabeth Mowry (my all time favourite living artist). We stretched our time out a little and arrived at our host location Domaine du Haut Baran in the Quercy region, just north of Toulouse, several days before the course began.

We were suitably impressed by our first view of the Baran, a gorgeous, fully restored and upgraded chateau run by Americans William and Rosalie Haas (with enthusiastic help from their friendly little dog Bisous, which means kisses in French!). These energetic folks have worked extremely hard over the past few years to create a luxurious setting for relaxation and learning alongside other artists. They also run bicycling holidays and cooking holidays, and we would highly recommend them for a special holiday experience (www.hautbaran.com). The Lot Valley is one of the last unspoiled regions of France, with lots of beautiful vistas, characteristic architecture, and excellent locally made wine, as documented in Michael Sanders' popular books, From Here You Can't See Paris and Families of the Vine.



We got one of the nicest rooms, the one with the balcony and a bigger-than-king-sized-bed! Here's a shot of the interior. Note the thick white, monogrammed bathrobes folded on the couch--nice touch!



We connected with our Canadian friends Graeme and Pat Bruce, who were also holidaying in the region, on our first two days, and they shepherded us to the nearby village of Puy L'Evesque, the colourful Libos market, the tiny hilltop village of Belaye and its surrounding poppy and wheatfields, and the pretty town of Cahors. This bridge in Cahors caused so much trouble to its builder that he is said to have sold his soul to the devil for its successful completion--you can see the devil still haunting the topmost corner of the tower!