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Aberystwyth: An Unexpected Pleasure.

Nov 18, 2018 by scribbling4bread

Off to Aberystwyth to visit a relative, not seen for some time. Not fans of seaside towns, if we expected anything at all, we expected it to be dull, miserable, grey and wet. Instead it’s charming, uplifting, pretty, a lovely place to live. How wonderful when you find that your expectations were too low.

Montrichard: Val de Loire

Nov 10, 2018 by scribbling4bread

Looming over the town of MonTrichard (the T is sounded) is the impressive donjon which has dominated the countryside for miles around for the last thousand years. We assumed ‘donjon’ meant dungeon, a prison down in the bowels of the earth but no, the French use dungeon too. Donjon means the exact opposite, architecturally speaking. It’s what we call a Keep, a large tower built in fortified residences, a place of last resort should the rest of the castle fall.

The Courtauld and Tate Modern Galleries London

Oct 14, 2018 by scribbling4bread

Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford. Dr. Johnson

Romorantin

Oct 6, 2018 by scribbling4bread

The best part of writing a book is the research. It takes you on a journey of discovery to places you would never have heard of and therefore would never have seen. A good case in point is Romorantin in France. Researching for Leonardo da Vinci: The Amboise Connection I found out that once […]

Châtellerault

Sep 8, 2018 by scribbling4bread

We enjoyed an interesting day in Châtellerault on the river Vienne, a tributary of the mighty Loire, the longest river in France. It flows through Limoges, where we spent a wonderful Christmas and Chinon, one of our favourite towns, before joining the Loire.

The Duke of Windsor and Château Candé

Sep 2, 2018 by scribbling4bread

Château Candé is one of the unexpected delights of the Loire Valley, especially for English tourists because this is where they lost their King to love. This is where Edward VIII married Wallis Simpson, the woman for whom he gave up everything, his Crown, his country, his family, his very identity of who he was […]

Two Faces of Sheffield

Sep 2, 2018 by scribbling4bread

On the one hand, Sheffield Council is hell bent on selling the family silver viz; its heritage, on the other hand incensed locals are equally hell bent on preserving it. Take, for example, the art gallery in a lovely art deco library, the library the Council wanted to lease to a […]

CHÂTEAU LANGEAIS

Aug 18, 2018 by scribbling4bread

Every Château in the Loire Valley has its own unique attraction – or – in the case of Langeais – attractions. Visitors go, in the main, to see where a secret marriage took place between Charles, the twenty-one year old King of France and Anne, the fourteen year old Duchess of Brittany. Like so many […]

Prestal: HISTORY BELOW OUR FEET.

Jun 24, 2018 by scribbling4bread

Just down the road from Amboise Station, next door to Aldi, is a fine old factory with fine old gates. In the forecourt are fine old machines which, when built, were things of engineering beauty, with age are works of art.

Beauval Zoo (3-3) Mme Françoise Delord

Sep 14, 2017 by scribbling4bread

Something very remarkable has happened since our last visit. On the 4th August 2017 Huan Huan became the proud mother of the first panda born in France. Bald, blind and very pink, he weighed in at just four ounces. His parents, who have been happily munching bamboo in Beauval for the last seven years, are […]