The 'Big Dogs' Tour 2017
After two previous tours to
Les Grands Chênes in Monbazillac, Bergerac in 2006 and
2010, we decided to take another trip in 2017 as it was a destination we all really
liked. Our group comprised of Brent & Tricia, Andy & Lin, Adrian & Val, Jenny & Steve, Tim & Laura, Ian and Crudders. The name
of the property is Les Grands Chenes (the Big Oaks) but as Chris mistakenly typed Les Grands Chiens, it became known as the Big Dogs
Tour.
Once again we all made our own travel arrangements, with some taking the Eurotunnel or ferry from Dover to Calais, some
departing from Portsmouth, Steve & Jenny flying to Bordeaux and hiring a car and our travel group of Tim & Laura, Ian and Crudders
sailing from Newhaven to Dieppe.
We stayed at La Grande Noe Tree Houses in
Moulicent in Basse-Normandie on Thursday night and what an experience that was...see photos below!
On Friday we continued our journey and stayed overnight at Le Queyroix-Martin, a chambres
d'hôtes in Vaulry, Haute-Vienne run by Debra and Graham, who looked after us and made us all feel very welcome.
On Saturday morning we set off for the final leg of our journey to meet up with the rest of the group at Les Grands Chênes.
Whilst there, we had our usual fancy dress evening with the theme being 'Anything French'...
As on a previous trip to Les Grand Chenes, we had a tour of Le Chai au Quai, a wine
cellar on the banks of the Dordogne owned by Laithwaites Wines.
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Richard & Meryl, fellow Seveners, moved out to France two years ago to renovate a gite, 'Le Tournesol', to rent out to guests and a few of us visited them
in Bourg le Visa, Tarn et Garonne, around an hour and a half's drive from Les Grand Chenes. Meryl provided a lovely lunch for us all and we toured those
parts of their property that we could (there were guests staying in the gite). Here are our Sevens in front of the gite they rent out.
One night we had a Hawaiian shirt night and played a few games, including 'Deal or No Deal' with Brento playing 'Dolly Dealer'! It was also Crudders' 57th Birthday,
so we arranged a Birthday cake for him.
After a very enjoyable week at Les Grand Chenes, with very hot temperatures, we all went our separate aways again for our
respective journies back to the UK. We left with the same group we travelled down with and made our way to our first night's
accommodation at Chateau la Commanderie in Brizay near Tours.
After lunch we made our way to Chateau Montaupin in Oize,
which is where we stay when we visit Classic Le Mans. Madame, who owns the chateau, was putting on a special 60th Birthday dinner for
a friend of hers, so we were invited to eat dinner in the marquee set up for the occasion!
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For our final night's stay, we made our way to Auberge du Clos Normand in Martin-Eglise near
Dieppe, a place we stayed at on the way back from 'La French Connection' last June. En route, we took a small river ferry across
the River Seine at Yainville and then, as the Auberge's restaurant is closed on Mondays, we went out for dinner to a lovely
restaurant in Neuville les Dieppe, the Auberge du Vieux Puits, where we had our last group
dinner before returning to the UK the following morning.
Touring
