LIMBOURG - BELGIUM

We have just returned from visiting relatives in France and Belgium. We drove from Somerset to the channel tunnel and stayed overnight with my parents in France. The next day we drove on to southern Belgium to stay with my cousins. On one of our days there, we went to Limbourg in the province of Liege, a medieval village high up on a hill.


We walked around the quiet streets and lanes, admiring some of the lovely houses on the way. I do like Belgian architecture (old buildings, not so keen on modern ones)
















I always associate cobbled streets with childhood holidays spent in Belgium with my Aunt and Grandmother. As a child, I mainly recall seeing them in Belgium and also when visiting Maastricht in the Netherlands. I was fascinated by the sound made when a car drove over them.


Popular colour that day!


Private house. I am not sure if the towers were there before the house was built or if they were built all at the same time.


Very pretty cottage right by the church




Gates leading to someone's secret garden. It was a lovely garden and although I was very tempted to lean over and photograph it, I thought better of it.




After a walk around the village, we were glad to sit down and have a drink and some food.
To avoid the wasps, we sat inside. Service was slow, they had been busier than expected and the owner had to go out to re-stock on salad. We considered leaving but decided to give it a little longer. Eventually, our food arrived, we all agreed that it had been worth the wait. It was all home cooked and was excellent! We had apple and cinnamon pancakes. Most of the people sitting outside were plagued by wasps. All of a sudden, several people picked up their plates and rushed indoors. It was quite a funny sight but not quite so funny when some of the wasps followed them indoors....Despite the slow service on that occasion, I would still recommend having food there.


My next blog post will be about our trip to Maatricht in the Netherlands. One of my favourite cities.

Thank you for the great response to the Italian post, it is interesting to read about your favourite places.

A bientôt!

Isabelle X

French break and wedding in Belgium part 2

Following on from my last post, after the civil ceremony we drove to The Château de Florzé about 30 to 40 minutes away. The Château has a lot of history behind it including General Eisenhower who stayed there for a few hours during WWII.



As we got closer, the sky became very dark. As we arrived, a few drops of rain appeared and the sound of thunder made us all run for shelter in the Château.

The staff were frantically bringing in all the chairs from the garden back in to the Château. There should have been a second ceremony held outside under the beautiful blossom tree but as the heavens opened, there was no question of it taking place there. We all felt sorry the bride and groom as one of the reasons they had chosen this venue was so that they could have an outdoor ceremony there!
Strangely, just as the indoor ceremony ended, the skies cleared up and the sun shone again!




Rain over, it was time for some wedding photos of the bride and groom... Poor groom, my cousin Arnaud broke his ankle just days before the wedding so honeymoon is postponed! He managed to make it through the day though.


The setting was so beautiful!


My two nieces, Miss P and I enjoying the day

My Mother had told me of a bedroom with a legend/tale behind it. "La chambre des apparitions" (The room of the apparitions) The story goes that an elderly lady was in her bedroom when a statue of the Virgin Mary appeared at her window. Children, possibly her Grandchildren would dangle a statue from window on the floor above, in the hope that she might think that it was an apparition of the Virgin Mary. As it happens, that is the very room that we were given!

We stayed at the Chateau overnight and on Easter Sunday we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. Soon after breakfast, the children went on an Easter egg hunt on the grounds. A great way to end our stay there.
















Spending time with my Goddaughter's baby boy. You might remember that at Christmas time we tried to attend his Christening but due to very poor weather conditions, we only made it as far as France. It was so lovely to meet him at last.


Well, I couldn't go there without coming back with some food and drink. A little snippet of some of the things I brought back. A lot of these bring back lovely childhood memories.




I had a brilliant time, so wonderful to spend time with family especially when you don't get to see them as often as you'd like.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter!

***Just a reminder that I shall have a stall at the Vintage Bazaar at the Cheese and Grain in Frome, Somerset on Saturday 30th April 11 (09.00 - 15.00 hours). Hope to see some of you there! Miss P and Alan will be there too to give a helping hand***

A bientôt!

Isabelle X

French break and wedding in Belgium Part 1

Last Tuesday evening we drove to Kent and went across the channel on the Eurotunnel.
First stop France then Belgium. I was very much looking forward to seeing my parents and have some of my Mother's home made cooking! We couldn't have wished for nicer weather, really warm, sunny and azure blue skies.


I took the opportunity of catching up with some reading. I read more in those couple of days than I had done in the past four months! So wonderful to just be able to relax and not have any work to do :-)
Miss P spent a fair bit of time playing in the garden and looking out for bugs.
On one afternoon we took a stroll along the beach and visited a nearby war cemetery where soldiers and airmen from all over the world are buried. It was the first time that Miss P had visited one, she found it sad and interesting.


Making new discoveries in the garden


On Friday we left France and drove to Southern Belgium (Wallonie - French speaking part) to attend a family wedding over the Easter weekend.

On the way we drove past this sign. Each country seems to have funny place names.


We arrived on Friday afternoon at my cousin's house (my Aunt Suzy's daughter). She has a lovely big house, I couldn't resist taking a few pictures to give you a little taster of it.

These beautiful tiles are in the hallway


Very large mirror in the hallway. It used to belong to my Aunt Suzy who restored it and painted it by hand.


The door leading to the cellar


The garden shed

On Saturday morning, we all woke up early. The house was a hive of activity as around 10 of us were getting ready for the wedding, it was a great atmosphere.


Alan and I outside "Le Chateau d'Oupeye" (The town Hall) where the civil ceremony was held.






Miss P and I about to join the rest of the guests for the start of the wedding.

The rest of the wedding photos will be in Part 2 where we will be heading for the Château de Florzé...

A bientôt!

Isabelle X