Surprise Sejour In The Country With A Really Miserable Start

Most of the time, I know where I am going.  However, my daughter Aimée decided I needed a “change d’air”, or a change of scenery getaway.

 

Deciding it should be a surprise, she rented a vacation place in the countryside without my knowing.

It would be a few kilometers from where her boyfriend Laurent is currently living.  She was planning a visit and thought I needed some country vistas and fresh air.

I must admit when I first heard about it, I protested. Not, that I didn’t want to go, but the thought of spending a whole week in a small village, still under confinement and curfew was not very appealing.

After accepting that I would only do 4 nights, off we drove towards  Saint Amand de Montrond, a cute little village in the Berry department of France.

Aimée and Laurent picked an adorable place for me to enjoy the meditative sounds of water and nature.

The Berry is a large rural area in the smack center of France that occupies the southernmost reaches of the Loire Valley.  George Sand, who spun prolific praise about her native region in her books,  often returned to live there with lover Frederick Chopin.

Getting there was very long and arduous, and ended up being quite costly. About 80 kilometers south of Paris, alert lights flashed on the dashboard indicating problems with the carburetor and battery, stating we should stop immediately!

Scrambling to read the Toyota manual in French, of course, it stated that the battery was not charging and that water was accumulating on the carburetor filter.  What?

Fearful of not complying we pulled into a roadside station and called our insurance, who sent out a “depanner” or tow truck.  We were promptly delivered to a tiny village depot in the middle of vast sugarbeet fields.

The insurance first offered to taxi us back to Paris , then rent a car for only 24 hours, though there wasn’t a rental agency anywhere near!  Neither one was palatable.

Finally, we reached out to Laurent who drove over two hours to our rescue and two hours plus to deliver me to Saint Amand de Montrond, arriving around 10:30 at night.

By that time, the Airbnb owner had snoozed off but finally awakened to let me in.   A chorus of frogs singing in the stream behind me rendered an appropriately enough loud country greeting.

The little apartment was nestled alongside a bubbling large stream, seen above, that reminded me somewhat of a bayou, minus rumbling waters.   It was an ancient flour mill dating back to circa 1339; seen in this old photo.

The bureau (office) of the mill had been thoughtfully restored into a small vacation apartment.

The best thing, besides the well-equipped kitchen, was the wonderful terrace facing the rustling waters.

The wheel had long perished, which at one time powered the mill grounding wheat kernels into flour.

It was really wonderful to sit out in the morning and evening admiring the fishing Herron and quacking ducks who immediately paddled over for handouts.

Occasionally some fishermen came to try their luck casting.  The little stream/ river was a small tributary of the pretty Cher, the major river that runs through the department.

The river split around the whole property making it an islet of sorts.  In the mornings I crossed over the private bridge to the  Les Trois Chou pastry shop for the delectable warm croissants that rivaled my favorite ones in Paris!

Despite the cold spring weather, I took advantage of the sun-flooded terrace to enjoy dinner outside till the sun faded from sight.

As usual, I drink wines of the area and enjoy the delightful regional cheeses.  In the Berry, I loved a rich red Valençay, that also went perfectly with the renowned Valençay goat cheese, made from raw goat’s milk shaped into a pyramid.

White Sancerres comes from that area too.  Instead of still wine, I enjoyed a sparkling Cremant from Sancerre as an aperitif.

Aimée and Laurent joined me for dinner each evening to enjoy the sound of the rumbling waters and pastoral view.

After some haggling, the insurance finally provided us with a rental car for 48 hours that Aimee picked up in Bourges.  It was a minor miracle that they were able to secure an automatic, as we don’t drive manuals very well at all(an understatement)!

Small cities in France rarely have automatics to rent, as the French remain devoted in general to manuals.  Meanwhile, our poor car had been delivered to the Toyota agency in Orleans for repair.

Saint Amand de Montrond was cute as are many small villages in France, but with restaurants, museums, abbeys, and shops closed, there wasn’t much to do except just look around.

Bourges, the largest city in the area has its own little treasures, such as the magnificent Cathédral St Etienne seemingly as large as Notre Dame de Paris.   It was finished in 1334.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exterior does resemble Notre Dame de Paris, but I found the interior had a softer feminine appeal and beautiful stained glass windows.  Surprisingly, there was graffiti on some of the huge tall pillars in the back!

The area around the cathedral has narrow medieval streets, sculpturing, and passageways with one labeled “breakneck”.  The gold scallop shell embedded in the cobblestone street indicated it was on route for pilgrims making their way to St Jacques Compostella in Spain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides the cathedral, Bourges’s claim to fame was the home of Jacques Coeur who rose from humble beginnings to become a powerful wealthy merchant that influenced royalty.

I love visiting Marchés everywhere I go in France and we stopped by a scaled-back one due to Covid to shop for Sunday dinner.

At a cheese stand, I spied some ancient-looking blackened- Brie and asked how much he sold?  Not surprisingly, not a lot, as it appeals to only those folks who like really like strong-smelling cheeses!

I did pick up a ballotine made of chicken stuffed with pork paté, which was delicious!

Bourges, not being a tourist mecca, has retained its small-city charm and quaint architecture.  Many buildings have been left as is, or as the French say “dans leur jus”.

Literally translated as in their juice, it means left unchanged, marinated in time.

My favorite was the collapsed one that reminded me of a falling soufflé, propped up by its wooden beams.

Much of the architecture resembled that of Normandy where one sees the “pan de bois” predominately.

The surrounding countryside was mostly flat with sugarbeet and potato fields with the Berry being the sugarbeet capital of France.  Quaint small villages dotted the landscape some with surprising edifices.

For example, it was astonishing to find a magnificent huge church, the Basilique Notre Dame des Enfants in the small village of Châteauneuf sur Cher.   It was entirely constructed from donations from families and finished in 1879.

Inside the impressive and beautiful interior, the walls are lined with must be over a thousand ex-votos, giving thanks to the Blessed Virgin Marie for saving their children from various illnesses, accidents, wars, etc!

I guess the most exciting activity, besides sightseeing in the surrounding villages and Bourges, was feeding the ducks!  However, that had a traumatic event for two city girls!

 

 

We noticed that groups of ducks consisted of two males and one female.  The males would chase other males away.

While feeding two different groups, one female ventured too far to retrieve some bread and was violently “attacked” by 3 males.  Looking like they were trying to drown her, we were horrified and fearful she would end up dead, as her group of males could not get her released from the snares of the others!

I thought it might be a mating attempt, although to my eyes it was more of a duck gang rape!  The owner verified that it was mating season and that duck mating did indeed occur violently.  Pity poor female ducks!

We caught the minuscule Wednesday marché in Saint Amand to pick up some strawberries from Sologne and some Mara des Bois strawberry plants for only a Euro, plus another tarragon plant to take back on the train.

Aimée stayed behind to take a train to Orléans in order to pick up the car.  The costs for replacing the alternator, water pump and battery came to a painful sum of 1564 euros!

Despite the horrible beginning, my surprise gifted country Sejour turned out very enjoyable albeit very expensive due to the car repairs.

The fresh air and being able to dine alongside the rustling waters in the evening was lovely and a refreshing boast.

Returning to Paris, I celebrated my trip and safe return that weekend with marvelous St Jacques(scallops) in a rhubarb sauce and a lovely almond apricot tart!

Thank you sweet Aimée for my country stay!!