Contrary to our usual lifestyle John and I planned this trip down to the fine details and it has paid off. We have all arrived safely in Sarlat-le-Caneda in our beautiful rental property for Christmas.

As I write this Sarah, Jack, Daisy and Joe are sitting right next to the fire and Tilda and Hooz are outside in 3 degrees playing pingpong! John of course is playing with his ipad. There is peace in my world. I don’t have to worry about any of them as they are right here with me. This is a rare but wonderful situation for me … to have them all together.

John and I arrived on Friday morning and picked up the 9 seater hire car. We stayed in Bordeaux and were very tired from a very early flight and not much sleep the night before. However, that was worth it because we got to see our lovely friends Sasa and Seb from Slovenia on Thursday night. We also got to have lunch with them before they headed off to Olympia for a horse show.

Our kids managed to all behave themselves on their last night in London and all piled into the mini van at 5.30 am to take them to Gatwick.

John and I were at the other end to pick them all up and off we headed in the direction of Sarlat. We stopped for a great lunch along the way and then headed into Sarlat to the weekly Saturday market. We got lucky as they also had their Christmas Market. We all split up and miraculously came back together and everyone had bought different products. Daisy and Joe did the cheese, Till and I bought truffle oil, truffle mustard, macaroons and a spiced cake. Jack and Sarah bought wine and Hooz bought sling shots! Ha! A few drinks were consumed at the market by some serious beer drinkers.

We then all headed to the supermarket to buy enough food to get us through a couple of days.  That was pretty hectic but it miraculously came together perfectly.

We managed to find the house in the dark … which wasn’t planned … but were all pleased to finally arrive. We were all thrilled with the house! It is even more beautiful than the photos. It is a truly beautiful house and is extremely comfortable with everyone having an ensuited room.

As soon as we arrived home Sarah took over the kitchen and assisted by Jack, she produced aa fabulous risotto.

We managed to have a reasonably early night and I was the only one who had a slight case of “first night fever”.

Everyone had a fabulous sleep … Hooz reckons his best sleep all year. John and I sorted out breakfast. Joe went on his usual morning run. All was well with our world.

We had a slow start but still managed to head off around noon.

Classic conversation in the car discussing the acquiring of a Christmas tree … John said “whats his name … that bloke that runs” referring to Joe.  Seriously!  He is your son in law!  His actual thought was that Joe should have found one that we could chop down on his run this morning.  Perhaps John just had his mind on the driving … but after that the rest of us were in stitches laughing.

We drove up to Domme and had a wonder around the village and looked at the fabulous view, followed by lunch in a little hotel. Not much is open this time of year. Daisy, Joe, John and I had been here about 4 years ago in the middle of summer and it was a hugely different experience as there were no people around today. Still just as beautiful and it was a perfect sunny day … about 8 degrees but full sun.

 

This photo was actually in London the other day at the Tower of London with Tower Bridge in the background, but I felt bad because I didn’t have a photo of Daisy and Joe to upload today!

 

Next stop Le Roque – Gageac… another favourite of ours.

Joe took a turn at driving home tonight and it was Hooz and Matilda’s turn to produce another fabulous meal of tandoori chicken, rice and salad. I have to tell you that it is great having grown up children who have chosen partners that are great cooks. You can’t tell me my kids aren’t smart! Ha!

We lit the fire for the first time tonight and are all now relaxed by the fire with a combination of some people chilling out and others being involved in stimulating conversations about the impacts of social media.