The Food at Chateau Dumas

We were treated like royalty during our stay at the Chateau Dumas with Kaari and the team from French General.

Charlotte is a chef from the UK and she made sure that we never wanted to miss a meal, not even two hours after an indulgent High Tea!!

We were fortunate to join her a few times on her visits to the local peasant (farmer) markets.

She would spoil us with the freshest ingredients

in super delicious salads and starters.

For our last dinner we even had Duck Confit that was simply to die for.

After one of our outings we were treated to a very hands-on masterclass on how to make walnut wine and french mustard, to name but a few.

How cool is that??

Elna, Lizette and I are still battling to get rid of all the extra weight we put on during our week with Lizzy, Charlotte, Christopher and the rest of the gang at the Chateau Dumas.

If this sounds like your kind of "happiness", go check out the Chateau's website for a complete list of workshops they offer.

Also go to the French General website and check for the 2013 Chateau Getaway dates due to be published very soon.

Thank you for visiting!

Ice Resin and French Beaded Flowers

During our stay in France at the Chateau, two classes

 were presented by Debbie and Shea from A Gilded Life.

A bracelet using Ice Resin and a crworn decorated with French beaded flowers.

Seeing a package like this waiting for you at your spot in the studio was very exciting.

Inside were all the treasures to make the beaded crown and the bracelet.

I really thought that I would not be able to make the crown, or even a flower,

but I started and I enjoyed every moment.

These pictures were taken of the one Debbie made....

mine is still in progress.

Lizette spent an extra few hours in the studio, and she finished hers!

I am so jealous.... but instead, I got to do her woading!!



All our bracelets turned out beautiful.

I think it was somewhere during the bracelet making process that I was completely blinged!!

"BLINGED": when an addiction starts,

on anything that sparkles

and shines when the light reflects on it.



I think from the smiles you can see that
I was not the only one blinged beyond return!

Go check out Debbie & Shea's blog for even more Bling Inspiration...

Hat-Making factories in France

We visited two hat-making factories as part of our French General week at Chateau Dumas.

Both are situated in the village of Septfonds.

The first is actually no longer functioning, but the owner, Guy, has a treasure trove of millinery supplies for sale.  He is, however, not very keen to part with it - which makes for some very interesting bargaining when you want to pay him!?

This is a bundle of straw hats in one of his sheds -
still waiting to be shipped (I think).

Our second stop was at a hat-making factory still in operation -

Chapeau Willy's.

I was fascinated by all the equipment used in the millinery industry.

Even though I "don't do hats", I am very tempted to attend one of the hat-making workshops at Chateau Dumas.

Thank you for visiting!

Bread, cheese and wine....

What more can you ask for?

Healthy fresh bread...

Interesting cheese...

Excellent wine!

One evening we had the privilege to be educated by an expert on the
local bread, cheese and wine.
We started with an aperitif. Sparkling wine and Violette liqueur.
The Violette liqueur gave the wine a blueish colour and it tasted wonderful!
Then came the white wine and some goats cheese, say no more!
Then another white wine and a more -edible- cheese.

We sat on the veranda talking and listing to our host, Lizzie,
as she translated everything.
As the sun went down it was time
for the red wine and two different cheeses.
Then came the "bread to share" -  which is baked in
such a way that you can easily tear off a piece.

We ended up going to bed quite late, but it was a wonderful experience.

WOAD

Ok, now you have a little bit of background of what we will be posting about.

...... I am totally wowed by WOAD.
If you ever had a look at my Colours Pinterest Board
you would know that I like blue and this shade of blue is just out of this world.

Thursday 21 June 2012 was Summer Solstice.

That was the day we spent woading.The woad vats were set up in the
garden of the Chateau under the trees and we took all our white,
semi white, grey and khaki possessions down to die them.

Denise Lambert, our teacher for the day, started explaining and
guiding us through the whole process. Also telling us the history about Woad.
How Napoleon's army needed this colour for their uniforms.

How Toulouse and the Woad trade was linked and
how the pigment was extracted from the leaves of the Woad plant.

It was really like magic.... when you put something into the vat
gently stirring it, after a minute or so, fishing it out, lifting it from
the vat and the item is yellow! Then you wring out the die,
open up the item and it turns green.....
then as soon as it comes into contact with oxygen..... it turns blue!!!

I still think it is magic.

After many hours at the vats, everyone had weird and wonderful items Woaded.

We ended off the day with a long supper outside under the umbrellas and we watched the sun set.

Workshop in France with French General

This is our group of girls that attended the week

long workshop with French General.

Three South Africans, three Australians, and the rest

of the girls from America.

Kaari, the owner, together with her whole team did a wonderful....

wonderful job to create a special week for all of us!

If you lived in a Chateau, way back when, you were semi royal...

 well, we all felt like semi royals for the whole week.

Thanks Kaari, Molly, Kick, Cathy, Lizzie, Charlotte,

Michael and Christopher!

(and all the other silent partners)

You all made us feel welcome.

This is the link to Kaari's blog.

http://frenchgeneral.blogspot.com/

Little Treasures

I always have to bring back stuff!!

These are the little things that founded their way into my suitcase
during our trip to France. I call them treasures.

Maps, bus tickets, bias binding, woaded buttons, wine bottle corks,

mother of pearl buttons, doorknobs, liqueur, wooden spools

and the best of all....

antique brass wire to make French Beaded Flowers!

Well, we are back from two wonderful weeks in France. The first week we spend in
the country side at a Chateau in a small village called Auty.
(which you will not find on a map) It is also close to Caussade and Montauban.
Chateau Dumas.
Click on the link to have a look at the Chateau.

It was a week filled with amazing things to do and see!

We will tell you all about the workshops we did, the food we ate, the sights
we saw and the people we met.

But first I had to show you my "stuff."
Keep well and thanks for stopping by!

A Special Birthday

During the month of July, Benice had a very important birthday,

 so we celebrated it during the trip.  Margaret and Ana also celebrated their birthdays.

So one dinner was specially set aside to surprise them all.

 Nesse made the dinner and baked a cake.

Dale brought in the candles and we all joined in the singing.

The cake was Divine!

The photographs clockwise: On the airport ready to fly to France

The surprise birthday dinner.

Benice in the linen shop.

Rosemary, Suzi and Benice in the Woad Shop.

Elna in the Sunflower restaurant.

The whole group.

Benice in front of the linen shop.

Benice in the Sunflower Restaurant.

I told you that the whole trip was an overload.

The colours are just awsome.

Here are a few photos to show you how well

behaved and colourful the vegetables were.

 The tomatoes are just to much! ALL ripe at the same time,

all the same size and none of them are bad?!

Have a good weekend and stay warm.

The food of France

Our stay at Durfort with Dayle was a gastronomic feast...

Apart from staying in Gwen Gibson's amazing house, La Cascade, with its light-filled studio, spacious bedrooms, glorious patio and inviting dining room, we were also blessed with the effervescent Nese...  

She was our personal chef and "provider of great food" for the duration of our stay.  Lunch and dinner were events and not just something we did in-between our outings and classes with Dayle!?

(FYI - Dayle and Nese also facilitate workshops on
The Art of Cooking)

The local farmers' markets pay homage to the joys of cooking with ingredients that are "in season".

Nothing beats juicy tomatoes,

berries bursting with anti-oxidants,

or crunchy radishes...

On our second night in Durfort, Dayle took us to a lovely restaurant in Soreze, Le Tournesol (the Sunflower).  Gigi - the chef, has owned the establishment for over 40 years, and also uses the space as an art gallery, filled with artwork from artists handpicked by herself.  You can see some of the artwork in the collage above.

Elna & I both opted for the Duck Confit (photo top left) and we were not disappointed!?  For dessert Elna "fell" for the Chocolate Fondant (photo bottom right) YUM!!!  Unfortunately my Creme Brulee was a huge disappointment, but it looked great.

Go to Dayle's post on Le Tournesol to read more on this  restaurant...

Thank you for visiting...

Something Old

I like old things, it always has a story.

The room in La Cascade was a space that was ours for a week.

A space that has been used many, many, many times before,

because the house dates from the 17th century.

Just think about the stories the walls could tell....

Here are a few images of the doors and windows in the area.

The pink door is a big favourite. On the door are a few bears.

Every time a new baby arrives, they add a new little bear.

The last photograph is of a "griffie en 'n lei" next to a door,

where you leave a welcoming message,

or your visitors leave you a message when no one was home.

This is a post card I bought from the artist, Peter Welsford.
He drew the pink door house and he lives a few doors down
from where we stayed in Rue des Martineurs.

I love his sketches.  

The book we made from scratch

One project we had was to make a book. For that we had to take along the front and back cover of an old book. Not the spine, just the two covers. The rest we made throughout the week. Dale took us to a "Clean Your Attic" market in Lautrec. There we looked for stuff to complete the book. Beautiful tourist brochures, fabric, ribbon, old jewellery, buttons etc.

Benice and I found gorgeous french linen for the covers.

It is linen to die for....

I decided to use the book as a memory book of what we did in class. Notes on tips, techniques and ideas. At the moment everything is still in a file.

On the inside there are signatures, pocket, envelopes, brochures, tags and postcards.

For the inside cover and first page of my book, I used a map of the area.

Look for the word in pink, Durfort, then there is a little arrow that shows you where the little town is.

Do you know what a "pigeonaire is"? I didn't.

They used to keep Pigeons in here.

There are quite a few of them that has been restored and they are so beautiful.

Bonjour Madams et Monsieur !

It has been a week since we are back. Our mixed media art course in France was from the 17th to the 24th of June, but we both stayed a bit longer. Benice took a photography and culinary trip in France and I went to Switzerland to visit my friend that lives in Speicher, Appenzell. Two words come to mind if I think about the trip....

Information OVERLOAD.

Why, I don't know, maybe because I was ready for this or maybe because I was scared that I would never do something like this again and that I must experience every little detail in full colour, sound and smell.

Durfort is a small town with only 3 streets, a quiet place with a river that runs through it. A water fountain where everyone fills their water bottles with cold mountain water and a church bell that warns you that it will be ten o'clock in two minutes .....and two minutes later.... that it is ten o'clock!!

One thing that I really hoped for before the trip was that we would be able to hear the sound of the water while we work in the studio. And we did!! We could see and hear the little waterfall from the studio window.

The house is ideal for living and working like we did. Here are a few glimpses of how I tried to capture the feeling and atmosphere of the house.

The studio upstairs on the second floor was warm and inviting. Everyone had a work bench and a storage space. Never crowded.

The food that Nesse prepared for us was unbelievable. Dinner time was a feast and an occasion.

Magnifique!

There are still lots to tell. All about about the places we visited, the books we made, the people we met, the nightmare I had, the food we ate and so much more. If anyone asks: Was it worth it? The answer is: YES!