Do you have your copy yet? Walnut Wine and Truffle Groves - Kimberley Lavato's must have beautiful book!

As reported previously, Kimberley Lavato has written and compiled the most amazing book, "Walnut wine and Truffle groves" -- a visual feast of stories about people and places -- and food in the Dordogne.
In the April issue of the French Newspaper, this full page article can be seen:



Readers of this blog will remember Kimberley as the guest speaker at the French launch of my own "The way of Stars and Stones". Her own masterpiece has been in the making for a while now during which time I have have had the pleasure of getting to know Kimberley a little better -- but, unfortunately, we are about to suffer a great loss, as Kimberley and her family are about to leave Brussels and Europe and relocate back to the States.

How fortunate we are therefore to have her leave behind this beautiful book, "Walnut wine and Truffle groves"!

WALNUT WINE AND TRUFFLE GROVES is a culinary travel book that invites readers to pull up a chair and visit the Dordogne the way it should be visited…one bite at a time. Navigate the back roads, as well as the menus and markets, with newfound excitement and a fork and knife! Through interviews with local home cooks and chefs, visits to local farms and historic sites, market tours, and wineries, readers will discover the true jewels in France’s culinary crown as well as discover the country’s most beautiful and less trod-upon provinces.

If you do not already have a copy of the book, contact Kimberley Lavato at klovato@mac.com or myself at twoxscotchgmail.com. It is also available on amazon.com.







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Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your event

Relocation Orientation in France

Walking in the footsteps of Cro-Magnon Man

Hiking | Canoeing | Horse Riding | Mountain Biking -- a site I stumbled across whilst 'walking' through the backlog of news items awaiting me upon my return to Chateau Lalinde.

And when you read what they are about, you will immediately understand why I got excited when I found this site:

The Dordogne, also known as the Perigord is without a doubt one of the most interesting and diverse regions in the world. The Vezere Valley in the "Perigord Noir" is with it's more than 250 UNESCO sites of interest, the undisputed "Prehistoric Capital of the World". Prehistoric dwellings, caves, rock shelters and lots more, most of which are only accessible on foot. However, Dordogne has much more to offer than just relics from the Prehistoric era, castles, bastides, medieval towns & villages, all of these,and lots more, all in the stunning and amazing scenery the Dordogne is famous for, hills, cliffs, windy rivers, great weather, friendly locals, and lots more make the Dordogne one of the most interesting and exciting places in the world. Walking Dordogne takes you to all the well kept secrets that are only accessible on foot. To see the "Real Dordogne" you will have to get off the roads, and on the tracks. Let us take you back, to the places our ancestors called "home" more than 260000 years ago.

During the past few months, they have had a range of exciting and 'different' walking tours -- both above ground and below! For example, for children, this was on offer in April: Ode to the Child Clan is a fantastic 3 day adventure for the kids. Take them on this tour and it will be without doubt the best holiday they will ever have

And "walking underground"? Today, 29 April, Walking Dordogne is extremely excited with the launch of their new, exciting and unique tour ” Going Underground”

They explain: We have spent 2 years exploring the caves, and beyond. “Going Underground” is NOT a “Potholing” adventure, but an adventure for the hikers that want to experience another world underground.
These caves, chambers and tunnels have been used for 1000’s of years, and they played an extremely important role during the Second World War, where they were used by the French Resistance.

This adventure is suitable for most people, but requires a high level of fitness, the ability to clamber, and not claustrophobic.

Yet another welcome and exciting new activity in the Dordogne-Perigord -- and all within easy reach of Chateau Lalinde!

One of the exquisite paintings in the Lascaux Caves


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Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your event

Relocation Orientation in France

I am back! And Chyna Whyne is coming to the Dordogne!

After an almost five month absence, I am back -- bursting with amazing stories of adventures and exotic places and fascinating people, of organising a fabulously magic wedding for my beautiful daughter, sleeping under the stars with the bedouins, preparing to fight off pirates on the Arabian Gulf, surviving the traffic of Mumbai, walking through the ancient halls of the city of Petra, fishing with the Moken sea gypsies and placing flowers at the feet of Shiva in the Elephanta caves ...

 

 

 

 

But -- in the Dordogne 'Spring is sprung, the grass is ris.
I wonders where the birdies is.
They say the birds is on the wing.
Ain't that absurd?
I always thought the wing was on the bird.'

and you cannot believe how beautiful spring is this year! Probably because of the exceptionally freezing cold winter, nature has had enough of the soft and gentle watercolours of greys, pinks, mauves, and browns, and has donned her flamboyantly uproarious finery of reds and oranges and yellows and green, green, green -- every hue and every tint of gorgeous green!

And -- to kick off an exciting new year of so many events and happenings that you will NOT want to miss, on 8 May, Martin and Charmaine Lascelles are hosting another fabulous concert at their home -- this time the bald and sexy and incredibly talented Chyna Whyne, all the way from Jamaica, via London, is the guest musician. She has performed with Seal, Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton, The Who -- and more! Her style is acoustic soul -- and gooood! Call NOW and book your tickets: 0553 61 26 75.





Click on Link:

Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your event

Relocation Orientation in France

The price on the meter....

This weekend gone I picked up 3 dumb blonde girls who must have been around 16 years of age each. The conversation in the car gave me the impression that none of them could afford to go out to a party but they felt they needed to and only had £30 between the 3 of them.

Part way into the journey one of the girls realised she had left a birthday card behind and asked me to turn round and go back so she could pick it up. No problem there but then she asked me if I could stop the meter and kept saying things like" Your not going to charge us for this extra bit of journey are you?"

I explained that the price on the meter is the price they pay and its not my fault that one of then had forgot the card. This didnt sink in and all 3 of them ended up demanding I turn the meter off and start the journey again once they have picked up the card.

It didnt wash with me and I carried on regardless and charged them the fare on the meter which came to £4.90p . They insisted that I should knock £2 off as I had to go back but as it want my fault I told them to take responsibility for their own actions and due to their incompetence it has now cost them more money and I am not knocking anything off the fare.

The fare was paid in full which caused the 3 girls to get out of the car trying to add up how much they could spend. One said that they had £25 left between the 3 of them so that makes £10 each for drinks and they would scrounge a lift home instead of a taxi.

Seems to me they need to learn how to do maths.

Hammer Attack

Reports are coming my way of a Bank Holiday super sunday assault on one of our companies drivers. Details are vague at the moment but it looks like it was a planned assault as the assailant was waiting ready to ambush the driver.

The story has made national news headlines and is available at this link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/8603328.stm

It is so annoying that this sort of thing happens and it was only 16 months ago that I personally was assaulted and had a knife held to me. All we are doing is trying to provide a public service and assaults should not have to be part of the job description.

I really do hope that whoever this person is that assaulted one of our drivers gets caught and locked up for a very long time but knowing how stupid the British Jusdicial system seems to be then the accused wil probabl get away with a small fine or a slap on the wrist.