St Remy

Andrew writing this.

Very nice wee place; would definitely come back here for a quiet relaxing break (in fact I think that Wendy and Jac have already begun planning it - a few years away though.....). Lots of things to do and places to see within an hours drive - not the we've done many as we much preferred to hang out at the pool and when the temperatures are in the early 30's - who wouldn't !! We've also found ourselves still swimming and playing around in the pool at 8:30 when it's just getting dark !  

Peering over the walls at Les Beax

We quickly settled in to a wee bit of a ritual of getting up late, a quick swim and some breakfast, into town for a wander and lunch, back home for a swim and a sneaky wine, maybe a snooze in the loungers (my favorite), then cooking dinner followed by a swim and a natter with the Hayes' about where they have been and what they had done as they were very good and got out and saw the sights.  I had thought about photo shopping the Devlin's into a few of their snaps !  Then off to bed for a read.  Absolutely wonderful.  I have also fallen into the trap, albeit a very nice and tasty one, of having a splash Baileys in my after dinner coffee.  I have to thank the Hayes' for that one - a very very nice way to end a meal or an evening.  Jacquie went one better a couple of nights ago and fronted up with an affogato - Baileys, ice-cream and expresso: truly excellent - kinda like a grown up's 'spider' (soft drink and ice-cream for all you youngies)

The crew in he pool at St Remy

We did get to Les Beaux de Provence on Thursday which is a wee fortified village about 20 minutes away from St Remy which actually represented the furtherest away from our lovely villa that we got - thank-you Julie B for finding that for us 😊.  On the way home we stopped in at Saint-Paul  Asylum which is where Van Gogh stayed for a year.  Strangely enough I really enjoyed this so another thank-you to Kat T for prompting us to go there. It is a working hospital with designated areas that are off limits to visitors.  It was very well done with reproductions of his work sited in the areas he used for inspiration.  It was a bugger that the sunflowers and lavender had died off, but even then I could clearly imagine what he saw from his room (cell?) window that prompted many of the works he produced during his stay there. There were exhibits of some of the 'treatments' used back then in the late 1800's and one in particular looked to me like the precursor to water boarding!  There is also a shop on the grounds that sold works from the current patients which were great, and also expensive.  This art therapy lark is a good earner Kat! 

Girls in St Remy

Me in the grounds that Van Gogh's room over looked
Very neat place to wander around in

It has been a wonderfully relaxing 7 days and made all the more special by having Grace and Kate's godparents here.  Jacquie's cooking and Stephens wine expertise were invaluable - the fish meal tonight was beautiful especially when coupled with the wine that they had brought during one of their visits (Chateauneuf-de-Pape, which the kids quickly renamed Chateauneuf-de-poop!).  We loved the after evening chats and drinks by the pool or around the big kitchen table and as mentioned earlier,  we're looking forward to doing it all again sometime in the future .