Written on Monday, February 28th, 2011 at 10:48 am
truffles
A quick postscript to the entry on the truffle market at Richerenches.
You’ve bought your precious truffle and you’re feverishly Googling to find inspiration for what to do with it? (there’s a limit to how many truffle omelettes one person can eat!) Well, help is at hand.
There is an amazing truffle menu at Le Petit Caveau in Nyons at present, in addition to their standard A la carte and Formules. It is more expensive but apparently worth every centime so friends report. A seemingly never ending array of courses all containing truffle in some form! These friends have tested out many Michelin starred restaurants in England and France and thought the fish course- John Dory served with a truffle risotto and foam – the best they had ever eaten anywhere. So go and be inspired!
Written on Friday, February 25th, 2011 at 9:54 pm
truffles
The world famous truffle market at Richerenches (in Vaucluse about 20km from Nyons) gives a whole new meaning to the idea of car boot sales! From mid November until 26th March every Saturday morning there is a famous truffle market. If you want to buy you need to go to avenue de la Rabasse and negotiate with a monsieur over the contents of his carboot. Things get going about 10am and after 1200 it’s possible for the princely sum of 20 euros each to sample some omelette au truffes. Truffles do not come cheap but are a real delicacy and it’s well worth paying Richerenches a visit. This is an experience you will remember!
Written on Friday, February 25th, 2011 at 10:16 am
avignon, flights
Great news for visitors to la Drome provencale! From May 27 CityJet will be running 2 new flights direct to Avignon from City Airport, London. We’re only a hour’s drive from Avignon so that makes a long weekend stay at Chateau Colombier much easier, with less time spent travelling and more sitting in the sun!
Written on Friday, February 25th, 2011 at 10:14 am
activities, families, garden, group holidays, space
It seems that these days we are changing our habits when it comes to taking holidays. Families are travelling en masse. Siblings with their own families are joining together, and grandparents and even great-grandparents are tagging along too. The advantages of vacationing with an extended family are numerous. Joan Bakewell recently wrote a fascinating article on the subject that is well worth a read. Apparently the correct term is intergenerational holidays. As she points out the way to be sure that this type of holiday is a great success is to choose your venue with care.
First of all you need an area with a huge variety of attractions to suit all tastes. There needs to be plenty to visit – interesting historical sites and bustling little towns: plenty to do – all manner of sports during the day and cafes and restaurants in the evenings. Secondly you need a house to rent that has plenty of space. It’s not just a question of having the requisite number of bedrooms, there must be plenty of private areas both inside the house and in the grounds to find a quiet spot to read or just hide away.
Yes – you’ve guessed what I’m going to say now! Chateau Colombier could have been designed with this sort of holiday in mind. You can see from our photos how much space there is both in the house, on the shady terraces and in the different gardens. Drome provencale is an area that has something for everyone – whether you want to spend your day walking in the mountains, cycling through scenic villages, visiting Roman ruins, tasting the local Cote du Rhone wines or just relaxing in the sun by the pool – there’s certainly something for every taste.
Written on Friday, February 18th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
garden, language
I’ve been busy updating our description on various holiday rental sites some of which require a French version. It’s always tempting to use a quick internet translation, but BEWARE! You may end up with some fascinating translations that will certainly at the very least puzzle prospective clients! I had included a description of Chateau Colombier’s beautiful walled garden, with its raised flower beds full of aromatic plants. The translation of aromatic plants came back as ‘usines aromatiques’ (aromatic factories)! Mmm – not quite the romantic picture I was trying to convey…
Unless they were making a reference to the local lavender fields and lavender distillery in Nyons?
Written on Sunday, February 13th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
restaurants
No – threatening shapes have not been seen floating up the river Eygues! It’s just the name of a new cafe/restaurant that opened a few months ago and I tried for the first time on Thursday. My friend Jo and I arrived at midday and fortunately we had booked a table. It’s obviously THE place to have a quick lunch after the marche, as it was soon packed out. Some people were eating outside as it was a beautiful day. Not bad when you can eat outside in January! The chef is Moroccan and I had a distinctly Moroccan style main plat du jour – chicken pastilla which was shredded chicken with almonds in a filo pastry case which came with a salad. I chose chocolate gateau for dessert which was rather like a brownie, served with a fruity coulis and some cream. All very delicious and reasonably priced.
Written on Saturday, February 5th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
local produce, olives
I have a friend with a small maison secondaire in Venterol which is about 15 minutes drive from here. She has quite a few olive trees and this year Olivier who helps her with the garden picked them all and took them for pressing at a local mill (Le Moulin de Monsieur Jean-Michel Jouve in Venterol). 47.5kg of olives were picked which produced over 11 litres of olive oil. Apparently the rule of thumb is for 5kg of olives to produce 1 litre of olive oil but it varies slightly from year to year depending on the weather etc.
Olive oil from Nyons is very special and is the only olive oil in France that is allowed to have an appellation controle just like wine. People are often quite surprised that it is fairly expensive to buy. It is wonderfully fruity and great to have neat to dip bits of bread in.
Written on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 at 9:49 am
festivals, olives
This weekend sees the festival of L’Alicoque in Nyons which celebrates the arrival of the new olive oil. This is held the first weekend in February every year. On the Sunday there is a large procession and ceremony followed by a chance for people to taste the new oil sprinkled on croutons which have been lightly rubbed with garlic. Over the whole weekend there are organised walks (balades) to olive areas, visits to ‘moulins’ (mills for pressing), cooking demonstrations and in the evenings special meals and a ball.
This is a unique event not to be missed. For more information see www.paysdenyons.com the local tourist office site.
