Bruniquel

Sunday's we usually try to make a day off, apart from the animal routine of feeding and checking their all in one piece it's a time for relaxing or getting off the farm. Sunday the sun shone and after Farmer J had milled cereal for the pigs to last them the week and I had cut enough grass for their tea we packed an impromptu picnic and headed off to Bruniquel, a small village in the Tarn et Garronne department around an 50 minutes drive which had another plant fair.

Stopping on the way along the Aveyron river for our picnic it was lovely to feel the heat of the sun. Today was hot, I had my legs out for the first time this year.

 Bruniquel is perched up the top of a hillside, parking at the bottom we walked up the hill, it's not as steep as some  villages around but villagers must of been pretty fit in the days before cars.

 The plant fair was held up the top amongst the two chateaus, yes Bruniquel has two chateaus built next to each other. This is due to a family freud between medieval viscounts. The new castle was built between 1485 and 1510, so it's still pretty old a new doorway was built and a dividing wall between the two.

This is the entrance to the old chateau it was left to ruins until 1987 when the villagers raised funds to buy it and are slowly renovating.  It looks like a huge task, some rooms are out of bounds without floors and others look like they should be out of bounds but visitors can still look around. I'm sure health & safety would have something to say about the arrangement in the UK!

There were  stalls selling lots of specialised plants -roses, cactus, herbs and bonsai -not many veggies at this one, which is what I manly seem to buy as our 'garden' is shared by 3 dogs who like to dig. One day I will have a flowery pretty garden to sit and contemplate but for the moment time is used on veggies and wedding.

loved this quirky water feature

We walked around the village, with around 600 habitants it was very quiet. There's a few cafes and workshops - a weaver and jewelry maker. the post office and corner shop as well as quiet a few B&B's. Like many french villages in the winter with no tourists and second homers i imagine shutters are shut and everyone hides away. It gets very cold here, colder than what we and many English who live here all year round thought!

We drove the scenic route coming back along the gorges of the Aveyron, entering through rocks that had been blasted to make a tunnel we stopped  at a view point to take photos and admire the view.  Finding a path that leads you from the road we found a bench just waiting for us and the vista below. Half an hour read and a few photos we left in time to get back to the animal feeding.

Looking the other way.