The gastronomic jewel of Roanne and the Roannais!

It is an opportunity and a pleasure for all the restaurants, producers, and suppliers to open their doors to the public.

To demonstrate their gastronomic talents and artistic presentation.

This highly successful festival harmonises the art of good food with the fun of theatre, music, and entertainment.  These festivities carry on throughout the month of October in the varied and various establishments in the Roannais.

A celebration of good food, wine, successful business partnerships, conviviality and friendship.

It brings the whole community together with one purpose, at least for one whole month!

If you happen to be in the Roannais region during this October, just try one or two of the local restaurants that are supporting this event, and have fun while you enjoy excellent regional cuisine!

Visit www.roannetableouverte.com or telephone for more information on 0033 (0) 477 23 20 57

The quality of gastronomy in the Roannais region is renowned for its excellence – experience it for yourselves this October, or visit the region for your holiday, or for your next business or club event.

Visit www.purefrancenow.com for more information on all aspects of Roanne, the Roannais, in the Rhône-Alpes.

Just a pleasant countryside drive up the road for 30/40 minutes you are well into Burgundy (Bourgogne). As in all regions of France there are some amazing historical sites to visit, including many remarkable chateaux. One of these we have recently discovered on a weekend outing is Chateau Drée, just 5 minutes from La Clayette.

It is a wonderful place!

Often described, regionally, as a ‘Petite Versailles’ (a small version of the famous one near Paris)

Dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, the gardens and furnishings are living examples of life during the period.

Visit the Rocaille and Louis XVI drawing rooms as well as other state apartments, shown off to advantage by a collection of 18th century furniture and objects d’art. Discover the mundane side of 18th century life by visiting the kitchen, butchery, ice-house, stables, dovecote, and even a prison.

Take a walk in the extensive and fabulous gardens – it is a pure delight!

www.chateau-de-dree.com

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A great place to visit for all the family, and the drive there is full of stunning, panoramic views of ancient volcanoes, and mountainous ridges.

Vulcania, the “European Park of Volcanism”, is a park with a Volcano theme situated in Saint-Ours-les-Roches, Auvergne, France.
Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, former President of France, pushed for the foundation of the park while he was president of the regional council of Auvergne. The museum was inaugurated in 2002.
The main architect of the park was Austrian Hans Hollein.
“Vulcania” is the mythical smithy of the Roman gods, described in Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’

One of the attractions is the 4-D film ‘The Awakening of the Auvergne Giants’. Another attraction is the Volcanbul, which is a GPS driven robot, which gives tours of the area around Vulcania. To quote from the Vulcania website “VolcanBul Eco-friendly and innovating the VolcanBul is an electric vehicle guided by GPS.”

There are some brilliant, informative interactive displays about the geology of the earth, including the planets. The various rides are imaginative and great fun.

Absolutely well worth a visit!

Vulcania

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Not ones for missing an opportunity, we booked into Château de Champlong for a delightful evening dinner. All the better, because our close friends, Dale and Clare Thompson, were treating us to the whole soiree as a special belated birthday treat for me. What a great idea!

Good company, good food, good wine, in a great environment. It doesn’t get much better than that! And the anticipated occasion did not disappoint.

Château de Champlong, as most places, always look their best on a beautiful, warm, sunny evening. As we drove up the driveway, the chateau and its grounds looked stunning in the evening sunlight.

Dale and Clare had heard about us singing the praises of Olivier and Véronique Boizet’s Chateau restaurant and 4-star hotel many times before. They wanted to experience it and to find out if it was all true. They weren’t  disappointed.

After our excellent meal we returned to the lounge and bar for digestifs, and to all our delights Olivier Boizet arrived and asked if we would like to visit his ancient wine cave beneath the château for another after-dinner drink. We couldn’t say no to this one!

It was a fascinating place, and a privilege to be invited into the inner sanctum of the château’s high quality wine collection.

It was a great pleasure and lots of fun for all of us. We all went home very happy!!

Very many thanks to Dale and Clare!

For our evening meal we had decided on the ‘Saveurs Festives’ menu with 2 services and wine selected for each course by Champlong’s sommelier. A Perfect combination of flavours!

Château de Champlong

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The pictures say more than words here.

Snowtime in the Roannais is pure fun with plenty of opportunities for winter sport, including ski-ing in the local Monts de la Madeleine.

We are just 45 minutes from the slopes of Loges des Gardes and Chalmazel – two excellent alpine stations for all the family.

Le Cuvage in the Snow, Roannais, Rhône-Alpes

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It retains its fin-de-siècle charm in spite of the knock its reputation took during WWII when Pétain’s puppet government was based here, and its ageing population.

Currently there is a move to attracting a younger audience by encouraging fitness enthusiasts to spend their vacations here, but as yet the spas and sulphurous springs attract an older audience of curistes who comes in droves to be dowsed in and drink the water.

This means that a refined and affluent crowd of tourists flock here in the summer, and have done so since Napoléon III first put Vichy on the map in the 19th century.

Vichy is a great place to visit for a day out with quality shops, and particularly excellent art, antique, and objet d’art boutiques and galleries. There are some excellent restaurants, too.

Victorian period ‘bourgeois’ mansions, beautiful public gardens, riverside views, and tree-lined avenues.

Go and take a look and taste the reinvigorating waters if you dare !!

Thermal Spa Vichy ‘les Célestins’

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This September the 19th meeting of the ‘Aérien International Roanne’ was staged, and dedicated to female aviators throughout the world, from the first women to fly to the present day.

It was a magnificent day with a huge variety of  planes and displays.

The event was opened by the French display team equivalent to the Red Arrows, and  led by a woman captain.

Planes from both world wars were in the sky – American, Russian, Japanese, British.

There was also an astounding display featuring the Breitling Wingwalkers. A team of women doing ballet on top of planes speeding around the skies at all sorts of angles, including upside down !

Once again, the skies of the Côte Roannaise were clear blue, and it was an extremely hot and sunny day.

Thousands of people attended, as always – great family day out !

Also have a look at our previous blog, covering the 18th Roanne Airshow event in the Roannais region of the Rhône-Alpes – ” The Red Arrows in the Roannais”

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The final leg of our journey through in England covered the two great northern cities of Manchester and Liverpool. Another eye-opener for our friend Jean-Marc.

We toured around Manchester and Liverpool during this year’s trip, and showed Jean-Marc a few major sights, including Manchester United football ground, of course, along with a bit of shopping down Manchester’s Deansgate, as well as a fascinating visit to the War Museum near Old Trafford.

On another day we also headed to the historic Albert Docks in Liverpool, and discovered the delights of Tate Liverpool, as well as the Maritime Museum.

Liverpool has numerous great city art galleries and free art exhibitions. First stop should be the Liverpool Walker Art Gallery, the national gallery of the North, which houses works by Hockney, Degas, Turner and Rembrandt.

Tate Liverpool, at The Albert Docks, is also a must-visit city art gallery, housed in a stunning Grade 1 listed converted warehouse that stages lots of fantastic free, as well as paid-for, art exhibitions featuring work by everyone from Tracey Emin to Picasso.

Once again, glorious blue skies and sunshine accompanied us on our journey.

There is an enormous amount to see in these two great cities, and unfortunately only a ‘taste’ could be offered to Jean-Marc.

He enjoyed it all tremendously, and I certainly think he will be back sometime soon for more!

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The Pure Art Gallery

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This time, a fast auto-route with stunning, mountainous views through part of the French and Italian Alps to the north east of Lyon, straight in and out of the very long Fréjus Tunnel (over 8 miles, to be pretty exact!) and you are in Italy.

At the end of July we journeyed over to our friends, Mike and Pauline Wright, and their grandson, Max, in the little village of Cerré Marabino near Toano, close to the main township of Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy – an hour or so from Milan.

Great mountainous countryside with stunning panoramic views around every corner !

Also very near to Parma, this is a region famous for, of course, parma ham and parmesan cheese. And not far from their village is an amazing, family-run delicatessen, and wine boutique called Ferrarini’s. You just have to go in and fill your wicker basket, which they provide as you go in. It is an ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ of goodies – very difficult to resist ! So, don’t !!

Begun in an ancient villa set in ‘classic’ Italian countryside, among green hills in Reggio Emilia, Ferrarini’s, an historically very succesful family business, was established in 1956, primarily as a speciality cooked ham producer. Now they provide a whole range of high quality Italian products, including  cheeses, preserves, wine, vinegars, and much more, and is a wonderful source of regional delicacies. They are a major group operation now with their own extensive range of branded goods.

Ferrarini’s in Italy

There is no doubt, when in Italy, you eat and drink very well, indeed !

During our few days stay we also went to Mantua, a very attractive medieval city, with a typical Italianesque ‘old empire’ style, with old merchant houses, and a slightly decadent ‘feel’. A beautiful place, full of history, architecture, and some excellent restaurants.
Mantua (Italian: Màntova ) is a city and commune in Lombardy Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua’s historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family made it one of the main artistic, cultural, and notably, musical hubs of Northern Italy and the whole country itself.

Mantua is noted for its significant role in the history of opera and the city is known for its several architectural treasures and artifacts, elegant palaces( palazzi) and its medieval and Renaissance cityscape.

Mantua is surrounded on three sides by artificial lakes created during the 12th century. These receive the waters from the River Mincio which descends from Lake Garda. The three lakes are called Lago Superiore, Lago di Mezzo, and Lago Inferiore.

Well worth a visit !

Our Italian sojourn did not stop there, though. We also managed a short visit to the remarkable town of Carpi.

Another superb historical place in the Emillia-Romagna region of northern Italy, north of Modena city.

Carpi is distinguished by its great piazza, in fact, the largest in the region. Notable landmarks also include the Renaissance town hall, formerly the castle of the Pio family, lords of Carpi from 1319 to 1525; the cathedral (begun 1514), with a Baroque facade (1667); the Romanesque church of St. Maria in Castello, or La Sagra (altered 1515); the former cathedral, with a Romanesque campanile (1217–21).

Our visits to this part of Northern Italy are always a delight, and we just adore the gastronomc pleasures to be found in this beautiful country. We are glad our friends, Mike and Pauline, have chosen to live there, and we are extremely grateful for the opportunity it has given us to see the sights, and enjoy the wonderful cuisine amongst some absolutely stunning countryside. I think we will be putting them in the diary again for next year !!

Ciao!

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Upward and onward we go on our sensational journey through Barcelona,
sampling its myriad exquisite delights – in glorious sunshine from stunning scenery
and amazing architecture to gastronomic pleasures and fabulous art.

Montjuic, in particular is a spectacular vantage point from which to view the city. It has a wealth of art galleries and museums, too, including the Fundacio Joan Miro.

The bizarre art, sculpture, and imagery of Miro is quite amazing, and the garden roof terrace is a stunning location within the unusual retro-bauhaus-style building where some of his colourful sculptures are presented.  Fundació Joan Miró

Many of the buildings in Montjuic were designed for the 1929 International

Exhibition, and the 1992 Olympics were held on its southern slopes.

We managed to reach the heady heights of Montjuic via cable car all the way to Castell de Montjuic overlooking the Mediterranean on one side and the city far below on the other. A magnificent place.

Our, ‘more on-the-ground’ experiences included a visit to the renowned Bar Mut.
a quality, but unassuming bar-café on the upper edges of the Eixample, close to the Avinguda Diagonal.

The Spanish word ‘Simpatico’ sums up this brilliant bar, where an original interior of old hydraulic tiles and a white marble-topped bar snaking around the room combines with a jazz-tinged soundtrack to create a winning atmosphere.

Most Spanish bars provide some kind of ’tasties’, and this one is no exception: plates of seafood, rice dishes, and excellent tinned conservas complement the 200-plus wines in the glass-fronted vitrina.
A highly popular establishment, so when we arrived we were lucky to find a perfect central spot on high stools at the bar where we could take in the vista, and gaze at all the city locals at luncheon.

My wife, Lucy, much to her slight horror, noticed that most of the sea creatures on the menu were still wriggling about under curved glass vitrina on the bar!

We had and excellent meal in extremely convivial, casual, but quality surroundings.

The Old Town, traversed by the city’s most famous avenue. La Rambla, is one of the most extensive medieval city centres in Europe. The Barri Gotic contains the cathedral and a maze of streets and squares. Across from the Via Laietana, the El Born neighbourhood is dominated by the Santa Maria del Mar church and is replete with 14th -century mansions.

The seemingly decadent, narrow, and graffitty-ridden streets ooze a nostalgia of empire past, but this area is becoming a trendier and more revitalized place with new, young businesses and apartments being developed and renovated.

The fabulous Museu Picasso is one of the many special attractions of this area.

This very popular museum is housed in five adjoining medieval palaces on Carrer Montcada: Berenguer d’Aguilar, Baro de Castellet, Mec, Mauri and Finestres. The museum opened in 1963 showing works donated by Jaime Sabartes, a friend of Picasso.
There are over 3000 of his pieces from the early period of his art. Fascinating!   The Picasso Museum, Barcelona

Barcelona is a fun, exciting place with plenty to catch the eye around every corner.

We will certainly be making plans for another visit in the future, and can heartily recommend the place to all – Adéu!

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The Pure Art Gallery