Le Grand Abbaye

Oh sure. 'Monsieur Guest Blogger' is too tired to write a post about our morning at Le Grand Abbaye. (Sheesh! I have to do everything around here.)

Now, where was I in this long-winded story? Oh yes, it's all coming back to me now......

We followed Monsieur et Madame's car over hill and through dale for 45 minutes until we came to 'Le Grand Abbaye'. We drove through an ancient gate in a stone wall and parked. The Remarquiers introduced us to their friend Monsieur Letouze. We bid adieu to our B&B hosts with heartfelt bisous (double cheek kisses) all around.

'Le Grand Abbaye' was once an abbey in the 1200s, but was converted to a farm in the 1600s. Monsieur Letouze was born on this farm.

We thought (wrongly) that we'd do a little tasting of M. Letouze's products, buy some bottles and be on our way. Mais non, mes amies! Because we were introduced by the Remarquiers, Monsieur Letouze gave us a 2 hour tour of his property.

Now remember, this tour was conducted entirely in French. M. Letouze was kind enough to speak very slowly with us and (bless his soul) he also used his hands a lot. He showed us everything. His orchard with 2,000 apple trees. His acreage where people camped. His apple press. The 800 year old granary. The medieval stone house where bread is baked once a week. The storage rooms full of ancient oak barrels full of cider, pommeau and calvados. (Side note: whenever we were in the rooms with barrels or vats, we all had to sample his wares. Not that I'm complaining mind you.)

M. Letouze kept asking me, "Are you interested in medieval architecture?" When my answer was a resounding "Oui!" off we'd go to another area of his farm to show me where the chapel once stood or the abbey altar which is now housed in a stable.

Once we were given a proper tour of the farm, we were ushered into monsieur's 800 year old home to taste his products. It was at this point I mentioned (en francais) to his wife that our house in Canada was a whopping 30 years old. She sweetly smiled and shrugged.

We first started with cider. It was very good. (We bought 2 bottles.) Then we tasted some 'pommeau'. It was really good. (We bought 4 bottles.) Then we tried his calvados. Super good! (We bought 2 bottles of that to take home with us.) How the hell we're going to drink all of that booze before we fly home is beyond me. But like the saying goes: Where there's a will, there's a way.

It was a very special morning for us.

I love French people.