A perfect French castle and a very pretty village.
The cosy Jumilhac castle is very original and geniune ,unlike the disneyfied Chenonceau Chateau, it was used by Richard the lion heart when he was passing through France on the crusades, later in life after a few destructive periods the owner decided to marry a pretty local girl, unfortunately she was in love with a local shepherd so when he was called to fight in the 30 year war he locked her up in a tower and everything she had was passed through a small hole in the door, to pass the time she spun wool and used the wool to pass messages through the window which happened to be the only opening window in the entire castle as the room was once the chapel.
sound familiar? Sleeping Beauty?
upon her husbands return he found out about the goings on and challenged the shepherd to a duel which he win and offered the shepherd a choice if death or becoming a monk, he became monk, after her husband died she married a wealthy person no one knows if it was the original love of her life.
after the castle we went to visit one of France pretty villages
around here it is village after village of charming medieval elegance. after St Jean de Cole we made our way to stay the night in Excideuil with a great castle and it just so happened to be having a music festival called the HOOP.
after one or two wines Milly felt a little worse for wear , must have been something she ate , even the 3 mile walk back to the campsite didn’t fix it and I was on Puke alert all night . the music was frwench indy pop rock…..rubbish 80’s type techno but it was live and many interesting people from the dreadlocked hippies to a couple sat watching in the castle with their Monaco registered jag sat corralled off with tape.
