- Gindou: FRANCE
- April
- 4 days, 3 nights
If you love art & food you’ll have 4 days of child-like fun creating and consuming visual, edible masterpieces.
Trip in a Nutshell
Food and art plays an important part of life in France, but few travelers get the creative pleasure of seeing the local, natural produce go from ground, to canvas, to pot, to plate. This unique 4-day fun weekend takes place in a location befitting of a landscape painting. The beautiful valley is situated just outside the village of Gindou in the Lot Region of South West France. You’ll spend four glorious days exploring nearby historic market towns, the Lot and Dordogne rivers and of course drawing, painting, cooking and eating the most delicious organic food you can imagine. The renovated stone farmhouse is your backdrop and over the 4 days you’ll learn new drawing, painting and cooking techniques as well as partaking in the local wine and picking up some new recipes to impress your next dinner guests at home.
Bragability Factor
- Experience the freshest local produce on the tongue and the canvas!
- Be a true French foodie and art aficionado for four days
- Go home with masterpieces in your suitcase and full, happy stomach :)
- Explore the french countryside, scenic rivers and historic market towns
Day 1: After arriving on Thursday afternoon we all enjoyed a typical French evening meal together incorporating local produce and, of course, local wine! One mouthwatering dish was fresh melon, halved with the centre scooped out and filled with port – the combination of alcohol and soft ripe flesh had my taste buds giving standing ovations. The food here is to die for and here are a few sample menus of the kind of meals you can expect.
- Menu 1: Red Onion & Goats cheese tart, Chicken Provençale, Cheese selection, Fresh fruits of the season & sorbet.
- Menu 2: Asparagus wrapped in Bayonne Ham with goats cheese dressing, Confit of Duck, sarladaise potatoes & green beans, Cheese Selection, Apple Tart & Cream.
- Menu 3: Quercy melon, tomato & cucumber salad in a mint dressing, Seafood Vol-au-Vents with fresh seasonal vegetables, Cheese Selection, Chocolate torte, Vanilla ice cream & fresh fruit coulis.
Day 2: After breakfast on Friday morning we visited Prayssac market to buy some of the produce that we used during the weekend. We returned for lunch at Le Perchoir before Susie took us to the studio to start creating masterpieces. At first I was intimidated by the huge palette of chalk pastel colours but with encouraging guidance from Susie I realised it wasn't just about matching the colour to what your eye sees, it's about the relationship of those tones to the objects around them. By putting a mint green highlight next to a deep purple shadow all of a sudden my picture had zing and bounced off the page. Our still life compositions were created with the colorful, fresh produce we personally picked out at the market. Later in the afternoon we all went to the kitchen where we watched one of Leperchoir de Paon’s special recipes was demonstrated like a live cooking show!
Day 3: After a peaceful and comfortable sleep in the quiet French valley I woke up to the birds on Saturday. We spent the morning drawing, painting and having cookery demonstrations. By this stage my hand-eye coordination was getting better and you could finally tell my onions from potatoes! That evening we had an evening meal at a local restaurant.
Day 4: Sunday = Market Day. After breakfast we went to the local market in Cazals in the morning before coming back to create and make more delectable art and food. Our final evening meal of the weekend was spent enjoying the fruits of our labours with another home created meal. Tonight we finished with a fun wine tasting, I could really get used to this life!
The price is per person for the weekend and includes:
- 4 nights accommodation
- Art materials
- All meals & wine at Leperchoir de Paons
- A copy of all the recipes that we demonstrate over the weekend
- Of course you will take away all the wonderful artwork that you produce.
What’s not included?
- The meal out at a restaurant
- Travel costs are not included but we can arrange airport pickups etc.
- For the wine buffs, let Mike and Suzie know prior to your arrival that you’d like to incorporate a trip to a local vineyard.
- Ask about a mini-tour of the area, if you aren't familiar with it.
- This weekend would be great fun with a group of arty/foodie friends
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