Perfection in Charolais

Tuesday 10 September 2024

Nido's parked up deep in the Burgundy countryside, in the tiny hamlet of Rémilly. There aren't many houses here, but several seemed to be owned by the Dutch, going by the cars and the language of those we passed when out walking.  There's a tiny café/shop/restaurant and a really nice, peaceful, comforting feel about the place. On Friday night the café is offering a €20 three course menu; no doubt the community will come together to support them.  If we had been able to live in France before the Brexit abomination, it would have been in a place like this. We're parked up on the aire, which is a grassy area next to a flowing river, with kingfishers flying past. It's idyllic.  We sat outside to eat dinner, watching the sun set, with the only sound being the river flowing past, birds and the Charolais cattle in all the surrounding fields.

Leaving Matour yesterday morning we drove to the small village of Gibles, just 13km away.  This was another small village which offered not only a free aire, but a free services, including electricity.  All they asked was for a donation to the village school, which I was more than happy to drop into the honesty box, along with a note of thanks to the local commune.  There was plenty of room and the pitches were flat, overlooking a children's playground.  

Gibles aire

It rained most of the day so we chilled in the van, catching up on the YouTubers we follow.  After dinner the rain stopped, so we took Salty for a walk around the village and up the lanes towards a forest block.  The fields around us reminded us of Devon, with small enclosures separated by hedgerows.  This being prime Charolais country, the cattle were in pretty much every field. The meat is known to be delicious but the animal is also known to be grumpy towards humans so we kept our distance on the safe side of the electric fences!

Like us, he was bored of the rain

This morning I popped into the village boulangerie, which is also a café and a small epicerie (grocery shop).  I entered and offered a 'Bonjour' to the elderly ladies in the queue.  I learnt a long while ago to say Bonjour on entering a small village shop, to say it again to anyone who enters behind me and again when I reach the head of the queue. So my fifth Bonjour was to the lady behind the counter as I asked for a baguette.  She laughed as I pondered over the patisserie and said there was too much choice, but eventually chose two which were placed carefully in a small white cardboard box.  

On the road again, we stopped at the Le Clerc supermarket in Digoin, as victuals were running low, before driving on through this lovely, rich, rolling countryside to Rémilly.  As it was quite late in the afternoon we took Salty out for a walk, past the church and village square with the tiny café/shop and up onto a farm track that took us up with views over the countryside.

Rémilly aire

Village café, shop, restaurant

As it's Charolais beef country, I bought two steaks in the supermarket, which were outstanding.  Cooked on the Cadac BBQ and accompanied by boiled new potatoes, green beans sautéd in butter, garlic, lemon juice and Halen Môn (Anglesey sea salt), we sat outside with a bottle of local Burgundy red and watched the sun set as we ate.  I can't think of a better place to be right now. 

Dish washing pre-wash cycle!