LES PORTES FERMES

Phew! what a busy end to our 2013 season, we went out with a bang, a lovely group of 19 lively Yogis have been staying. They certainly understood the meaning of enjoyment, a perfect blend of Yoga sessions, relaxing meals together, walking, swimming, drinking, snoozing, need I say any more!

Its been an action packed year with lots of great people, some new, many returning for a second or third visit, we must be doing something right. The enquiries and bookings are coming thick and fast, I have a feeling we will be in for another busy year, and I can't wait to see many of you again, however not before a well earned rest. John and I are off to UK soon see all our loved ones, then its back to our winter job, writing. We have two books to finish, fingers crossed we can achieve our goals by next spring.

Who's for dinner?

Drinks on the terrace.

SWEDISH DELIGHTS

I love all things kitchenalia, if there is such a word! Give me a gadget and I am in heaven, my family know that when it comes to buying me a gift it's easy, just browse around a kitchen shop and you are bound to find a little "gizmo" which will entertain me for hours.

This week I was very kindly given a gift all the way from Sweden, an ancient waffle cookie iron for making Strouvor! Now it's fair to say I very nearly consigned this little metal contraption as a kitchen decor destined to be hung or nailed to a wooden beam, and very nice it would have looked, but after time to reflect and a good old search on the Internet, I discovered a lovely short video on the correct way to use this implement. I had a recipe for a rich sweet batter, and the knowledge as to how to prepare my little iron, so I challenged myself to a cook off. The weather was 35 degrees and much too hot for cooking but I wouldn't be put off, and I am glad to say that after a very enjoyable 20 minutes, yes start to finish that's all it took me, I had made almost 50 light fluffy cookies. A quick dredge with icing sugar and they were ready to eat, perfect with either tea or coffee.

The lovely Glynnie (the gift bearer) decided she wanted to host a Swedish evening, we enjoyed Gravalax, Reindeer which was a first for me, tasted a little like pressed tongue, very good, there were many other delicacies, it was so nice to eat a different cuisine as nice as French food can be, a change is always a refreshing change.

Outdoors in 33 degrees heat!

Swedish Buffet

My plate of delicacies

STROUVOR COOKIES

FRENCH MARKETS

French markets

king prawns in whisky

It has begun the long awaited night markets, a great favourite with the French, as well as the holidaymakers. Generally from the beginning of July till the end of August each town host's a weekly night market as well as their weekly morning market. The night market is mainly about eating drinking & music a lovely combination any time!

Duras has their evening soirée on Thursdays & they do it well I think. Long wooden tables are set up by the commune to allow the visitors to sit together & enjoy their food. The many stalls sell food, from duck tournedos with foie gras, to burger & chips. The beauty is that you spend as little or as much as you like, depending on your wallet & appetite. The entertainment varies, from folk music, to basque traditional, even the Beetles. The entertain is free all paid for by the commune. They generally kick off about 7.00pm & I do recommend you get there early, they can get very busy. The wine merchants sell bottles at an affordable price, soft drinks & beer is generally on sale too. Bread is on sale as is fresh produce so almost every ones tastes are catered for.

vegetarian dinning at chateau Perroterie

some of our yoga clients

Yet another lovely group of bubbly Yogis have been here at Château Perroterie. They decided to go vegetarian as a group which is an interesting ask for the meat eaters, but a good way to experience vegetarian over a week. We try our best to accommodate dietary requirements where possible, the big no no for us is nuts, as we cannot guarantee traces of nuts or nut oil is in "innocent" foods bought from outside ie pastry biscuits etc. to date we have had no problems and I enjoy experimenting with vegetarian dishes. As France is not a country known for its vegetarian cuisine I tend to get inspiration from Spain and North Africa, they are clever with their seasoning's and help elevate the humble vegetable or grain to a higher level.

melon mozzarella tomato starter

 

lentil and roasted vegetable salad

sweet potato almond tangine 

THE NAME IS BOND! SINDY BOND!

Put your back into it

The residents of Château Perroterie have been more than a little sweaty this week! Partly due to the lovely sunshine but mainly due to the planning & researching of a Boot camp week which is taking place here this autumn. Course leader Sindy Bond has been getting ideas together for the activities she has in mind. She is well named "Bond" as her boot camp has a some what dare devil espionage theme running through it.

No problem

My John ever quick to take any opportunity for help which requires brute strength suggested they build him a large log wall, & no sooner said than done, Sindy was on hand to whip some of the guys & a petite but willing Anna into constructing a fine log barrier. In the evening a relaxing game of "drink pong" where bottles of beer were strategically positioned on the table tennis table, any ball going out was deemed to be a drinkable offence & a sip was taken, on the loss of a game the entire bottle was consumed, sunset celebrations can be viewed below. 

A visit to Château Perroterie can be both hard work, fun & sometimes relaxing. I cannot wait for Sindy's boot camp retreat this autumn it is guaranteed to be  challenging & great fun. 

Anna in safe hands

Good morning Miss Bond. Your mission, Sindy should you choose to accept it is to run a boot camp here at La Perroterie. As always should any member of your team be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow

all knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck Sindy 

"Drink pong rocks"

Yoga with Ann-See

We have enjoyed facilitating yet another FAB yoga group this week. This is the second time Ann-See has run a course here at Chateau Perroterie. 

The weather may not have been smiling this week, but our yoga group were a real inspiration & the property was a conduit for a lot of laughter.We appreciate when groups come to enjoy themselves.The best way to get a group to experience a memorable retreat is to lead by example, Ann-See ran a course with just the right measure of laughter & discipline. I think the photo with her holding the bread basket says it all!

smiling yogis

yes this does mean "pain" not bread!

Dream to be better and watch as you evolve into a yoga butterfly, just look at the pictures.

Extend yourself to go further.

clever girl Miriam

Forge friendships, follow your dreams.

Gently lead your students by the hand & watch them blossom.John & I look forward to seeing you  again in 2014.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

What an exciting week here at chateau Perroterie we have a lovely yoga group from Toronto in Canada. They are enjoying a yoga gastro culture week full of fun & action. The piece de resistance was when Richard proposed to his partner Maria last night, and thankfully she said yes, she  is wearing the biggest smile & it has to be said the biggest diamond ring.

My hubby John is also walking around with a huge smile on his face, but for an altogether different reason, he is now the proud owner of a brand new "tiger shark" pool robot, boys and their toys, still it saves a lot of hard work so I understand his delight. 

We look forward to many more groups throughout this year, I wonder what they will surprise us with!

TIGER SHARK 

Yoga article from one of our clients

Last year a doctor from New Zealand was staying with us on a yoga retreat, she wrote this for a magazine and it is about to be published. I hope you enjoy her article. The Yoga Retreat There are two ghosts at Chateau La Peroterrie- Brother Oliver, (B.O. for short!)- an 11th century monk who is morose and smells of tobacco, and a Protestant lady who is buried out in the back yard. An agreement has been reached whereby the lady will keep Brother Oliver under control, in exchange for her privileged burial spot. These days the ghosts are quiet and well-behaved, according to John Lamb, the chateau’s owner. “They don’t bother the guests, nor do they interfere with the chateau’s healing atmosphere.” All the same I notice several tiny plaster cherubs nestling in the rafters, and a benign statue of the Buddha in an alcove, as if to ward off unwelcome appearances. If ever there was a perfect place for a week of yoga- this is it. The beautifully restored chateau is in the region of Lot&Garonne, about 35 Kms south west of Bergerac, in the province of Aquitaine, south west France. British-based Marc Woolford, master of the Scaravelli yoga tradition, comes here once a year to teach this gentle form of the ancient practice. We spend a lot of time preparing ourselves for working towards the postures. There is no stretching or forcing. We feel our way into our bones, supported by the earth and by our breath, and we extend gently towards the sky. When our spines are released we grow taller and lighter, better able to enjoy life to the full. There is no place here for self-deprivation or asceticism. Suits me! Vanda Scaravelli was a student of B.K.S. Iyengar. In her later years she developed her own approach of which she said “You will be amazed to discover that, if you are kind to your body, it will respond in an incredible way.” A great example of the benefits of yoga, Italian born artist and musician Scaravelli taught yoga for more than twenty-five years until her death at the age of ninety-one. The course has been facilitated here for the last four years by Laraine Bridges, herself a yoga teacher in nearby Casteljaloux. Laraine loves the Scaravelli approach and looks forward to the annual retreats which attract people from a wide range of backgrounds and yoga abilities. All are welcome. John’s wife Karen provides gourmet meals and offers relaxing massages while Laraine’s husband Robert teaches Art and French in the afternoon breaks. The chateau is surrounded by fields and forests, and is within easy walking distance of the medieval village of Duras. My sister Jo and I are spending a week at La Peroterrie along with ten other yoga enthusiasts. We’re celebrating Jo’s 60th and our enjoyment of yoga in spite of the ravaging forces of time and gravity. We’re in the heart of wine-producing country and wine-tasting is one of the optional activities along with swimming in the chateau pool and telling ghost stories round the camp fire with owls hooting eerily in the forest. Over the week we learn that the body is primarily a breathing organ, and that we have a spare set of lungs in our buttocks (metaphorically speaking). We sink into the earth and learn to trust our weight to it, while our spines release and lengthen. It feels good. The charismatic Marc helps adjust us so that we can experience some different physical possibilities and the effects are dramatic. We are encouraged to relax, tune in and understand ourselves better. Marc speaks of “cracking open the heart” and enabling a healing transformation in the body’s cells. We observe each other’s faces softening and glowing with a sense of well-being. Marc’s constant companion is Skeleton Man, a plastic model of the skull and spine, who helps illustrate the nuances of various movements and postures. Talking of skeletons, at the end of the retreat, the icing on our cake is a trip to The Valley of Man in the nearby Dordogne region where we visit the 17,000 year old cave paintings and engravings at Lascaux and Ruffingac, attributed to Cro-Magnon Man. It’s eerie in the Ruffingac cave, and because the paintings are so far underground a small railway line has been built to get the tour groups down there. Our Ancestors were sophisticated and determined artists with a keen knowledge of their animal subjects. They would have worked by the light of small tallow lamps in these dark caves and tunnels- a feat even by modern standards. Our week of bliss passes all too quickly and it’s time to return to the ‘real’ world. Fortunately or unfortunately the ghosts of La Peroterrie do not put in an appearance for us, but we are haunted by the memories of good company, great yoga and delicious food in a fabulous setting. You can find out more about the yoga retreats atwww.theyogaretreatinfrance.com Dr. Marion A. Taylor, Medical Director, Hospice Wanganui Yoga Retreat in France www.theyogaretreatinfrance.com Join us for a week of yoga at the beautiful Chateau La Perroterie, France with Marc Woolford, one of... View Post on Facebook · Edit Email Settings · Reply to this email to add a comment.

Easter Retreat with Jason Chan

Spring is not quite in the air!

Time flies when your having fun! We have been very busy spring cleaning, even though we are experiencing the coldest spring since 1964. The renowned spiritual teacher Jason Chan brought a group of fellow Thai Chi students for an Easter retreat. What lovely people they were too, so thoughtful and caring, must be Jason's amazing calming influence over them. We are looking forward to having them all back once again in the future & we wish them continued peace & serenity in their lives.

The group spent Easter Sunday at the Buddhist centre at plum village, the great spiritual leader Thich Nhat Hanh founded three villages for Vietnamese orphans in the late 60's & it has become a pilgrimage space for many visitors to our area, we are approximately a 10 minute drive, well worth a visit. 

Now it's time for me to mindfully wash & clean the guest house, re energizing it for our next group. When I am busy with the more mundane day to day jobs, I love cooking up something really quick & easy, this pasta dish is my very favourite it takes 15 minutes from start to eating, I thought I would share it with you, enjoy! 

Chilli prawns in garlic oil.

RECIPE - bring a large pan of water to the boil, then in a large sauté or frying pan add 200ml olive oil, 75g butter, gently warm up, add two large cloves of diced garlic, 1 large red chopped chilli I like it hot so I keep the seeds in, adjust to your taste. Keeping the heat low, after 2 minutes add 24 uncooked prawns, continue to cook for 5-6 minutes till the prawns have turned pink, indicating they are cooked. Once the pan is boiling add a packet of fresh pasta, return to a boil, cook for 3 minutes, If you use dried pasta this will take 7-8 minutes depending on shape & size, drain the pasta, add to the pan of prawns garlic chilli, I use a large wooden fork to gently stir the flavoured oils & butter into the pasta, the pasta will soak up some of these delicious juices readily. Then divide between two bowls sprinkle over some chopped coriander & serve immediately.

READY STEADY - STARTER

Hello from a snowy South West France. We have some of our lovely  family staying with us, they are taking a well earned break from their busy London lives. We have been creating lovely meals to enjoy between movie viewing. It feels so good to chill out just like our weather. We had a perfect lunch, caemenbert parcels with onion confit honey and walnuts. Followed by a platter of charcuterie meats and cheeses, a selection of breads.

The method is so easy, cut a small wheel of caembert into 8 wedges, put them nose to tail so you have a square/rectangle shape. Unroll a packet of filo pastry, cut each sheet into 4 strips, roll each piece of cheese into a filo parcel. Place on a baking tray, open freeze for 12 hours then place in a tupperware container. In the meantime slice an onion thinly slowly saute in frying pan with oil, when hey have turned golden,add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and the same of balsamic vinegar, continue to cook on a low heat for another 10 minutes, it will caramlise and taste great. Let the onon confit cool and place in an airtight container store in fridge. 30 minutes before serving place 2 parcels per person on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Place in the a hot oven for 10-12 minutes,remove them when they have turned golden brown,add a spoonful of onion confit, a sprinkle of broken walnuts or hazelnuts, a drizzle of honey, pop into a now medium oven for 10 minutes. Prepare your plates with mixed salad leaves which you have dressed with a nut and honey vinagrette. Sit the cooked cheese parcels along side and drizzle around any remaining dressing. Viola a perfect starter to serve quick easy, trouble free. Now we just need the snow and cold temperature to disappear and let spring burst forth. 

HEALTHY BREAKFAST

Healthy breakfast idea

Who doesn't like a cooked breakfast from time to time? OK my vegetarian friends maybe aren't with me here, but it can be adapted to be meat free!
This week continued to be cold, with the added bonus of heavy rains, I now can commiserate with my family in the UK who have been tortured with wet weather for months in 2012.  I was looking for a comforting plate of food, but not necessarily full of calories. The delicious result was my any time breakfast salad.

The cooking time is minimal which is nice for when your in a hurry, or just starving. I dressed a selection of salad greens with a lovely light walnut oil & lemon vinaigrette, I put a handful in each bowl, I sautéed some new potatoes which were already cooked in a pan with olive oil, added sliced button mushrooms. In another pan I poached an egg per person, I wrapped some jambon sec around a grissini stick, this could of course be cooked bacon or Parma ham. Place the sautéed vegetables on top of the lettuce, & the poached egg in middle with the Grissini & ham across. When you slice into the egg, the runny yolk pours over the salad making it really yummy. The vegetarian alternative is as above, either wrap roasted red pepper around the grissini, or chargrilled courgette ribbon, & halved cherry tomatoes strewn around the plate.
Bon appetite.

snowy scene

citrus spritzer

January at la Perroterie, & the weather has been interesting, to date we have had sunshine, blue skies, torrential rain, snow, gales, I think that about covers it. So not a typical January!

We have been inundated with enquiries, for 2013/2014, we are delighted with the response to our websites. It looks like we are going to have an amazing season, lots of fun in the sun, drinking by the pools, & cooking on the BBQ. Oh nearly forgot singing & dancing around our fire pit.

In my kitchen, I have been playing with my new gadgets I got for Christmas. I have a thing about all things kitchenallia! Secret Santa gave me a really clever citrus fruit atomiser, perfect for lemons, limes, & oranges, it's so simple, I just gently twist the plastic corkscrew end (sorry about terminology). The top is a spray, it gives a tangy zingy taste to salads, refreshes vodka cocktails, martinis.

spoon rest

multi veg peeler

 My second gadget is a very simple plastic heatproof clasp which pinches to the side of pans & your spoon or spatula clips on & it's just there ready for stirring - love it! The third present is a clear plastic disc with 3 different peelers, potato blade, zester blade for lemons, oranges etc, & third is a julienne blade, perfect for root vegetables especially carrots, so pretty on salads. Now I just need more kitchen drawers to fit them all in.