Something else for the weekend...Loches Christmas market

Full programme here

Christmas carolling - Ferriere-Larcon

First outing for the carollers yesterday at the Christmas market at La Celle Guenand...today we are at Ferriere-Larcon around 4.00pm

Christmas a gogo...it had to start somewhere!

Carol singing...

First outing of the carol singers yesterday...at La Celle-Guenand 'Marche Noel'

Carol singing at the 'Marche de Noel' at the chateau in La Celle-Guenand.

First gig of the carol singers...at the 'Marche de Noel' at the chateau in La Celle-Guenand, great fun, for us anyway..Jane (Henderson) did a  great job of dressing us! This is after only three rehearsals BTW (can you tell).

Our next outing is at the 'Marche de Noel' in Le Grand Pressigny on Monday 21st around 5.00 pm.

Loches Christmas market...

http://www.loches-tourainecotesud.com/sir_loches/Sortir-2/Destination-Noel

Marchés de Noël - La Celle Guenand

At last, a nice day for it!


The Christmas market at the chateau  at La Celle Guenand on Saturday was the first of these occasions this festive season where we have not had to endure a rather dismal day weather wise. The château was resplendent in the winter sunshine  - what a change from the last couple of day

The English owners of the chateau do a great job of hosting events here, fully utilising all the resources at their disposal. We were here in September on Patrimoine day when we had lunch in the troglodyte caves behind the chateau, today they were used to host the local artisan's stalls in a unique setting. 

I was impressed by the wood-turner working away on his mobile wood lathe producing walnut cracking bowls.

Christmas Tour(s)ing...

Lack of festive cheer.

We visited Tours, here in the Loire Valley, on Friday to check out their Marché de Noël. We took the bus from Le Grand Pressigny 3.40 euro return, great value, although currently they are offering a 1.00 euro deal on Saturdays in December to promote this - even better. There were not many visitors nor a great deal of Christmas cheer about - the dreich day did not help. In spite of this we had a good day out with the usual lunch (at the 'Chien Jaune') and coffee stops.

It did get slightly better towards the end of the day as night fell and the lights came on to provide a small degree of festive cheer.

Marchés de Noël -La Roche Posay

Yesterday we visited our first Christmas market of the season,at La Roche Posay.It was actually a bit underwhelming and sadly when we were there, just after lunchtime, it was not very well attended.Most of the voices we heard were actually English.which felt a little strange - it was rather a dreich day so no doubt that had a bearing on it. A little rain doesn't stop the Brits from getting out there enjoying themselves.

Here is a sample of the entertainment provided by the ever enthusiastic troupe.