It is school holidays in France at the moment but unfortunately we have not been able to go away due to James work commitments. So instead we decided that we would make the most of our weekends and go on day trips to destinations not too far away. One place we have wanted to go to for a long time is Rocamadour. Last weekend the weather forecast was not great for that area (about and hour and a half north of Toulouse) so we decided to head west to the Gers.

This area is lush with crops and is a big sunflower growing area although we just got to see a lot of ploughed fields due to the fact the harvest is in. Still very pretty though and the little villages around every corner were lovely. We firstly headed to the village of Laverden which is a tiny village with a massive chateau.



The kids loved exploring the vast staircase and rooms and it was just how you would expect a medieval castle to look! Penelope and Hannah found what they thought would have been the ball room and had great fun rein-acting dance scenes.



The beautiful mosaic floors.



Hannah doing a runner - a bit of a theme for the day!!!


In the castle was a display of figurines which was very vast and lovely to look at (and very tempting to touch for some little fingers).









We had decided to go out for lunch today and realised this was a bit of a risk being a Sunday and not sure of what the towns we were going to were like in terms of restaurants but decided to risk it. Unfortunately today it didn't work in our favour! We tried a restaurant at Laverden but it was too expensive and Hannah decided to wander off adding to the stress. Luckily as the town was tiny it wasn't too difficult to find her! We then headed to our next destination the unfortunately named town of Condom. We found a great statue but cafes were very busy and not keen to serve us.


We went into a creperie which looked perfect (the savoury crepes - galletes- are made with buckwheat flour so are gluten free). Despite the fact that there seemed to be spare tables they said they were full - not the first time this has happened when we have tried to have lunch somewhere when the children have been with us!


We decided that there must be a great cafe just around the corner and in this case it was just over the bridge! It was quite full but they managed to find us a table and the service was friendly and efficient! They even did kids meals (menu enfant). And I had a yummy stew with bacon, steak, sausage and veges in it - delicious!

We then made our way back to the car stopping at the cathedral on the way.


The last stop on our tour around the Gers was the tiny town of Fources, whose claim to fame is that there town square is round.












A gorgeous little town and the best thing was there was a playground for the kids plus a wine shop that sold Armagnac - the local brew and what this area is famous for.

Another great day out.

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Location:Sightseeing weekends!