French Country Adventures are guided, slow travel tours through Southwestern France for no more than 6 people, from early spring to late fall. The less traveled regions of Gascony, the Basque Country, Occitanie, and parts beyond, have all of the charms, but none of the crowds. Within these fabled boundaries you’ll discover the unexpected pleasures of their unique history, time-honored traditions, and local flavors.
If you’re dreaming of having an authentic French vacation, discovering the land of the swashbuckling Musketeers, and taking scenic roads through romantic landscapes, I invite you to join me on a journey back to simplicity.
Bienvenue à la campagne.
“…Thank you for a wonderful trip full of so many fantastic experiences and memories! The weight I gained was totally worth every bite…We all had some good laughs, plenty of Armagnac, delicious food and wonderful outings.You are an amazing lady and a terrific tour guide…no matter who cancelled, you didn’t get rattled….you just stayed calm and made alternate arrangements…We’ll be watching your website for future opportunities!…”
From neolithic cave painters to the mid-19th century invention of the camera, stopping time and capturing images has fascinated humanity. We are hardwired to express ourselves. The human brain processes 60,000 times faster than words and the language of photography has allowed humankind to pictorially record our history. As early as the 4th century BCE
Imagine traveling to the most rural, least industrialized corner of southwest France with the purest air and longest-living people, isolated from main highways and train lines. Include in this picture white clouds floating in deep blue skies, rolling green hills tufted with flocks of sheep, and herds of blonde Aquitaine cows surrounded by myriad
Of Music and Muses: Hector Berlioz’s Obsessive Love It can often be said that love has no limits or boundaries, but obsession does. This is no more true than in the relationship between the French composer, Hector Berlioz, and the Shakespearean actress, Harriet Smithson. In the years following the French Revolution (1789), a new movement
” …because everything here seems to need us…” – Rainer Maria Rilke As I write this rain is falling, and I watch the almost silent transformation of the textured world into a smooth plane where differences disappear. The rain falls in droplets that even a slight gust of wind can transform, in the same way
“To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere, without moving anything but your heart.” Phyllis Grissim-Theroux – The other day I waited in my parked car outside the post office in a nearby village waiting for it to open. Adjacent to me was a truck loading mail. Just as the truck driver
“As soon as we leave the urban condition behind us, we confront newness and the profoundly unfamiliar. “ Rem Koolhaas As I drove home from the end of my first women’s only slow travel tour this year, I thought to myself that youth is not a prerequisite for adventure. Originally, this tour was sold out,
