October Promotion

Special ‘Half-term’ promotion from Friday 16th October till Saturday 31st October 2009.

Stay 3 nights in Au Bellefleur for the price of 2 or even 4 nights for the price of 3, including our copious breakfast in one of our spacious guest rooms with luxury ensuite private bathroom.

Be quick because full is full.

Please mention ‘October Promotion’ when you make your reservation. For our prices, general terms and conditions see our website: http://www.aubellefleur.com

Cognac Blues Passions festival 21st – 26th July 2009

July sees the 16th Cognac blues Passions festival which is being headlined by Charlie Winston, BB King and Duffy, a quality line up. Au Bellefleur still has space between the 21st and 26th July, and we are just 15 minutes from Cognac making us an ideal base for the festival. The festival starts on the evening of the 21st, with music throughout the day from the 22nd, plenty of it free, and the big concerts in the evening. Check out the festival website for more details at http://www.bluespassions.com

Au Bellefleur is the idea place to visit both the festival and the loca area, we are just 15 minutes from Cognac in the Charente countryside. Au Bellefleur offers accommodation on a bed and breakfast basis, however we can also provide evening meals on request, a typical 4 course dinner including drinks costs around €25.00 per person, we also cater for children, as we are a family friendly destination. You can get further details about Au Bellefleur’s rates at www.aubellefleur.com

We are offering a free bottle of Pineau with each booking over the period of the festival, the perfect drink for sitting back, relaxing and enjoying the music of the festival.

Special Late May Bank Holiday Offer (29th May – 1st June)

Treat yourself to a Late May Bank Holiday Break in SW France at Au Bellefleur luxury Bed & Breakfast

Our Late May Bank Holiday break (arriving on Friday 29th May, checking out on Monday 1st June) includes:

• Three nights’ luxury accommodation in our B&B, of course with your own en-suite bathroom

• Three mornings enjoy our continental breakfast; a range of cereals, yoghurts, cold meats, cheese and breads with tea, coffee, hot chocolate and juices; weather permitting we serve breakfast in the garden

• Two evenings relax over a four-course dinner including wine, on Friday and Sunday night.

There is plenty to see and do whilst staying at Au Bellefleur
Why not visit one of the famous Cognac houses, like Courvoisier, Otard, Hennessy, Martell, or Rémy Martin and visit to a ‘tonnelerie’ to see how they make the wooden barrels for cognac

Do you enjoy culture – Saintes and Angoulême are the cities to visit, both within 30 minutes of us, or enjoy a splendid day in Bordeaux at a 90 minutes drive.

If you Love sport – theres golf, horse riding, biking, fishing, tennis, all within 12 km of us.

The coast is just over an hour away with miles of sandy beaches as well as places like La Rochelle and Royan to visit

Take a trip on board of one of the various organized boat trips on the river Charente.

Or just take it easy in and around Au Bellefleur, your welcome to come and go as you please during your stay

We are here to help you get the most from your stay so just ask and we will do our best there is plenty to do for young and old.

Special Price:

Our special Late May Bank Holiday Break costs €250.00 for 2 persons (3 nights/3x breakfast/2x dinner) based on 2 persons in 1 room and is subject to availability.

Call Reservations on (0033)5-45325961 or send us an e-mail at info@aubellefleur.com, quoting the reference Pentecost Break in Sigogne.

Offer Ends 1st June 2009 – normal terms and conditions apply see www.aubellefleur.com

Wine growers suffer a devastating blow

‘In the Charente a little before 6 p.m.on the 11th of May , the area was literally struck by hail storms with hail stones the size of “large pigeon eggs”, testifies Christophe Véral, a local wine grower.

In the area around Rouillac, clusters of almost 50 centimetres of ice were formed. The local function rooms and many houses were flooded. But more importantly damage was noted everywhere around, in the vineyards. The hail ruined any hope of harvest for 2009 and probably 2010. The bad weather also touched the areas of Rouillac, Mérignac, Fleurac and Jarnac. The soil of the wine growing areas of Barbezieux has also been seriously damaged.’

This was a report in the daily paper following storms last night all around Sigogne, however the vines around Au Bellefleur appear to have been spared major damage, however for the local wine growers and the associated Cognac/Pineau industry it is a serious blow.

It shows once again that the power of nature is still stronger than all the precautions man can take even in this modern age. Farmers, wine growers and all theose people that make a living from the land fear nature much more than credit crunches, though when they come together it is a bitter pill to swallow.

Au Bellefleur welcomes guests from far and wide

This weekend we entertained the guest who has flown the furthest to be with us since we opened. She lives in Hawaii came over to France for a working holiday. She was a lovely guest and I think a very brave and independent lady to travel so far on her own.

We also had a football team staying with us this week and they were on their second time to Au Bellefleur, and they have already booked a third visit next month.

Bookings have stepped up a couple gears over recent weeks so Au Bellefleur is beginning to buzz with voices and languages from far and wide, I wonder if we will get anyone from further a field, or more exotic than Hawaii this year….

Au Bellefleur as a Base to Explore SW France

Au Bellefleur sits at the centre of an area of rich culture and heritage, and so makes an ideal place to explore the Poitou Charentes and beyond.

On our door step, in Jarnac and Cognac, are all the famous Cognac houses, such as Courvoisier, Hennessey, Martell and Otard as well as lots of smaller houses making both Cognac and Pineau. Everyone knows Cognac (Brandy) but not everyone knows the excellent fortified wine called Pineau, also a speciality of the area, which was discovered by accident.

Slightly further a field we have the historic locations of Saintes an ancient city founded around the first century AD, famous for its Roman amphitheatre and other cultural activities and another good centre for shopping, and Angoulême sometimes referred to as the city of festivals, it is a walled city built high on a hilly out crop and is famous for its art, culture and shopping, as well as its annual classic car rally round the ramparts in September and international comic festival in January along with many other cultural festivals throughout the year.

Just over an hour away is the Atlantic Ocean with its miles and miles of beaches which never seem to get that crowded, on the coast you also have La Rochelle for excellent shopping and seafood restaurants, and the Ile de Re which can now be accessed via a toll bridge.

Exploring further south is Bordeaux, a city with grandeur on the banks of the Gironde and gateway to the wines of the Gironde region.

There is so much to see and do and we at Au Bellefleur are ready with a friendly welcome and a glass of Pineau to help you make the most of your visit.

New Link added – A Guide to Poitou Charente

We have added a new link to our friends at the Guide2Poitou Charente who have built a web site covering every aspect of holidaying and living in the Charente, Charente Maritime, Deux-Sevres and Vienne which are the 4 departement that make up the Poitou Charente, I’ll let them speak for themselves, with a little resume below…..

Guide2PoitouCharentes aims to be the complete source of information in English about the Poitou Charentes region of France. Designed specifically for English speakers who are planning a holiday in Poitou Charentes, contemplating buying property in Poitou Charentes or those that actually live in Poitou Charentes.

Guide2PoitouCharentes provides:
* Property Listings in Charente, Charente Maritime, Deux-Sevres & Vienne.
* Accommodation listings – Looking for somewhere to stay?
* Poitou Charentes News – Interesting Regional News Updated at Least 3 times per Week
* Events in Poitou Charentes – you can list events FREE of charge (don’t have a photo fine – list the event and contact us, .as we have a special events logo we can use.)
* Regional Information – 100’s of factual place and attractions guides.
* Classified Listings – List your item FREE of charge – your own page and upto 7 photos.
* Business Directory – Need to find a business? Here’s the place to look and it’s growing every day.
* Blog – take part in our great blog’s – sometimes there’s even a chance to win a prize.

Guide2PoitouCharentes is a community site and encourages our visitors to take advantage of free membership so that they can participate in Blog discussions, post classifieds, events and much more………………..

Take a look and join us at…

http://www.guide2poitoucharentes.com/

Our local drink – the other one

Pineau, either red, white or even rose is an excellent aperitif from the Charente region of SW France, mainly based around the area of Cognac.

Legend has it that during a harvest around the end of the 1500s a winemaker accidentally put grape must into a barrel that he thought was empty but in fact contained eau de vie, which is distilled but un-aged Cognac.

They decided that even though they hand made a mistake they would put the barrel back in the cellar to continue its fermentation. After a couple of years, the barrel was opened and they discovered the drink that is now synonymous with the region of Charente, and in particular the area around Cognac and Jarnac.

Air France new service Nantes to London City

Air France are starting a new twice daily service from Nantes to London City Airport. Departures are at 07:45 and 17:15 from Nantes and 08:25 and 17:45 from London City. At the moment prices are very reasonable for Air France. Nantes airport is 2.5 hours from Au Bellefleur, but may be useful to those wanting to escape from London to South West France for a long weekend. The roads south from Nantes are generally quiet and driving is a pleasure.

Very tasty desserts over Easter

Franca has gone dessert mad in the kitchens of Au Bellefleur this week, so guests dinning with us over Easter have some mouth watering waistline challenging desserts to choose from. Today she has made banoffi pie, or should it be banoffee pie, and summer fruit pudding, and earlier in the week she added pineau fruit trifle and champagne mousse with red fruits to the reportoire of our table d’hote. I am looking forward to getting home on Friday, I hope there is some left for me…