Nous allons à l'école dans Sancerre en France

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We had been flirting with the idea of an intensive immersion week to try and advance our French since before we even moved to Belgium. With a little one on the way and my bump increasing, the window of opportunity was fast closing. In the end we thought 'stuff it, let's go', and timed it so that a) we would be in France for our 2yr wedding anniversary, and b) it would be back to back with jamie taking a week off for the Kings visit - being his first 2wk holiday since starting work.

We picked the Coeur de France in picturesque Sancerre, as it was available, reasonably priced and within driving distance (being in a well known wine and chevre region may have added a little to the decision...).

We opted to stay in on of the school's apartments, which is on the upper floor. On arrival we had the pleasant surprise that we'd been bumped up to the 'Louis' which was really roomy, comfortable, great floorboards and best of all had a bath! (I've become bath-dependent of late).

We had classes in the morning for about 4/4.5 hours. We'd enrolled in the couples program so it was just us and the teacher (very nice and patient). Afternoons & evenings we spent reviewing and studying our notes, and on the odd excursion and wander. One of which was a wine session, tasting some of the local wines (Loire region) which are Sav Blancs and Pinot Noirs. Was interesting learning about all traditions and rules involved in the wine production for the wine to be able to bear the special label. Of course we felt obliged to pick up some wine...

Another afternoon we went for a drive to a farm just out of Chavignol (as in the famed Crottin de Chavignol). The lady there was lovely (w/o word of English, so could practice our French) and we met the goats and kids and watched the milking take place. Again, we felt obliged to buy, so came away with a heap of chevre of varying maturity.

Probably our favourite part of the week was having an evening meal with a local host family - in this case one of the teachers at the school. We went out to her home, about 15 minutes from Sancerre, which was a property where her husband farmed cereals. We met her 3 lovely kids, who hung around for a bit till bedtime, and then had a yummy meal (goat's cheese w/ toast & salad, creamy chicken thing with creamed courgettes and rice or barley or something, walnut slice w/ custard). Her and her husband were extremely patient with our very sorry attempts at conversation in French.