Doing Very Little in the South of France

After a busy weekend in Dublin, attending Barcamp (more on that later) and recovering from the jetlag, we’re done in the tiny village of Argeliers (population: 1237) in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southwestern France.

Our friends have a gorgeous villa down here. This was my first time seeing it, and it’s pretty specatcular. It’s called La Lavandiere, which means ‘The Laundry’:

Built in 1836 in the small Languedoc village of Argeliers, the Barn was originally built by adding on to the neighbouring barns and distilleries. During the mid 1900’s the Barn was used for storing agricultural and wine-making equipment, a collection of which has been saved and moved into the back garden.

The surrounding grand homes had their laundry serviced by the “ancienne lavandiere”, the soap-making fireplace and wash-house. This outbuilding remains in the back garden.

They have a dog, and a small tortoise who lives in the backyard. He hangs out in the pool shed a lot, because he apparently likes the vibrations. Whenever he’s feeling a bit randy, he tries to get amorous with the pool pump. You can hear the clink, clink, clink of his menage a un if you’re standing nearby.

I had an exceptionally uneventful day, which is just what I need this week. Finished a pretty bad Steven King novel, took a walk around the village, and then went for a short but sweaty (I’m so unfit) bike ride to Montouliers, a nearby village (population: 201) where there are some nice ruins of a 12th century chateau and a 14th century church.

I also did some laundry, and hanging the clothes out in the midday sun was surprisingly pleasant. There are, of course, photos from the day’s non-adventures.

Tomorrow, I may do pretty much the same thing.