Field Trip Friday--The Enchanting Le Vieux Couvent
February 01, 2019 |
| Early morning at LVC |
It’s Friday, and it’s cold, and it’s February—would you like
to escape to an enchanted place, even for a few minutes?
Come with me to Le Vieux Couvent!
W-a-a-a-y back in October, I had the privilege of traveling
with Laure Ferlita to her workshop at Le Vieux Couvent, following our stay in
Paris.
LVC, as we call it, is in the little village of Frayssinet
in southwest rural France, about five hours from Paris. As its name suggests,
it is an old convent—17th century—converted into a special event and
art retreat center. The hosts, Bill and Corinne, were utterly charming, the
gourmet food out of this world (I now have a taste for duck), and the whole
experience, hands down, one of the most delightful and extraordinary of my
life.
Today’s Field Trip Friday will focus only on LVC and the
village of Frayssinet. (I’ll save photos of our explorations of the region for
future installments.)
After taking the train from Paris, our group met in the
courtyard for aperitif (a delightful practice we repeated during our entire
stay at various locations around LVC). Corinne welcomed us, and we eventually
dispersed to our various rooms.
 |
| An aperitif--there was always wine, too! |
In addition to the main building where the kitchen, dining
room, salon, and most of the bedrooms were located, there was also a studio and
a house just down the road where Laure and I stayed in separate apartments.
 |
| I stayed here, at Joel's house, in a separate building |
 |
| My neighbor |
Everywhere you looked there was an enticing path, something
blooming, or an “is this real?” scene. Sketching opportunities everywhere!
 |
| Kitchen courtyard |
 |
| Herbs outside the kitchen door |
 |
| A small selection of art books at a table at the entrance to the studio |
The food, oh the food…
 |
| Breakfast |
 |
| Lunch |
 |
| Picnic lunch |
 |
| A first course |
 |
| A cheese course--look at the grape scissors! |
We did a little exploring of the area around LVC, and joined
the local community one Friday night at the bar that only opens on Friday
night. Everyone was welcome—visitors, dogs, babies…
 |
| Village rooftops |
And just next door, was a Little Free Library. I didn’t get any closer than this, unfortunately, to see the books on hand.
 |
| View from the studio--original convent building on left |
 |
| The village church |
The staff at LVC were also outstanding, including Corrine
and Bill’s hard-working son, Joel, whose talents ranged from serving meals to
unclogging showers to rebuilding kitchens. And Bill, who acted as host
and tour guide—well, there are no words that do justice to him. He was quite a
character.
Using LVC as our base, we explored some of the surrounding
villages, including St. Cirque La Popie, Castlefranc, and Sarlat, the Chateau de Beynac, and prehistoric caves at Cougnac. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little trip
to the south of France as much as I enjoyed reviewing my photos and memories. I’ll
share more of our experiences in future Field Trip Friday posts.
Laure is planning another workshop at LVC in
October 2020—click here for more information. If you want a
once-in-a-lifetime art retreat experience, I can’t recommend this experience
highly enough.
2 comments
I'm not sure how I could have forgotten so much, but looking at your lovely photos gave me a rush of the joy we experienced while we were there. Such an incredible place—thank you for the stroll through LVC and Frayssinet!
ReplyDeleteLaure--You're welcome! I so much enjoyed going through my pictures. Now to sketch all those sketchable places. It was such an amazing experience.
Delete