Chasing Butterflies

We were very nicely surprised when we arrived at our hotel in the Ardeche yesterday. It's a fantastic place at the top of a valley with panoramic views. We have a duplex suite with living area, dressing area and jacuzzi bath downstairs, and then the bedroom is upstairs with a full panoramic view and private terrace.

The hotel is family run, and they are extremely friendly - the restaurant is in the Michelin Guide and the terrace has a view over the valley. It doesn't end there - there's an infinity pool with the same view. I will be blipping the pool/view before I leave!

Anyway, we arrived last night about 6.30pm, unpacked and had a wonderful meal and then relaxed in the jacuzzi bath which has changing coloured, underwater lights!

This morning, I was awake quite early and went for a swim at 7.30am before anyone else was there. It was wonderful! Then we had breakfast before driving to a village about 20kms away to meet a friend of mine and her family who are on holiday nearby. We sat for an hour or so and had a drink and a chat, and then Alan & I headed off to Vallon Pont D'Arc to see the famous 'rock' arch over the river. I planned to blip this, as it was fantastic. But then we drove through the Gorges de l'Ardeche which is basically a Canyon and we stopped at the highest point overlooking the valley and the river. The view was amazing and I said that I'd blip this.

Then we went to the Lavender Museum at St Remeze and I loved the Lavender fields. Not only was the view amazing, and the lavender was row upon row as we see in the picture post cards, but there were so many butterflies! They were all over the lavender. I decided straight away, that this had to be my blip, and I took so many photos with the mountains in the background and then as we were leaving we saw this little girl. She asked her mum how she could 'caress' a butterfly and we watched her chasing them through the lavender. She was in her own world and I love this photo of her - it looks like she's picking a piece of lavender, but if you look closely you'll see a butterfly on the stem.

We're now back at the hotel and relaxing on the terrace with a bottle of rose before dinner. It's been 35 degrees today and it's still hot even in the shade, so I'm contemplating going for a swim but think I should just jump in the jacuzzi and get ready as dinner.

The wifi isn't great in the hotel so I'm sorry I can't comment on your diaries still - we're home on Monday so I'll catch up with your next week x

Ps - the shop was open and I got the throw, plus two matching cushions!