Thinking of going on a Walking Holiday this Summer?

| Walking
Thinking of going on a Walking Holiday this Summer?

Enjoy a L’Age Baston Walking Holiday

Hosted by owners Alex and John and their delightful team of family, tutors and helpers. They are experts at making you feel at home and want you to enjoy the Château as much as they do. Documents date the Chateau back to 1309 with a 17th Century update but, rest assured, the plumbing is modern, the rooms are delightful and the company excellent.  It’s a beautiful place to stay and a great base for a walking holiday.

Your Walking Guide

John who is your walking guide has been living and walking in these parts for years. He knows lots about local history and nature and can select from dozens of different routes to suit your interests and appetite for exercise. He can lend a sympathetic ear or argue the hind leg off a giant donkey as required and also knows the value of companionable quiet in un-spoilt countryside. His favourite wild strawberry patches could be yours to plunder, orchids to see, birds to hear and locals to chat to.

Every morning after breakfast you set off with your guide for an 8-12km walk and return for a long lunch at the château.  Afternoons are spent swimming in the solar heated salt-water pool, exploring the delights of the area, joining an excursion with other guests or perhaps a canoeing trip on the Tardoire.  There is also an optional one full day (15-20km) walk where we lunch out at either a great café en route or have a picnic delivered.

Walking holidays run from Saturday to Saturday and include:

  • 7 night full board stay at the château in your own room
  • 6 guided morning walks with 1 optional all day walk
  • wine with lunch and dinner
  • transfers from/to the local station/airports (see our travel page)
  • local excursions and afternoon visits (see our other things to do page)

To give you an idea of the kind of walks we do here is a flavour of a favorite of ours:

Les Sources de la Touvre to the Lanterne des Morts at Pranzac

We leave L’Age Baston straight after breakfast and get dropped off at the enchanting Sources de la Touvre.  It’s the second biggest resurgence in France with a big set of crystal clear and never failing springs .The water takes years to percolate through and comes underground from as far away as the Massif Central. It’s a really beautiful and magical place with a wide blue pool lake fed by a clear river and a huge spring that never stops flowing. It never freezes over and there are always lots of birds, fish and wildlife around.  Having been filtered through layers of rock and sand, the water is also incredibly clean.  So clean in fact the local water board simply take it with hardly any need to treat it at all to supply the local area. It’s beautiful and peaceful and ridiculously hard to photograph as the colours don’t look the same or anywhere near as good on a photo.  The scents, sounds and colours all change with the weather, the time of day and season. You really have to experience it first hand to appreciate it and realise how easily it must have seemed such a sacred place to everyone who passed by; Neanderthal, Celts, Romans, Arabs, and the modern French alike.   This is why it’s such a great place to start a walk from.

Bois Blanc

From here we walk up through the forest of the ‘Bois Blanc’ on a national footpaths and tracks that pass through mixed farm and woodland.  We stride past caves and pretty villages and experience France ’Profonde’ in Charentaise style. Eventually we drop down to the bottom of the Bandiat Valley and then pass lots of maize and green pasture until we reach Pranzac.  We finish our walk at the Lantern of the Dead.

The lantern is actually a 12th century ancient stone column with carved niches for candles and lights and is on the site of the old Pranzac Cemetery. It was for lighting the way back home for the souls of the dear departed especially on all souls night (October 31st) or so the story goes. There are other theories of course, but you would have to be here to find out more……. From here we get picked up in the minibus and it’s a five minute drive back to L’Age Baston for a 3 course lunch with some lovely local rosé. I wonder where we’ll go tomorrow.

Of course it’s not just about the great walks, it’s about the whole holiday experience.  So add good food, lovely wine, great company and super hospitality to some really great walks and you have an exceptional get away.

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