LeClozet

Larressingle one of the most beautiful villages of France is towards the northern edge of the Gers department, 5 kilometres west of Condom

It is on one of the major pilgrimage paths to Santiago de Compostella, a path that also passes through nearby Condom and Montreal-du-Gers.

It is a small village, almost completely surrounded by heavy fortified walls dating from the 13th century.

Almost 300 metres around, the village is entered by its only gate, across a pretty little bridge. Within the walls are a small church, Roman style and basic in implementation, a small chateau and various smaller buildings and houses, mostly set with their backs to the fortified walls.

Although small, Larressingle is a ‘must see’ village if you are in the region. It really is an interesting and lovely little place and very well worth seeing.

At the bottom edge of Larressingle there is an ‘exhibition’ of medieval weaponry - essentially they have recreated a medieval siege camp at the walls of the fortified town. Entertaining for the children especially (and me) to see the large stone throwers, battering rams etc that would have been used to attack such a village.

The person who runs the camp is a larger than life character and kept us all amused throughout. He has boxes of clothes and armour for the children to wear and created a story around the children which included operating the machines. The children shot arrows, launched siege catapult and at one point he fired a replica of a medieval gun, very noisy.

A family of 2 adults and 2 children costs about €20, which is great value for money.

For further information visit their site at http://larressingle.free.fr/

For a great day out for all the family, Walibi Fun Park near Agen is a not to be missed experience.

With our 15% off vouchers it costs €18 for kids and €21 for adults. Which is not expensive compared to most UK activity parks.

It’s suitable for toddlers right up to grandparents like myself. It was very well attended yesterday but the longest we waited for any ride was 40 minutes. Whereas the average was about 20. Apart from the pony rides at €3, all attractions are free once your inside.

We started with the Coccinelle(Ladybird) ride. A mini roller coaster which gives just enough of a thrill that even small children can enjoy it. Be aware that many rides have height restrictions and the minimum height is either 92cm or 102cm. However there are still plenty for the very little ones to enjoy.

A lot of the rides are water based, White Water Rafting, Log Flume and Splash Battle. So it’s worth taking a spare set of clothes for the children.

Most people take a picnic lunch along and eat it in the separate picnic area, which is just outside the park. It’s worth doing this as the food is typical “fast food”, quite expensive and not that great. Most French people picnic and you can see them transporting huge picnic boxes for their typical three course lunch, with wine of course.

At the end of our day we went to the resident circus. A fantastic show of clowns, acrobats and trapeze artists. It lasted about 45 minutes and everyone from the youngest to the eldest thought it was a pure delight. I haven’t been to a circus for over 30 years, after yesterday I will certainly go again.

The park opens at 10.00 and closes at 19.00 during the school holidays.

We had a great day out, lots of fun, plenty of screams and we returned home at 19.00 very happy, wet and tired.

For further information you can visit their site at - http://www.walibi-aquitaine.fr

Today I hired a boat at the port in Nerac with my family. We were 10 in total and it cost €45 for 1 hour. All the children were suppled with life jackets.

The boat was outboard motor driven, plenty of room for up to 14 people with a canopy protecting you from the sun. The boats range from 4 people up to 14 like ours, making it suitable for groups of various sizes. The hour allowed us to travel up to the lock gates at Nazareth and back again.

We saw ducks, which we fed bread to and a couple of aquatic mammals. the river was quite busy and we were overtaken by a number of holiday boats. The children enjoyed taking it in turns a the wheel and playing captain.

The overall experience was a good one. The cost not prohibitive. Staff were friendly and helpful.

Nerac is only 20 minutes from Le Clozet and has many attractions to occupy families who stay in our gites.

For further information you can visit the web site of the local tourist office - http://www.albret-tourisme.com/