How stunning is that?!
As well as trying the local food (including mussels in roquefort cheese - just fantastic!) and local wine, I also managed to find handmade things whilst I was out there, including this lady.
I bought a gorgeous necklace from her that she made in polymer clay, then wrote my name along with a design of my choice, music, of course! Anyway, I don't know if you can read the pic, but this was the sign on her stall.
While I was out there I also visited an amazing themed park (not theme park), Puy du Fou (google it!). It's basically got themed areas including Vikings, Roman Colosseum, Middle Ages Village and others, with amazing shows in each, and they have traditional crafts. I found one lady stamping metal necklaces, and another doing calligraphy.
Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the finished necklace, but it was really interesting to watch as I've dabbled with stamping and she made it look so simple! The calligraphy was amazing too, I do have a photo of that, excuse the awful colour cast, it is a plain white background really. The photo above is of her actually writing mine!
If you're ever in the Loire Valley, check out Puy du Fou, the shows are fantastic - it's a great day out :)
Finally, on the last day, we went to Quiberon, in Brittany (the first photo), and I had some time down on the beach. I found this...
It might not look like much, but it's beach glass. Pieces of glass that have been tumbled by the sea until they appear frosted, and then washed up on the beach. I've cleaned them at home and will be using some of them to make jewellery. My favourite is the light blue, and the piece of pottery, although it's a shame the pattern is damaged! Watch out in my shop for some of these pieces :)
So that's the condensed version of my trip to France. I got to wander around some very pretty towns and take lots of photos. I'm keen on photography too, in fact today I've been investigating prints, so hopefully very soon you'll see some of my pictures in my shop too!
