We drove from Ferme des Soulies up to Chateau de La Vigne in the Auvergne near the pretty town of Salers. After a stop in Bergerac we arrived at the chateau in the early evening and were a little surprised as to the actual state of the chateau (a little rundown) versus the appearance on the website (shiny and new!). The couple that ran the chateau were also a bit odd, while the lord of the manor was quite nice, convivial and engaging there was just something a bit off about his wife. Nevertheless we put our misgivings behind us and decided to stay three nights. The first night we had dinner at the chateau with two other guests; food was decent but nothing overwhelming. Our first full day was a bit of a waste, we visited the town of Salers but it was a cold and rainy day so after lunch we retreated to our room, lit a fire and watched TV on the computer all night as it rained. The next day the weather improved and we went for a visit to a snail farm which was awesome. We learned all the facts about snails (such as their two day cycle of mating and that they are hermaphroditic) and then bought more snail victuals than should be permitted! Lunch was at the snail farmer's recommendation; a tiny restaurant up on a hill overlooking the valley; nothing fancy but a real locals place and the beef was the local Red Salers beef; suffice it to say this lunch happened to be the best steak we had all trip! After lunch we drove to the ruins of Branzac castle where we puttered about for a bit before returning to the chateau for our last night ... although the Louis XV room we had was a bit odd, for some reason we had the best sleeps of the entire trip at Chateau de La Vigne; whether it was the bed or the bordeaux we were slurping back is hard to know!
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