I feel I have to write more about Phillipe and Marie, our hosts for the past two nights.  When we arrived at their beautiful old house we had been in the road for six weeks. We were tired and hoped that we would be comfortable and well fed. What we experienced was something absolutely unique in all of our experience of travelling over the past fifty years.

There two extraordinary people have created a magical oasis of calm and kindness which we left with a heavy heart. There was nothing showy or artificial about their hosting. They have been hosting for a very long time and have the rare ability to make a new guest feel like a friend who has returned.

Philippe has a background in publishing and Marie teaches French to older students. They are interesting people and have a captivating curiosity about their guests. The fact they have this interest after so many years is a testament to the people they are. The people I find most challenging in life are the incurious. They seem to live in a world bounded by transparent walls which they look through but never want to break through. Philippe and Marie were fascinating and interesting people but also reached out to explore the world their guests have brought to their house.

The magic happens around their large kitchen table. There were two other guests and all six of us sat down to a meal prepared by Marie.  Behind every dish that Marie put on the table you could sense the expertise and long experience of a master cook. Great cooking is so often about the best ingredients which are allowed  speak for themselves.  When we arrived Marie was tending to her large vegetable garden which supplies her kitchen. Where ingredients were not home made they has been sourced from local providers.

Great meals are a combination of place, people and food. Very rarely all three come together to make a special experience. That this experience should happen when strangers meet is again a tribute to the people that Philippe and Marie are.

At the end of the meal on our second night, they invited  us to sample Marie's home made Limoncello by the fire on their comfortable leather sofas. All those invisible partitions that normally exist between host and guest had disappeared. We were all friends discussing everything from the Crusades to French literature to how to perform an emergency tracheotomy.

It was so telling that Christophe and Julie, the other guests brought a bottle of Champagne to the table at the beginning of the meal. It spoke volumes about how they felt about Philippe and Marie. 

On our final morning we entered the kitchen for breakfast  just as Marie was putting a freshly baked apple cake on the table. We  drank apple juice pressed from her apples, and ate smooth creamy youghurt she had made.

Travel is a mix of elation, disappointment, wonder, excitement, tiredness, stress and joy. Philippe and Marie gave us two days of calm and sheer pleasure at being cared for in a way that no other hosts have ever cared for us. We will remember them for a very long time.