Click on the button below to "Ask for a Price Quote"and we'll email you an estimate of the total costs for your proposed program. The situation was dire. It was 7. I felt like Diogenes in his search for an honest man. Sancerre is in effect two towns. In summer it seethes with visitors and second-home owners; for the rest of the year it is the definition of sleepiness and tranquillity, and you can wander through it β as I did on that May evening β seeing barely a soul.
But at all times it is extraordinarily unspoilt and beautiful: a symphony of ancient doors, pale lilac shutters, wrought-iron balconies and steeply pitched roofs. Situated in the very heart of France, Sancerre stands on a hilltop 1,ft above the surrounding countryside. The violent history that this picturesque charm masks is brought to life by a short walk around the town centre.
Nearby, a Romanesque doorway is all that remains of a priory destroyed by the Huguenots, who endured an eight-month siege in before finally surrendering they resorted to eating rats, books and, in a few instances, each other. We first came to Sancerre to spend a week at a small, family-friendly language school called Coeur de France.
It proved such a success that we returned this year for the fourth time. As the owners also have a modest vineyard, it is a good starting point for those keen to familiarise themselves with winemaking. I tend to agree. Clues to its superiority can be found at the Maison des Sancerre, an impressive hi-tech museum with holograms of grape-pickers and recordings of jolly drinking songs.
However, one local speciality I cannot recommend is andouillette , a kind of Stone Age sausage for fearless offal-eaters. There are plenty of activities nearby to help work up an appetite. Our favourite was cyclo-railing β whizzing along five miles of disused railway track on a steel chariot powered by two bicycles. The greatest cultural monument in the area is the Gothic cathedral at Bourges, with its massive flying buttresses and ethereal curving aisles.
