In the last 4 weeks we have had guests in the form of friends and our two boys for Easter break, which has been a welcome change for us. We have not done as much sightseeing as we have in the past, but more of the eating and entertaining aspect of tourism. We have taken comfort, when complaining about our expanding body shapes, that round is also a shape.

We, however, did spend a pleasant afternoon in the hilltop village of Goudon, a rather small village with a population of less than 500 people - dating back to Roman times and about 8km from Grasse, not far from our village. Like several other villages that we have visited during our stay, this also holds the title of 'One of the most beautiful villages in France' and indeed it is. However, unlike many of those visited in the Vaucluse region, this is certainly geared up to cater for tourism with many craft shops, restaurants, and bars crammed into a few streets.

The village is dominated by a 9th century Saracen castle, sadly not open when we were there, but at least the views are picturesque and Magnus, our dog, made many friends among the other sightseeing dogs.

A couple of snippets of interesting information are that Queen Victoria stayed there in 1891 and that certain scenes from the recent film, Les Miserables, were filmed in Gourdon.