Hello Everyone!

We’re already mid-way in our 2010 season!  It’s sunny and hot.  The sunflowers are raising their yellow heads in the fields.  We’re eating out on the terrace and in the gardens.  The Chateau cocktails and evening hors d’oeuvres before dinner are a wonderful way to wind down the day in the cool early evening breeze!  It’s great to see guests sipping the Chateau’s elegant Campari Martini, a Pimms or sharing a special bottle of Bergerac wine from our wine cellar.

We’ve been welcoming back many returning guests.  Guests have been photographing for the annual competition and we’re looking forward to seeing their entries!

Our 10 day Painting holiday is coming to a close.  Guests have had easels up all over the property…and have been enjoying trips to meet local artists working in lithography and ceramics.  It’s been a splendid time with good weather and much laughter.  And beginners as well!  The dates for next year’s painting holiday are already chosen – and we expect there to be many returning guests again.

We’ve renovated four bathrooms, there’s a plush new carpet in Bandiat, a new garden in front of the Summer House, a new potager (vegetable garden) where we are growing some of our own organic produce (zucchini, peppers, heirloom tomatoes, beans, peas, aubergines and herbs) and some other surprises for returning guests!

The kitchen under ‘Chef Bill’ is turning out ever more wonderful gluten free lunches and dinners – Bill challenges himself each year with new inventiveness to add to those menu items our guests continue to love and request.  How can it get better…..but it does!  The perfectly selected fresh ingredients provide our guests with a gluten free experience second to none  - french and fabulous!  And any non-coeliac partner revels in the mouth watering variety of their dining experience here – not for a moment thinking they are eating gluten free…but they are…always!

Our first Chateau cookbook is out!  It’s beautifully illustrated by Jane Smithers.  Her marvellous watercolours enhance Bill’s recipes and provide you with a wonderful reminder of your dining here – and some recipes for you to use at home and excite your own guests!

We are ready to welcome you!

Come by train, plane or car – there are lots of ways to get here from North America, from mainland Europe and from UK and Irish airports and train stations (and we can help with advice should you need it)  And in 2011, Flybe will be offering new links to Limoges airport through Paris Charles de Gaulle airport (perfect if you are arriving from North America) and new flights from places like Aberdeen.  Watch for more announcements from Flybe!

Our 2011 schedule and tariffs is already on our website. We’ve posted this early because there are ever earlier requests for bookings.  Returning guests can pre-book with no obligation and no deposit payable until December 1, 2010.

For even more holiday choices, we offer several ‘Relax & Learn’ weeks. Returning guests often decide to come back and try their hand at something new! Included in these special weeks are two opportunities for Painting & Sketching with Jane Smithers – in July/August.  All of these ‘Relax & Learn’ weeks are ‘Gluten Free’.

And if you want a special week or 10 day holiday planned for you and your guests, let us know.  This year we’ve included trips further afield to Bordeaux and Aubeterre for a 10 day holiday with guests who are back for the fourth time!

It is an extraordinary opportunity to live in such a historic building and in so beautiful a location – and to share it with you. We continue to find great satisfaction in providing wonderful holidays to those who are coeliac, their partners, families and friends, or those who have other special diet requirements. And in making new friends along the way – each year that list gets longer and with returning guests the friendships grow stronger!

We enjoy hearing from all of you and receiving your news and photos. And we thank all our guests for all the generous and supporting comments written in the Journals we have in each room and for the photographs you send. You can read more about us and see up to date photos on the Chateau’s Facebook page (facebook.com/chateaudevillars) – you can become a fan of the Chateau on the business page and this also provides a way to catch up with friends you made.

We want to welcome you to Château de Villars for a ‘Gluten Free’ holiday for some Rest, Relaxation and Rejuvenation! Come and join our house party!

With best wishes

Sincerely,

~ Bill Davies & Kevin Saunders

July  2010

And now some extra notes for you…………

B&B and Self catering at the Chateau

The Les Corgis studio apartment is now available – a large private suite with its own private entrance, (bedroom, kitchen and living room combined) and large luxury bathroom with a wonderful Italian style shower. Les Corgis is available to those who want to self cater, with the option of our delivering fresh gluten free bread to you each morning and providing special gluten free products from the Chateau’s pantry.

The Trincou Cottage (the ‘Summer House’) is available as a Gite for families or friends wanting to spend time at the Chateau on a self catering holiday (you can find out more about this on our website www.chateaudevillars.com). Adding glamor to the special evenings when guests dine outside on the beautiful covered terrace, there are now Moroccan chandeliers hanging in the Catalpa tree. And when rented as a Gite, there’s a washer/dryer available.  And if you are coeliac and want to self cater, we will bake fresh gluten free bread for you each day and deliver it to your door!

Outside of our full Board holiday weeks, the Chateau is available for B&B (two night minimum) with the option of evening dining from our Gluten Free Kitchen.  So join us for a short break!

Special events at the Chateau

We’re available for special event parties – such as family reunions, commitments, birthday and other celebrations. A family can take over the whole Chateau and ask us to do the arrangements and catering – it’s an incredible environment to bring friends and family together as several guests have found.

Our ongoing improvements and facilities

For everyone, the heated pool is always a major attraction, with its handsome teak lounging chairs on the pool deck. And now there are new sturdy elegant pool umbrellas.

Quita Mountford continues her wonderful ‘Treat(Ment)s’ in the Spa. And there is new Spa furniture for 2010 to make the Spa even more comfortbable.

The Chateau garden is now in Phase II under the direction of our friend Janie Lloyd Owen.  Returning guests will notice some beautiful additions in 2010 – fragrant beauty!

And we will be upgrading two more of  our en suite bathrooms in winter 2011 to bring them up to the beauty of our bedrooms.

The bikes are overhauled each year and continue to see much use – including our new tandem bike – and the exercise room sees occasional patronage! Our BBQ nights around the pool or on the Chateau’s terrace and our Market Day ‘Brantome’ lunchtime picnics continued to be a casual dining success – and have become an institution for warm days & evenings

The Annual Chateau Photography Competition

The Photography Competition is always a lot of fun and we thank everyone who participates. Always bring your camera, with a view to entering your award winning images!  All four of our winners of the 2008 Competition were here in 2009 – and each celebrated with a gift bottle of our house champagne!  Our 2009 winners are now posted on the Chateau’s Facebook page.  Each year the standard gets higher and each year the guests love the challenge!

In 2010 the categories are ‘Reflection’, ‘Black & White’ and ‘Amour’ – a little different from previous years!

Winners receive a Chateau gift – as well as a bottle of ‘Bubbly’ to greet them when they next arrive!

Our thanks go to our panel of judges for the Chateau de Villars photography competitions – Jill George, Director the Jill George Gallery, London, England (www.jillgeorgegallery.co.uk), Diane Kempler, Senior Lecturer (Ceramics) Emory University, Visual Arts Program, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (www.visualarts.emory.edu) and Jane Smithers, Artist, Cashiers, North Carolina, USA (www.janesmithers.com)

2009 – a brief summary

What a season we had in 2009.  Returning guests every week.  Thank you to all our guests for deciding to spend their holidays here – those of you from England, Wales, Scotland, northern Ireland, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Sewden, the United States, Canada, Madeira & Ireland.  It was our pleasure to welcome you all to our little piece of heaven here in the Perigord Vert of the northern Dordogne.

Unforgettable was Bill’s gourmet cuisine, which went from gluten free height to gluten free height – delighting all guests whether coeliac or not. This is the core of our holidays here – providing coeliacs with a completely safe environment where they can relax and forget about their diet – and where their companions can therefore relax as well!  Your dining experience here is a gourmet one, not to be forgotten!  As always, our kitchen is always Gluten Free and avoids all cross contamination issues.  Bill’s care and concern provides a  haven from the world outside.

Unforgettable were the two painting weeks – guests sketching, watercolouring and painting under the instruction of our friend Jane Smithers who was wit us for her third year – and who will be back for two more painting holidays in summer 2010.

Unforgettable was Jane and Kevin’s joint exhibit ’Red, White & Black’ at the Refectoire des Moines in Brantome this past July – and for 2010 look for more ‘one on one’ opportunites with either Kevin and Jane if either art form interests you.  Kevin’s traditional darkroom is under construction - and his village ‘walk & talk’ visits accompanied by photography ideas, proved a highlight each week.

Unforgettable was the family 10 day holiday with children here of such promise for the future  – and finding such enjoyment!

Unforgettable was the reunion week in early September when 8 couples who, never having met until a holiday here in 2007, decided to return together.  The Chateau loved it!  And even though our 2010 schedule is now filling fast, we know we will be seeing our September guests at their next reunion in September 2011!

September 2009 proved to be a particularly beautiful month – and warm October days with splendid light (but chilly evenings) promise a splendid end to the season.  So don’t forget these months in 2010 for the calm they bring as autumn covers the Perigord Vert!

And through it all, the Chateau watched and listened to the laughter.  Relishing in its beauty.  Enjoying its new ‘looks’  - the new outside sofas and chairs on the Terrace for quiet, relaxing times in the day and a splendid place to gather for early evening cocktails before dinner; its beautiful iron railings either side of its entrance steps, as well as a new arbour for roses near the pool all distinctively designed by our friend Jerome Charbonnel;  its new gardens springing to life as designed by our friend Janie Lloyd Owen.  Watching the guests come and go each week.  Watching the dogs, the cats and Bill’s hens busy in the back field!

Chateau

Bandiat Room	Dordogne Room	Auvezere Room
Chateau Hallway	Tardoire Room	Chateau Library
	Lizonne Room

The Trincou Summer House (the Cottage)

Cole in the Cottage	Cottage Deck	Cottage Exterior
Cottage Interior	Cole Bedroom	Dronne in the Cottage