It all seems so effortless - starched snowy-white hand-embroidered monogrammed bed linen; soft pillows encased in pillow slips decorated with lovingly stitched, drawn thread work; swathes of silk, damask and heavy satin framing tall light windows; a centuries-old oak staircase that winds its way up three storeys; fragments of original brocaded wallpaper; ancient armoires, chairs, tables; handwoven carpets faded with the passing of time and the tread of thousands of feet.
Picture a venerable thick, wooden kitchen table, scarred by the knife marks of generations of cooks; a great black oven; porcelain plates, heavy silver cutlery, crystal vases, and delicate glass flutes of French champagne, and you'll be transported to a place where time seems measureless - long summer days and velvety nights punctuated by softly hooting owls.
The days begin with a cuckoo calling. Green daisy-studded lawns drift into banks of white cow parsley and meadow grasses. Huge ancient trees - a copper beech, an Atlas cedar, chestnuts in pink and white bloom - tower over the soft grey chateau. Fuschia-pink rhododendrons blaze along the curving driveway. Pale purple wisteria winds and wafts over weathered walls and classical statues of nymphs, cupids and bosomy goddesses - chipped and worn - peer and gaze from groves between bushes, by reed-fringed ponds. The cuckoo is replaced by indefatigable robins and blackbirds whose sweet songs echo and resonate from dawn to dusk.
Where am I? I'm staying at La Creuzette, the 19th-century chateau in the 15th-century village of Boussac in the middle of France, owned and lovingly restored by hosts supreme - well-known South African painter Louis Janse van Vuuren and his partner, master chef Hardy Olivier.
La Creuzette is situated in the Creuse département, Limousin région, central France, on the Creuse river north-east of Limoges. In the Middle Ages, it was the seat of a viscounty from whose rulers descended Pierre d'Aubusson, grand master of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, defender of Rhodes against the Turks. Today his name lives on in the nearby village of Aubusson where, for centuries, some of the world's finest tapestries have been made.
Why am I here? Because Louis and Hardy offer a bouquet of short courses throughout the European summer that cover topics from learning about and experiencing the French lifestyle to antique shopping, cooking and wine. Or what about a creative writing holiday, tailor-made to combine writing with food, art and the best the region has to offer? Or an advanced French cooking course with several guest chefs, including a Michelin star, a master chocolatier, a baking session with the region's best patissier, and a passionate traditional boulanger or baker?
I went to La Creuzette to paint - a little tentatively, as I hadn't put pencil or brush to paper or canvas for over half a century. My course is called "Painting with Irises". I needn't have worried. From the moment I climb the steep stairs in the chateau's converted stables to Louis' magical studio, where light pours in and the smell of turps, paints and irises mingles with the sounds of opera and birdsong, and where every manner of the finest art materials is at your disposal, I'm immersed in the creative process. Louis, whose work is now sought all over the world, taught at UCT's Michaelis School of Fine Art, and he shares his know-how and experience with flair, enormous charisma and generosity. All you need is a longing to paint and a fair degree of humility. Oh yes, and a bit of talent.
Not only will you learn how to paint and draw from a master, but you'll also visit the local brocantes - the antique markets of the surrounding villages - where you can buy everything from hand-embroidered antique bedlinen to a 1950s fur coat, from porcelain cups and jugs to old clocks and dolls worn threadbare by loving. Then pop into a local restaurant for a delicious meal of succulent local beef, tender scallops or vegetable quiche, fresh-baked bread, farm butter and a flask of local wine.
One day we walk from La Creuzette through the village to the 15th-century Chateau de Boussac, with its collections of antique furniture, old pottery, silver, tapestries, clothes, tableware and hand-tooled books.
Another day we visit the 12th-century priory of Notre Dame D'Orsan - where the gardens have been recreated to the original plan. We find out that the conditions of life in the Middle Ages had an almost exclusively rural character with an emphasis on self-sufficiency. Gardens were walled, providing protection to a microcosm where plants, animals and people lived in harmony. The gardens were designed not only to feed the body, but also to feed the soul, providing the tranquillity required by the monks for meditation. We wander round the geometric gardens, full of sturdy vegetables and aromatic herbs, sit under the trees and sketch, smell the roses and soak up the peaceful medieval atmosphere. After a picnic lunch, we get got lost among the thickly wooded leafed pathways of the Labyrinthe.
Later in the week, we meander around the family home and gardens of novelist Georges Sand, one of the most successful female writers of the 19th century, who wrote under a male name in order to be published, not disregarded. One of France's most prolific woman writers - and the mistress of novelist Alfred de Musset and Chopin - she was liberated before her time, running away from her coarse husband to make her own destiny. But she finally came home to Nohant, where she lived with her children, planted two trees for them (now metres tall) and watched puppet shows put on by her son to while away the long cold winter nights.
And it can get very cold in this part of France. Louis and Hardy well remember the first winter after they'd acquired the chateau from a member of the original family who built it. The temperature plummeted to minus 15°C. Huddled in one room in the then crumbling building, trying to stay warm as the winds howled around the tall chimneys, they almost lost confidence in their vision, and longed for South Africa's sunshine. But that was 10 years ago, and now the chateau is the realisation of a dream, a mecca for a few privileged visitors and an important part of Boussac community life.
Once a year, Louis and Hardy open the chateau to the local old-age home, and families come to picnic and enjoy themselves in the flower-filled summer gardens. Musical evenings are held, where an opera singer may be invited down from Paris to entertain the guests; and on Bastille Day, the premier holiday on the French calendar, a mega-party gets under way with the whole village joining in the celebrations.
A highlight of my trip was a visit to Aubusson, world famous for its tapestries since the Middle Ages, when Flemish weavers arrived from Flanders, seeking refuge from religious persecution. The style of the tapestries has changed over the centuries when, at first, scenes of green landscapes and hunting scenes earned the workshops "Royal Appointment" status.
A downturn in fortunes came after the French Revolution, when such aristocratic luxuries were frowned upon. The arrival of wallpaper further diminished their value, but the tapestries made a dramatic comeback during the 30s, with artists such as Cocteau, Dufy, Dali, Braque, Calder and Picasso being invited to Aubusson to express themselves through the medium of wool. My favourites were the playful 20th-century tapestries of the monk Dom Robert, where ponies, birds, goats and creatures of all kinds gambol over the surfaces with innocent abandon.
And I haven't even begun to tell you about the food
Firstly, for breakfast, Hardy pops down to the local bakery, which has been creating fresh baguettes and croissants since dawn. He'll also pick up some freshly made pastry for the lunchtime pies and quiches. Yesterday, we drooled our way around the local cheese shop, with its aromatic choice of hundreds of homemade cheeses. A creamy white Brie, perhaps? And then my limited knowledge of different kinds of cheese crumbles. We taste snippets of this and snatches of that - they are all equally delicious with unpronounceable names. The son of the cheese shopowner has just come back from Paris with his family to live in the village of his childhood.
Along with the breakfast - fresh bread, cheese, homemade muesli, farm jams and preserves, fresh fruit and creamy milk - there is ever-ready coffee.
After a morning's hard work in the studio, we sit down to a lunch of asparagus - so huge it looks as if it has been on steroids - freshly steamed. Vegetable pies, meat pasties, succulent lamb chops and salads so fresh that the dew is still on them.
Dinner is a grand affair, with table settings that would outclass any you might see in a lifestyle magazine. On our last night, everything is deep scarlet - table cloth, glasses, flowers, candles, bejewelled fruits scattered around the long table. Hardy cooks and chooses the matching wines - everything is perfection.
Oh yes, and who are my fellow guests? Well, there are 10 of us, eight from Cape Town and only two of us from Joburg. Some can paint, and some can't. It doesn't matter. Some find their métier in watercolours, some, like me, find their medium in pastels. All of us become totally absorbed in the whole experience - art, food, beautiful surroundings, great company, superb hosts and lots of fun.
Other South Africans have now also bought properties in Boussac. One of our group, Deirdre from Cape Town, has been so captivated by the spirit of Boussac that she has bought a little house just inside the old medieval gate of the village. She wanders off every day before breakfast to survey her own three-storey domain.
"What are you going to do with it?" I ask her. A faraway look comes into her eyes "Open a gallery, have a coffee shop, sell bric-a-brac " She's not sure yet.
Boussac and La Creuzette do that to you - sweep you off to a fairytale world where beauty and grace are the order of the day, and ugliness is banished. We all need a bit of that in our lives. Me? I'm already saving up for my return trip next year
- Contact details: Tel: (+33) 05 55 65 7827. Fax: (+33) 05 55 65 8726. www.lacreuzette.com. email: [email protected]