Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in the Creuse

It’s a Sunday in early March and Mr and Mrs Ordinary have just sat down to lunch with their two teenage children when Mr Ordinary broaches the dreaded question: where do they want to go on holiday this year? “I want to go where there’s things to do – cycling, swimming, climbing,” shouts 13-year-old Ordinary son.“I want to go horse riding and sun bathing,” adds 14-year-old Ordinary girl.“I want to go for long relaxing walks, shop in some country markets and visit monuments,” sighs Mrs Ordinary.“All I want to do is go fishing and maybe do a bit of sightseeing,” muses Mr Ordinary.So the following day Mrs Ordinary visits their local travel agent and picks up some brochures. The family spends the evening poring over them.“How about…?”“Too expensive.”“And what about..?”“Too far…”“I’ve heard that…”“Too crowded.”“We could…”“Been there already.” As you can imagine it’s difficult for them to find a holiday where everyone can do what they want without breaking the bank. Suddenly Mrs Ordinary has an idea and goes to fetch a postcard that the neighbours had sent them last year (she’d kept it as she’d liked the picture). It’s a postcard showing a beautiful lake surrounded by green forests. She turns it over and reads the caption: La Creuse, France. “How about this place?” she suggests, “The neighbours went last year and they said that they’d had a wonderful time.”Mr Ordinary goes to the computer and types in ‘Creuse’ into the Internet search engine. The rest of the family crowd round him. He opens the Creuse Tourist Board web site and they read the caption ‘The Creuse: France’s green heart”. There’s image after image of green rolling hills covered in dense mixed-tree forests, sparkling rivers and lakes, old granite monuments and acres of blue sky. “Looks interesting,” he muses.“Are there sporting activities that I can do?” asks 13-year-old Ordinary son.“Let’s see. Umm, you can cycle over 400kms of marked mountain bike trails, there’s a place you learn archery, a place where you can climb up in the trees like Tarzan and loads of lakes with beaches.”“What about horses?” demands 14-year-old Ordinary girl.“Look here. There are loads of stables and horse riding centres where you can ride horses to your hearts content. And you can also go walking with a donkey. The donkey carries everything /admin/story/story/18150/including the picnic.”“I like the sound of that,” declares Mrs Ordinary. “Is there anything to visit? You know I love visiting old churches and castles.” The children roll their eyes but say nothing. “My goodness,” says Mr Ordinary, “The Creuse’s architectural heritage goes right back to Neolithic times. There are standing stones, dolmen, Roman remains, churches, abbeys, castles, ruins and old villages to visit. There’s a place called Banizette Estate where the whole place, including the gardens, has been turned into a museum. Enough to keep you going for a few months I would have thought.” “It sounds great. But what about you darling? With all those lakes and rivers can you go fishing?” “I would have thought so but let me check. Oh yes!! Kilometres of trout rivers and acres and acres of lakes and ponds. It’s angler’s heaven!” “But how much will this all cost?” “Let me do a bit of research and I’ll let you know. Are you interested folks?” The rest of the family nod their heads enthusiastically and the holiday brochures are quickly forgotten. After dinner the following day Mr Ordinary pulls out a large notepad on which he’s scribbled figures and notes. “Well, I’ve made my calculations. And this is how it stands. We could stay in a gîte with a swimming pool for two weeks in July and it would cost us about 700€.” “What’s a gîte?” demands the family. “I had to look that up,” admits the father, “but it’s a country holiday cottage and the Creuse has loads of them from one to five stars. Also while I was in London I went to Maison de la France and got ‘L’Agenda’ which is a list of events that happen during summer.”“Let me see,” demands Ordinary girl. “Look, we can see the stars and the moon through an enormous telescope. And I can learn to drive a team of horses with a carriage!”“And wow, there’s a day of quads and I can learn to jet ski,” exclaims Ordinary boy. “Look honey, there are loads of guided walks we can go on: dolmens and standing stones, nature’s night noises, impressionist painters. And look at all these antique fairs and markets.”“Ok, but as long as I get to go to the rock and motorbike festival. And the steak and concert evening. And the nautical show. And the tractor race. And…”“Alright, alright. Let’s pick the gîte and I’ll book the ferry.”“And meanwhile Ordinary boy and I will check out the activities we want.” And so the Ordinary family sets out to organise the best holiday they’ve ever had. For accommodation consult: www.tourisme-creuse.com/ For anything else consult:Le Comité Départmental du Tourisme de la Creuse43, place Bonnyaud BP 24323005 Guéret Cedex France Telephone: 0033(0) 5 55 51 93 23Fax: 0033(0) 5 55 51 05 20 e-mail: [email protected] www.cg23.fr