Saint Joseph Village
St. Joseph is a village from the past which has faithfully reproduced the village school, a windmill, the grocery shop, the blacksmith’s forge, the bakery, a bistro or estaminet, the printing works and the chapel as well as many other buildings and workshops which we could wander around. Everything has been constructed using the materials and tools of the time, all of which were on display in their correct settings. Rather worryingly, many of these items such as the wooden desks and inkwells in the school room brought back old memories for some whilst others breathed a sigh of relief that nowadays they could get all their shopping in bulk at the local supermarché. The weather was fine and sunny and after browsing round for a while we were able to take advantage of the bar and outside picnic area for a little refreshment. For more information see http://www.st-joseph-village.com
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Although a little late owing to an earlier slight problem at the Eurotunnel, we arrived for lunch at the Auberge du Lac at Ardres which we also visited on our previous trip. We were greeted there by Gérard Tancré and his wife Josette, Thérèse Dupont and her husband François, Bernard Coffyn, the Lambersart councilor responsible for twinning and his wife. Also still waiting for us was Guy Boursôt which was fortunate because Guy was responsible for bringing the wine. Unfortunately the crémant de Bourgogne which he had poured out as an apéro had gone a little flat due to our tardiness but that didn’t affect our enjoyment of it, or indeed that of the other different bottles he had brought for our dégustation during the meal.
After an excellent repas we repaired to Boursôts Wine Collection in the centre of Ardres with a view to stocking up ahead of Christmas. We also had some spare time to wander round this lovely old town once again renewing our acquaintance with the local shopkeepers.