LIZ & Tim's great trip! Part 2

So where was I??? Oh yes,  we arrived in Calais and started our journey onto Riemes and Eperney travelling on near empty toll roads at a reasonably swift pace - UK - There is such a lesson to be learnt from other European roadways!! Anyway, I digress........ we stopped for lunch in Eperney before starting our tour of the vineyards at a charming and very typical french corner restaurant and I just could NOT resist taking a camera picture of the menu above - have a close look! It certainly made us laugh......... and there was also a Sephora cosmetic shop (my absolute favourite grown up version of a sweetie shop!!) across the road from the restaurant so a fabulous start for me - food and make up!!!

After our lunch break we headed for the vineyards passing most of the big name Champagne houses and what seemed like dozens and dozens of smaller ones and some in what seemed just like private houses...... an amazing thing to see I must say! Out in the countryside in some areas all you could see for miles in each direction were rows upon rows of vines.......... absolutely amazing! We were taken to see Dom Perignon's burial site with in a church and there some really beautiful old pews with what now would be classed as graffitti but all sorts of dates scrawled on them. As we drove through the various areas Charles Ancliffe our host explained to us about the chalkiness of the soil and the effect this has on the grapes and their taste, he told us about the different types of grapes and that 1and a half kilo's go into just 1 bottle of Champagne........... we learnt all about first and second pressings and oh yes, had another bottle of Champagne on a hill top overlooking the most spectacular view and listening to the wind rustling through the tree's.......... very, very romantic (well for me anyway - not sure about my 3 male companions!).

Our third and last stop before hitting the hotel and trying to get just 40 winks before a night on the town beckoned was on a hill top where the Mumm windmill is and time for our last Champagne of the day (not the whole day you understand - just the daylight hours part!!) this time a Vintage de Castelneau... ohh I didn't half like that one!!!!! By the way, that's a bunch of grapes you might just see that Charles is holding behind my head.......

We were booked in to the Hotel de la Paix and my goodness, what a fantastic hotel!! www.hotel-lapaix.fr  A hotel used by many of the big Champagne houses to put guests in and recently renovated, we were pleasantly surprised and delighted by our room. Now this one could be called a real Boutique room and guess what?? A bottle of Champagne from Monsieur Pascal Prudhomme the Directeur Generale of De Castelnau was waiting for us in our room..............

Part 3 and I'll tell you about the fab meal we had that night (what I can remember of it!) and our tour of the winery............