Murray Ince's Art Blog

Painting Holiday At Le Manoir de Gurson

I have just got back from leading a fantastic painting holiday at Le Manoir de Gurson in the heart of the Bergerac region of France. The Le Manoir estate has three lovely fishing lakes and is a haven for flora and fauna. We saw a great many birds including Hoopoes, Wheatears and Herons, and were also privileged to see many Pyramidal and Bee orchids with others not quite as advanced (there are 12 different orchids on the estate). There were also turtles, small lizards and even Coypu to be seen. There are many superb views for the artists inspiration on the estate and many more within easy walking distance, the reward for this little extra effort being some wine tasting in great company among some idyllic settings at Cecile and Gregoirs organic vineyard and also at Le Chateau de Gurson in the shadow of the old chateau ruins. Le Manoir is surrounded by vineyards and the most wonderful scenes for the artist to paint. 

Charmaine, our lovely hostess and her two sons Alex and Tim couldn't have made us more welcome, the food was excellent, the accommodation superb and we played petanque on the grass, drank some wine and had a thoroughly good time. We managed to do a spot of wine tasting locally (I may have already mentioned this) of which there is some photographic evidence below along with some of the fantastic views, we even managed some painting!

We visited St. Emilion with it's wonderful French charm, had a coffee in the famous town square by the monolithic church and did a little sketching. We then climbed the 196 steps to the top gallery of the steeple and looked down on the picturesque roofs with the whole town laid out below us, not for the faint hearted but what a view! There are some great typically French narrow streets with fascinating buildings leading down to the square. We also paid an unscheduled visit to Bergerac which again was a lovely historical town spread either side of the Dordogne and is noted for it's beautiful medieval timber framed houses and of course it's most notable resident Cyrano de Bergerac, of whom I have put a photograph below.

If you fancy a totally relaxing painting holiday with fantastic food, lovely accommodation, genial company with some great painting opportunities you should book your place on one of next years holidays but don't wait too long as places are limited and are being snapped up quickly!