Demi and I were recently given an opportunity to spend a running holiday at the lovely Gite La Fleurieu, in the Lot Valley in SW France, on the occasion of a Channel 4 programme which is due to be filmed there.

I have never been on a running / cycling holiday before, but ever since our brief stopover at the Gite earlier in the year on the way back from the Pyrenees, I’ve dreamed of being able to spend a few days there… I could see myself running and cycling in the absolutely stunning countryside during the day (there are guided runs, or Andrew can just recommend a route and leave you to it), and strolling through the medieval towns and villages exploring the local delicacies in the evenings… (it so happens to be a wine growing region…)

Samantha and Andrew (who remains a member of the Huncote Harriers and proudly wears his vest in his races in France – much to the confusion of the natives!) were still putting the finishing touches to it when we visited in January (the swimming pool has been added since for example), but already it looked like the kind of place you’d want to visit a number of times in the year… (I’ve got a thing about changing seasons, remember?)

Unfortunately we are not able to make it on this occasion: A house move, the repatriation of the third member of our family (Dash the epicurean pointer) and the imminent arrival of a fourth, have conspired to keep us put in September…

But if anything, this has strengthened our resolve to visit them properly one day. And who knows, when that fourth member of the family does arrive, racing wild boar up the hills of the Lot Valley might be precisely the rest we need!

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All photos courtesy of Samantha and Andrew Ledwith