I woke up the other night about 3am to the flapping of wings and thought it was a very large moth, until I noticed the flight pattern and realized it was a BAT flying around my bedroom!  I hid under the covers for about 10 minutes and it eventually flew out of my room, into my studio and then to another part of the house. There are a lot of bats here, with so many places for them to hid and live.  Apparently I have to keep my window closed around dusk to avoid further bat visitors.

Every small village has a covered area in the village square for the weekly market merchants to set up their goods. Such a wonderful space.

 Lunch ?
My fellow artist resident, Jeannine Cook and I were out driving around looking for  a place to have lunch in a neigbouring village. It was 1:30pm, but apparently if you want lunch, you have to have an early lunch because the restaurant cooks have a 1.5 hour break for their lunch. Out to lunch in France! Very thoughtful for the workers though.  We had cafe au lait instead of lunch!

Beaulieu Abbey
This abbey was founded in 1144 by the Cistercian order who believed luxury was detrimental to spiritual life, so the abbey was built without ostentatious ornamentation, as well as the simple architecture.  It was destroyed by the routiers (armed mercenaries) and rebuilt in 1275; then sold in 1791 and became a farm; it become a historical monument in 1875.  It is now a Historical Site and Art Gallery. Very  spectactular!  It is about 8kms from Caylus.

Sculpture and painting show by French artist Odile Cartieau. John McNorton, DRAWinternational director, is checking out the work.

Notice how bright it is?  The stained glass windows have been replaced with clear glass to let more light in for the gallery space. It's absolutely luminous.

Fellow artist in residence, Jeannine Cook (fabulous silver point artist from UK/USA) standing next to one of the paintings in the Beaulieu Abbey.  This painting has a similar look to silver point work.

Such a beautiful inspirational space.

Very old pump in the courtyard area.