What can you give a beagle that has everything? Well apart from a lifetime pass to the nearest fridge the next best thing is a lovely woodland walk. Last Sunday Oscar turned 8 - of all of our menagerie that's the only birthday we know for sure because our little pedigree chum has a birth certificate. On this wonderful little document it states that he is from a line of French champions but sadly, in his case, unless this honour is directly related to eating, our little porky mutt will not be following in their footsteps.
Little Oskie came to us with problems to overcome. From puppyhood he was a nervous little fellow and if caught off guard to this day an unexpected gas explosion emanating from his rear end is enough to make him jump. It doesn't really take a genius to figure out that he wouldn't have lasted long if he had been purchased for his bred purpose of hunting. With the addition of a heart murmur and an expensive operation to fix two slipped discs he was very lucky to have ended up with a soppy English couple!
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| Baby Oscar when we first brought him home... ahhhh! |
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| In the window box of our old house - I'd like to see him try that now! |
So last Sunday instead of setting up the market stall to sell my
trucs or going on a buying expedition we took a weekend off from all of that in favour of the ultimate doggy treat. Finding some woods was our next challenge. Being surrounded by Cognac vines is truly wonderful but there are very few trees around our home to challenge Oscar's highly tuned nose. It was while pondering this problem that I remembered reading about an old
hunting park that was used by King François 1st and situated in the heart of Cognac. This 500 hectare wooded parkland can be found just a short distance from town along the right bank of the River Charente.
Having bundled the dogs into the car Oscar's highly strung younger brother Jake (pointer/Tigger mix) began making very annoying squeaky noises - no doubt a direct result of his recent trip to the vets for his yearly vaccination. Luckily for the rest of us he gradually calmed down and eventually contented himself with sticking his head out of the window and letting his tongue wave luxuriously in the breeze.
On arrival the weather turned a bit drizzly but there was no going back as we were dragged off down one of the paths. It's a wonderful feeling to be strolling through some woods knowing that you are within easy walking distance of a town and having explored a labyrinth of pathways four half and hour or so we decided we'd had more than enough fresh air and exercise and it was time to go in search of a
chocolat chaud!
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| Jake and Oscar in clover! |
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| Me (cold and tired) with the boys (raring to go) |
On the way into town we found a lovely little tree lined strip of land called the
Promenade du Parc where Belle Epoque ladies with parasols would have paraded up and down the grassy central strip whilst carriages drove along the tree lined avenues on either side. It was all the more charming for its faded elegance and led to a striking war memorial. We took a slight detour and wandered up a couple of back streets to Cognac's formal park the
Jardin Public which houses the elegant
Hôtel de Ville.
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| The Hôtel de Ville in the Jardin Public |
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| The Place François 1er in the heart of Cognac |
From there it was just a few minutes to
Place François 1er where we sat outside a pavement
café and enjoyed a warming hot chocolate complete with whipped cream on the top (well we'd earned it!) When it was time to go home we reversed the remarkable walk through town, park and woodland and all bundled back into the car - tired, happy and dreaming of the big squidgy sofa waiting for us back home (bliss).
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| Dreams of walkies |
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