The beautiful staff at the Chateau arranged as number of activities for us while we were there.

They were all non compulsory and you could pick and choose what to do and how much studio time you wanted.

Day trip to Troyes: 

A beautiful medieval town about an hour away from Orquevaux. I’ve written a whole blog post about it. (See previous)

Massage: 

We had the option to book into a massage while we were there. I definitely took the chance. I do a lot of weight lifting exercise at home plus always getting myself into strange positions while I paint so my back really needed some TLC.

This massage was intense!

I think you could have opted for a more relaxation experience but I wanted a more remedial “please fix my back” situation and he really went to town. You could tell he really knew the body and every tiny muscle within. He kind of examined as he went and I had to do some deep breathing while he worked out some knots, but I felt a lot better after.

Two hour hike: 

The lovely Flora took a bunch of people for a big hike around the surrounding countryside. I think you ended up at a beautiful lookout - the photos looked so good! I didn’t do this as I wanted a full studio day.

The beautiful Netta came and sat for us. We went into the salon and she did a number of poses for us. We had four quick warm up 5 minute poses to warm up and do some gestural sketches. After that she did three longer 30 minute poses.

It was really nice to do life drawing again. I used to love it and I haven’t done it in about 20 years! It was also a good opportunity for me to use watercolour and charcoal again. Two mediums I haven’t played with for a while.

Karaoke: 

Well there is one way to break the ice and get a group to be friends quickly- karaoke on the third night! I was very nervous but honestly I think almost everyone got up and had a go. Everyone sang along and cheered regardless if you could hold a tune or not. Lea and I sang “I don’t wanna miss a thing” by Aerosmith together. Hilarious.

Bonfire: 

On the grounds not too far from the house is a bonfire area! We selected one of the warmer days and they fired it up after dinner. We all brang our wine from the wine cave and sat around in a big circle. They gave us marshmallows and roasting sticks which was great. I stayed for about an hour but got too cold after the sun went down.

Church visit: 

In the small village there is a lovely old church. It’s not currently in use but the owner let us in and we got to explore inside. Leah played the organ ( clever girl) which made it even better.

Workshops: 

There were a number of workshops offered that only went for an hour or two. Beulah gave a talk on ‘The Business of Art’ and gave insight into skills, strategies and best practice to make being an artist a career. How to work with Galleries etc.

There was also a group that was all about Grant writing and how to apply for them, writing your artist statement and a writers specific workshop. All the resources were emailed so we can go back when we need.

Wine and chips: 

This isn’t really an activity, but the ‘wine cave’ in the dungeon opens up at 6pm every night. Most nights we all sat around for an hour before dinner chatting and enjoying the delicious chips from the cave. It just became a bit of a ‘thing’ and I have never eaten so many chips in my life. 

Medieval dress up: 

The second last night was a celebration of everything we had accomplished. After lunch we listened to the writers pieces, watched the filmmakers short films and then did a tour of all the studios and looked at what our friends had created. It was a lovely afternoon of respectful awe of our different types of creativeness and ways of making art. We finished up with cheese and wine and then a dance party in the stables. There is a room down in the dungeons filled with costumes so this was the time to dress up and bust out our best dance moves! We hooked up our phones to a boom box and had a brilliant night. It wasn’t just for the young ones either, plenty of the older guests proved they still had it when it came to partying. There was tequila - enough said. I think I got to bed about 12:30am so not too bad really.

Gallery exhibition on the last night: 

At 6pm we were all invited to Gallery Diderot (in the village) to see our works displayed and have a final glass of champagne together. Every resident had the opportunity to donate to the permanent collection of the Chateau which will stay in their catalogue of works and artists. I donated one of my favourite pieces and we had a final celebration as a group.

After dinner I went and said my teary goodbyes and went up to bed early. I had a 4:30am start the next morning to be the train to Paris for my flight home.