We had plenty of time to fill in before booking into Faux la Montagne so we took a detour to the old village of Oradour-sur-Glane. It was a rainy day and we were unsure as to whether we wanted to wander around in the rain, but we are so glad we did.

Oradour-sur-Glane, the place of a horrific war crime which took place 10th June 1944, during World War II. During the war the village was far from any centre of conflict, was not, nor had ever been an active resistance stronghold. Yet on that Saturday, men from the Der Führer Regiment of the 2nd Waffen SS Panzer Division Das Reich, drove into Oradour and killed everyone that they could find, a total of 642 men, women and children. The village was then looted and every building, set on fire. To this day there is no universally agreed explanation as to why the SS acted as they did, or why they chose Oradour for their attack. The village remains untouched as a reminder of the events that day. So very sad...so many visitors, so many ghosts.

We spent so much time walking around the town and taking photos and afterwards found a lovely little cafe in the "new" town to have lunch. We also made friends with a group of oldies from the UK which was nice.

Our home for the next two nights is the River Cottage, deep amidst the trees in the rolling hills of Limousin in the grounds of Le Moulin de Villesaint. The building is a converted water mill, that has a tranquil fishing lake and is surrounded by beautiful woodland. The main house of the property sits one side of a small creek, a barn and other outbuildings the other and our "River cottage" rests on a little island mid-stream. We are 3 km from the village of Faux la Montagne, it is very peaceful and extremely relaxing.

The property is the home of Chris and Brian, who moved from the UK in December to be near their daughter and Grand daughter who live in the area. It is also home to geese, goats and two adorable kittens that love Ian. They follow him around everywhere. One even jumped in the car with him.