Walking in the footsteps of Johnny Depp

The town church in Villeberny, Eglise Nicolas, rings its bells every hour and every half hour between 7am and 7 pm. We were entertained this morning with the church bells ringing for what seemed like 10 minutes. The funny thing was, all the local dogs, and I do mean all, started howling. We were looking out of the window of our A-frame cottage watching the

mist and the rain slowly creep over the mountain, dogs howling, church bells going crazy, it was like the opening scene from a horror movie.

On our way out of town we just had to stop and take a photo of the church, and it was there we met the most friendly resident you could ever hope to meet. After explaining to her in my school girl French "nous sommes d' Australie" and that we don't speak French, She insisted on having a long one sided conversation. l caught a word here and there, told her we spent the night at Mathew's Place and she seemed so excited.

She continued to talk for a few minutes and wished us well, then continued her morning walk through the town.

One of our favourite French movies to watch in preparation for this trip was "Chocolat" with Jonny Depp, Juliette Binoche and Judi Dench. It was set in the hilltop village of Flavigney-sur-Ozerain, which was our first stop for the day. We found the chocolate shop and the church from the movie. The shop is now a deserted store front. So sad.

The main attraction of this beautiful village is the Aniseed Lolly Factory. The abbey is the only place where famous Anis de Flavigny sweets are made and they are available in a dozen different flavours, including peppermint, blackcurrant and violet. The recipe has remained unchanged since the 16th

century during the time of King Louis IX.

It was in Flavigney where our unexpected fascination of crypts and churches began. Each town and village has at least one church and inside they have elaborate glass windows and columns, some had huge pipe organs. They were quite amazing pieces of architecture.

We walked the Ramparts and loved the views over the Ozerain Valley. Everything was so green and lush.

Our home for the next four night is "La petite maison du Papy", another cute cottage in the heart of Burgundy. It is nestled under the Castle and Church of Chatellenot and our neighbours...the Chatellenot cemetery.