Birds of Prey

Theresa writes:
Day 24

This morning we went to Chateau les Milandes.  This was a much smaller castle than others we have seen as a rich man built it for his wife 600 years ago.  It was never lived in by kings or queens but it is still very beautiful. 

Its most famous owner was Josphine Baker, an American dancer/singer from the 1940's, She lived there with her 12 adopted children and she put in lots of bathrooms.  It was one of the first castles in the area to have indoor plumbing.

There were a lot of owls and falcons at this castle.  In the Middle Ages having birds of prey was a hobby for the rich lords.  They would employ falconers to look after their birds and they would train them to chase rabbits and other small animals.  We saw a magnificent display of these birds - they would fly about from post to post and also landing on the special glove. 

We had lunch at a picnic table by the Dordogne river.  It is still swollen and fast due to all the recent rain so we won't be able to canoe as we had hopped.  Whilst we were having our lunch the rain begun but luckily there was a massive empty circus tent nearby so we took shelter there and finished our picnic along with another family. It was a pretty awesome spot to have our lunch.

Afterwards we went to Domme, a small walled city.  They put a massive wall around it so they could protect themselves from attacks by their enemies.  We walked all around these old walls and saw the fantastic views. 

Then we came home and the children swam in the pool.  They had to get out when a thunderstorm started as I was afraid they would be hit by lightening.  We have had a lot of rain whilst we have bee in the Dordogne but the children have swum everyday.