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Midginbil Hill 400 acres of botanical garden
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Swimming pool and colonial-style house, flowers, birds, imposing trees, and space. The owners have, despite all this comfort, kept this adventurous and dynamic side.
Big 4x4, up at 6 o’clock, smiling and spontaneous welcome. Annette and John are real hosts, everything is arranged tastefully and without excess. They have worked 25 years on this magnificent property. A kind of peaceful island in the country. Do they draw their energy from their 200-year-old adventurer’s story or perhaps from this generous nature?
John and Annette Flower will come to La Bastide Puylaurent next September. They will soon retire and take their time to travel at their leisure; 2, 3 or even 6 months. Already, I tell them about La Garde Guérin with its medieval tower from the 11th century and Les Vans, a small town full of charm and sun between Ardèche and Gard.
Unlike Peter and Sherry from Benbellen Farmstay, they do not want to burden themselves with animals. It is true, as Annette says, that a dog and a cat around and the birds have disappeared. And birds, there are of all colors and all songs.
At the top of the hill, under this immense tree, whose name I have forgotten, John gets off his horse and kneels as if by intuition, he was looking for a trace. The photographer was ready, the end of the day had the desired brightness and the shot… successful.
Welcome to Midginbil Hill Resort!
Beautiful professional kitchen with large cold room, clear, sober and spacious dining room with a beautiful exotic wood floor. The balcony or rather the patio is one of the ideal relaxation spots. There, a few phrases come to mind like finding a good key to open a good door; exchanges give me the opportunity to open a nice door and access a valuable dynamic.
Annette and John have nothing more to prove, they are themselves. About ten employees in season to manage camps of young Japanese, American or Australian students who can go up to 150 young people. What energy! Annette has a generous smile, she makes you want to participate, she moves forward. There are also these 7 very nice rooms overlooking the flower garden.
Small seaside restaurant located half an hour from Midginbil Hill, served by two handsome smiling boys, who despite the few customers, offer us a 5-star service. John laughs and Caroline is on a little Australian flying carpet… Another small glass of this very good Australian wine.
Like many, they are eager to discover the real France; this France that we talk about so little. Finally, no longer being taken for “customers” or “tourists” but friends, guests, and colleagues. I feel that I will be able to meet their expectations and… they trust me.
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Tomorrow week we are off to France for 5 weeks, flying from Brisbane via Tokyo and Moscow to Paris. On the return journey, after spending 5 nights in Paris
we have a 2 night/3 day stopover in Moscow which should be very different from anywhere else we've ever been to, then we have 12 daytime hours in Tokyo.
After arriving we catch a high speed train to Lyon and then a local train to a village called La
Bastide-Puylaurent which is in the mountain country of the Cevennes between Lyon and the Mediterranean, north of Provence. Here we will be staying with
our friend, Philippe who visited us twice at Midginbil.
He runs a Gite (Inn) for walkers who stay there while walking particularly the GR®70, the trail followed by Robert Louis Stevenson for 2 months in 1878 with his donkey, Modestine. He subsequently wrote the book 'Travels with a donkey in the Cevennes'. I think the trail is about 220km long. We hope to walk stages of it by catching local transport to return to
the gite which is called L'Etoile, which of course you will remember from your French days at school, means The star.
He started an "Innkeepers' Exchange" several by emailing owners of small guesthouses, first of all in the US and then in Canada, Australia, Poland and
Morocco. As he only works for 4 months of the year, and is a flamboyant bachelor, the rest of the year he has free accommodation in different parts of the world in exchange for a similar visit to
L'Etoile. Great idea if you only work 4 months of the year: hence our long awaited trip to France.
Following our time with Philippe we will enjoy rural France, especially the food and the wine!!
Local knowledge when we get there will point us in the right directions, I'm sure, but they will probably include Provence, maybe Marseilles, the Loire Valley and following the trails of the
painters. More anon no doubt.
We had a good trip to Amsterdam with no problems. Went to the Tourist Bureau and they booked us a double room at a Backpackers Hotel in a central spot. Went to the van
Gogh and Rikjsmuseum and many other wonderful places with an "Iamsterdam" pass and ate lots of great food. We stayed there 4 nights and booked into a B&B in Edam, a half hour bus ride to
the north. We stayed there for 3 nights and used the B&B's bikes to do 2 day rides of 25 and 40 kms both north and south of Edam. Like Brugge, the architecture in Amsterdam and the small towns
was fantastic. After Edam we went by train to Paris for 5 nights and adored Paris. Would like to have been there for a lot longer, so perhaps we'll have to return there, as well as to our favourite place, L'Etoile.
Moscow was awesome and the English speaking guide was excellent and the accommodation was in a building like a Palace. The architecture in Moscow
was spectacular and colourful and the economy there is thriving. Thy have a fair way to go, though, to catch up with other countries with their food and with their public relations. They haven't
really learnt, yet, about using "charm" in tourism.
Philippe, we had a wonderful trip with many contrasting experiences. Without you to be the focus of our trip, we'd probably not have gone at all! What
a shame that would have been. Thank you for all you did for us. We loved staying at L'Etoile and seeing with our own eyes how you manage, magically, to run L'Etoilesingle handed and cook such
delicious 5 course meals every night including your home made bread! It was great visiting Pierre at La Garde-Guerin, Elizabeth at St Laurent les Bains and the Abbey Notre Dame des Neiges and getting the wine and the cheese and dropping off the guests' gear and riding down the Pied de Borne was a highlight for me, especially.
Walking for the 2 days on the GR®70 Stevenson's Trail was unforgettable. So
many high points, including sitting out on your verandah having a beer/wine before dinner and enjoying your stories and your sense of humour. Also to travel with you to Brussels (and go to Mercier
Champagne at Epernay and be lucky enough to be in the area during the picking season) and to be welcomed so warmly by your 2 brothers and family was very special. I could go on and on and will when I write my story for you. It will have to wait for a while as things are busy for me until
after Xmas but I won't forget to do it.
Please say Hi to Serge and Deria, and to Daniel, and also to Annette if you are in touch with her. I enjoyed her company and that of your other guests
especially Denis and Maree-Edith. She tried so hard to communicate with me using her schoolgirl English. I promised I would write to her which will be fun. Must go, Philippe. We will always have very special memories of our time with you and look forward to you visiting us again in Australia. Keep in touch.
To our friendship! Annette and John
Annette and John Flower, Midginbil Hill, Uki, New South Wales, Australia - Map 
Old romantic Hotel, L'Etoile Guest-House is a
mountain retreat in the South of France. With a beautiful park along the Allier River,
L'Etoile Guesthouse is located in La Bastide-Puylaurent between Lozere, Ardeche and Cevennes. Many hiking trails like GR®7, GR®70 Stevenson trail, GR®72, GR®700 Regordane way, Cevenol, GR®470 Allier river, Margeride. Many hiking loops. The right place to
relax.
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