Inspiring
Experiences
La Croix des Granges offers workshops, themed visits and conferences off the beaten tracks
Our wellness
workshops
Writing workshops
Writing workshop N°1: How to build a story? (5 days, with a minimum of 8 participants):
• How to start and continue writing
• Characters
• The narrative structure
• Dialogs
• Style
Writing workshop N°2: Reconcile with your emotions!
(5 days, with a minimum of 8 participants):
With a psychoanalyst and a writer, open yourself to the world of emotions which we think are negative, such as wrath, sadness, guilt, shame and fear.
French as a foreign language
Workshop N°1: Do you speak French ?
(5 days/ 8 participants)
I'm the author of an essay on the Anglo-French rivalry since the battle of Hastings in 1066, and I can offer you the opportunity to polish your French culture and knowledge of French (2 hour course in the morning and a 2 hour walking conversation to bluff your way through French culture!)
Workshop N°2: Sprechen Sie Französisch ?
5 days/ 8 participants
With a teacher of German who taught German in Berlin, translator from German, discover the secrets of FrenchLanguage. (2 hour course in the morning and a 2 hour walking conversation to bluff your way about French culture)
Enlighten yourselves
on a gastronomic workshop
1-5 days with a minimum of 6 participants, options available according to availibility and season.
• The art of macaron : learn the secrets of this French delight with Julie, a talented baker.
• Looking for black gold : sign up for the « cavage », ie search of truffles with trained dogs
• Home made foie gras maison :with a renown chef in Périgord cuisine, learn to make your own foie gras
• Initiation to permaculture : take your first steps.
• Périgord nut from the walnuthull to the oil.
• Périgord is also the place for strawberries, learn about the different varieties and how to grow them successfully
Yoga and meditation workshop
5 days with a minimum of 8 participants
With Amy Barett, former journalist with the Wall Street Journal, yoga teacher, 2 hours of yoga in the morning and 2 hours of meditation in the afternoon.
Walking workshop :
on Harry Barker's tracks
In Two summers in Guyenne, chronicles of the Wayside and Waterside, the traveling journalist, HarryBarker tells his exploration of the river Dronne, 90 kms of walking paths along one of the prettiest river in France.
We offer you to follow his tracks in 5-7days : we take you each morning to a new starting point with a picnic basket and pick you up at your arrival.
Themed
visits
High Spirit
Each day visit a vineyard and a place of worship: in Cognac (cognac & l'église Saint-Léger), in Périgueux (Bergerac wine & cathédrale Saint-Front), in Aubeterre-sur-Dronne (pinault des Charentes & the subterranean monolithic church of Saint-Jean) and in Monbazillac (Monbazillac vineyard & Cadouin cloister)
From one castle to an other
Each day visit a vineyard and a castle
There all is luxury, peace & pleasure
Visit the workshop of luxury by Hermes, become the godmother/father of a truffle oak, visit the mecca of French cutlery making in Nontron, Limoges Porcelaine, famous Repetto dance shoes in Saint-Médard d'Excideuil, and each day have lunch in a gastronomic restaurant.
Lectures
for the future
Tales of the French language
A cycle of 10 lectures
I created Par Monts et Par Mots, a TV show about the French language, a subject I love and a fabulous theme, I'm happy to share with you through a series of lectures held by experts:
Glottophobia - French, the language of peace - Oral French, written French - French, the language of elite - French is not a musical language - French, the language of cuisine - French, the language of love - French, the language sciences - French, the language of fairy tales - French, the language of resistance - French, a story of import-export.
Brain storming over a tea cup
A cycle of 10 lectures: how is the world and how it could be better.
Once a journalist, always a journalist as the saying goes: after being the correspondant of French dailies Le Figaro in Budapest and for Le Monde in Prague, I keep a vibrant curiosity for the world around me. I wish to explore the crucial issues we as citizens are confronted with, with foresight and optimism with experts who will make us feel more clever.
