Little Boussac
Boussac is a small market village in the green and pastoral Creuse department where we stayed for a night to break up our trip south from Paris to Provence. The village was put on the map by two dynamic South Africans who renovated a chateau in the town, La Creuzette, and turned it into an exceptional retreat. Many of those that came to stay in turn bought and renovated houses and a small and lively multi-cultural community has developed in this otherwise entirely authentically French village.
Boussac has a feel of remoteness, peace, and otherworldliness which is often missing from the more touristed parts of France. It is surrounded by lovely undulating landscape punctured with pretty villages, huge round bales of hay, and the white Charolais cows of the region. The village boast a beautiful castle perched and looking down at a gentle river, an old Church on a pretty square which could be used as a film set, and a number of well preserved historic houses. Boussac even boasts an old fashioned cinema. It is worth a visit, and Liora has had a number of restful and gentle holidays there with close friends.
A good place to stay is in the newly purchased Hotel Central which has just been spruced up by a lovely young and energetic couple. They are both from the local area, but have gone abroad to experience the culinary edges of New Zealand to return with a fresh take on French cuisine. We had dinner there with a friend and it was really good food, and their attention to good service and quality restored our faith in the frequently elusive French entrepreneurial spirit.
If you do visit, its worth being there on a Thursday for market day when the town comes alive. The town square is filled with cheese stands, butchers selling irresistible grilled chicken (‘poulet roti’), clothes sellers, bread makers, knife merchants and more. It's fun to spend a couple of hours there after a coffee at the main square café.
It was certainly a lovely way to spend the early hours of the morning, before packing our car and driving south-east for the day through ever changing impressive landscapes and valleys. En route, our market purchases were assembled as the most delicious goats cheese, tomato and basil sandwiches on beautifully crusty freshly baked bread. We indulged as we drove towards the Luberon to the tune of our Italian language lessons.
