Issey and Ame had found a place for us all to stay, four apartments set around a courtyard surrounded by beautifully kept gardens. The property was set in four acres on several levels with a swimming pool, a grassy play area and an enormous table under cover at one end of the courtyard. There was plenty of space for us to park our camper on the lower level.
There were seventeen of us staying for nine days, arriving on the Saturday, Issey and Ame’s wedding taking place the following Friday. It was a major exercise keeping everyone fed and watered but fortunately each family member played their part – someone made cups of tea, others poured gins and tonics, the more gifted manned the barbecue whilst the rest of us did the washing up. It was great fun and the “children”, whose ages ranged from three to nineteen, spent most of the days playing around the (unheated) pool.
The weather was not being kind to us and after a couple of sunny days the thunderstorms came on an almost daily basis. We had long sunny spells and then the big black clouds would roll in bringing heavy downpours. It was so disappointing and, in spite of our weather forecasting apps, it was impossible to judge when the rain would arrive.
