With the gang together (Adam and I, my parents, Pam and Fred, their poodle puppy), we decided to make the short drive – through fields of wheat, grapes and sunflowers – to the coastal town of Talmont-sur-Gironde. Talmont is one of Pam and Fred’s favorite places to spend an afternoon and it quickly became ours too when we visited in February. A fact which will surprise no one: the village is a member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (the most beautiful villages of France) association. Among other things it’s visited because of its well preserved shuttered homes, its bounty of colorful hollyhocks and the Church of St Radegonde which sits on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic ocean.