The village of Aubignas is located in southern Ardèche, near the town of Teil. Little known by tourist circuits, it is worth a detour for its volcanic stone houses which give it a unique appearance. In addition, many of its alleys are pedestrianized. The dark basalt stones stand out thanks to the light sand joints coming from a quarry not far from Aubignas.
Aubignas is a commune in the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as Aubignassiens or Aubignassiennes.
Barnes played a role in everything from the invention of football to the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Carla Passino takes a closer look.
Toby Keel – January 6, 2021
Until an army of 19th-century engineers descended on Barnes to build bridges and railways, this was a world apart, a rural idyll preserved intact by the Thames that bounds it on three sides.
Mentioned in the Domesday Book, the village had made history even earlier, when it was granted by King Æthelstan to the canons of St Paul in the 900s. The link between Barnes and St Paul’s persists more than 1,000 years on, as the Dean and Chapter owns one of the local gems: 122-acre Barnes Common.
Today, its woodland and acid grass-land are an oasis for hedgehogs, bats, butterflies and Nature-starved Londoners, but, for many centuries, they were home to grazing cattle. The livestock even became embroiled in a dispute between Barnes and neighbouring Putney in 1589, when ‘the men of Barnes refused to allow the men of Putney to use the Common and impounded their cattle,’ reports A History of the County of Surrey.
Welcome to the United Arab Emirates!! This is the start of our new FOOD series from this amazing and diverse country. We are leaving the big city of Dubai to show you the traditional food and culture of the Emirates, starting with a very special family meal, and ending with an awesome desert feast!
BIG thank you to our friends Omar and Salem for their help and hospitality. For our first Emirati family experience and food, we were kindly invited to the guest home of the Royal Al Qasimi family. We ate a delicious Arabic biryani, salads and Khabees (traditional dessert). This food is often what guests will experience when they are invited into a family’s home. After the meal, it is also common to enjoy a cup of Arabic coffee, which was rich with cardamon. The family was also kind enough to show us their vintage car collection, which included the original Land Rover from 1948. Thank you very much for the warm invitation and the wonderful gifts! Next, we explored the town of Ras al-Khaimah to see original architecture, old cafes and experience real Emirati lifestyle.
We visited the oldest cafe in the city, where locals from the mountains and locals from the coast would meet and exchange news and drink tea. We tried their sangini tea and it was very sweet. We also stopped at a traditional juice stall that serves mixed fruit juices with avocado. So refreshing! We then drove into the desert near Sharjah, to visit Omar’s family farm. Along the way we met a camel farmer who offered us tea and Omani halwa.
At Omar’s desert farm, we started cooking Majboos, an Arabic rice dish that is cooked with goat, vegetables, potatoes, dried fruits and tons of spices. The Majboos was then cooked for several hours over wood fire, which worked up a big appetite! The Majboos is served on a massive tray and shared with everyone. The goat was so tender and the rice soaked up all of the flavours of the spices. It was an extremely special experience and we are very grateful.
Raggiolo, the small village characterized by ancient fortifications, narrow and cobbled streets, small houses with tiny patches of land supported by dry stone walls, the village still perfectly preserves its original characteristics.
Located on the slopes of Pratomagno in the Casentino valley in the center of famous historical and tourist resorts such as La Verna, Camaldoli, Poppi and Arezzo, easily reachable along the roads that are themselves part of the beauty of the journey. In the silence of places pervaded by a kind of suspension of time, Raggiolo dominates its magnificently outdated valley from above. It presents itself with the simplicity of someone who has deep roots, more than millenary and an ancient and noble historical legacy of pride, of daily confrontation with the harshness of life, of ancestry that extends into the night of the centuries.
Stories of Longobards, of feudal lords and in particular of a Corsican colony that the tradition of the town has deduced here centuries ago. Stubborn people that of Raggiolo, indomitable and cunning, tempered by fatigue. Mountain people with a life marked by dried chestnuts, by familiarity with the forest and with animals, by transhumance in the Maremme. Fast with the billhook and the pinnate, daring in the use of the knife, of unusual physical vigor, lively intelligence. And a hard misery to endure in the intense cold of winters among polenta, boiled chestnuts and cheese.
Curiosity: ✱”La Brigata di Raggiolo” is the name of the local pro loco. Thanks to this association, the village is full of interesting cultural, folkloristic and territorial promotion activities that are held throughout the year. In particular, we should remember “The talks of Raggiolo”, an annual event where scholars of various kinds meet in this village to discuss topics related to Pratomagno and the “Festa di Castagnatura”, a festival dedicated to chestnuts which is generally held in the last weekend of October.
North of Madrid lies the Sierra de Guadarrama, part of the larger Sistema Central, the chain of mountains snaking down the centre of Spain. With their close proximity to Madrid, the mountains are a popular spot for a day trip, whether you like sports, nature or exploring historic towns and villages.
Makkum is one of those small, but charming towns in the northern province of Friesland. Also a short impression of the harbor of Stavoren and a lot of migrating geese nearby.
Makkum is a village of Súdwest-Fryslân municipality, west of Bolsward on the banks of the lake IJsselmeer in the province Friesland of the Netherlands. It had a population of around 3,460 in January 2017, making it the largest village of the former municipally Wûnseradiel.
The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main physiographic regions.
A walking scenic fairy tail in 4K Gimmelwald is a very originally preserved mountain farming village with around 100 inhabitants. Here we live in close contact with nature and our animals. The village is characterised by flower-decorated chalets in front of the four-thousand-metre high mountain massif of the Jungfrau. The sound of cowbells is usually the only thing that changes the peaceful atmosphere. If you are looking for a truly idyllic holiday resort, you have come to the right place.
Gimmelwald is a small traffic free village in the Bernese Oberland in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, and is located between Stechelberg and Mürren, at an elevation of 1363 meters. The village is at the foot of the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area.
Perched on a cliff overlooking the River Ardèche, the superb village of Balazuc has restored its heritage remarkably well. A former stronghold of the lords of Balazuc, this little village, with its rich medieval past, is today listed amongst the most beautiful villages in France.
A charming labyrinth of tortuous streets interspersed by arched passages, arcades and stairways, to be enjoyed on foot, during a delightful stroll. (English subtitles)
Ranked among the most beautiful villages in France, Vogüé takes place in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in the department of Ardèche. Located in a limestone cliff, the town is today an important tourist site appreciated by visitors. English subtitles.
Boomers Daily 