Crecy La Chapelle is a small town/large village about 9km from where we are staying and we had it on our list of visits for a day when it wasn’t as hot. When we woke up this morning (nice, peaceful night with no drips!) there were quite a lot of clouds so we decided to head there. Daisy wanted to come so we levered her out of bed (never the easiest) and set off around 1030.
Along the canal by the clocktower 
Bob and Daisy on a flowery bridge 
many houses have private docks/boathouses 
Musing Bob…. 
The Town Hall 
Daisy and I toast lunch in our different ways….. 
My fillet of ling and asparagus 
Daisy’s steak and frites 
The ling was so perfect 
Bob in one of Crecy’s squares
It was a lovely drive through the green countryside, lots of trees with small streams running under them. Crecy La Chapelle is called the Village of the Painters because it was a popular place amongst a group of them in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. Corot, Toulouse Lautrec, lots of the Impressionists came and stayed here. It’s not hard to see why. Also called Little Venice, tiny canals wind through ancient houses, their clear waters full of drifting green weed and lilies. Ruined medieval towers and walls drip with creepers and flowers…. It’s very picturesque. Apparently these days a lot of the Disney execs live there. You can hardly believe you are so close to Paris or the theme parks. It’s another world.
It was easy parking in one of the free village carparks. We then just walked all around, following the canals, into tiny cartways and under arches. Being a Monday it was pretty quiet and lots of shops weren’t open which was a shame because there looked to be some good arts and crafts ones. We scouted out a few places for lunch and in the end picked one called Kota Cote. https://www.rg-gastronomie-lpa.fr/
It was a really good choice. We sat outside in the sunshine. Lovely. It was a super day after all. The lunch menu was 16.5 euro for 2 courses and there was plenty of choice. I had the terrine to start with, which was chunky and meaty. Daisy had egg salad. Bob was saving himself for pudding having seen apple tart on the menu. For mains I had a fillet of ling served with a lemon cream sauce and asparagus. It was absolute perfection. Probably one of the best cooked pieces of fish I’ve ever had. Daisy had beef steak, served blue, with two cheese sauces, one brie, one blue, and chips. Bob had a chicken Thai style curry. And afterwards he had his big slice of apple tart which I must say looked delicious.
We popped into the Carrefour to pick up some more cheese. Daisy has demolished the brie. We are right in the centre of the brie region here so we plan to go to the factory in Meaux on another day to see it made and of course for the err…. sampling……
Got back to our little house at around 2 and turned ourselves around and went to the pool because by then the sun was well and truly out. Had several hours sunning and swimming.
Tonight I cooked up some simple burgers and we sipped our drinks out on the terrace. Great news is that Lucy is hoping to get back to the UK for a couple of weeks at the beginning of August. I will have two chicks in the nest again!!!