Country festival in Cozes.

On April 19/20th , Cozes offered a great family and friends day out. Every year Cozes a small town south of Royan is pleased to welcome people to its country music festival. Lots of volunteers spend countless hours of time, effort and enthusiasm to the success of this memorable weekend! When we arrived on site line dancing was in full swing. We met our friends at the beer tent and enjoyed watching the line dancers. There were also a good variety of stalls selling clothes, jewelly, western wear, belts, hats ...and vintage cars, motorbikes and trikes were displayed. This year my article will emphasize the horseback rides and educational demonstrations for axample our friends watched a rider who had his horse perform a dressage number for visitors . We noticed that horses love to be photographed and cuddled! and people's common love of the horse is very effective in forming bonds of friendship.

Horses and poneys looked at their best and the latter waited for kids to be ridden. Francesca on the photo looks confident on her first poney ride!This kind of event is also a day of togetherness with grandparents and children and horse and poney owners like to share this festive time with all the visitors.

At around 7.00pm we left the festival and went home to have a rest for we had left Paris at 4.00am and needed a break before going back to the country festival for the live country music concert. On Sunday morning I joined a group of walkers. We left Cozes at about 10.00am and walked across scenic country taking in spectacular views which are so unique. The rural countryside offers unspoilt and beautiful nature trails which avoid paved roads. However we didn't walk along nature trails because it had rained a lot and it was slippery . We took some quiet narrow roads and had a good time talking about flowers and nature. We walked past hamlets following the itinary planned by our guide Graziela. The scenery was breathtaking and we were lucky because the weather was quite good. We reached our final destination " Les Monards" at about 11.30am . There we met the horseback riders who were having a rest with their horses. We all had an excellent "snack" composed of bread and pat� , homemade cakes, coffee or a glass of wine. I didn't have time to walk back to the departure meeting point because my family was waiting for me to have lunch. But I promised to join in for a future walk.Cozes has been running the country festival for a few years now and I'm sure its success is due to its friendly live aspect.Horseback riders and walkers enjoyed being off the beaten tracks and our region is ideal for riding and walking. And France was the country where equestrian travel was reborn and most highly developed. The common love for horses adds an additional bond with local people.

PS : Thank you Catherine for the photos.