• Welcome to La Belle 55

    Roses planted by my great grandmother Mami

  • Pass through the Garage

    That the men in my family built

  • Arrive at the Garden

    And discover the space I have created for this Party

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CELEBRATE!

Join me for a celebration tour and Garden Party in Southern France. Cheers to joy, connection, and the charm of the land where I was born. The party theme is Garden Party in the Forests of France…. (Belesta is known for its mushroom hunting, but please bring a resident with you if you do so, as it is illegal for a non-resident of the village to pick any.)
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ITINERARY

A Dual Celebration: Annabel’s 55th Birthday & the Christening of La Musee Art Studio & Garden. After 10 years of emptying, cleaning, and setting up the garage the men in my family built together… it’s the greatest gift to see it become a working creative space again.
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MEAL PAYMENTS

It’s time for me to pre-pay the restaurants and wine cave.
Payments due as soon as possible, but please no later than September 1st, as I have to pay this week.
Please click here to select all of the meals/events you will attend. It will tally up your costs to pay through PayPal or Zelle (preferred). Thank you so much for doing this ASAP. (If only I were rich and could treat you all!!)
Follow a manual added link

Join me for a celebration tour and Garden Party in Southern France. Cheers to joy, connection, and the charm of the land where I was born. The party theme is Garden Party in the Forests of France…. (Belesta is known for its mushroom hunting, but please bring a resident with you if you do so, as it is illegal for a non-resident of the village to pick any.)

Follow a manual added link
A Dual Celebration: Annabel’s 55th Birthday & the Christening of La Musee Art Studio & Garden. After 10 years of emptying, cleaning, and setting up the garage the men in my family built together… it’s the greatest gift to see it become a working creative space again.
Follow a manual added link
It’s time for me to pre-pay the restaurants and wine cave. Please click here to select all of the meals/events you will attend. It will tally up your costs to pay through PayPal. Even better for me, please Zelle me if you can @ iamhealthe@proton.me when you see your tally. Thank you so much for doing this ASAP. (If only I were rich and could treat you all!!)

A 10-year Reno of the Garage the Sclippa men built in Southern France

Annabel’s 55th Birthday & La Musee Art Studio Christening


Dear Friends & Family,

I am so very much looking forward to seeing you at my Party in my Birthplace!
The only Present I need is your Presence

ARRIVAL: TOULOUSE AIRPORT *

Best to Rent a Car @the Airport (can rent in Foix but then need to bus & train to a smaller car selection of an extra $100 a week)* Since many will be flying into Toulouse – let me know if interested in rental-car sharing.

Toulouse “The Rose City” has been considered by Lonely Planet to be the most beautiful city in the world ~ and my dear Aunt Annick, who speaks decent English and is a pro Tour Guide, will be happy to tour you if you make time in Toulouse, coming or going.  Annick Hautefort: WhatsApp  (France +33) 6 84 38 49 00.

EVENT LOCATION/CONTACT:

25, Ave de Lavelanet, Belesta 09300 FR * “Antonin’s” (our little cottage is named after my Great-Uncle who lived there – he was a bicycle builder & repairman). Party will be in the backyard of La Musee at the back of the property – although just a garage – The Museum was named for the collections my dad and uncles would bring home from their years in Africa, etc – Has been emptied and has been my renovation for the last 10 years – slow, but sure…

USA/WhatsApp +1-928-593-0827 Call or Text me for Anything U Need!

France is different about some things.

Lunch is STRICTLY 12-2 (1200-1400HRS) and many other things are closed then. Lunch is hard to find outside of those hours. Other merchants have very specific and varied OPEN days/times, so I have included links on most of Belesta’s in the following paragraph.

In Belesta: Carrefour SUPERMARKET – click link for hours -you can grab snacks and necessities; also has gas pumps & coin laundry machines. We also have a decent Pharmacy de la Haute Vallee, Chez Titi tabac w/coffee and wine, Boulangerie Sylvestre, Boucherie Julia, an ATM machine next to the tiny Post Office (you can only buy stamps here, but buy postcards at Chez Titi, and can only mail in the box at the old PO across from Palais Cathare when the little PO isn’t open as they have no exterior box), and of course Palais Cathare, which is the only hotel, restaurant and bar, and is where most of you will be staying. There are a couple Bric-a-Brac with amazing finds, and a gorgeous Potterie shop with many items small enough to bring home gifts easily.

*Lunches/Dinners Requiring Reservations: I have arranged fixed menus for our week and need to collect confirmations and deposits from you: CLICK HERE.*

A Dual Celebration

Itinerary

September 10th, Wednesday

​7:30PM Dinner at Palais Cathare – Reservation Only

September 11th, Thursday

11:30AM to 4PM
Sparkling Wine PickUp & LUNCH in Limoux – Reservation Only

Cars are leaving Belesta from the parking lot across from my house at 11:30 SHARP (please).

12:30PM Lunch at La Taverne de Bacchus

Just outside of the town of Limoux we will enjoy a special estate lunch before heading to my favorite “blanquette” and “cremate” cave Guinot.

2:30 is our 30-45 minute cave tour … It is down a flight of stairs, so I haven’t gone on it before, … let’s see what happens.

Afterwards, back up in their tasting room – a small tasting and opportunity for you to purchase, and we will be picking up all the cases for the party on Saturday. They have a range of sparkling, white, rose, reds, and dessert wines, plus Eau de Vie, and a teeny tiny selection of local nibbles and treats – such as Violette candies.​

Then back to Belesta.

BY NOON NEED YOUR PIZZA ORDERS PLEASE

Optional Activities for late afternoon:

*Spend the afternoon meandering our little village, or surrounding areas (Montsegur? Fontestorbes? Mountain hike or bike?) or sleeping (me, likely will be)

*Afternoon Drive to La Fontaine de Fontestorbes to walk in the intermittent Cave where you can view stalactites and stalagmites, and on your drive to Montsegur, stop at a Roman drinking fountain to fill your bottles…

*Forage in the forest for the party table decorations. We will be hunting for forest apples, fern fronds, hazelnuts, mushrooms and other accoutrements.

until…

7PM to 9:30PM
Le P’tit Bonheur Pizza Truck, Belesta

Julien’s pizzas are well worth the 2-3 hour wait, but also why I asked him if we can order in advance! So please peruse his white, rose and red sauce selections, and let me know by noon that day. Then you’ll be able to stroll up to his truck and pick up your pie throughout the evening (he stays until like 9:30). Chez Titi has his patio in the same parking lot, right in the center of Belesta, to sit and order a glass of wine or beer, soda or water… or take it back to your place, or mine. I’ll have some salad available at my place to supplement all of the bread and cheese. 🙂 My favorite pizza is his Chevrette – the little goat – under the Creme Fraiche base selections.

MENU

September 12th, Friday

Morning Market in Foix – ends at 1:30PM

Pictured here. I like to leave by 11AM, which gives about 2 hours there. Those who wish to leave earlier to spend more time there, are welcome to, and it might be easier to find parking. On the way back from the Market, we will stop for lunch at the house of Ariege’s most haute cuisine.

12-12:15 I will be waiting at the Halle aux Graines for those who want to connect before we drive to lunch –

​1pm Lunch at Loustalet in Bastide Sur L’Hers – Reservation Only​

You have pre-paid this 2-course meal – DRINKS and DESSERTS and COFFEE are order and pay on-site

Optional Activities for afternoon:

*Afternoon Drive to La Fontaine de Fontestorbes to walk in the Cave, and drive/small hike to Montsegur, stop at Roman drinking fountain to fill your bottles…

​*In the afternoon/early evening the small Brocante (flea market) is OPEN. He calls it this, but it not small or lousy. It’s a multi-floor, triple-wide building in Belesta… He is only open twice a week because the rest of the time he is driving all over the region finding amazing little treasures. It is definitely worth a pop in. It’s halfway between my house and the Palais Cathare.

*Forage in the forest for the party table decorations. We will be hunting for forest apples, fern fronds, hazelnuts, mushrooms and other accoutrements.

​Dinner 7PM

In the trees, right out of town, and across the road from Fontestorbes – K’Bane Restaurant offers a more relaxed menu – no pre-ordering, but we will need a reservation.

September 13th, Saturday

4-6PM Nibbles, Champagne & Cake (but mostly Champagne & Cake) Celebration of all who made it! And a Birthday…

​6:30PM – Dinner at Palais Cathare – Reservation Only

September 14th, Sunday

9-12AM – Hike with my Uncle Salvador in the Pyrenees and visit the enchanting Roquefixade, a Cathar ruin…

Leaving from the parking lot in front of my house at 9am SHARP PLEASE – to follow my van to meet Salvador –

OPTIONS, Weather Dependent: Drive to Montsegur (the last stronghold of the Cathars), or put up your feet and rest, or Walk-N-Roll around the outer village fields along the river with Bella to work off some calories…

1:00PM Reservation (Leave Belesta at 12:45 – from in front of my house)
Lunch at Dorival in Puivert – Reservation Only

An exceptional little restaurant run by a couple who winters in Brazil, where they are from. (The restaurant is named after a famous Brazilian musician). I’ve been going each year since they opened and the fine dining experience gets more elegant each year.

Those who want can visit Puivert after –

Side Note: our cousin Craig Pruess (living in the Cotswolds in UK, and most excellent composer of soundtracks for films such as Bend It Like Beckham) recorded parts of the Magdalene Codes in Puivert, the chateau we are gazing at from the restaurant! Here is one of the tracks on YouTube: CraigMaryMag

7PM Dinner Pres du Bonheur, You Have Already Ordered & will pay at Resto 

September 15th, Monday

My Favorite: The Mirepoix Market – from which came the name of the Mirepoix Mix, a fundamental flavor in French Cuisine. We will stroll the Market from about 10:30am – then stay for Lunch. We can take the scenic drive home past Chalabres, and Lac Montbel.

Please pick up items to bring a dish or other offering to potluck dinner tonight in my garden –

1PM LUNCH at La Flambee, Mirepoix

I will hand you each 20eu back to order and pay onsite what you wish –

Prepare to pick up supplements of fresh salads or anything you would like to add to a goodbye dinner back in my garden. I am cooking sausage from the Belesta Boucherie, my favorite Saussicon (the sausage in our village is known to be the best, of course). And I also might be making lentils or lasagna with veggies from my garden …

Other than the morning market, you may find food at the shop in Chalabres, the Carrefour Grocery in Belesta, or the SuperMarche in Roque D’Holmes.

6pm Dinner Boucherie, at Annabel’s Garden 

September 16th, Tuesday

MORNING MARKET is right in Belesta. Small, but some sweet little items to grab – usually some bakes goods – as well, the boulangerie is right there.

​On this departure day – for those of you heading East – I highly recommend a stop at Carcassonne and further along the Mediterranean at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, where Mary Magdalene was thought to arrive by boat from Palestine… past these are Marseille, Nice and Monaco, then Italy…

​For those heading East to the Med, the curving down South – ask me about a hotel and friends to visit in Collioure in the very Southern French Mediterranean, and in Altea, south of Valencia, Spain – Barcelona is also only a 4-hour drive from Belesta…

In General, ask me if you need any other ideas for an extended stay in this little triangle of the world, which I love so dearly!

Payments due as soon as possible, but please no later than September 1st, as I have to pay this week.

  These meals, Pay at Restaurant:

  • 12 Sept FRI Dinner K’Bane, Fonstestorbes Order & Pay at Resto
  • 14 Sept SUN Dinner Pres du Bonheur, you have ordered – Pay at Resto

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