Cormatin:
The tourist information centres in Cormatin (July and August), St Gengoux and Cluny (all year) provide useful information about local events. Cluny is an important equestrian centre and there are frequent showjumping competitions and horse shows. The National Stud provide guided tours of the stables built by Napolean to improve the horse stocks in France.
Locally in Cormatin there is a guitar festival every summer and five weeks of opera and music performed at the Chateau which has two theatres, one outdoors. Many events take place at the Plan d'eau, a lake near the campsite formed in a loop of the river. There are musical events and a yearly model boat meet.
Taizé and Cluny:
We are ideally located for Taizé and Cluny. Taizé is a thriving ecunemical centre run by monks and is open to all. There are three services a day featuring the Taizé chanting, and visitors are made most welcome.
Cluny is famous for its Abbey. Although it was dismantled for its stone after the Revolution of 1789 the remains still show how spectacular it was. From medieval times Cluny was the centre of the Church in Europe. Most of the surrounding villages have well preserved Romanesque churches that date from the 12th century.
This year Cluny is celebrating the 1100th anniversary of the Abbey and a series of events to mark this occasion have been organised for the coming year. The opening ceremony on September 13th 2009 symbolically represented by riders on horseback the sending of the message in all directions from Cluny. Everybody enjoyed a village meal and the event culminated in a joining of hands to form a human ring around the ramparts of Cluny.
Grape picking and the Wineries:
The grape picking begins in September. Here it is mainly done by hand to produce the best quality wines. It has been a superb year for grape growing so we expect 2009 to be a good vintage. You are welcome to visit the Caves of the nearby villages and sample the local wines. To the north is the Cote d'Or and the Wine Route where you pass through all the famous wine villages, the names of which you already know from the labels on bottles. If you visit in October when the wines turn golden in the sunshine you will realise why the region is called the Cote d'Or! To the south the Beaujolais region is within easy reach with its spectacular scenery.
