November Newsletter
Autumn has finally arrived at the Château
Philippa Girling
November 1, 2023
Hello Campers, Founding Members and the Château Curious,
Autumn is finally here and outside our groundskeeper, Emily, is constantly sweeping up leaves, tidying up the flower beds and pruning and trimming the trees and hedges ready for the winter. A mixture of barley and other grains is now planted on the hillside and we are looking forward to seeing the first shoots come up in the months ahead. Once the field is ready for harvest, we will have our local farmer friend plough it all back into the soil to enrich it ready for our future vineyard. So exciting!
The Château has been busy this month, hosting local concerts and events.
On October 28th we were honored to be a part of the 6th annual celebration of the life and works of local screen legend, Charles Boyer. Monsieur Boyer was born in the neighboring market town, Figeac, and each year film organizations come together to celebrate his prolific French and American acting career. If you are looking for a spooky film for Halloween, check him out in Gaslight (1944). Look, that’s us, down there in the bottom right corner of the poster!
As part of the program this year, the organizers placed a plaque in our courtyard honoring Lotte Eisner and Henri Langlois. If you have been to camp, you will already know that Lotte spent time at Château de Béduer secretly cataloging French films that Henri Langlois had hidden here to keep them safe from the Nazis during World War II.
I love to share stories of Lotte with our campers during evening aperitifs. She was a remarkable and brave woman and we made sure that Lotte’s remaining family members were happy with the wording on the plaque that is now placed by the entrance to the oubliette.
Oublier means ‘to forget’ in French and the oubliette is our chilly, creepy dungeon in the courtyard. People were thrown in the oubliette in the Middle Ages to be forgotten, and it is where the French films were secretly stored!
We also hosted a wonderful classical concert on October 29th as part of the Grand-Figeac season of “Spectacles”. We welcomed local and visiting musicians and the audience came from throughout the region to enjoy a beautiful evening in the Grande Salle. Did you know that once each summer we host a classical concert during camp season? We keep the date secret so that you wont all get jealous. Maybe it’s happening at your session?
Inside the château our property team, Steve and Di, are deep cleaning the rooms, clearing out workshops and storage rooms and getting ready to close the shutters for the winter.
We have some exciting work to do inside and outside throughout the winter and Steve is working through his project plan to get us ready for our expanded camp next summer. We are adding two more bunk rooms upstairs and two more glamping tent platforms outside. We are also adding activity and yoga rooms and we are expanding our indoor and outdoor seating areas so that our campers have plenty of space to gather or to spend quiet time alone.
Are you dreaming of camp, but don’t have a slot yet? Good news! you can now catch the EARLY EARLY BIRD rate for a limited number of 2025 slots - these are going quickly so don’t procrastinate! Reserve your 2025 session here. Want to come in 2024? Join the waitlist for 2024 to be notified if anything opens up in our SOLD OUT 2024 season.
Do you want to show off your camp swagger? Get some CAMP SWAG! We have recently added yummy winter weather items and new fun gifts to our online Camp Store.
Buy yourself a treat - you deserve it! Are you surprising someone with a Camp Château Session as a Holiday Gift? What better way to tell them than to wrap it up in a Camp Château fleece?
Or get some merch for FREE! If you elect to pay your remaining camp session balance before December 15th, 2023 then you can choose to receive either a $50 credit to spend in our online store or a 50€ credit to spend at our on site Camp Store. Your camp session fee is still fully refundable up to 90 days before your session*. Please contact tegwen@campchateau.com to opt in to this amazing opportunity for FREE SWAG!
*Please note - we will simply deduct the store credit when refunding your balance if you decide to cancel your session.
DO YOU WANT TO BE THE WORLD’S BEST GIFT GIVER? Did you know you can gift a camp session to someone you love (yes that includes yourself)? Amazing but TRUE!
This holiday season win the holidays and give a gift certificate to Camp Château to your favorite person. The lucky (and so excited) recipient can use it to book a camp session any time in the next 3 years and you will have locked in the 2024 price!
Are you interested in being a Founding Member and coming to camp for free every summer? We have closed our Gold Founding Membership, but we do have Platinum and Diamond Memberships available until the end of November. If that sounds exciting to you, and you would like to become a Founding Member, you can learn more here and I am always delighted to set up time to chat - please reach out to me at philippa@campchateau.com.
Are you following us on social media? Please follow and like us using our social links below and help to spread the word and celebrate what we are building as a women owned, funded, designed and dedicated business. The more you like and share, the more we can reach women who would love to be part of Camp Château.
Cordialement,
Philippa Girling (CEO & Co-Founder)
