Duc de Monteton Reviews 2

I have been coming as a participant for many years and can only recommend this workshop.
As a new participant it might be difficult at the beginning, because so many people come every year and it can probably seem like a closed community.
But I can only recommend a second attempt.
The accommodation is basic in every way, but there are various options outside of the chateau to rent a room, flat or even in a hotel.
The concept is the best I've seen so far, and I've visited many different workshops over the last 15 years.

First the good bit. The quality of the professional musicians is very high, and the evening concerts by the students were fun to play in and of a high quality for amateurs. That's the only positives I can think of.

The average bit. Food was adequate and plentiful, and the wine served at lunch was drinkable and pleasant.

And the rest.........???

Arrival : dumped off the minibus at the bottom of the "Chateau" driveway. Where to go? "Up the drive, there's a champagne reception waiting". Dragged suitcase 50 yards up the gravel driveway and, indeed, there were lots of people there drinking bubbles. No sign of any organiser - no sign of any reception facility - no offer of a drink, no information board for newbies to look at - nothing to direct me to my room – no site plan. A lonely paper copy of tomorrows lessons fluttered in the breeze, stuck to a post with tape. Eventually got a drink and by chance the organiser breezed by - nothing to identify him to me but luckily I was a face he didn’t know. I suppose that’s why he stopped. Just as we were sorting out the room he was distracted for 15 minutes. Eventually I found my room and dragged suitcase 50 yards back down driveway.

Room: Would be condemned in the UK by health and safety and would be in France too if it were ever inspected. A wooden staircase to a 1st floor shared attic room. Try dragging your case up that once and you will never want to do it again. Very sharp pointy artex on all walls (it will cut you if you fall against it.) No handrail for the steep wooden stairs. Electric point falling off wall. No door (only a curtain) to separate the bathroom. No plug to cracked sink. Shower tray filthy. Spiders webs. Path to the building covered with fallen apples which attracted hundreds of flies and wasps during the heat of the day…. When it rained the apples mushed, the path became slippery and another resident slipped and fell backwards going down the unlit path late on the last evening.

My music group: consisted of some great amateur musicians who all knew each other for years and had flown in from overseas to meet up. Took about 2 days before any of them spoke to me, despite my attempts to engage early on. Wow just imagine how welcome I felt??

Studio: In the basement cavern of the Chateau. Electric power cords littered the floor everywhere – across doorways etc. The Chateau electrics are what could be considered at best a “temporary installation” so the lighting in the cave was provided by a single spotlight. Hopeless if you need reasonable light levels to read. The studio door wouldn’t close, so sound bleed from the next door studio was constant.

Tutors: Luckily the tutors rotate every day. Without getting too personal the tutor I had on day 1 I would never wish to have ever again in my life. Positive criticism I can take (e.g. concentrate on your timing…) but that wasn’t the vibe from the tutor – let’s just leave it at that. But I enjoyed the group lessons from 4 of the 5 tutors and the choir session by Pete Churchill was FAB. Thanks Pete.

Chateau. Please don’t imagine a glamorous Loire style chateau. More imagine a set of limestone blocks piled up to resemble a once great building. The local villager I spoke to thought the chateau was going to be demolished. No business insurance policy on display anywhere (a legal requirement) Pathways are overgrown, stone stairways are crumbled and slippery, doors don’t shut, stone door lintels are cracked and propped up by wooden posts, electrics are poor and temporary – cables litter the floor and create trip hazards everywhere, and when the power went off a lot on the final day, interestingly the security lighting didn’t come on. The chateau is unlockable (because the doors don’t fit) so anything left there is open to theft. To be fair this didn’t happen.

I could write so much more but frankly I just want to forget this week. The JSS Dordogne has been running 10 years or more, so It must be doing something right. In the name of God I cannot fathom out what it is………..