Gwilym's work experience

The same day that the mairie emailed saying he could do a week there, Château Pape Clément emailed offering him a place there.

Both are really great options. The mairie is officialdom, and an opening into officialdom in France is great.

Pape Clément is probably the biggest tourist attraction in the Pessac area and it's also where the vineyard scenes of the mission's film 'Bordeaux, Brittany and beyond' were shot. The vineyard begins literally just up the road while the château itself is a bit further away. They do tours of the vineyards and the château, and their email address is "luxurywinetourism" (yes, that's in English).

We weighed things up, Gwilym decided he'd be better off going to Pape Clément, and we agreed, so we wrote a nice thank-you email to the mairie and a nice acceptance email to Pape Clément .

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