The weather forecast had predicted good weather for Monday,
so, hoping they were correct, we had planned what sounded like an interesting
drive out for the day. This time the forecasters had got it right so we set off
on our planned route which followed the course of the Boutonne River from its
source in Chef Boutonne, on through Brioux-sur-Boutonne, then to Dampierre-sur-Boutonne
and finally to St. Jean d’Angely. All in all, about eighty kilometres away
which isn’t very far but with stops to sight-see, it took us until well after
lunch time. Had we gone further, we would have come to the confluence of the
Boutonne and the Charente Rivers just before the Charente reaches the coast and
flows out into the Atlantic Ocean.
In Chef Boutonne, the road to the source of the river is
well sign-posted and a narrow road wound in and out of the houses leading us
down the hill until we came to what appeared to be a lavoir, a wash-house. What we couldn’t see from the car though, was
the little grotto at the near end of the was-house where the water was bubbling
out in a clear, fast stream. The water was ice-cold and I doubt if it was any
warmer when the old ladies of the town came down to do their laundry in the old
days. And modern detergent manufacturers think that they have invented the ‘cold
water wash’! Think again. At the far end of the wash-house the water flowed out
again and so the river began..
The road follows the river fairly well, on through
Brioux-sur-Boutonne where there was an ancient Roman river crossing which was
used by pilgrims on the Satiago de Compostela route. Further on we came to
Dampierre-sur-Boutonne which is dominated by a magnificent moated chateau.
Apparently the history of the Chateau can be traced back one thousand years
which makes it quite impressive. Unfortunately, although it is advertised as
being open all year round to the public, a large notice on the gate advised us
that they would only be opening again at Easter, so we have definitely added it
to our to-do list. By now it was close to lunch time but there was nowhere in
this small town that was open for business so it was back into the car and
onward to St. Jean d’Angely. We were so hungry by the time we got there that we
dashed into the first place that we saw and had a bite to eat. Only later when
we were exploring the town did we discover another, much nicer place called,
strangely enough, ‘Ellis Park’. We couldn’t find out why. The town itself, was
established by the Romans and has a wonderfully preserved medieval centre with
a ‘Kodak moment’ around every corner. There is a colossal ruined cathedral in
the centre which dominates the whole town, and next to it what was once an
abbey but has been transformed into the municipal library, and art studio and a
music school. We were interested to see groups of quite young children being
taken around on a sort of guided tour of all the sights that we were visiting.
We have noticed this before on previous trips and have always been impressed
with the value so obviously attached to the country’s heritage.
Our next outing wasn’t until Thursday when we just did a
round of some of the small and closer villages that we hadn’t yet seen. In one
of them, Chaunay, we noticed some amazing 3D murals, but apart from that one
would think it was a ghost town. We also saw a signpost to a chateau that was
supposedly a National Monument so off we went. It took us a while to find the
place, mainly because the next sign was facing the wrong way, but we got there
in the end. What a sad sight! What was a magnificent stately home is suffering
from neglect and has fallen into disrepair. A handmade banner which was
drooping from the gates bore a painting of the chateau with a wind turbine
coming out of each tower and the word ‘NON’ in huge red letters below. We tried
to find out if the place has been deserted because of an impending wind farm
development, but so far have not been
able to.
Saturday was, for us, quite a busy day. Although we are not
residents or members of the commune, we had been invited as visitors to join
the Annual Commune Dinner. Perhaps this would be a good place to just explain the
very complicated divisions of the country. France is firstly divided into
Regions, ours being the Poitou-Charente. This is then divided into Departments
and we are in the Deux-Sevres. The Deux-Sevres is in the Arrondissement or
District of Niort. Niort is the capital of a number of Cantons and we fit into
the Canton of Sauze-Vaussias, which in turn is made up of a number of Communes,
each of which is presided over by a mayor and council. The Commune of Clussais
la Pommeraie consists of about 600 people, all of which received invitations to
the dinner, but only 100 responded and came. Probably just as well! We were treated
to a lovely meal which we enjoyed, sitting at long tables, French and English
mixed in together, and drank probably far too much wine. The meal, which
started at 12.30 finally ended at about 4 o’clock after which there was a hush
over the whole area and a sound of light snoring!
The afternoon siesta was very necessary as we had arranged
to join some friends that evening, to go to a brass band performance in a
nearby town. Two bands were on the programme – one being the local town band
and the other, a much bigger group, representing one of the other Departments. It
was a great performance – plenty of stirring music, clashing cymbals and
thundering drums. It was lovely! We were impressed by the number of young
people in both groups and by the expertise displayed. I’m not sure about this,
but it would appear that if one wants to be a part of an orchestra like this,
you have to pay a fee to belong, and you don’t get paid to perform. However, we
have also heard that every Department is required to allocate a certain percentage of its income
to cultural events, so we are not really sure about how it all works. But it
was a thrilling concert.
Finally, on Sunday, we went to the first of the Vide Greniers in the area. This is a massive car boot sale
and can have stalls that run up and down both sides of a main street and spread
into the side streets as well. Being the first one of the season, this was a
quite a large one and well supported. We really only go to look but we ended up
buying a four disc DVD series of a Patricia Cornwall story, for one euro. I’m
happy with that.
No comments:
Post a Comment