When the sun finally decided to appear on Wednesday, we took
advantage of it and jumped in the car for a drive around the countryside. There
are dozens of tiny villages and hamlets within a radius of less than twenty
kilometres from where we are, so we just selected a few of them and then joined
the dots to give ourselves a circular drive. We started off though by popping
in at a friend’s house to photograph the bluebells growing in the little
woodland he has behind the house. They are so beautiful and such a delicate
shade of blue. Then we set off on our round trip – Lezay, where we went for the
Brass Band concert, then Vanzay, Messé, Vancais (tricky one that, with Vanzay
just a short while before it), Chey then back to Lezay and home. Lovely
farming countryside, all green and gold at present with the wheat coming on and
the canola flowers just about going off, and big clumps of woodland and forest
where the trees meet over the road to form a green tunnel. The village houses
in this area are all built of stone but the stone has been shaped into regular
brick-shaped pieces and carefully laid in courses, like brick. It is a very
attractive style and naturally with walls that are a metre or more thick, the
houses are well insulated. It was a scenic drive but not a very photographic
one.
A different friend phoned that evening to ask if we would
like to go to a vide grenier with
them the next day, and of course we said yes. Fortunately they collected us and
we all went in one car, or we would probably still be driving around in circles
trying to find the village. There was a fair turnout in spite of the grey
weather, and a small group of men playing piano-accordions and clarinets lent a very ‘French’
atmosphere to the affair. After a while the grey day lightened up and it got
quite warm in the sun, so we went into the hall to see an art exhibition put on
by the local amateur art group and a couple of more professional artists from
the region. There was some beautiful work there and not too out-landishly
expensive, but nothing that I could easily fit into my suitcase, I’m afraid. By
the time we left at lunchtime, it was drizzling again and people were packing
up early.
By Friday, there was a very real possibility that we would
run out of clean clothes to wear, so in spite of the weather, which now couldn’t
make up its mind whether to rain or not, we did two loads of washing and turned
the back verandah into a Chinese laundry and hoped it would get dry. After
lunch, when it seemed as though it was, after all, not going to rain, we went
out. We had promised ourselves that we would get back to the Chateau at
Dampierre sur Boutonne so that is where we were aiming for. All the way there
we were driving in and out of showers but they were short-lived and we hoped
that when we got there it would be in a gap between two showers.
We had set ‘Jane’ to take us via the shortest route which
always involves a lot of narrow lanes and farm roads, and as a result, we came
across a remarkable little park on the site of the origin of the Sompteuse
River. A small hill slopes down to an area where the many springs have been channeled
into two wash houses and an extraordinary oval pool, before rushing away in to
the valley below. The area around has been cleared and someone has planted many
varieties of hydrangeas in beds, with a placard listing them all. It must look
amazing when they are all in flower. This was near a small village called
Sompt. But we couldn’t waste too much time, so on we went to the chateau. We
were very lucky to find that an English-speaking guide had started to work
there just that day and we were her first tourists.
The Renaissance-style chateau is built on a small island in
the Boutonne River, which may have been a good idea from a defence point of
view, when it was built in 995 AD (!!) but it has been at the mercy of the
river ever since then, with frequent flooding and marshy ground underfoot
taking their toll. The last and almost final disaster to strike was a terrible fire
in 1992 which nearly destroyed the whole place. The village folk rallied round
and most of the 17th century furniture was saved, including some incredible 18th
century tapestries and some priceless artwork. The chateau has been rebuilt
several times in its life, but the present building dates from about 1550 AD.
The ground floor is mainly reception rooms and the kitchen, with bedrooms and
sitting rooms on the first floor, while the enormous attic space houses a
collection of artefacts from all around the world, collected by one or another
of the owners at various times. And then there are the gardens. Once beautifully
laid out formal gardens, they went through a period of neglect and flooding and
are only now being restored Perfectly clipped hedges form a labyrinthine maze
to the rear of the chateau, while behind that is a long curved hedge with
arches cut in it. Behind each arch stands a perfectly formed ball shaped shrub,
and the disciplined rows of planted woodland taper off into the distance.
Keeping it looking like it does must involve a huge amount of work, and
expense, in a country where workers are few and labour costs plenty.
The only really good day of the week was Sunday so we leapt
into the car and pointed the nose east. We had been asked to go and find a motor-racing circuit known as Val de Vienne about 45 kilometres away and to report
back on the facilities. We were not impressed with ‘Jane’ as she had never
heard of it, but we asked her for the nearest
town and then found it ourselves – eventually. Seemingly in the middle of
nowhere this track appears to be well-maintained and well-used. There was a
motor-cycle meeting on the go when we arrived, so we got out to have a look.
Was that ever a mistake?? The wind, from which we had been protected while in
the car, was absolutely icy and although we both had on fleeces over our
jerseys, it was just too cold to sit and watch the racers with any sort of
enjoyment.
On the way home we stopped briefly at St Martin l’Ars when
we caught sight of a splendid chateau through the trees. But once again, it
proved to be a derelict building looking very sad and forgotten. One can only
guess at the wealth that the original owners must have had to own and run a
place of this size. Obviously the current owners are unable to do so. So sad.
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