A Visit to Cellefrouin, Part 2

I always like to get a photo of the village sign!!

 This sign doesn't warn one that there is a steep climb from this point, which is down on the "high street", up a track to the lanterne in the cemetery, higher up the valley. The road loops round between the two points, so it was lucky we were driving!

I have written before about Lanterne des Morts HERE

 This lanterne, as the direction sign says, was built in the 12th century. An oil lamp at the base of the spire was lit at night to encourage travellers to come and pray for the dead. It's all in good shape after so many years; it's not really leaning - blame the photographer!

Back in the main street, here we are at St Nicholas's church, an historic monument since 1907.  A lot of restoration work is now being done  and the church leaders are asking for donations towards the cost of €200,000! With only 500 residents in the village, much of the money to be raised will have to come from outside benefactors.

The church was founded as the abbey of St Peter about 1025 by Arnaud de Villebre, the bishop of Perigueux (a town in the Dordogne some 100 kilometres away - big diocese!). At this time, the it was likely to have been of wood. A stone building was commenced about 1060 and, so the scholars believe, completed about 1100-1120, to become one of the most important churches in the region. German Wikipedia tells me that it was spared damage in the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) due to its remote location but was attacked and damaged by the Protestants in the Wars of Religion (1562-98). Once peace was restored, the building was rebuilt and re-dedicated to Saint Nicholas in the 16th or 17th century. You have 700 or so years of history there in a nutshell!!

Signs of earlier archways and alterations on this elevation, next to the road.

  The west entrance, framed by a Gothic portal from the 15th century.  Frost and age have nibbled at the stone of the front doorway and one hopes that it will be fully restored. (A start has been made on the column at lower left in the photo).

The building's stonework is quite complex for such a small church, with its 3 naves and vaulted roofs.The main nave is above, but those pews look uncomfortable!

Two photos above - Unusual little features in the wall plasterwork. Good workmanship!

The baptisal font, I guess, all carved from one big block!

P.S. I also have a daily photo dairy, sometimes interesting sometimes very boring!  http://photodiarydps.blogspot.fr/ 

 

See also - My Life Before Charente Updated 06/12/12

Happy Birthday to Me!

This post is just to let you know that I am still around, but as I have not been too well recently, it will not be the normal weekly post!

Some time ago, I bit my  cheek, but the consequent swelling did not subside. Things have suddenly gone from bad to worse and my tongue, inner jaw and ear are all very painful.  To cut a long story short, I have been diagnosed with shingles in my mouth.  Not very nice and I am feeling rather down!

The pain killers and the oral gel prescribed for me do appear to be helping, so I hope to be much better soon!

It is my birthday on Sunday, but we have decided that celebrations and a meal out will have to wait, as eating is painful, especially if there are any herbs and/or spices involved.    Meanwhile if I have not visited some your blogs for a while, I am sure you will understand why.

The farmers here are very busy with the harvest at the moment and temperatures are expected to soar to 39C  (102.2F) today!! No rain in sight!  

The garden is drooping, but despite the droops, with a little watering it is still producing masses of beans, courgettes and tomatoes.  What energy I have at the moment has  been going into bottling.

Courgette pickle
Courgette and ginger jam
Curried beans and Pickled beans (recipe for this to follow at some stage!)

I will be back soon when I feel a little better.

Life Before the Charente will be taking a short break as well

Vitrac St Vincent - an afternoon walk

At the end of March, we went out walking with the leisure group again. We set off from the church in Vitrac St Vincent for a ramble  which the leaders said would be about 6km (4 miles or so). To read more about the village, take a look at my post HERE

Turning immediately down a narrow lane, we found ourselves next to the small stream that runs westwards towards Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure, and the first things to take my eye were the lovely curled hinges on this barn door. Some old-fashioned craftsmanship executed on a humble barn!

 Looking back the way we had come, I took this view of Vitrac, an angle that we would not normally see from the road, as the village is in a deep valley and the road drops steeply from both approaches down into the valley, giving views only of the rooftops! In the background is one of the hills, down which the road comes from the east side.

 The group ambling along in front of me

The hawthorn was quite spectacular, the blossom no doubt coming out in response to the unusually warm and sunny weather.

the cowslips were no less stunning

and the celandines.  Sadly we did not get to view the sea of blue that would be there now, as the bluebells we passed were only just coming into bud.

This is the first time I have ever seen a scarecrow to keep the herons away;  this  privately owned pool obviously is a good fishing spot.

 A bit further along, we encountered this small building, which the locals were describing as a chapel, at Saint Vincent. (A small hamlet that comes under the commune of Vitrac Saint Vincent).

 As we got closer, this old cross was prominently sited

and, walking around the back, we discovered that the door was open, revealing a small chapel and crypt. There was a small altar on the far wall, and the space also contained

6 large tombstones, two vertical and 4 horizontal.  The building seemed to be a family crypt, with the burials dating from the early 1800's to the earlier part of the 1900's.  Ages of the deceased varied from middle 70's to the youngest at 20, but the later deaths seemed unrelated to  WW1.   The place did look rather unkempt and neglected, but my guess is that the family still lives in the area.

More steps took us to this barn, which looked as if it had not been used for some time. Not unusual in these parts!

and I was fascinated by this delightful door chime.

Some more turnings, and another lane brought us to  Le Logis de Saint Vincent.  Logis (lojh-ee) means "home" or "dwelling" in French. Whilst these walls now enclose the premises of a company whose business is concerned with drainage equipment, we do know that in the 1940's, the large multi-storey complex was used as a type of orphanage. This may have been the original purpose of the building, as it was clearly built much more than a century ago.

At the back of the building is this large pool, where we understand that some of the orphanage children used to fish.

Heading for home, we saw this quite elaborate but modern stone post box at the entrance to a residence

followed by the usual view we see of Vitrac Saint Vincent, the roof tops!

 We finished the walk back at the church and the 6 kilometre round trip was confirmed.  Not really that far, but much to see!!

We ended the walk with coffee and cakes at one of the picnic tables provided by the council on a grassy area across the road from the church, and next to the stream.  The walkers all seemed to enjoy the outing and were pleased to relax in this  tranquil spot at the end of a very hot and sunny March day.

Please check out my new blog 

My Life Before Charente

Pranzac Wine and Cheese Fair

This is the time of year for wine fairs. All the local producers are eager to market their latest products and sell, sell, sell!! On Easter Saturday, we took a drive south-west to the village of Pranzac (I'll do another post on the village itself), for their annual wine and cheese fair, held over the 3 days of the Easter Holiday. It was their 34th fair, so they should know how to organise them by now! We have visited each year for the past 4 or 5 years, and the "formula" doesn't seem to change much. Everything is housed inside, in a tented camp, which more than paid for itself two years ago, when we arrived in a rainstorm, which continued for hours.

Happily, this year was sunny and dry and we found the offering had been expanded to include stalls selling clothing and lifestyle goods such as ornaments, handmade soap and local adventure holidays. We were just after "the basics", so we headed straight past these frills, to see what new wines, meats and cheeses were on sale. We carefully timed our arrival at 2 o'clock, just as the doors were opening, as I wanted to take photos before the crowds turned up and clear views became impossible. These fairs get impossibly busy later in the day, and just to get a taste or sample becomes very difficult!! This first photo is of probably the largest wine estate in the Charente - St Sornin. Much of the wine grown in the Charente is, I believe, used in distillation of cognac, or in the production of a local speciality - pineau - of which more later........

To see more about the St Sornin estate take a look at my visit there HERE

Gaillac makes quite inexpensive wine, which we used to drink regularly. It has not been easily available at out local shops recently and judging by the new (and to us, unpleasant) taste, they have changed the "recipe" for the worse. Plenty else to drink!!

Domaine Saint Pierre looked pricey, and there was nobody at the stall, so we only took a photo!

The gentleman here was more than happy to give us tastes of his selection, as we were his first customers. His effort was not in vain, as we did go back and buy some wine from him before we left.

For those that like the bubbly stuff.....

Pineau was being tasted and sold here. This drink is a speciality of the Charente; to read more about it, take a look at my post HERE

Foie Gras (goose or duck liver) is a French luxury.

The charcuterie trade in France specialises in the sale of meats in various styles of preservation. Usually bacon, hams, terrines, pates and confit (mostly poultry like duck or goose, preserved in fat) -sounds horrible, but really a most enjoyable experience.

France of course would not be France, if "le pain" was not available!! The baker from Pranzac displays his wares here.

and of course the bread would not be the same, if there was no cheese to go with it!

This man was obviously feeling a bit peckish and was nibbling on his own stock!! We joined him, and bought a small piece of Pave Correzien, the cube shaped uncut cheese on the far right of the photo. It's a very pleasant mature hard cheese, but not cheap!

For variety, a photo of some local dried ham to further whet the appetite.

Google seems to have done everything in its power to hamper the production of this post or even prevent it from being published. If this is the latest new Google programme, they can keep it!!! Pictures would not load in the correct place. Some were deleted and have not been seen again. In addition, the font has a mind of it own, and I have been at the computer all day, so I hope that you get to read this. I apologise for any errors that you may come across I have given up.

Meanwhile I have started a new blog - in Google, I must be mad - Please take a look at

My Life Before Charente