Friday 25 January 2013

La Ferme forte

Just recently, engaging in some displacement activity, we took a drive to Martizay. Exploring the back blocks of the village we came to the hamlet of la Mardelle and this fabulous fortified farm. I can't find out anything about this complex, but a mardelle is a clay lined sinkhole or pool created by the action of water percolating through the substrate and dissolving the underlying limestone until the surface collapses to form an impervious depression. It can be very deep and dramatic, such as a sinkhole, or it can simply be a shallow karst pool on the surface. The names of the nearby hamlets may hint at the waterlogged nature of the landscape, at least in the past -- la Saulnerie ('the willows') and Lejonc ('the rush').

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An arrêté (decree) has gone up on the town noticeboard, telling residents of the commune that they must cut back trees and shrubs if they are encroaching on public rights of way and streets, and if they are getting too close to power and telephone lines (the distances are specified on the notice). If property owners don't deal with the required pruning, the local authority will do it for them and send a bill.

5 comments:

Tim said...

I'd better check our noticeboard when I go and get bread this morning... we've just been "fau-charged"... I got out there smartish yesterday as the tractors came along... and they trimmed our hedge just as I wanted... and not the usual slaughter... just left me with the back to cut. Pas de problem!!
But I need to do the underside of the lime out front! And there is a branch on the "spruce that will go" that is pressing on our phone line... I think it gives us occasional internet reception problems. But that one is our problem only!!

Love the farm building... bleedin' imposing! But the tower roof seems to be a later add-it-on?

Sheila said...

The crack running up the side of
the building on the right says a
lot about the soft/wet soil.
Must be many "settling" problems
in that area.

Susan said...

Tim: yes, roofs on round towers are usually later additions.

Sheila: yes, that's a bad crack.

the fly in the web said...

If ever you find out more I'd love to know....

Susan said...

Fly: if I find out more I will certainly blog about it, as it is bound to be interesting.

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