Not a Chateau

In the land of châteaux, this isn't a château. In fact it is hardly even a building any more, just an end wall. I imagine it is pretty old, but we've never managed to find out how old.

It is within 1.6km (1 mile) of la Poste in Preuilly-sur-Claise, and right on the border of the commune. Do you know where it is?

The History of the Brand Family

My father was singularly uninterested in his ancestry. Not just disinterested, uninterested to the point that you could see him switch off when you tried to get him to talk about it. He had his reasons, and to him they were totally valid, so we let it be. Occasionally (and always out of the blue) he would tell something of his past, but he never mentioned his parent's background.

Luckily for those of us who are interested we have my cousin Linda who is Officer in Charge: Family History. She has chased the Brands back to the 17th century, and my paternal grandmother's family tree back to the 16th century. Which is remarkable because it's all in German. This is how Susan and I had the knowledge to be able visit the places we did in Germany.

The house in which my great grandfather was born, Fritzlar.

On the 25th of August Linda will be giving a talk at the Fritzlar Local History Museum about tracing her German roots. If you're in the area, I'm sure she'll have a couple of copies of the talk in english.

Homes for Bees and Wasps

The town hall (rathaus) in Schrozberg has a wildflower meadow which was created to provide a habitat for insects and other small wildlife, including butterflies, wild bees and bumble bees. The idea is to provide food, shelter and breeding areas, helping many species to thrive while also supporting plant biodiversity. To protect this delicate ecosystem, the meadow is mown only twice a year, allowing flowers and grasses to grow naturally. A mixture of different grass heights provides additional shelter and food for wildlife, while seeds and plant stems continue to benefit animals and birds throughout winter.

That's not the most fun part: what really excited Susan was the sandpit for wild bees and solitary bees to nest in. It's right in the middle of the municipal flowerbeds in front of the town hall building.

It can be done, and Susan is pushing for something similar to be done in Preuilly-sur-Claise.

Lean Times in Loches

The War years marked Loches, as they did the rest of the country, with deprivation and rationing. For buying staples, especially food, families were issued with ration cards. The quantities authorised, whether it be for bread, meat, pasta etc were dependent on gender, age and how physical your work was.

In the market in Loches prices soared. At the beginning of the War a dozen eggs cost 9 francs. Two years later they were 19 francs. It was the same for a kilo of butter, which went from 25 francs to 100 francs.

The statue of Alfred de Vigny today, back in his original location.

The restrictions didn't only affect food. Many products became difficult to obtain, such as coffee, heating fuel, shoes, tyres or clothes. To save electricity the opening hours of shops were limited. Lacking petrol, the vet did his rounds on horseback. Certain car and truck owners modified their vehicles to use charcoal gas.

France was suffering a severe lack of raw materials. In 1941 the authorities collected all the non-ferrous metal they could find (lead, copper, tin). The following year anyone who handed in 200g of copper was offered a litre of wine in recompense.

This lack of metal resulted in the loss of numerous works of art. In Tours, several statues, including a famous one of Balzac, were melted down. In 1943 it was announced that the statue of Alfred de Vigny in Loches must also be sacrificed. This news provoked an immediate emotional outburst by the general public. The locals decided to act, and in the early hours of 29 July the bronze sculpture by Sicard was discreetly lifted off its socle by workers from Deschamps Carpentry and transported to a troglodyte cave in rue de la Roche Appert, where, well hidden, it waited in total safety for the end of the War.

A Mystery Cross

This is another "what's that thing" where we don't really know the answer besides the obvious.

We know it's a cross, we know it's immediately next to the church in Prissac (36), and we assume it's old.  How old it is, and its history we do not know, and our online research hasn't turned up any information.

So it's over to the hive mind: what's the history of that thing.

Not What I Expected to See

Yesterday as a treat we went with Niall and Antoinette to explore some of the painted churches of the Anglin Valley. As usual with these expeditions we saw a lot of excellent médiéval art, a lot of which was pretty cryptic. We did a similar trip with my cousin Linda this time last year, and things are no more clear.

We visited Chalais and its Église Saint-Léobon, which has had exploratory work done removing a thick (up to 8cm) layer of plaster removed, revealing intriguing early paintings. Unfortunately the money has run out, so at the moment you only get glimpses of what remains to be discovered.

I imagine the exclamation marks are because the 14th Century artist was as surprised as me to see a Disney Vulture

It was an excellent day out, and I even managed to find an almost sugar free dark chocolate sorbet in a tearoom in Saint-Benoît-du-Sault.