For some reason, the word "windmill" seems far too pedestrian: the French is "éolienne".There is a similar éolienne which is a bit of a tourist attraction at Dolus-le-Sec. Compare this to the much more utilitarian Australian version, manufactured in the Queensland town of Toowoomba. These windmills are not for milling - they are wind powered water pumps, used in Australia for lifting water from the artesian basin. I assume they are used for similar purposes in France, as Dolus-le-Sec translates as "Dolus the dry".
Simon
PS :An interestesting coicidence is that the pictured windmill stands in the same farmyard as one of yesterday's cedars
4 comments:
This is lovely. We saw a similar one between Cormery and Veigne, and at first we thought it was a work of art. Well, it is, compared to the windmills on PA farms. It must have been on the map, because somehow we knew it was an eolienne and I wikied the word when we got home. I had thought the word meant "wind harp" and was a tad disappointed to learn than it did not make music.
John Walter, who runs the Friends of the Eoliennes Bollée website with Régis Girard, tells me that our éolienne is one they thought had been dismantled, so I was pleased to be able to give him updated information. He says that the one Louise saw sounds like the one at Esvres-sur-Indre, now restored to working order. Their website is http://www.bollee.fsnet.co.uk/Eolienne/index.htm
They are beautiful and fun, aren't they.
Susan
You've given me something new to look for when I'm out and about.
Have you ever noticed the wind farm up in the Beauce between Orléans and Paris? It's made of the standard modern windmills, but there must be about twenty of them.
have a look at this concerning pretty (and cultish) windmills:
http://www.bollee.fsnet.co.uk/Eolienne/remain_en.html
I bumped into the site by accident and thought - haven't I seen this recently somewhere?
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