Walking and Watercress Around Le Grand Pressigny

 Here are some photos from a 10 kilometre walk we did on Thursday 2 December 2021.

A well ordered and working garden in Le Grand Pressigny.

We've only just noticed that this house has a plaque on it saying it was the home of the poet André Theuriet [link].

These dangling Santas have lost their popularity of a few years ago, when every second house would have one, often not taken down and left there all year.

An apple tree in a farmyard.

This place is called Chante-grolle, so named because it is a mediaeval field that belonged to black robed warrior monks, who chanted whilst working in the field. Grolle is old French for rook, which even today you can see in flocks in the fields, so the villagers dubbed them 'chanting rooks' and the place name reflects that.

View over a ploughed field of the Chateau du Grand Pressigny sitting above the village.

Old spring fed reservoir in the grounds of the Aged Care Home.

A spring fed stream and lots of Field Maple leaves on the ground.

Simon assisting other walkers across the stream.

Near the source the stream was chocablock with Water-cress Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum (Fr. Cresson de fontaine). Beware though. Also growing in the stream is the poisonous lookalike Lesser Water-parsnip Berula erecta (Fr. Berle dressée).

Houses along the side of a limestone ridge.