An Unlikely Answer

I asked yesterday what people thought this plane was doing, near the Poland/Ukraine border. All the answers I received were eminently sensible, and therefore wrong.

This plane (and two similar) were flying a very narrow grid pattern, dropping baits dosed with a rabies vaccine in order to control the spread of rabies in foxes.

I was interested to note that the plane itself is Australian designed and manufactured. I hadn't heard of GippsAero before, but I am out of touch with many things Australian.

Fun with Maps

Regular readers will know I'm a bit of a map nerd.

There's a new mapping resource available on Géoportail which I am particularly excited about. Using the website https://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/donnees/lidar-hd-mnt you can get access to lidar information. At the moment it's pretty basic as far as resolution is concerned, but it is still a good tool.

Lidar stands for Light Detection and Ranging, and is a remote sensing technology that uses lasers to measure distances to objects on the Earth's surface. It operates by emitting laser pulses and measuring the time it takes for the light to reflect back to the sensor. One of the advantages is that it can be set up to show ground forms underneath vegetation.

For instance, you may remember the following blog post, about being shown the ditches that surrounded a now disappeared chateau near le Grand Pressigny. https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/2019/04/walking-round-invisible-castle.html. See if you can spot it on the following image:

Aerial photos show nothing, but on the lidar it's obvious. If you can't see it, or want to make a closer inspection, it can be found here.

The other map fun I've been having is with Flightradar24. I was having a whizz around, seeing if there was any excitement. This caught my eye: on (or near) the border between Poland and Ukraine. Mapping? Drone patrol? Border patrol? Something nefarious? Have a guess.

I'll answer tomorrow.

Pear and Walnut Cake

Pears and walnuts do very well in the Touraine and you will encounter pear and walnut trees everywhere -- in old orchards, around farmyards, in hedgerows. Some people have so many walnuts they take them to the artisanal crushing plant to have oil made. So in the autumn, the ingredients for this cake are easy to come by, and it uses both the nuts and the oil, as well as pears.

Me cracking homegrown walnuts.

This recipe makes a rather dense cake which keeps well and is actually better on the day after baking. Very easy, and quick to prepare except for the nuts (and you can 'cheat' by buying ready prepared nuts – buy walnut pieces rather than halves, as they will be cheaper and make no difference to the cake).

Makes 25 squares of cake

Ingredients
200ml walnut oil
200g brown sugar
4 eggs
200g sultanas
1 teaspoon quartre épices (a French spice mix of black or white pepper, ginger, nutmeg and cloves - substitute Mixed Spice or Allspice if unavailable)
300g self raising flour
200g walnut pieces (500g of unshelled walnuts will net you 200g shelled)
2-3 ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm³

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 30cm square cake tin with silica baking paper.
2. Beat the oil and sugar until thoroughly combined, then beat in the eggs.
3. Mix in the spice and flour, then the pears, sultanas and nuts.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 55 minutes.
5. Cool the cake in the tin on a wire rack.
6. Turn the cake out onto a board when cold and cut into 25 squares.

Serve with Pineau de Charentes, a fortified wine somewhat like sherry, that is produced to the south west of us in Poitou.

Iodine Bolete

 

Recently in the grounds of the Chateau de Chenonceau I came across a colony of large bolete mushrooms in a little grove of mature oak trees. When I first encountered them it was raining and their caps were very slimy. This made me think they were in the genus Suillus, but they grow under pines, so I was confused. I turned to the Facebook group Champignons du 37 for help, and overnight, I had a sensible suggestion as to what these mushrooms might be. By then, after a second visit, I had picked a specimen, so I had all the information necessary to confirm the mushroom's identity. Below is the suite of characters that all had to fit, or I could not say for certain I had Iodine Bolete Hemileccinum impolitus (Fr. Bolet dépoli). Syn Xerocomellus pruinatus.

• Cap slimy when wet, like suede when dry; brownish (can be light or dark) and covered in fine white fibres when young (may need a loupe to see); hemispherical when young, flattening with age; developing dimples and a lobed edge with age; 5 - 20 cm across.
• Flesh cream, thicker than the tubes and not discolouring blue when cut. 
• Fine (<1 mm diameter) evenly spaced somewhat polygonal pores.
• Tubes pale yellow when young, getting stronger yellow with age.
• Stem rough (covered in tiny scales) and thick (2 - 6 cm across); red blush at the bottom near roots, and sometimes at the top under the cap; no blue discoloration when cut.
• Spores olive brown.
• Strong odour, especially from the stem when cut (described variously as iodine or walnuts).
  
• Associated with broadleaf trees, especially oak, in warm locations.
  

 

 

To reach an identification (or to determine the species, as a mycologist would say) you need every one of these characters. That's why posting a photo snapped on your phone of a mushroom from the top is never going to get you an accurate identification, and why identification apps don't work for fungi. There are half a dozen lookalike species in this case, of which several are species where real confusion is possible.

Iodine Bolete will grow in both calcareous clay and sandy acid soil. It is present although not common throughout Europe. The mushrooms appear in late summer and through the autumn.

For the record, this species is not toxic, but nobody bothers to eat it.

Taxi for Simon

Every weekday for seven weeks I am catching a taxi-ambulance from Preuilly to Chambray les Tours for my radiotherapy treatment. It's about an hour each way, and is provided by the health service via our local ambulance contractor.

It's a direct, door to door, service. I get picked up about 75 minutes before my appointment, and get deposited immediately outside the radiotherapy department in plenty of time to check in (which is an automated process). The taxi then waits, and brings me home. If I had to pay for it, it would cost me 180€ each day, but I have a "bilan" from the doctor for 35 return trips which I just handed over to the taxi company. From there, all I have to do is tell them on Friday when my appointments for the coming week are, and the taxi magically appears when needed. Three times I have had to share the taxi with other people heading from this area to Tours for treatment, but that's not a problem. If I wanted to have a taxi to myself on those occasions I could, but I would have to pay for it.

Ambulance taxis in the dedicated radiotherapy parking area 

If there is a delay, they even take care of that. Like many businesses they are struggling to get staff, and sometimes there are delays caused by people whose treatment takes longer than expected. That was me last week, when it was two hours before I was in a proper state for being zapped.  There was also an occasion where because of staff shortages the taxi was over an hour late arriving chez nous, so they called the hospital to alert them.

Yesterday I got a "très bien" from the radiotherapist, which is a relief after last week. To mark the halfway point of my treatment I also had an appointment with the oncologist, who was very chirpy, and started the consultation with the word "félicitations". 

I think we're heading in the right direction.

Leopard Slug

Early one morning recently I was making my way on foot through Amboise and encountered a magnificent Leopard Slug Limax maximus (Fr. Limace léopard) on the footpath near the town hall. My guess is that it lives in the museum courtyard in a nice little damp crevice, and was on its way back from a night of gallivanting along the banks of the Loire (or working over the cafés along the Quai de Général de Gaulle).

Leopard Slugs are very large, up to 20 cm in length. This one wasn't that big, but it was more than 10 cm, and at 13 cm exactly average for Leopard Slugs. Their scientific name means 'largest slug', but in fact one of their cousins, the Ash Black Slug L. cinereoniger, is bigger. We get them here too, but they stick to the forests and are not seen in urban environments.

This one is a very typical pattern and colour, but they do vary quite a bit in terms of how stripey or spotty they are and how brown or grey they are. The thicker rounded front is called a shield, and hidden underneath it is a shell. These slugs take a couple of years to reach maturity, but then don't live more than a year after that.

Their natural range is Central Europe and North Africa, but they have been introduced to many other places, including Australia. Solitary in their habits, they live in damp environments, near water courses, in forests, parks and gardens.

Primarily they eat rotting, wilted and dead plants, moss, fungi and dead wood, but they have occasionally been clocked at speeds of 15 cm per minute as they hunt other slugs.

Cyclamens at Chenonceau

Every year we post photos of a carpet of cyclamens photographed somewhere in the Touraine Loire Valley to usher in the autumn. This year the cyclamens are in the grounds of the Chateau de Chenonceau.

Pear and Chocolate Mousse

If you have a pear tree that delivers a multitude of rather small pears, as we used to have, this is a useful recipe that I developed to use up what we had on hand.

 

Photo from our archive of our homegrown Beurre Hardy pears, ideal for this recipe and in season now.

 

Quarter, core and peel 10 small pears. Poach for 20 minutes in a syrup made from ¼ cup of red wine and ¼ cup of sugar, with half a split vanilla pod added. Meanwhile, melt a block of chocolate. Blitz the pears and syrup to a purée. Mix 250 ml of thick cream into the chocolate, then mix that into the pear purée. Serve with a sponge finger.

Photo from our archives of Doyenne de Comice pears and nashis (Asian pear) in our orchard.

An Evening with Fabre

As any entomologist and many naturalists know, Jean-Henri Fabre was an extraordinary man. He worked as a teacher in the south of France in the 19th century, but his real passion was observing and recording wildlife behaviour. He wrote extensively and remarkably accessibly about the natural goings on around his home. I highly recommend reading him, either in French or in translation. You can find many of his essays and learn more about him in English on this site: http://www.efabre.net/

Not long ago my friend Richard invited me to an evening he was holding at his home. A friend of his was going to talk about Fabre and Richard knew I would be interested. I was having a busy week, with clients for chateaux walking tours every day, but I promised to make it to his evening with friends.

Boy am I glad I did! I was expecting a fairly standard, entomology conference style, lecture about Fabre the man and his legacy, or somesuch. What we were actually treated to was a performance, developed and delivered by Richard's friend, a professional actress and singer. She in turn, had been introduced to Fabre by Richard's partner, Patrick, and she had fallen in love with Fabre's writing.

Because the weather was inclement the performance was in the upstairs of Richard and Patrick's barn, a wonderfully rustic and intimate setting. We heard several of Fabre's stories, including one about a dung beetle, interspersed with the sounds of nature, and song. It was marvellous. At the end a hat was passed around for the audience to contribute as they wished.

Afterwards we all gathered around for drinks and nibbles, and discussed what other local venues would be suitable for such a performance next year.

Hopefully, a Mystery Solved

*Warning. Bodily functions are about to be mentioned*

For the past 4 days I have been suffering from a very upset stomach. This is particularly distressing when taken in conjunction with my radiotherapy treatment, causing a delay in treatment because my bowels have to be empty, but my bladder full. This means the radiology nurses have been sending me off to have a poo, and then filling up with 4 cups of water in 10 minutes. It started last week when I was delayed getting to the hospital and my preparation was interrupted.

I was really demoralised by this, and I was at my wits end trying to work out why, all of a sudden, I couldn't get it right. I started this week feeling ambitious, and increased the amount I was drinking so I arrived fully ready to go. Unfortunately the problem wasn't solved, and Monday in particular was embarrassing to the point I was beginning to wonder if it was worth the effort. I had to reload 3 times, and my 8 minute treatment took almost 2 hours.

I was close to tears.

Then I had a thought... where was all that liquid coming from?

I wondered if drinking too much water could cause diarrhea. Checking Dr Google I discovered that when your body gets more water than it can handle, it can throw off the balance of salts, like sodium, that help control the fluids in your intestines. This makes water move too quickly through your system, which leads to loose, watery stools. Too much water can also water down the acid in your stomach, making it harder to break down food.

So yesterday I reduced my water intake, and bingo. I arrived at the hospital wondering if I had reduced it too far, but no. I arrived, was called, and 10 minutes later I was finished.

I just wondering why no-one at the hospital thought that force feeding me water was the cause, not the solution.

Today, hopefully, these doors will not be the doors to humiliation.

An Unusual Food Blog

I've written before about my new boring diet. Here's photographic evidence:

White ham (de fatted), mashed potato (as plain as possible) and boiled carrots. It was about all I could face yesterday.

On My Way

One of the most tiring parts of my radiotherapy treatment is the 150km round trip to the hospital and home. I have to do this in the passenger seat of a taxi 5 days a week.

At least the scenery is interesting.

Approaching La Celle-Guenand

Big skies

A prehistoric camp

Village streets

Yesterday wasn't a good day for me. I had a badly upset stomach, and it took me ages to get my levels right. This meant an embarrassing and demoralising hour waiting for treatment and a really uncomfortable day. It continued into last night, so I'm slightly worried about today.

Don't Poison Yourself

Don't poison yourself this mushroom foraging season, and even more importantly, don't poison anyone else!

 

Toxic or treat? There are two species of mushroom on this table. If you can't tell the diffence, don't eat either of them.*

Poisonings from ingesting toxic mushrooms are on the increase in France. The reasons seem to be threefold.

 

Red-capped scaber stalk  Leccinum aurantiacum (Fr. Bolet orangé des chênes), edible if well cooked. Often abundant it is used to bulk out the more prized ceps, and is usually a major component of commercial dried wild forest mushrooms mixes.

l

First, weather conditions. After a series of dry summers and autumns, we had a couple of wet autumns. This resulted in an abundance of mushrooms and a longer picking season, so people had more opportunities for misidentifying the mushrooms they had foraged and poisoning themselves and their friends.

 

Bay Bolete Imleria badia (Fr. Bolet bai), nearly as good as a cep, except for its unappetising staining on the sponge (but most people discard that anyway).

Second, there has been a resurgence of interest in mushroom foraging because people are interested in traditional activities, because they like the idea of free food, and because they like the idea of providing for themselves in a sort of self sufficient and independent way. So many people out there are beginners, and from my observations, absolutely clueless and in some cases hubristic. A lot of these people are not using tried and true methods of learning how to identify mushrooms, partly because they don't know how or where to access them. They don't know how to use a field guide and they don't know anyone who can mentor them through learning how to identify mushrooms. Last year a group of three or four experienced mushroomers set up the Facebook group Champignons du 37, concentrating on the art of gathering edible mushrooms in the Tourangelle forests (mainly Loches and Chinon). Within weeks they had 4000 members, and after 6 months there were 7400 members, which took them and me by surprise. I was expecting more like 400 people to sign up. Reading the posts it became painfully obvious that the majority of members were absolutely clueless. But they did at least want to learn. I imagine it came as quite a shock for them to find out just how much there was to learn.

 

The lovely but inedible velvetiness of Tripe fungus Auricularia mesenterica (Fr. Auriculaire poilu).

And that brings me to the third reason poisonings are increasing. The use of identification apps, which do little more than picture match. Please, if you are foraging for mushrooms for the table, I cannot stress enough that THERE ARE NO GOOD IDENTIFICATION APPS FOR FUNGI!!  DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES RELY ON THEM IF YOU ARE GOING TO EAT THE MUSHROOMS. Identifying a mushroom takes more than just matching a single photo taken from the top or the side. In many cases mushrooms cannot be accurately identified from photographs no matter how experienced you are. There are just too many lookalikes, too many variables, and identification requires your sense of smell and touch in some cases, even occasionally your hearing, as well as being able to see all parts of the mushroom, including the whole stem (not cut off), underneath the cap, and a cross section (cut the mushroom in half from top to bottom).

 

An old Earthstar Geastrum sp (Fr. Géastre) in really poor condition. NEVER eat any mushroom in this condition, even if you think it is an edible species (which earthstars are not anyway).

There is a widespread belief in France that your pharmacist can identify any mushrooms you bring in. This was once the case, but is no longer true. Ask your pharmacist by all means, but you will likely find that they do not offer this service. If you are lucky, as we have been until recently in Loches, they will offer their professional opinion. If you are even luckier they will lead outings in the forest so you can learn about mushrooms. Be prepared for it to take years to feel confident in your own level of expertise, even with a good mentor and a good field guide.

 

False Turkey Tail Stereum hirsutum (Fr. Stérée hirsute) being consumed by Golden Ear Tremella aurantia (Fr. Tremelle orangée). So the Stereum is eating the wood, and the Tremella is eating the Stereum.

Even when you are confident of the identification, if the mushrooms are old or in poor condition, don't eat them. Mushrooms that are past their best or poorly preserved may develop toxins even if they are normally considered edible. Make sure they are well cooked too. Cooking can destroy some toxins, but not all. Do not eat wild mushrooms more than once a week and do not give them to children under the age of seven.

 

This is a delicious and prized Field Mushroom Agaricus campestris (Fr. Rosé-des-prés), but there is a common lookalike that won't kill you, but will send you to Accident and Emergency with severe stomach cramps. Do you know how to tell the difference? **

In summary:

• There are around 15 000 species of mushroom in France, with over 250 edible mushroom species; over 350 toxic species and 39 of them are deadly.
• Don't use an ID app to identify mushrooms. Apps work well these days for plants, but aren't good enough for other groups, especially for mushrooms if you are planning to eat them. The most popular app in France is Champinouf. It just picture matches, so is more or less useless.
• Never rely on colour alone to identify a mushroom. Always use a suite of characteristics to arrive at an identification.

 

*In the first photo, roughly speaking, there are Blushers Amanita rubescens (edible if well cooked) on the left, and Panthercaps A. pantherina (toxic) on the right. 

**Always check Agaricus mushrooms by scratching their stems. If they stain yellow you have the toxic Yellow Stainer A. xanthodermus (Fr. Agaric jaunissant).

The Scourge Sent by God and Other Local Sights Around Yzeures

The other day I walked 7 kilometres with les Galoches along the flood plain of the Creuse River from Yzeures. 

 

A quince tree in a garden.

The Creuse River.

An intriguing inscription which refers to a tremendous flood in the mid-19th century as 'a scourge sent by God'.

Wooden dividing wall in a barn.

Sorghum (Fr. sorgho) crop.

Big Sheath Mushroom Volvopluteus glioicephalus (Fr. Volvaire gluante) growing in the horse manure and straw left after a weekend event which included gypsy caravan rides.

The Creuse River.

A Big Fly and Some Tiny Ants

The other day I photographed a magnificent horse fly on our barn wall. I'm a big fan of horse flies, so anyone who wants to carry on about how they bite can scroll on.

 

This one is a female Giant Dark Horse Fly Tabanus sudeticus (Fr. Taon des Sudètes). The species is supposedly the heaviest fly in Europe and females are about 25 mm in length. You can encounter adults on the wing throughout the summer, in dry pasture or woodland clearings. The larvae on the other hand are aquatic and eggs are laid on waterside plants.

Giant Dark Horse Fly females may bite you if you are wearing dark clothing, breathing heavily and warm and sweaty. But really they are more interested in getting their obligate blood meal from a cow or a horse. Without the nutrients they gain from biting a large mammal and sucking some blood they cannot lay viable eggs. If you are unlucky enough to be bitten, disinfect the wound immediately and take an antihistamine. You'll be fine unless you are unusually sensitive, in which case it may develop into a hard red lump about 10 cm across. Don't scratch the bite because it will get it infected.

I was so delighted to have a cooperative horse fly to photograph that I didn't even notice the ants until I was processing the photos. I didn't recognise them so I did what everyone does these days -- asked in the appropriate group on Facebook. A local entomologist got back to me to tell me they are Temnothorax sp.

Temnothorax ants are only 2 or 3 mm long, and live in small colonies of a couple of hundred individuals in dry dead wood or small cavities in rocks. There are at least 25 species in France and they occur throughout the country.

Our Unused Front Door

I've been looking at our front door, which we haven't used as such since we moved here in 2009. It's much less convenient than the door in the kitchen, and it's a bit fragile.

I don't want to replace it, as that would be costly, and it doesn't need to be fully insulated as it only leads into a porch which is fully insulated and has double glazed doors. It's also very large - and original. I'd like to re-putty it, paint it, and leave it at that.

The problem is the existing putty which is haphazard and very old, and two pieces of glass which are cracked (marked with red dots in the photo). I'm worried I'll crack more glass trying to remove the old putty.

I like the mismatched glass and the old sticker and would like to keep them (heritage and all that). I just have to work out how to do that.

Peach Cobbler

 Last week our neighbour Edouard knocked on the door and presented me with a basket of vine peaches (Fr. pêches des vignes). He had decided to strip the tree as storms were predicted. He's allergic to fresh peaches, and there's only so much jam his wife can make, so he thought of me. He also told me he's had a number of thefts from his potager. The usual stuff like tomatoes, but this year someone stripped half his quince tree! We both thought that was quite odd. 

 

Anyway, I was very grateful for these lovely peaches, which were all perfectly ripe and delicious. I had baked some biscuits only an hour before so I was very pleased to be able to exchange the peaches for some biscuits. I immediately blanched a couple of kilos of peaches and sliced them to make a cobbler, and the rest I halved and poached in heavy vanilla syrup. The latter will get used for Peach Melba or served with Greek yoghurt/fromage frais battu and such like.

 

Ingredients

1.5 kg peaches (vine peaches are small so this is about 16 peaches)

¼ cup soft brown sugar

Juice of a lemon

1 tbsp cornstarch

¼ tsp ground cinnamon + a pinch for sprinkling on top

Pinch of nutmeg

1.5 cups plain flour

1/3 cup sugar + 1 tbsp for sprinkling on top

1.5 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

85 g butter, cold and cut into centimetre cubes

¼ cup milk

Method

1. Turn on the oven to 180°C and butter a lasagna dish.
2. Pour boiling water over the peaches and leave them sitting in it for 2 minutes, then slip their skins off, stone them and slice them into a large bowl.
3. Toss the peaches with the brown sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. 
4. Spread the peach mixture evenly over the bottom of the lasagna dish.
5. For the topping, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
6. Add the butter and work it into the dry ingredients with your fingers.
7. Add the milk and mix until a soft dough is formed.
8. Tear off walnut sized pieces and flatten them a bit before lay them on top of the peaches. Distribute the dough evenly, but leave gaps.
9. Brush the dough with milk and sprinkle with the extra sugar and cinnamon.
10. Bake for 50 minutes.
11. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
12. Serves 8, with vanilla ice cream.

Best served on the day of baking. It will hold in the fridge overnight before baking, so you can prepare it well in advance. After baking it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days, but beyond that the topping goes unpleasantly soggy. An uncovered reheat in the oven can help.

Reflections

It hasn't all been about my treatment this week. We have been for the occasional wander as well. I'm surprised that this photo turned out this well - I didn't spend any time on it.

 Yesterday my fluid loading went well. I'm hopeful that I can round out my first week with another win.

A Piece of Good Planning

I mentioned yesterday that men exiting the radiotherapy suite tend to have an air of urgency around them.

Luckily, the architect knew what he was about, and the dressing rooms are next to a room bearing this sign. It's reserved for patients.

Yesterday I was again under full. I was about to get a finger wagging, when I showed the radiologist my drinking schedule. That mollified him, he agreed it was a good plan, but made some suggestions for change. As a stopgap I drank 3 cups of room temperature water and walked around for 10 minutes. We're all friends now.

Fingers crossed - then legs crossed!

Two Down, Thirty-three To Go

On Monday I started my 7 weeks of radiotherapy. This involves a lot of planning and a lot of blocks falling into place.

Because the treatment is "down there" I have to be prepared, which starts 3 hours before treatment. I have to drink the right amount of water at set periods (I've never been so hydrated) so that my bladder is holding no less than 350ml (but not much more) at exactly the right time.

Then the taxi/ambulance has to arrive between 75 and 90 minutes before the treatment, and get me to the hospital 70km away not too early (and definitely not too late).

Finally, the treatment has to happen and finish before the urge to explode takes over. This is tricky, because the treatment entails lying on a table for 15 minutes and "bougez pas!" This means no jiggling, even involuntarily.

On Monday I got my level correct, but yesterday I was about 60ml under, which is annoying and earned me a finger-wag. It shouldn't be too difficult to adjust.

If you're ever in a radiotherapy unit and you see a man looking stressed and waddling, make way. He's a man on a mission.

Finally then, one can relax - until tomorrow, when the whole lot starts again.

The Great Hall of the Palace of the Dukes of Aquitaine

Simon enjoying the stylish chairs in front of the gigantic 17th century triple fireplace.

Eleanor of Aquitaine had the Great Hall of the Palace of the Dukes of Aquitaine in Poitiers built some time after 1160. It replaced an older great hall. The sculptors who worked on it also worked on the nearby Cathedral. Eleanor's Hall features a new entry, aligned with the Roman bridge, and including an impressive flight of stairs.

 

The grand entrance to the Hall.

In modern times the Hall has mostly been referred to as the Salle des pas perdu (the room of lost steps). This is by virtue of its function as a vestibule for the courthouse (palais de justice). Large rooms such as this which are spaces where the public can gather outside of the tribunal are known by this rather curious term. The etymology is very uncertain, with several dubious anecdotes commonly told to explain the expression. The term has been used since at least the 17th century.

 

Eleanor, I assume.

Detail of carving on the fireplace.

Detail of carving on the fireplace.

Detail of carving on the fireplace.

Detail of carving on the fireplace.

Looking up one of the chimneys.

Detail of carving on the fireplace.

Detail of carving on the fireplace.