Out and About in the Claise Valley in Early April

My friend Ingrid and I took ourselves on a little nature outing to check on the state of the orchids in the Claise Valley around Chaumussay on 7 April. She wanted to practice with a new macro lens, so she took most of the photos. And we saw a lot of wildlife apart from just orchids. So here is a selection.

 

A Red-tailed Bumble Bee Bombus lapidarius (Fr. Bourdon des pierres) queen looking for a suitable place to set up her new colony.

Photo courtesy of Ingrid de Winter.

Lady Orchid Orchis purpurea (Fr. Orchis pourpre) bud.

Photo courtesy of Ingrid de Winter.

Male Green Fairy Longhorn moths Adela reaumurella (Fr. Adèle verdoyante) displaying on a Wayfaring Tree Viburnum lantana (Fr. Viorne lantane), waiting for females to appear.

Photo courtesy of Ingrid de Winter.

Apple Blossom Beetle Tropinota hirta (Fr. Cétoine hérissée) on, you guessed it, apple blossom. The tree is a naturalised domestic apple I assume.

Photo courtesy of Ingrid de Winter.

Lady Orchid.

Photo courtesy of Ingrid de Winter.

The remarkarble shared tower entries to a sweat bee Lasioglossum marginatum colony. One of the little bees who occupy these tiny tunnels is centre bottom.

Photo courtesy of Ingrid de Winter.

Green Hairstreak Callophrys rubi (Fr. Thècle de la ronce) on apple blossom. This lovely butterfly has a very short flight season, but the numbers appear to be increasing. These days I see it every year, which was not the case in the past.

Photo courtesy of Ingrid de Winter.

The rare parasitic fly Gonia vacua. This one is male and covered in pollen.

Photo courtesy of Ingrid de Winter.

The Second World War Demarcation line memorial at Chaumussay, on the D42 between Preuilly sur Claise and le Grand Pressigny. Conveniently, one can park there, and there is a colony of Early Purple Orchids.

Photo courtesy of Ingrid de Winter.

Early Purple Orchid Orchis mascula (Fr. Orchis male) and Blue Sedge Carex flacca (Fr. Laîche glauque).

Cowslips Primula veris (Fr. Coucou) on the roadside at Humeau.

Put a Sock in It

Yesterday Susan mentioned Eoliennes Bollées, how we are fans of the aforementioned and have blogged about them (link). On our last Sunday drive before Christmas (and our first after the second lockdown) we discovered another, completely by chance.

In 1963 the owner of the chateau of Nitray purchased a light plane and built an airstrip through his vineyards. The plane was built at Gap in the south-east of France, but by 1967 the builder was searching for another place to build new aircraft. A proposal was made to build a little hangar at Nitray and use the private airfield for flight testing new aircraft.

By 1975, the aircraft business had become such that the shed near the chateau had become too small. A new hangar was built on the other side of the runway, the runway extended to the main road from Tours, and a taxiway constructed.

We're not sure when the Eolienne Bollée was converted to take a windsock, but it's obvious that's what happened - you can still see the ring that the sock (now disappeared) was mounted on.

The airfield has now been replanted with vines, and the "new" hanger is still there, although owned by a business not connected with aircraft building.

La Chapelle de Notre-Dame de Prélong

At the edge of the forest, on the road that leads from La Petite Guerche to Le Rond du Chêne, at the foot of a wooded hill, near the Fontaine de Prélong, stand the ruins of a chapel that you can barely see from the road. The small ruined chapel from the fifteenth century, known originally as Notre-Dame de Preslong is now covered with vegetation. Only a section of wall with an arch remains. About a kilometre away from the very dense woods of the Forêt de Guerche, the chapel and spring are at the end of a small sheltered valley. A stream from the spring runs down the base of the valley towards the River Creuse, and the road runs parallel to the stream. The land has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic period.

The site was home to a Saint Rigommier, a pious hermit who performed miracles. Local legend also says that Agnès Sorel lived in the nearby Chateau de la Guerche, which had been built for her by Charles VII. So far as I know this is not true, but Agnès' cousin Antoinette lived there, as the wife of the local lord, and she became Charles VII's mistress after Agnès died.

The main legend associated with the chapel is that of a young falconer, out walking with his beautiful young love and looking for Turtle Dove nests. They were attacked by a wolf, who threw itself savagely on the young woman and mauled her to death. Charles VII, on hearing the sad story, built the chapel and had his falconner's fiancée buried in the centre of the building. Shortly afterwards war broke out between the French and English and the young falconner went off to fight. After distinguishing himself on the battlefield he returned to set up as a hermit in the chapel to mourn his beloved.

Local historians believe there is some truth to the story. Today we can still see a hole in the middle of the chapel, which is perhaps the remains of a grave. Supposedly there are inscriptions relating to the lovers still visible on the walls, but I didn't notice anything like that.

The second wolf story associated with the chapel concerns an old woman, who one day tied her only nanny goat to the door latch of the chapel. A wolf caught the scent of the goat, which was frightened. But the goat was held by a rather long rope and it was able to run inside the chapel. The wolf followed, and the goat quickly exited, pulling the latch when the rope was taut, thus locking the wolf in the church, to be dealt with by the villagers.

As a result the chapel is sometimes referred to as the "wolf chapel" by the locals. The wolf was present and active enough in the area to frighten the population. The last wolf in Vienne (county or département) was shot in 1923.

Finally abandoned in the Revolution it took less than a century to turn it into a picturesque ruin. The forest invaded the clearing around the chapel, the roof became damp and rotten, creepers and vegetation covered the walls and the open meadow at the front of the building became narrower and narrower until it disappeared altogether.

The chapel of Notre Dame de Prélong was originally placed under the dependence of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Preuilly. During the 17th century, it became the responsibility of la Guerche, being at that time located in the territory of the Comte de la Guerche.

************************************************

For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

Wood Pile or Wall?

This creative use of firewood, an existing stone boundary wall and a mill stone is at the entrance to a property near Blois.

************************************************

For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

Medieval and Modern

The Hôtel Gouin with a Calder sculpture in the courtyard.

The Hôtel Goüin in Tours is not, and has never been, a hotel in the anglo sense. It was built as a grand private home in the 15th century, although what we see now is a 16th century remodelling. Later it served as the headquarters and archive storage for the Archaeological Society of the Touraine. In 1944 all but the facade was destroyed in a bombing raid and the building was partially rebuilt in the 1950s. Now it is a museum.

The sculpture currently in the courtyard is by Alexander Calder. He lived for much of his life in the Loire Valley, at Saché. This sculpture, one of his stabile-mobiles, is called 'Crinkly', from 1969 and made of steel, stainless steel and aluminium.

The American sculptor and painter Alexander Calder, 1898 - 1976, arrived in Paris in 1926. He created articulated toys, in wire. Jean Cocteau nicknamed him later 'the king of wire'. Calder was part of the avant-garde, with artists like Joan Miró, Fernand Léger, Man Ray, Le Corbusier, and especially, Pietr Mondrian, the pioneering abstract painter. Calder admired Mondrian's paintings and in 1930 declared 'I would like to make Mondrians which move'. From 1931, he was a member of the group 'Abstraction-Creation', which brought together Mondrian, Jean Arp and Robert Delaunay. In 1953, Calder set up his workshop in the Touraine, at Saché, on the banks of the Indre. 

The work of Calder is marked by the search for movement, which is expressed in particular with his mobiles. These are light iron structures, suspended and articulated, composed of several horizontal bars carrying small coloured leaves which move in the wind. 

A pioneer of kinetic sculptures, Calder combined mobiles and stabiles, creating standing sculptures topped with a mobile. His stabiles are monumental steel sculptures, destined for the centres of cities, to resonate with modern architecture. Calder first made models which were then tested in the breeze to check their robustness. These models were scaled up and erected by workers from a local boilermaking factory. The Biémont factory near Tours constructed most of these stabiles, painted in mat black, with details added at the request of Calder.

Dauphin Again

I was thinking the other day that it feels like ages since we last posted a downpipe photo - and I was right. So to correct that, here's a stylish copper one from Chambord.

A Glimpse into the Renaissance Past

La Maison du Centaure sits in the heart of historic Loches, at 10 rue du Chateau. It is shored up with heavy timbers, awaiting some solution to the financial problems of the owners who had hoped to fully restore it and convert it into apartments. Sadly, even with grants of nearly €100 000 and a total budget of nearly half a million, the place has proved to be a money pit and the funds completely inadequate for the job.

The chimneys, the carpentry, the crumbling leaning walls have all been discovered to have more problems than originally estimated. To make their money back they would have to sell the apartments for €4 000/m², nearly twice the advertised price. Only the essential structural and consolidation work has been done. The building is watertight and can safely sit for many years as it is. It is just a shame the building will be in limbo, empty.

If you happen to pass this summer and the courtyard door is open, make sure you take a peek. You will see this charming portrait above the door of the Renaissance couple who constructed the house. Normally the courtyard gate is closed and you don't get to see this rather special sculpture, although the scene of Hercules loosing an arrow at the centaur who has kidnapped his wife is fully visible from the street.

A Chateau Glimpsed Through the Trees

2 points to anyone who can correctly identify this chateau.
********************************************

Nature News: I spotted my first European Orchard Bee Osmia cornuta yesterday. Sadly, it was a mating couple, squashed on the road. Insect roadkill numbers used to be disregarded as unimportant in the wider scheme of things, but recently it has been recognised that for some species and for certain places, it is of increasing conservation concern (see this video featuring Tristan Lafranchis about butterflies and roadkill).

I saw more bumble bees yesterday than I have before so far this year, but they are all rather small. They must be queens at this time of year, so the small size is worrying. They need to be big, so they have lots of reserves should the weather change for the worse temporarily. Honey bee activity, on the other hand, has been high right from the start of the month.

*************************************************

Social News: We enjoyed apéros with our Alsatian neighbours yesterday evening. They are a father and son, and their dog Pif. They don't live here all the time and have bought the house as a holiday home which they will slowly do up. Apparently the house, which has a workshop attached, used to be a mattress maker's. They served a 2009 white burgundy made by friends of theirs, along with rillettes de sardines from a producer originally based near La Rochelle.

****************************************************

Quiz Results: The chateau in the picture above is Chenonceau. 2 points to Tim and chm for getting it right, with a bonus point to Tim for being first.

Sister Act

2 points to anyone who can tell me which is which.

French Clichés

I reckon these three photos show glimpses that fit most anglophone notions of what romantic and picturesque France should look like.

I can't decide therefore whether it is ironic or inevitable that all these properties are owned by incoming but well integrated anglophones.

The Orthodox Theology Institute

The area in which we stay in Paris is extra-ordinarily multi-cultural and we are continually finding new things of interest there. On our last visit, in September to meet up with Uncle Geoffrey and Auntie Pat, we discovered the Institut de Théologie Orthodoxe Saint-Serge. Apparently it is the oldest Orthodox theology institute in Western Europe, and has an important library containing old Russian books as well as modern texts in a variety of languages. There is also a parish church for the Orthodox community and they train priests and theologians to Doctorate level both on campus and through a distance learning programme, as well as run courses on iconography and liturgical singing.

Un Moulin cavier

We 'hack' our way through the 'jungle'.

On our recent botany outing to the Puy Besnard near Chinon we took the opportunity to see a moulin cavier (literally, 'cellar mill') hidden away in the woods on the top of the Puy. These are a style of flour mill characteristic of the Anjou region of France, and especially around Saumur. This one is a ruin, overgrown as much as if it were in the Cambodian jungle, but there are a few restored and working moulins cavier in the district (the best known is the Moulin des Aigremonts, near Bléré). The top of the Puy must have been exposed and unwooded 200 years ago, and as the highest point around, the obvious position for a wind powered mill.

The remains of masonry walls in the old mill precinct.

The mill would once have had a pivoting weatherboard top and sails, but all that is left is the masonry base in the form of a semi underground dome, a crumbling, ivy covered masonry tower on top of the dome and the central post that would have transferred the movement of the sails to the grindstones in the cave by means of a series of cogs and gears.

The vaulted cave.

In English they are apparently called hollow post mills.

Susan

Daily Bread

A quiet day in Preuilly today, and although this photo was taken in November I can guarantee a similar scene is visible all over France this morning.

Simon

Here Be Dragons

Spotted on the streets of Preuilly last week. I think there must usually be a car parked in front of the house, because I have never noticed these before.


Simon

Glimpses 18

Until we were standing in front of the Mairie on 8 Mai, it hadn't occurred to me how well carved the column capitals are.

You can read about the Mairie here.

Simon

Glimpses 17

I like this photo - from the little carved detail to the dinky roof over the window, to the town's public adress system, it's all here.


Simon

Because of problems on the Google side of things, this blog post comes under the heading of "better late than never". We really did mean to have it online at 9.00 today, but blogger was having a sulk.

Glimpses 16

There is an awful lot to like about this little house in Loches: from the dinky little tower to the decorative brickwork on the chimney, the place is a gem.


Simon

Glimpses 15

We have posted pictures of various windvanes before (and said "We have posted pictures of various windvanes before" as well).

This one is just around the corner from us, but only recently drew itself to our attention.

Simon

Hôtel d'Harambure

The rather rambling 17th century house you get a glimpse of through the imposing gateway in rue du Cygne, Preuilly-sur-Claise, is known as Hôtel d'Harambure, after the man who constructed it. The word hôtel in this case denotes a private town house, not an establishment with rooms available to rent for the night, although both meanings are used in French.

Curiously, this is the only building in Preuilly listed in Le Patrimoine des communes d'Indre-et-Loire as being made of pierre (stone). This is as opposed to tuffeau, the soft local limestone. I assume the implication is that it is made of rough field stone, or more likely, harder stone that has been imported from another district.

One of the most interesting features of the interior is a remarkable box bed, contemporary with the construction of the house and installed for the cook. The cook was an important character in this type of household, so their safety and comfort was taken into consideration. The highset bed made getting in and out easier and protected its occupant from rats.

Jean d'Harambure was a loyal companion of Henri de Navarre at the time of his struggle to win the throne of France and become le bon roi Henri IV. During the battle of Aumale against the Spanish in 1592 he saved the king's life, losing an eye in the process. Like the king, he came from Navarre, a small kingdom in the French Pyrenees, in the south-west of modern France. Settling in Preuilly, Harambure built this house and founded a family. The family prospered and grew, so Jean built another manor house and barn, this time at nearby Yzeures-sur-Creuse. Protestant, he recanted his faith under Louis XIV, who revoked his grandfather Henri IV's pragmatic solution to the Wars of Religion, the Edict of Nantes. Once again, it was awkward, if not dangerous, to be a dissenter. Royalists like the Harambure family were given the choice of emigrating or abjuring.

By the 18th century the family had expanded its holdings to include a manor and a fortified farm near Chaumussay. Jean's descendant François d'Harambure was the representative for Preuilly in the Estates-General of 1789 held at Versailles. This national general assembly, a sort of parliament, was called by Louis XVI in the expectation of sorting out his government's financial difficulties. Instead, it triggered the Revolution. Although firmly monarchist, François d'Harambure was an equally firm constitutionalist, and served as a general during the Revolution. He seems to have been a level headed and courageous man who strongly and publically stood up for what he considered right, no matter which side of the political fence it fell. However, after narrowly avoiding execution in 1793, he retired from public life at the age of 51 to spend the remainder of his days quietly in Preuilly.

Susan

Glimpses 14

This is a Loire River Barge, taken from on high on the walls of the chateau of Chinon. The photo is slightly distorted because it has been taken through an old glass window.

These barges were built upstream, and then in spring they were filled with goods and sailed to Nantes or Saint-Nazaire. There not only were the contents sold, but the boat was sold as lumber. Then the owner would return home (presumably by foot or cart) and build another boat.

Simon